BLOG! August 23, 2010 9:54 AM Subscribe
Mathowie tweets about a photo on Flickr depicting a newspaper article about MeFi HQ. Typos included.
Well is it a secret that I have TWO DESKS in one small home office? I mean, talk about your champagne wishes and caviar dreams.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:05 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:05 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Here's the whole article (no pictures though).
posted by octothorpe at 10:05 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 10:05 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Neat!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:08 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:08 AM on August 23, 2010
What you don't see is the throngs of people and production equipment necessary just to take that photo. You can't make a multinational conglomerate look like a mom 'n pop without serious cash, these days.
posted by davejay at 10:08 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by davejay at 10:08 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: blog community website
posted by Rhaomi at 10:09 AM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Rhaomi at 10:09 AM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
Metafilter: Haughey and his ilk
posted by pb (staff) at 10:10 AM on August 23, 2010 [8 favorites]
posted by pb (staff) at 10:10 AM on August 23, 2010 [8 favorites]
That last time we did a photos-of-desks thread was fun.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 10:11 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 10:11 AM on August 23, 2010
Catnip ON THE DESK?! Goddamn drug pusher.
posted by nomadicink at 10:11 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by nomadicink at 10:11 AM on August 23, 2010
So, lifting the catnip toy is what triggers all the wall panels to flilp around, revealing the secret path to the METAFILTERCAVE world HQ?
posted by rmd1023 at 10:13 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 10:13 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm trying to figure out how that bit about African American history got into the article, because we never talked about anything remotely related to that and I'm not at all any sort of expert in that.
I think maybe I once had a mirror of the African American studies site from UCLA sitting somewhere deep on my haughey.com server (maybe the school servers were down for a weekend and I mirrored it to show them a mockup), and I wonder if it can be found via Google's related pages searches or something.
OMG, yeah I was trying to figure out a nested table problem in 1997 and posted a demo page.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:17 AM on August 23, 2010
I think maybe I once had a mirror of the African American studies site from UCLA sitting somewhere deep on my haughey.com server (maybe the school servers were down for a weekend and I mirrored it to show them a mockup), and I wonder if it can be found via Google's related pages searches or something.
OMG, yeah I was trying to figure out a nested table problem in 1997 and posted a demo page.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:17 AM on August 23, 2010
Not shown is the secret trap door where the real office is.
posted by terrapin at 10:26 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by terrapin at 10:26 AM on August 23, 2010
"One of them lives in Portland, another in Corvallis and another in Vermont. They commute to work electronically."
No love for vacapinta?
posted by slogger at 10:32 AM on August 23, 2010
No love for vacapinta?
posted by slogger at 10:32 AM on August 23, 2010
Desks are important to American culture. There are many examples of desks in American culture throughout the ages. Without desks, American culture would not be the same. This is why there are so many desks in American culture today.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:32 AM on August 23, 2010 [11 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 10:32 AM on August 23, 2010 [11 favorites]
"I got my first home computer and ISP account in 1995."
Please tell me this is a lie, or I will have to kill myself.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 10:44 AM on August 23, 2010
Please tell me this is a lie, or I will have to kill myself.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 10:44 AM on August 23, 2010
No love for vacapinta?
I am not an employee of Metafilter Inc.
posted by vacapinta at 10:50 AM on August 23, 2010
I am not an employee of Metafilter Inc.
posted by vacapinta at 10:50 AM on August 23, 2010
That article felt vaguely like it was written in 1998.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:52 AM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 10:52 AM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
I am not an employee of Metafilter Inc.
He is an employee of CABAL Industries and gets paid in a non-money in-kind sort of karmic way.
They commute to work electronically.
If only there was a word for this sort of digital jitney situation....
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:58 AM on August 23, 2010 [5 favorites]
He is an employee of CABAL Industries and gets paid in a non-money in-kind sort of karmic way.
They commute to work electronically.
If only there was a word for this sort of digital jitney situation....
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:58 AM on August 23, 2010 [5 favorites]
Please tell me this is a lie, or I will have to kill myself.
