What Hath Ted Wrought

I first heard the term "hypertext" in 1976. I loved the idea: non-sequential writing!

(I like to scare kids by telling them that I can remember a time before the word "hypertext" . Then I tell them that I have actually coded in COBOL, in punch cards. And then I tell them that in order to run a FORTRAN program, I once hand to toggle in a bootstrap loader and run a compiler that was coded for a paper tape drive. And then I tell them about watching Alan Turing run the 100 yard dash at school. And then...)

But in a way, it reminded me of a very big book of chess openings that everyone in the high school chess club was trying to memorize. Every opening was a story line, and every story line was connected to every other one.

Everything was deeply intertwingled.

At any rate, 1976 was one year after MVF - my current flame - was born. I try not to draw attention to the age gap between myself and her, and her circle (this is their guru, this is the moderately famous one, this is the missing Joyce fan, and I'm sure you can find others).

I just want to point out how great it is to be an old man these days.

And thanks, Ted.

Wear Sunscreen

So Damian wants us all to know that the price of avoiding sunburn is forgoing the benefits of sunlight.

In upcoming posts, we'll probably find out (a) that turning right means we'll never find out what happened if we turned left and (b) that saving money means we have less to spend now.

Not to mock Damian. He's right, of course.

But does that mean that now we're all going to stop offering unsolicited advice, just in case there are unintended consequences.

Does anybody wanna see me do my Kurt Vonnegut impression?

And, to my friend who has cockroaches - I would not even dare to tell you what to do about it...