I think you have the wrong idea of what Phrack is about. It's about exploring technologies that are old, new, whatever. If you want cutting edge, go read full-disclosure where you can read up on the latest XSS bugs being found.
Fortran is very widely used. As is Unix. I don't see anything wrong with having that article in there. Also, if you are hacking something/someone then knowing about all the obscure bits of technology they have is vitally important.