Well, we had a family computer around 1981, an apple ][ of some sort that I dabbled in BASIC on then my brother and I shared a Commodore 64 through the 80s. But really, my first real computer of my own I didn't get until I started grad school in fall of 1995.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:59 AM on August 23, 2010
Well, we had a family computer around 1981, an apple ][ of some sort that I dabbled in BASIC on then my brother and I shared a Commodore 64 through the 80s. But really, my first real computer of my own I didn't get until I started grad school in fall of 1995.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:59 AM on August 23, 2010
That article felt vaguely like it was written in 1998.
I hadn't heard the word "cyberspace" in a decade, when the reporter called and said it a couple times in conversation.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:00 AM on August 23, 2010
I hadn't heard the word "cyberspace" in a decade, when the reporter called and said it a couple times in conversation.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:00 AM on August 23, 2010
Whew, a reprieve!
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 11:00 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 11:00 AM on August 23, 2010
I've had my own computer for as long as mathowie! Pity I haven't done more of note with mine.
posted by owtytrof at 11:04 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by owtytrof at 11:04 AM on August 23, 2010
This is probably not at all how it went down, but I like to think that pb brought in an Apple Cinema Display which was larger than Matt's monitor at the time so Matt went out and bought the biggest one he could find.
posted by ODiV at 11:08 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by ODiV at 11:08 AM on August 23, 2010
That article felt vaguely like it was written in 1998.
Or earlier. Wow.
See? See? Just look at my profile. It says "User number 183... uh... oh wait.
posted by zarq at 11:10 AM on August 23, 2010
Or earlier. Wow.
This is just a tiny, behind the terrabytes glimpse of Matt Haughey's life as a prominent and widely respected resident of cyberspace. If you're interested in knowing more, simply go to any of the above-listed URLs.I am not a number, I am a person.
For most of us run-of-the-mill users, that means Uniform Resource Locator, or website address. But for Haughey and his ilk, it's the front entrance to an infinitely intriguing and utterly amazing universe that exists only as ones and zeros.
See? See? Just look at my profile. It says "User number 183... uh... oh wait.
posted by zarq at 11:10 AM on August 23, 2010
I hope this doesn't come across as creepy, but you guys look adorable in that photo. I don't mean in any kind of romantic way or anything, just pinch-your-cheeks, look-at-those-smiles adorable.
posted by shmegegge at 11:12 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by shmegegge at 11:12 AM on August 23, 2010
"But for Haughey and his ilk, it's the front entrance to an infinitely intriguing and utterly amazing universe that exists only as ones and zeros."
This can only mean one thing. THE MATRIX IS REAL. And we're in it. Right now.
posted by fontophilic at 11:14 AM on August 23, 2010
This can only mean one thing. THE MATRIX IS REAL. And we're in it. Right now.
posted by fontophilic at 11:14 AM on August 23, 2010
I don't mean in any kind of romantic way or anything,
Oh, I do.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:16 AM on August 23, 2010
Oh, I do.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:16 AM on August 23, 2010
I don't mean to start shit or nothing, but does it seem to anyone else that Matt has, like, a good yard of clearance between his side of the desk and the wall, while pb looks as though he's has to get into the corset fetish scene to able to slide into his chair? Give the poor guy six more inches, man! He needs to breathe!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:23 AM on August 23, 2010 [5 favorites]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:23 AM on August 23, 2010 [5 favorites]
If only there was a word for this sort of digital jitney situation...
Electrotelecommigratiating.
posted by davejay at 11:25 AM on August 23, 2010
Electrotelecommigratiating.
posted by davejay at 11:25 AM on August 23, 2010
"One of them lives in Portland, another in Corvallis and another in Vermont. They commute to work electronically."
Wait, what? You mean they don't all teleport to Metafilter HQ? What's the point of being a Cabal if you don't use all the futuristic tech that gives you access to?
And oh god, I just noticed the label printer. Printing labels was the bane of my existence at my old job. We started out with one of those basic Zebras that UPS gives away like candy to corporate customers (which was already a step up from printing on a friggin' laser printer) but once volume got into thousands of orders a day, we had to get giant hulking machines run by crappy Pitney Bowes software. Oh how fun it was to try to wrangle thousands of labels in a pile on the floor when the spooler didn't spool right. Ugh.
posted by kmz at 11:33 AM on August 23, 2010
Wait, what? You mean they don't all teleport to Metafilter HQ? What's the point of being a Cabal if you don't use all the futuristic tech that gives you access to?
And oh god, I just noticed the label printer. Printing labels was the bane of my existence at my old job. We started out with one of those basic Zebras that UPS gives away like candy to corporate customers (which was already a step up from printing on a friggin' laser printer) but once volume got into thousands of orders a day, we had to get giant hulking machines run by crappy Pitney Bowes software. Oh how fun it was to try to wrangle thousands of labels in a pile on the floor when the spooler didn't spool right. Ugh.
posted by kmz at 11:33 AM on August 23, 2010
Pitney Bowes is the devil.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:46 AM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 11:46 AM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
That article felt vaguely like it was written in 1998.
I hadn't heard the word "cyberspace" in a decade, when the reporter called and said it a couple times in conversation.
Whenever I get the chance, I try to drop "information superhighway" into a conversation.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:47 AM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
I hadn't heard the word "cyberspace" in a decade, when the reporter called and said it a couple times in conversation.
Whenever I get the chance, I try to drop "information superhighway" into a conversation.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:47 AM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
Whoa. Just reading everything mathowie did/does made me tired. Take a break or something, whydontcha?
posted by deborah at 11:52 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by deborah at 11:52 AM on August 23, 2010
I'm surprised they didn't print the whole article in some MICR-looking font.
posted by bondcliff at 12:03 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by bondcliff at 12:03 PM on August 23, 2010
"But for Haughey and his ilk, it's the front entrance to an infinitely intriguing and utterly amazing universe that exists only as ones and zeros."
Is this some kind of TRON viral? Does Matt get a recumbent lightcycle out of the deal?
posted by mikepop at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2010
Is this some kind of TRON viral? Does Matt get a recumbent lightcycle out of the deal?
posted by mikepop at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2010
MetaFilter: This Sort Of Digital Jitney.
posted by Mister_A at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Mister_A at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
"Blog community website." Crap! I didn't know were were playing the Synonym Game Pastime Recreation Romp.
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
an infinitely intriguing and utterly amazing universe that exists only as ones and zeros.
I always get a kick out of the way non-computer-geek type people just seem to love to refer to anything even vaguely computer-related as ONES and ZEROS. I guess it's just one of those factoids that people learn that seems more fascinating than it actually is, or something. I have no idea. I suppose it's easier than making jokes about zeros, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines, As, Bs, Cs, Ds, Es, and Fs.
posted by kingbenny at 12:10 PM on August 23, 2010
I always get a kick out of the way non-computer-geek type people just seem to love to refer to anything even vaguely computer-related as ONES and ZEROS. I guess it's just one of those factoids that people learn that seems more fascinating than it actually is, or something. I have no idea. I suppose it's easier than making jokes about zeros, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines, As, Bs, Cs, Ds, Es, and Fs.
posted by kingbenny at 12:10 PM on August 23, 2010
Wow. "Internet highway." They don't even put in the "SUPER." Like it's not even an interstate with proper rest stops, just one of those kind of byways where you have to pull over and pee into a ravine.
On second thought... that might just be about right.
posted by sonika at 12:12 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
On second thought... that might just be about right.
posted by sonika at 12:12 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
an infinitely intriguing and utterly amazing universe that exists only as ones and zeros.
I can only assume these are the same journalists that continually refer to face-to-face interaction as 'acoustic variability created between carbon bonds.'
posted by shakespeherian at 12:14 PM on August 23, 2010
I can only assume these are the same journalists that continually refer to face-to-face interaction as 'acoustic variability created between carbon bonds.'
posted by shakespeherian at 12:14 PM on August 23, 2010
I see that the real HQ is still concealed from the general public.
posted by pjern at 12:25 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by pjern at 12:25 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
...creator of the blog community website...
I can't even figure out how to label the parts of speech on that one. Is it a tripartite noun compound? An adjectival compound and a noun? A regular two-part compound and an adjective? Which is the adjective? Does 'blog' modify 'community website'? Or maybe 'blog community' modifies 'website'? Or *maybe* it's two serial adjectives and a noun!
(And I'm not going to even attempt to describe what it could possibly be when you tack 'MetaFilter.com' on the end of it all. All I know is that it is semantically superfluously redundant, meaning-wise.)
posted by iamkimiam at 12:33 PM on August 23, 2010
I can't even figure out how to label the parts of speech on that one. Is it a tripartite noun compound? An adjectival compound and a noun? A regular two-part compound and an adjective? Which is the adjective? Does 'blog' modify 'community website'? Or maybe 'blog community' modifies 'website'? Or *maybe* it's two serial adjectives and a noun!
