Twenty Thirty years ago today*, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon posted this to a message board:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E. Fahlman 🙂
From: Scott E. Fahlman

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:

🙂

Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use

🙁

: – |

* I’m no mathologist, but Slog’s trusty commenters are. Thanks, guys—and expect to see this correction in our annual regrets issue.

Brend an Kiley has worked as a child actor in New Orleans, as a member of the junior press corps at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and, for one happy April, as a bootlegger’s assistant in Nicaragua....