[buffoon]

Originally Posted by valis

Konrad Suze...........Keyser Söze.........


bit too close for my taste........

Wasn't he Turkish? Or Albanian? Or something?

Funny that his initials match those of Kevin Spacey.

....and like that, he's gone.

[thingamajig]

Originally Posted by buffoon

And while we're at it the German Konrad Suze invented the first computer that really worked.

The victor writes the history books. The Z3 was mechanical and we bombed the 'ell out of it in WWII so it doesn't count. The first electronic Turing-complete computer was the ENIAC designed and built by the US Army Research Labs in 1946.

Originally Posted by buffoon

Bah! They were communicating nicely across France by 1794. Just because they didn't have electricity yet don't mean nuffin'.

Long after Native Americans were communicating with smoke signals.

Originally Posted by buffoon

Western Union laboratory reportedly lost Meucci's working models, and Meucci, who at this point was living on public assistance, was unable to renew the patent after 1874;

And I have a bridge for sale. No working product you say?

Originally Posted by buffoon

Did I say anything about the internet?

No but I did.

Originally Posted by buffoon

It was virtually useless without the web. If one computer crashed the whole communication line went down. And when communication worked it was like renting the whole bloody freeway just for yourself (to the exclusion of all others) when you wanted to drive from N.Y. to L.A.
Contemptible

Telnet, FTP, E-Mail, etc worked just fine before the http protocol. The web just opened the Internet to the ignorant masses and it's never been the same since.

[thingamajig]

Originally Posted by valis

Konrad Suze...........Keyser Söze.........


bit too close for my taste........

Actually, it was Konrad Zuse.

[buffoon]

[quote=thingamajig;7001276]

.........Long after Native Americans were communicating with smoke signals.

That is firstly not fair (wait til I tell them about the misappropriation of their name by a paleface) and also not true. What happened is that one of them rolled too near the camp fire and set his blanket and himself alight. In the subsequent effort of dousing the mess erratic puffs of smoke rose, seen by many in the surroundings who surmised that "Rolls in Campfire" had probably done it again.
Since approaching whites were even more prone to similar stupidity the original smoke puff sequence was henceforth emulated to tell of their arrival.
THAT was the only message ever sent. Hardly an intrinsic form of communication.

Telnet, FTP, E-Mail, etc worked just fine before the http protocol. The web just opened the Internet to the ignorant masses and it's never been the same since.

Sigh. No point in arguing that one.
You're correct.

[TRS-80 vet]

Originally Posted by Paquadez

I would have retorted: "Mais Oui, M. However let us remember, that without the assistance of Count Rochambeau and the French fleet under the command of Admiral DeGrasse, you would in all probability still be a colony of The British Empire.

M. Do they not teach your history in your public schools?"

One of us here can play Paul Harvey, and tell the rest of the story about why the French involved themselves in our Revolution.

I'll give you 3 days to come up with something Paq...

[JohnWill]

Originally Posted by thingamajig

Telnet, FTP, E-Mail, etc worked just fine before the http protocol. The web just opened the Internet to the ignorant masses and it's never been the same since.

I was using the Internet in the 80's, years before the WWW was even a gleam in someone's eyes.

[TooBad]

Originally Posted by TRS-80 vet

One of us here can play Paul Harvey, and tell the rest of the story about why the French involved themselves in our Revolution.

I'll give you 3 days to come up with something Paq...

Paq was not on his game in this thread.

[thingamajig]

Originally Posted by buffoon

That is firstly not fair (wait til I tell them about the misappropriation of their name by a paleface) and also not true.

I can speak for the Natives remember.

Originally Posted by buffoon

What happened is that one of them rolled too near the camp fire and set his blanket and himself alight. In the subsequent effort of dousing the mess erratic puffs of smoke rose, seen by many in the surroundings who surmised that "Rolls in Campfire" had probably done it again.

Probably my great, great, great, great,...., great grandfather. I think I remember the name "Rolls in Campfire" in an old faded family portrait.