(And I'm not going to even attempt to describe what it could possibly be when you tack 'MetaFilter.com' on the end of it all. All I know is that it is semantically superfluously redundant, meaning-wise.)
posted by iamkimiam at 12:33 PM on August 23, 2010
But for Haughey and his ilk...
I am a man, not an ilk.
posted by nomadicink at 12:36 PM on August 23, 2010
I am a man, not an ilk.
posted by nomadicink at 12:36 PM on August 23, 2010
Metafilter: a recumbent lightcycle.
posted by borkencode at 12:43 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by borkencode at 12:43 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
can't even figure out how to label the parts of speech on that one. Is it a tripartite noun compound? An adjectival compound and a noun? A regular two-part compound and an adjective?
I think it fits the definition of falsus facio id iterum, or (rougly): "Wrong! Do it again."
posted by FishBike at 12:45 PM on August 23, 2010
I think it fits the definition of falsus facio id iterum, or (rougly): "Wrong! Do it again."
posted by FishBike at 12:45 PM on August 23, 2010
It's kind of sad, really. After all, once you've made the cover of Yamhill Valley Connections, where is there to go but down?
posted by pracowity at 12:50 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by pracowity at 12:50 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I didn't really get into the whole computer thing until about '94 either. Like Matt, I had an old Apple II that I played with as a kid, but it wasn't until I got my Macintosh Performa 635CD that I really embraced the computer/ internet thing.
Between the two periods, I was an off-the-grid Luddite.
What amazes me is how quickly things changed because of that Mac; I went from spending my time working in dead end mall jobs, to meeting a girl who got me online, to developing web pages, to becoming increasingly proficient, to working in an upstart ISP, to managing a technical department.
Within just a year or two of setting up that first machine.
Crazy.
posted by quin at 12:53 PM on August 23, 2010
Between the two periods, I was an off-the-grid Luddite.
What amazes me is how quickly things changed because of that Mac; I went from spending my time working in dead end mall jobs, to meeting a girl who got me online, to developing web pages, to becoming increasingly proficient, to working in an upstart ISP, to managing a technical department.
Within just a year or two of setting up that first machine.
Crazy.
posted by quin at 12:53 PM on August 23, 2010
Give the poor guy six more inches, man! He needs to breathe!
Bad thoughts are entering my brain and I will refrain from blurting them out here.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:54 PM on August 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
Bad thoughts are entering my brain and I will refrain from blurting them out here.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:54 PM on August 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
My husband had computers and computer debris all over anywhere we lived just about as soon as we got married, back in '83. I hated computers until one fine day in the mid nineties when he introduced me to the Internet. We had a dialup nonpentium computer. Still, the rest was history.
I stumbled onto this joint courtesy of Pop Culture Junk Mail...don't remember exactly when but it was before the Kacee Nicole thing.
One of these days I truly expect to pick up a copy of Time or Newsweek or (heaven forbid) USA Today and see Matt's face looking back.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:14 PM on August 23, 2010
I stumbled onto this joint courtesy of Pop Culture Junk Mail...don't remember exactly when but it was before the Kacee Nicole thing.
One of these days I truly expect to pick up a copy of Time or Newsweek or (heaven forbid) USA Today and see Matt's face looking back.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:14 PM on August 23, 2010
"Yamhill Valley Connections" just sounds so dirty to me. "Hey, baby, let's see those yams." "Yams or GTFO!" "Yamz plz"
posted by Skot at 1:19 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by Skot at 1:19 PM on August 23, 2010
Garmin jersey is discussed in the link that shows up when you hover over it.
Note that mathowie's weight has not been updated since last October... Hmm.
posted by Chuckles at 1:48 PM on August 23, 2010
Note that mathowie's weight has not been updated since last October... Hmm.
posted by Chuckles at 1:48 PM on August 23, 2010
I don't see your gigantic 2400 baud modem anywhere in that photo.
posted by GuyZero at 2:06 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by GuyZero at 2:06 PM on August 23, 2010
Note that mathowie's weight has not been updated since last October... Hmm.
