"On The Other Claw...."

When I was six years old, my father, a newspaper publisher, took me into work to show off the brand-new, state-of-the-art layout and compositioning system that had replaced the gigantic, '40s-vintage printing presses that we'd had heretofore. Even at that age, my fondness for technology and science was evident; it was 1970, after all, and I had followed each and every Apollo flight with rapt, unwavering attention.

Glowing words were on the screen. A little blinking box was at the end of the line, and every time my father pressed a key, a letter appeared. It was ... well, I was a product of my era. It wasn't "like magic", but it most certainly was Sufficiently Advanced.

And then ... the blinking box vanished. And my father could not recover it. This led to a stream of the profane invective for which he was infamous ... and that, in turn, led to my response:

"That must be why they call them 'cursers'."

This was no innocent comment, no fodder for Mr. Linkletter's program. Oh, no. This was a clear and present pun, delivered in full knowledge of the depth of my crime.

And he had only himself to blame.

You see, my MOTHER raised me on the Apollo Program.

My FATHER raised me on Rocky and Bullwinkle.

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It was a trivial thing, really. I discovered that "second breakfast" wasn't merely an invention of Professor Tolkien, but an actual meal in some cultures. This amused me enough that I went to the Wikipedia page for Hobbit to turn the reference to that meal into an internal link.

While I was there, I shrugged, and turned the references to all the meals into links.

( and then there was DRAMA ON THE INTERNET OH NOES! )

If there are any further volleys in this pie-fight, I'll update accordingly.

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In the tradition of paka and hafoc:

"Jane Austen. Novelist.

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild her. We have the technology."

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Conspiracy rants are often amusing.

Conspiracy rants that cite Mage: the Ascension as factual material are Comedy Gold.

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