Originally Posted by buffoon

Since approaching whites were even more prone to similar stupidity the original smoke puff sequence was henceforth emulated to tell of their arrival.
THAT was the only message ever sent.

What do you expect from European misfits?

[buffoon]

Originally Posted by thingamajig

I can speak for the Natives remember.

Vaguely. What tribe was it again? ( So I can check )

Probably my great, great, great, great,...., great grandfather. I think I remember the name "Rolls in Campfire" in an old faded family portrait.

That would be old, faded and slightly singed, no?

What do you expect from European misfits?

By that time they were probably American

[valis]

Originally Posted by TRS-80 vet

One of us here can play Paul Harvey, and tell the rest of the story about why the French involved themselves in our Revolution.

I'll give you 3 days to come up with something Paq...

That's sort of missing his point, trs.........which had nothing to do with the 'rest of the story'.

Every one of those items has a 'rest of the story'. You want answers to all of them?

[thingamajig]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

I was using the Internet in the 80's, years before the WWW was even a gleam in someone's eyes.

Me also as it was the only way to connect to the computer research centers with so-called "super computers" like the Cray X-MP or the Cyber 205 or collaborations with Marshall. IBM had it's "Bitnet" for e-mail and I remember that many used it before e-mail became standard. There were still teletypes around when I started doing research (university departments tending to hold on to old equipment).

In the first half-decade of the web, we weren't allowed access. The details of how to make a firewall that allowed an http request and response secure had not yet been worked out. But the rate at which the web took off was blinding!! It was tempting to spend the day browsing instead of working.

[buffoon]

Originally Posted by valis

That's sort of missing his point, trs.........which had nothing to do with the 'rest of the story'.

Every one of those items has a 'rest of the story'. You want answers to all of them?

Well since I haven't been called upon I'll open my trap (as usual) and tell what went on before (never mind the rest).

France is born with the national heritage of a finger which belongs in an eye and that eye is British, til kingdom come. Works the other way round as well..

Due to their majority having a prevalent lack of English they sometimes confuse Brits and Yanks.

A problem that, despite language disparity, Brits and Yanks don't share since they'd never confuse their opposite with the French.

BTW French Fries are misnamed. The frying of potato strips was fist done in Spain (even some Belgians admit that, though most of them lay claim to having invented "pommes frites"). What this has to do with the topic?

Well THAT is the rest of the story.

[thingamajig]

Originally Posted by buffoon

Vaguely. What tribe was it again? ( So I can check )

Cherokee who still have a small reservation near the Great Smokey Mountains. Most of them were marched to Oklahoma on the trail of tears but a few escaped and stayed behind. The rest were butchered. It was never discussed on visits with my grandparents and probably just as well.

Originally Posted by buffoon

That would be old, faded and slightly singed, no?

No doubt. If I recall, "Rolls in Campfire" was standing next to "Runs Into Trees" and "Trips Over Stumps". "Falls Off Cliffs" was no longer alive.

Originally Posted by buffoon

By that time they were probably American

But it took some time to properly educate them.

[thingamajig]

Originally Posted by buffoon

BTW French Fries are misnamed. The frying of potato strips was fist done in Spain (even some Belgians admit that, though most of them lay claim to having invented "pommes frites").

So our boycott of French Fries after France denied their air space for Desert Storm was misplaced?

Originally Posted by buffoon

What this has to do with the topic?

What topic?

[Moby]

Krauts silenced by Brit as even Germans blame France!

A British long distance truck driver was reprimanded after returning from a German run. Delayed in France so arriving late in Germany after 2 days travelling, he was shocked to listened to a German workers tirade:-
"Those idiot French cannot organise anything. Their roads are inefficient, with motorways slowed by tolls that offer only holes in the ground to squat over for toilets! If we were still in charge they'd have fast modern autobahns by now. They had their chance"
Brit:- "I remember my dad telling me in his day he could make the same journey in less than a day?"
German:- "Exactly! No tolls, so no hold ups and before disorganised French meddling!!!!"
Brit:- "Aaaand they didn't mess about in them Lancasters!"