Yeah, post tumor, they put me on hydrocortisone, a steroid to make my adrenal glands continue working and a side effect of it is voracious appetite, water weight gain, and storage of fat around the midsection. I've been trying to ride and exercise more this year, but I am still eating like a horse and I've gained back all of the weight I lost last year plus more. I'm meeting with my endocrinologist next month and we're going to see if I can get off the steroids because it's driving me crazy to put on weight I fought so hard to lose. I was steadily under 200lbs for about three months without trying too hard, so I think I can continue at a healthy weight if I could just get off these shitty drugs.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:26 PM on August 23, 2010
Yeah, post tumor, they put me on hydrocortisone, a steroid to make my adrenal glands continue working and a side effect of it is voracious appetite, water weight gain, and storage of fat around the midsection. I've been trying to ride and exercise more this year, but I am still eating like a horse and I've gained back all of the weight I lost last year plus more. I'm meeting with my endocrinologist next month and we're going to see if I can get off the steroids because it's driving me crazy to put on weight I fought so hard to lose. I was steadily under 200lbs for about three months without trying too hard, so I think I can continue at a healthy weight if I could just get off these shitty drugs.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:26 PM on August 23, 2010
Alvy Ampersand: I don't mean to start shit or nothing, but does it seem to anyone else that Matt has, like, a good yard of clearance between his side of the desk and the wall, while pb looks as though he's has to get into the corset fetish scene to able to slide into his chair? Give the poor guy six more inches, man! He needs to breathe!
I thought the same thing. How do we not know that wall isn't slowly moving in to crush him against the desk preventing him from ever being disengaged from the computer? Hrmmmm?
posted by julen at 3:10 PM on August 23, 2010
I thought the same thing. How do we not know that wall isn't slowly moving in to crush him against the desk preventing him from ever being disengaged from the computer? Hrmmmm?
posted by julen at 3:10 PM on August 23, 2010
He needs to breathe!
haha, thanks for looking out for me. I think this is an optical illusion caused by the wide angle lens. I have plenty of room!
posted by pb (staff) at 3:18 PM on August 23, 2010
haha, thanks for looking out for me. I think this is an optical illusion caused by the wide angle lens. I have plenty of room!
posted by pb (staff) at 3:18 PM on August 23, 2010
Good to hear!
Blink twice if you typed that against your will.
posted by ODiV at 3:21 PM on August 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
Blink twice if you typed that against your will.
posted by ODiV at 3:21 PM on August 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
That article makes it seem like we're the total vanguard or technology. Little do they know...
posted by crunchland at 3:31 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by crunchland at 3:31 PM on August 23, 2010
Well crunchland, he did ask "what is so special about the software you wrote for the site?" and I said "nothing, you could clone it right now with any number of weblog software packages"
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:10 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:10 PM on August 23, 2010
Sorry, I guess I had the timing wrong relating the weight loss to the tumor.. Sounds terribly frustrating!
Still, I've got to wonder Did you notice any athletic enhancement effect from the steroids? Or is it just too subtle at the dosage and/or level of training?
posted by Chuckles at 5:40 PM on August 23, 2010
Still, I've got to wonder Did you notice any athletic enhancement effect from the steroids? Or is it just too subtle at the dosage and/or level of training?
posted by Chuckles at 5:40 PM on August 23, 2010
Area Man Capitalizes on Uniform Resource Locators, Becomes Prominent and Widely Respected Resident of Cyberspace.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:42 PM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:42 PM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
For most of us run-of-the-mill users, that means Uniform Resource Locator, or website address. But for Haughey and his ilk, it's the front entrance to an infinitely intriguing and utterly amazing universe that exists only as ones and zeros.
It's... it's... NARNIA!
I feel like we should make some lemonade and cookies for all the Mac'ville folks who might gander by our digital wonderland and set for a spell.
posted by amanda at 6:46 PM on August 23, 2010
It's... it's... NARNIA!
I feel like we should make some lemonade and cookies for all the Mac'ville folks who might gander by our digital wonderland and set for a spell.
posted by amanda at 6:46 PM on August 23, 2010
They commute to work electronically.
