This cracked me up — not as much as something else that I just read (which made me laugh so hard I had to wipe off the screen) — but really hard:
(Via Andrew Sullivan.)
ADDED: That was in olden times. Today: Eel slap.
October 4, 2009
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29 comments:
Is that Andy William's world wide web?
And eel slap? I prefer it braised sushi eel myself.
Ann, are you going to post what made you laugh or just keep us in suspence?
Laugh all you want, Ann, but, for a lot of the older Boomers, this is still a revelation. If your job didn't involve exposure to computer-driven technology until very recently (nursing, for example), a video like this is still useful. My wife still won't shop online, is very hesitant about email, screams for me anytime the machine does something she doesn't understand or like (it is Windows, after all), and basically uses the Net to look at pictures of Yorkie puppies. And, yes, I would love to see her start a nursing blog.
I could also add Miss Althouse/Mrs. Meade is very lucky as she got into computers on the ground floor through her University work. I know you have empathy and compassion aplenty, but you should understand you're more fortunate than many, in terms of technological proficiency.
WV "aripp" Titus
The chief trouble with not having your own computer is that you have to wait for the comp center staff to return on Monday, unless you can wangle some special person access. In which case you do have your own computer.
@ edutcher, here is a yorkie pup video for your wife.
Before we larf ourselves sick, we might want to ask when this video was made. My guess is, 12 to 15 years ago.
Some people are like a dog with an ear infection.
Thanks, bear :D I appreciate it.
"Ann, are you going to post what made you laugh or just keep us in suspence?"
I'm kind of ashamed of myself for laughing so much. And it was a comment (on another blog) that set me off. The word "pooter" was used.
Before we larf ourselves sick, we might want to ask when this video was made. My guess is, 12 to 15 years ago.
At least pg (pre-Google) since his search engine litany made no reference.
I fail to think of the video as entirely humorous.
I recall first logging on to the internet around 1993. I'd been on CompuServe since 1983 and the Internet was a wonder to behold.
Based on the suggested baud rate I'd guess the video dates to around 1995.
Technology moves on. What's so funny about that? There are people still living who remember well the horse and buggy days. They survived surprisingly well without Google.
Did you also catch the part where he was talking about the brand spanking new 33.6k modems that would make things on the Web so much better? That puts things squarely in the mid-1990s. So, it was definitely many years ago. You can also see from the design of the sites highlighted that it was in a different era.
For another blast from the even further past check out this YouTube video.
Ann commented: "I'm kind of ashamed of myself for laughing so much. And it was a comment (on another blog) that set me off. The word "pooter" was used."
http://www.youtube.com/jackvalefilms#play/uploads
Okay, I don't get it and I'm Gen X. I remember this internet era very clearly. It was full of Boomers. Boomers Boomers everywhere. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are both boomers.
Even now, I have to use cable (costs more) because the phone co doesn't think it's worth their time to string the line/optics/whatever needed for DSL out this far, and I do not live in the sticks.
@ Audities, now that was funny......
My kids say pooter all the time, because my wife taught them that fart is too impolite. The magic of that word is diminished for me by over use.
"I'm kind of ashamed of myself for laughing so much."
If the past few weeks have provided any lesson, that lesson would be, shame is for the little people.
Are you one of the little people still?
You, a professor, who's written for the New York Times?
(what's the dividing line between little person and cognoscenti?)
Ironic topic given that the adminstration just handed ICANN off to the international gang of censors, taxers and regulators.
Beckstrom suggested that bringing more countries to the table was the best way of ensuring the long term future of the internet.
"We're more global, period. The chances of the internet holding together just went up, the cohesion just went up," he said. "We expect more active involvement from governments, a higher level of participation from many governments and we're already hearing about more governments joining the team… This was, ironically, a power move from the US."
A power move? How is having less control an advantage for our techno-centric society and businesses?
To put it in Chicago-speak: We had a fucking valuable thing and we gave it away for nothing.
Please check Urban Dictionary for the dominant meaning of pooter. It's not what people here are assuming.
Ann Althouse said...
Please check Urban Dictionary for the dominant meaning of pooter. It's not what people here are assuming.
So that's what you and Meade talk about. Where's Titus? He'll want all the details.
Watching this video is like watching a replay of an old "Mr. Science" or "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" show. Gee, wasn't that fun boys and girls?
Wonder if "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie" videos are available on the net?
wv: ingsdon come!
Althouse, you should watch this if you wanna laugh some more. It's my favorite "internet" video.
Sullivan also had this clip as an "eel slap" if you will against Sarah Palin (what a surprise) but this Australian politician seems better suited to President Obama's Chicago Olympic Team. What an analogy--"the front fell" off for the failure to get that bid.
And for those of the left wondering why Obama critics are focused on this, it is not about wanting America to fail (and Chicago's Olympic bid was small potatoes anyway) it is about hubris and the reliance on personality and not substance by this Administration. I hope the President gets smart before something serious happens.
pooter means what? I thought I was up on such synonyms, but apparently not. So now my kids are saying in public, "I smell a pooter." Facepalm.
I'm surprised that Titus isn't all over that eel slap.
I know, looking back, this looks fairly silly. I lived through this, a a bit more, starting my computer education almost 40 years ago, and spending much of my adult life heavily involved with them. For me, all this happened a lot more slowly. My first email account was somewhere in the early 80s, and that was even late according to some. And I still have a copy of Mosaic lying around somewhere.
One of the things that I can attribute to the fairly early Internet is getting to know a bunch of really smart young law professors (and some lawyers too) who were involved in the early 1990s (pre-Web) in some intellectual property listserve groups.
But then, on occasion, I look back to life before the Internet and the Web, esp. as we know it today, with instant access, fast downloads, and vast content. And so much that we take for granted used to be a pain.
When the Web first got going, our management didn't want any of the low level attorneys or staff to waste their time cruising it. So, Web access was limited to the VP and he could authorize the use of the one dedicated PC in the office (other than his) if you could make a credible case why you needed it. So, I did a lot of work from home on a dial-up line.
Flash forward maybe 15 years. Huge amounts of stuff is now online. Instead of walking across the office to our library (less than 50 feet), I now have all the law I need at my finger tips, and since the stuff I use with some frequency is bookmarked, I can usually have the information on my screen before I could get to the library.
And, what would I do without Google (obviously - use some other search engine). I can't count the number of times I use Google every day (unless I am disconnected, at which time, I go through withdrawal). I don't use a phone book any more, I use Google. I don't use maps much either, again, thanks to Google. Or a dead tree library.
It is amazing, and is just getting worse. And, we take it for granted. Esp. the younger generations who never lived without all this information at your finger tips.
Went to Urban Dictionary. I've heard of "cooter" for you-know-what, but never "pooter" ?? What the hell. "Pooter" means "one who passes gas."
Althouse, you should watch this if you wanna laugh some more. It's my favorite "internet" video.
@ Zach. OMG that was funny. I watched until "M" drug the flower delivery boy into the house to ostensibly look at the internet....riiiiight.
I kept waiting for them to say Live Saturday Night.
My hubby and I are definitely boomers. We just got back from a weekend trip to the North California Coast through really isolated mountainous country. Pretty but very isolated....worse than "Deliverance". One lane roads and sheer drop offs that only being impaled on a redwood would save you from free falling thousands of feet.
Fortunately we took our laptop so we could connect to the wireless at our hotel destination and keep up with the world.
We both agreed if we ever decided to move our very first consideration would be...."Do you have high speed internet availability".
Althouse laughed because she heard "pooter", thought it was "poofter" and the rest is history.
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