Putting It Into Words
I just can't do it. I can't leave readers out of the writing.
I'm reflecting back on the history of the internet as it began to permeate my life, and particularly as I saw it playing a role in finding our longed-for home, finding community in a remote rural setting, and ultimately as an opportunity and medium for a more creative form of writing.
It occurred to me how central the squeal of the modem became between my first exposure to them (at 9600k) in 1995 and their obsolescence just a few months ago with the coming of DSL to Goose Creek.
Listen to this wav file of a modem making its connection. Your assignment: Complete the following sentence (modified as you see fit, to describe in words the assorted sounds a modem makes) knowing that your answers may in part find usage in the current little chapter I'm working on:
It magically tied my home office to computers across the world, this surreal language of ____________.
Take your time. Come on, writer-types. This could be fun. --FF
Comments
extraterrestrial snapcracklepop trainwrecks in space far, far from anywhere I'd ever been or heard of.
Or something.
Posted by: Doc Rock | June 25, 2004 1:33 PM
No fine words of startling originality I'm afraid; the fine words engine here has developed a severe malfunction (not that it was ever functioning properly in the first place). But that little clip sure brought back memories! Even though DSL chez nous has only been a feature of the last 6 months or so, dial-up now feels like the dark ages.
Hey, I bet there's some corner of geekdom that could even tell what modem you were using: "Hear that little chirrup there? That's a sure sign of a Hayes.. Now, if it had been a US Robotics, there'd have been more of a twang to it..."
Posted by: andy | June 26, 2004 4:26 AM
ones and zeros; no longer content to dance silently in the big beige box, they found analog form and sang crudely but lustily.
Posted by: lurking jen | June 27, 2004 6:10 PM
"Thinktalk"
Posted by: Carl | July 31, 2004 10:45 AM
"Thoughttalk"
Posted by: Carl | July 31, 2004 10:46 AM
OK, I had to go at this one more time... I came up with it only after the first two, and then thought it would be too silly to have three entries. But after three days, I have to swallow my pride and come back to the front of the clas and say that as we type our thoughts, we are "thalking"
Posted by: Carl | August 3, 2004 10:39 AM