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Network Working Group S. Greenfield
Request for Comments: 1300 Ziff-Davis
February 1992
Remembrances of Things Past
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is
unlimited.
Discussion
When Shannon was a river
and Turing was a car
When Banyan was a tree
and buses travelled far
dBase was where you ran to
after you hit the ball
Often we were ANSI
RISC aversive not at all
Windows were for looking out of
in a Tandem, two could take a spin
Bridges were for crossing
a frame was to keep pictures in
A semi-conductor was a maestro
not in the big time yet
A port you sought in a storm
fishermen used a net
Woody Guthrie sang of "My LAN"
WAN was a despairing mood
LATAs were for high places
menus featured food
Greenfield [Page 1]
RFC 1300 Remembrances of Things Past February 1992 If a cursor used four letter words a sensor cut them out The sight of a mouse in an office was sure to raise a shout Haloid perfected photocopying and thereby made a hoard Then came Japanese competition and its "ox" was gored Frequency was measured in cycles Hertz referred to multiple pain Modem was a harvesting command for bringing in the grain Modelling was at fashion shows bauds were ladies of the night Prompting was helping actors contesting for resources, a fight Walking and chewing gum concurrently requires considerable skill We called it multi-tasking and by gosh we always will We had no electronic calculators just slide rules by Keuffel & Esser I am still a true believer Keufel & Esser war besser Chips were used for gambling von Neuman was a pup Monte Carlo a place to visit squaring the circle ... well, we gave up A Sprint was less than 880 a relay was a team Greene was just a color breaking up AT&T a dream Greenfield [Page 2]
RFC 1300 Remembrances of Things Past February 1992 Coherent was applied to speech not a spectral line excited Multi-media meant prose and song and Noel Coward was knighted Cerf was found at the beach a Rose was a Rose was a Rose Jobs were to look for and Gates were to close "2B" was an elementary school class and "D" a failing grade A router was a tool a server was a maid Lotus was a flower adobe was a brick Postscript was an afterthought joy a popsicle stick We called a plotter a CAD a token ring a sham A buffer was for buffing a male goat was a ram The best noise supressor was ... ssh we knew little of egos and ids For archival storage and encryption we looked to the pyramids Now in accordance with Greenfield's Law in voice both loud and clear Here's to exponential growth in memory & operating speed next year. --srg Greenfield [Page 3]
RFC 1300 Remembrances of Things Past February 1992 Security Considerations Security issues are not discussed in this memo. Author's Address Stanley R. Greenfield Ziff-Davis One Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 EMail: 0004689513@mcimail.com Greenfield [Page 4]