HAPPY FRIDAY: How the Internet really started

WELL, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started, but here's the true story ...

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"

And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew.

It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS). She also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Macabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. And indeed did he insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE).

And that is how it all began.

* View more Happy Friday Posts *

1 comment so far click to post a comment


EMOTICONS: All the smileys you'll ever need to know

I was chatting to an old friend on Facebook the other night who astounded me with her great forte of smiley faces. She smooched, she winked and even stuck her tongue out at me. No jokes. It was then that I realised I should have asked the girl out while she was still in the country and before she became a high-profile model who is now plastered all over the covers of some very tasteful magazines... Bugger.

Anyway, after this little cyber-encounter, my thirst to learn new things came to the fore, and I spent a good few minutes of my life learning how to create every single smiley (emoticon) possible, ever - all in the hopes that I may one day be 'cool' and make some new friends.

So here they are in a very particular order. Use them to impress the geekier members of the opposite sex, or to scare the b’jeezus out of granny - who is perhaps still getting to grips with how her email works.

The following smiley faces work on Facebook chat:
:) Smiley face: The one we all know and love – the traditional smiley face.

:( Sad/frowny face: Not too cheerful but easy to do.

;) Winking smiley face: A little more advanced but easy enough.

:D Grinning/laughing face: One of my personal favourites : + D

:| Angry face (apparently): Use to illustrate "grrrr" emotions : + |

:P Sticking out tongue face: Use when you slip up and say something lame, or when you want to be sexy in a wierd way : + P

Apparently the first 6 (above) work on wordpress (cutline theme) too. Here are some more:
:/   Skeptical face: Use when someone else says something lame.
:O   Surprised/shocked face: Use to show surprise or horror!
:’(   Crying face: Boo hoo.
-_- Sleeping face: This one looks more happy than bored.
B)   Cool face (with sunglasses): Another favourite. Use when being ‘cool’
:3   Wtf face: One I refer to as “tequila face” as looks a bit like the face of someone who has just chased a tequila shot with a sour piece of lemon. A little weird looking though.
o.O Confused face: Use when hung-over and don’t know wtf people are saying.
:*   Smooching face: One for the ladies (and alternative life-style men). This one was used a lot on me last night. ;)

These smiley faces work for AIM, AOL, MSN and Yahoo messenger:
:-<   Really sad.
:>     Say what?
:-r    Sticking tongue out.
:-V   Shouting!

The following smileys are for really advanced users:
:-*    Oops!
\-o   Bored

Apparently you can also create your very own smileys using programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. I didn’t try this though. I have a life you know.

Anyway, don’t say you didn’t learn anything today! (Or if you didn’t and are the smiley face master, please share with us how to create any others).

Happy Friday! :D

** More Happy Friday Posts **

2 comments so far click to post a comment


AOL: Homepage refashioned as a one-stop portal

AOL.com (the web portal of America Online), was a powerful player in the early days of the Internet, but has lost ground since then due to stiff competition. However, it is currently refashioning its homepage as a popular one-stop portal.

The web portal rolled out a redesigned homepage yesterday which it hopes will become a central station of sorts for Internet travelers by letting people coordinate social networks, email accounts and more without switching from site to site.

The move comes a month after AOL.com, the number four gateway to the web after Google, MSN and Yahoo, revamped its homepage to allow users to preview outside email accounts without having to navigate away from the homepage.

With "My Networks" users can now log onto their Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, AIM or Twitter accounts directly from the homepage and send a status update to all of them simultaneously. Bill Wilson, executive vice president of AOL Programming, said in a statement:

"AOL.com is the first traditional big portal to offer access to popular social networking sites all in one place. Now consumers can connect with their numerous networks and information sources all from AOL.com"

The new RSS feed browser allows users to receive news from other websites and display it in scrollable window at the bottom of the page. Entering the name of a US city or zip code provides a feed of local news and weather.

Another feature labeled "Themes" gives users the possibility of personalizing the homepage by choosing a color or backdrop of their own design. The functionality of the new site is allowing users to create their own personalized one-stop portals.

Look out Google!

PS: How do AOL users feel about their new portal?

** More Web Developments & Absurdities **

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Add comment