Comments on: Is there a picture of the actual physical embodiment of the MetaFilter Server?

Is there a picture of the actual physical embodiment of the MetaFilter Server?

machaus — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 10:08:38 -0800

Is there a picture of the actual physical embodiment of the MetaFilter Server? I'd like to be able to visualize where all the comments go.

By: jennak

jennak — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 10:36:07 -0800

That's just sick, man. Really, really sick.

(Just kidding. :)

By: riffola

riffola — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 10:40:27 -0800

If I recall correctly it was in one the webcam shots when Matt worked at Pyra. It's beige full tower which sat in one corner and had a sticker or two on it.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 10:54:13 -0800

Isn't it still at Casa Queso?

By: riffola

riffola — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 10:56:35 -0800

Ok so I probably mistook some other PC for the MeFi server. Oops :)

By: Meta Filter Server

Meta Filter Server — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 11:00:53 -0800

That isn't my best side.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 11:02:10 -0800

The black tower with the coffee cup on it? That's it.

The first node of the internet brews a much nicer cup of coffee though.

By: jennyb

jennyb — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 11:19:29 -0800

Sitting on the floor like that is bad for your back.

By: kokogiak

kokogiak — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 11:20:37 -0800

So now you know machaus. Your thoughts are gathered and trapped in a black box. Satisfied? Do you feel the hum of your thoughts as they stream out of your PC to MeFi when you press the "Post" button?

Matt - you should do a licensing deal with Starbucks - 'MeFi Brew, warmed by humming server'

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 11:32:30 -0800

much better now...
I'm a visual person. All this router, fiber,RJ45, NIC, backplane, CPU, HD, middleware, DB, web server stuff isn't real.

By: UncleFes

UncleFes — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 11:41:23 -0800

Why don't the make the entire INTERNET out of the stuff they make the black box out of?

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 11:48:35 -0800

you got something there UncleFes... run with it. pave the suburbs with black box towers!

By: anildash

anildash — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 14:12:30 -0800

Here's a 632k animated .gif of the server being set up.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 14:39:11 -0800

I'm with machaus. I feel strangely comforted. Now we'll be sad if the old girl is replaced.
What I'd really like to visualize, though, is the place where all the hot-headed comments we typed but decided not to post go?

Specially those you preview a couple of times. They must be somewhere, right? Right?

*crickets*

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 14:44:08 -0800

Choreographically speaking, that has to be the finest piece of setting-up I've ever seen. A whole new universe has been opened up and we'll probably never hear the end of it.

I bet it eclipses the rabbit, easy.

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 14:51:58 -0800

the animated gif is missing all of the uttered swear words...
"whadda mean you can't recognize the CD drive, you just booted off of the GD thing!"

By: mattpfeff

mattpfeff — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 14:53:46 -0800

omg. There are posts MC decided not to post?!?

*kermits*

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 15:36:00 -0800

Yes, the good bits go straight into my book, I'm afraid.

By: mattpfeff

mattpfeff — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 15:57:08 -0800

What I'd really like to visualize, though, is the place where all the hot-headed comments we typed but decided not to post go?

...

Yes, the good bits go straight into my book

Heh. Answered his own question, he did. Poor fellah never stood a chance.

By: skallas

skallas — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 16:29:31 -0800

machaus, but there is no light inside a hardrive and your eyes are too slow to watch the dancing electrons in the RAM. You may slice my brain into semi-transparent slides, but you'll never find where my I keep my most secret thoughts. You can sniff my ethernet but you'll never understand the emotion behind my loveletters.

Where do the comments go? We might never know.

[a solitary tear is running down my cheek]

By: rodii

rodii — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 17:36:33 -0800

MetaFilter: sniff my ethernet

By: Marquis

Marquis — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 19:00:57 -0800

Naw... How 'bout

MetaFilter: It eclipses the rabbit, easy.

By: metrocake

metrocake — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 19:25:47 -0800

Waaaaaaaaait.......................does that happy little server have a name? Because if it doesn't, it needs a name. Think about how hard it works, feeding all of our stuff out to the world. There must be something we could call it. It deserves some kind of nomenclature...

Serverbunny? It could have pancakes on its head...

By: delfuego

delfuego — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 20:26:33 -0800

If you want a more recent picture, with the server in it's more permanent home, here it is (to the left of the dresser, in my newly-decorated room).

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 20:44:07 -0800

I had pictured something more....majestic, somehow.

Ah well. Another illusion shattered.
*shakes an operatic Shatnerian fist at the sky*

"Curse you, inTarWeb!"

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 21:02:55 -0800

No, now I'm in love with that chest of drawers as well. I'm outta here.

By: rebeccablood

rebeccablood — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 21:16:23 -0800

no kidding. jason: you have NICE furniture.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 21:37:02 -0800

Jason it's still in your bedroom? I thought you were going to toss it into a closet.

Possible scenes from Jason's bedroom:

"Jason? Why are you stopping? What's wrong?"

"It's... well, I can't do this, it feels weird... being in front of the server and all. I get the feeling we'll warp its mind if we do this in front of the server."

"What? The server doesn't know what we're doing, try and forget about the server."

"I'm sorry, the way the server is looking at us... I just can't."

By: skallas

skallas — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 21:48:22 -0800

no kidding. jason: you have NICE furniture.

So, are those empty picture frames sitting on top of the dresser or some weird minimalist thing?

By: willnot

willnot — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 21:48:52 -0800

I have to agree with wonderchicken. I would prefer to think of it in some kind of ultra-swank server farm somewhere where you need special codes to get into the earthquake/nuclear war proof cage.

Do you have a T1 going into your bedroom or something? That would be cool.

However, the mirror over that dresser has me thinking that you need to get a shot of the server in the mirror for The Mirror Project. That would have to be like the largest number of virtual people photographed in a mirror ever.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 21:57:11 -0800

What jennyb said and isn't that an aeron chair in the background? Ironic.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 22:45:18 -0800

The Jazz Age MetaFilter Server/Dresser.

By: anildash

anildash — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 22:52:07 -0800

That bastard does have a T1 in his apartment and an Aeron chair. But the good taste and new decorations are all due to Shannon and her parents. :P

By: skallas

skallas — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 23:43:31 -0800

I don't know about the rest of you, but that little shrine to Matt gives me the creeps. Bowl for libation and everything. Creeeepy.

By: UncleFes

UncleFes — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 08:03:18 -0800

The creepiest thing isn't the pictures, it's the bowl. What's in the bowl??

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 08:24:38 -0800

That's not goatse man in the righthand frame, is it?

Ewww.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.)

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 11:45:42 -0800

How about a book?

By: delfuego

delfuego — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 16:23:46 -0800

Ohmygod, I leave the thread for a day or so, and it goes nuts. I love your redo of the picture, skallas -- pure genius.

And Matt, don't fret; we put a sheet over the server when we... ummmm.... sleep.

By: delfuego

delfuego — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 16:29:49 -0800

Oh, and rebecca, thanks for the love sent my dresser's way. It's an antique that my parents and I found at a small auction in New Braunfels, TX; my Dad and I refinished it (and the mirror) about a decade ago. As Shannon can tell you, the top has taken a lot of wear and tear over the past decade and could probably stand to be redone again, but the rest of it is in tiptop shape.

Now, if I could just do the rest of my room the same way...

By: lotsofno

lotsofno — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 20:12:30 -0800

lol.. i'm reminded of the pottery barn friends episode.