"Ursula" <Ursula_de_Cologne@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:76eb424f.0311071216.63ad41f4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Wayne Brown <fwbrown@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:<IVTpb.33517$SV2.28162@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>...
>
> (snip)
>
> > Well, it's made it easier to get access to USENET for people who
either
> > don't want, or are too clueless, to learn to operate a proper
newsreader.
> > James himself is a prime example of the latter class.
> >
> > Sometime I miss the days when getting to USENET required configuring
> > UUCP, compiling, installing and configuring B News or C News, finding
> > and negotiating with an admin somewhere for a news feed... or, if you
> > were a student, getting an account from your university news admin.
> > James would be excluded from both methods: too technically illiterate
> > to do it himself, and too afraid of education to have a student
account.
>
> With all respect, dear man, you strike me as that type more enamored
> with process rather than function. Most of us out here have far better
> things to do than screw around for weeks configuring newsreaders and
> the like, even if we were so inclined, which most of us clearly are
> not. I suppose we could memorize the phone book, too, but would that
> help us communicate our ideas any better?
> Some of us prefer to view the forest rather than count the trees down
> there. Better view, too.
Good points. One thing I reminded him of was that
some of us (at least I certainly include myself) believe
the net is about minds, not about computers. When I
first started posting around 1995, I got all sorts of flack
over this. In almost every group I posted to (and I am
certainly not talking about comp. groups) some people
would try to suck me into little games aimed at proving
they knew more about computers than I did.
You know how I handled it? I admitted the truth right
up front, in most cases, they DID know far more about
computers than I did. Of course, then I proceeded to
rip their bad writing and worse logic to shreds on matters
having nothing to do with computers.
As of now, I would claim expertise in use of the net,
including net culture, and also in word processing, but
that's about it. Don't ask me to replace your hard drive or
anything so annoying. Other folks get paid good money
to do stuff like that. I certainly did not become a famous
net writer by diddling people into believing that I knew
things I didn't and possessed knowledge that in reality
I lacked. People don't respect you if you do things
like that.
Let's not forget, I was actually considered retarded until
I somehow got hold of a word processor and more or less
fell into the net. (See Google for "Prosthetic Extension.")
That's why I get mad when people take cheap shots at
retarded people. I know a bit about what they feel--and I
also know how vastly ignorant every single human being
on this planet is in 2003. (See Google for my "Retard,"
and "Short Bus Man.")
You think anyone on this hick planet can tell you what their
brain is actually doing at any given time? And how many
people reading this can RIGHT NOW point to the center of
the very galaxy they are sitting in so smugly, looking down
their noses at retarded folks.
Now, I don't want to dissemble. I was not state-certified
retarded or anything like that. But, because of some
early behavior patterns which slowed certain aspects
of my learning, I did have people say I was retarded.
I don't want to be too specific here, because while I
am certainly not ashamed of those things, as soon
as I get to detailed certain pests will begin annoying
me by trying to brand and demean me. Of course,
as usual, it will backfire on them, but maybe we can
prevent fifteen flame wars by not going there.
Yes, I even eventually struggled though a respected state
uiversity system. I learned a great deal, but I have nothing
to re****t about my being an academic superstar. The thing
is, though, after combining word processing with whatever
it was happened in these electronic woods to unleash my
writing processes, I now believe that in one week's time I
could write, from the top of my head, the equivalent of every
paper I wrote in college--and do a far better job with all of
them.
It is sort of like, if you look at me one way, I'm retarded,
but if you look at me another way, I am a genius--unless
we want to believe that a lot of self-im****tant smarties
got duped and have been reading (and followi up) the
rantings of a poor retarded chap all these years.
And you know that tone that some people don't like
in a few of my postings? Actually, it is simply a
lampoon of a ponderous, self-im****tant smarty.
Once you begin to realize that, you will spilt your
sides laughing. *I* certainly do.
Genius? or Retard? Actually, I'm still not sure which
is more fun. Whee...
(For some observations a UCLA professor made
regarding unusual fluctuations in my intelligence
which coincide with flare ups on the Pistol Star,
see Google for one of my "MORE ELDRITCH THAN
FICTION!" postings. You may have to show a bit
of keywording skill to find the post, but that is a skill
everyone should brush up on anyway. Some IQ
experts will have you believe that IQ can't fluctuate
to any significant degree. Well, *I* beg to differ, but
THAT is another story entirely.)
I'm certainly not asking for anyone's sympathy, but it
can be difficult to be a dummy on day and an internet
super brain the next.
That's neither here nor there. For me, using the net is,
at least in one im****tant aspect, like taking an enjoyable
automobile trip. Yes, you have to know how to drive,
but you don't have to know how to re-wire the circuitry
and tear down the carburator to have a great trip.
Whee...."Let's go, let's go, let's go" (Hank Ballard
and the Mid-niters)
accept no cheap imitations:
the alt.genius.bill-palmer.whee
--firing posts at random from a window in an office
above rec.arts.prose
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