*imagines mathowie climbing into a giant scanner*
posted by special-k at 6:51 PM on August 23, 2010
*imagines mathowie climbing into a giant scanner*
posted by special-k at 6:51 PM on August 23, 2010
I don't know how these people got their mathowies into scanners or why
posted by The Whelk at 6:59 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 6:59 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
he did ask "what is so special about the software you wrote for the site?" and I said "nothing, you could clone it right now with any number of weblog software packages" -- It just seems like an article more appropriate to about 10 years ago, not now. I mean, only the most sheltered person would need to be told what a url is. Still, not trying to dissuade any glory for getting an article published about you.
posted by crunchland at 7:55 PM on August 23, 2010
posted by crunchland at 7:55 PM on August 23, 2010
I think this is an optical illusion caused by the wide angle lens. I have plenty of room!
*checks page source and sees "They have cut off my Twitter!"*
posted by pracowity at 9:11 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
*checks page source and sees "They have cut off my Twitter!"*
posted by pracowity at 9:11 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
>an infinitely intriguing and utterly amazing universe that exists only as ones and zeros.
I always get a kick out of the way non-computer-geek type people just seem to love to refer to anything even vaguely computer-related as ONES and ZEROS. I guess it's just one of those factoids that people learn that seems more fascinating than it actually is, or something.
It is fascinating. Vonnegut's bit about "A book is an arrangement of twenty-six phonetic symbols, ten numeral, and about eight punctuation marks, and people can cast their eyes over these and envision the eruption of Mount Vesuvius or the Battle of Waterloo," is so incredibly elemental and elegant that it always produces a frisson of wonder and amazement in me. The binary thing is possibly more exciting because 'Nothing' and 'Something' are even more incredibly elemental and rest exclusively in the domain of the arcane and esoteric - yet universal - art that is math.
Mathy/Computery people: Your eyes are more open than most, yet you do not see the wonders of the garden in which you frolic.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:41 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I always get a kick out of the way non-computer-geek type people just seem to love to refer to anything even vaguely computer-related as ONES and ZEROS. I guess it's just one of those factoids that people learn that seems more fascinating than it actually is, or something.
It is fascinating. Vonnegut's bit about "A book is an arrangement of twenty-six phonetic symbols, ten numeral, and about eight punctuation marks, and people can cast their eyes over these and envision the eruption of Mount Vesuvius or the Battle of Waterloo," is so incredibly elemental and elegant that it always produces a frisson of wonder and amazement in me. The binary thing is possibly more exciting because 'Nothing' and 'Something' are even more incredibly elemental and rest exclusively in the domain of the arcane and esoteric - yet universal - art that is math.
Mathy/Computery people: Your eyes are more open than most, yet you do not see the wonders of the garden in which you frolic.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:41 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I mean, only the most sheltered person would need to be told what a url is
I agree with your (and other) comments about the article seeming to belong to another century, but there are many, many people out in the world who would have no idea what a URL is. More than perhaps you can imagine. The time has long passed (for better or worse) when you needed to have any kind of understanding about the Internet to use it.
posted by dg at 12:00 AM on August 24, 2010
I agree with your (and other) comments about the article seeming to belong to another century, but there are many, many people out in the world who would have no idea what a URL is. More than perhaps you can imagine. The time has long passed (for better or worse) when you needed to have any kind of understanding about the Internet to use it.
posted by dg at 12:00 AM on August 24, 2010
Of course you do.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:09 AM on August 24, 2010
posted by shakespeherian at 7:09 AM on August 24, 2010
*imagines mathowie climbing into a giant scanner*
I have no idea how these people got their mathowie wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:51 AM on August 24, 2010
I have no idea how these people got their mathowie wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:51 AM on August 24, 2010
What does cortex's workspace look like? Any pics?
Here is a slightly out-of-date photo of my office. I've got a nicer chair now, the laptop has gone to a friend, the printer is off on a side table (read: TV tray) and a new fabulous PC sits where it was.
Still trying to get myself on the cover of the neighborhood newsletter, though.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 AM on August 24, 2010
Here is a slightly out-of-date photo of my office. I've got a nicer chair now, the laptop has gone to a friend, the printer is off on a side table (read: TV tray) and a new fabulous PC sits where it was.
Still trying to get myself on the cover of the neighborhood newsletter, though.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 AM on August 24, 2010
This morning a patient handed me an issue of this very newspaper from a couple of weeks ago. The lead article was about his nephew being murdered. It's a small world after all.
posted by neuron at 9:15 PM on August 24, 2010
posted by neuron at 9:15 PM on August 24, 2010
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posted by blue_beetle at 9:56 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]