I usually try to stop threads like these by posting the lyrics and sample pointer for Frank Hayes's song "When I was a Boy": http://www.firebirdarts.com/audio/rwboy.ram When I was a boy our Nintendo Was carved from an old Apple tree And we used garden hose to connect it To our steam-powered color tv. But it still beat that ancient Atari 'Cuz I almost went blind, don'tcha know, Playing Breakout and Pong on a video game Hooked up to the radio. And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse Barefoot, uphill both ways, Through blizzards in summer and winter Back in the good old days. Back when Fortran was not even Three-tran And the PC was only a toy And we did our computing by gaslight When I was a boy. When I was a boy all our networks Were for hauling in fish from the sea-- Our bawd rate was eight bits an hour (and she was worth it!), And our IP address was just 3. And you kids who complain that the World Wide Web Is too slow oughtta cut out your bitchin', 'Cuz when I was a boy every packet Was delivered by carrier pigeon And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse Barefoot, uphill both ways, Through blizzards in summer and winter Back in the good old days. Back when Fortran was not even Two-tran And the mainframe was only a toy And we did our computing by torchlight When I was a boy. When I was a boy our IS shop Built relational tables from wood, And we wrappered our data in oilcloth To preserve it the best that we could. And we carried our bits in a bucket, And our mainframe weighed 900 tons, And we programmed in ones and in zeros And sometimes we ran out of ones. And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse Barefoot, uphill both ways, Through blizzards in summer and winter Back in the good old days. Back when Fortran was not even One-tran And the abacus? Only a toy! And we did our computing in primordial darkness When I was a boy. (when performed live, especially with multiple singers around, this is usually accompanied by ADDITIONAL patter, the likes of which has people rolling around on the floor. "You had DARKNESS?! All I had was this damned singularity and darkness hadn't been invented yet...") -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu