ASCII by Jason Scott

Jason Scott's Weblog

Archive for May, 2007

Brickapedia —

While at Notacon this past April, I gave another speech about Wikipedia, probably my last one unless specifically invited to do so by an organization or event. It’s called “Wikipedia, Brick by Brick” and I’ve added it to the archive.org TEXTFILES.COM audio connection at this location. It’s about 40 minutes, and man am I tired […]

And Then It All Goes Crazy —

From this moment on, my next 5 months are spoken for. I’m travelling to New Jersey, Las Vegas, California, Seattle, Chicago, and a rash of other cities. Some of them multiple times. I’m also going to a bunch of events, ranging from pinball expositions to classic gaming expos to computer festivals to just driving endlessly. […]

Goatse II: The Widening —

Life drapes accolades and fame and celebrity on you with very little consultation beforehand. You might do crazy stuff for years and then you do it and a camera catches it and suddenly you’re all Mr. Crazy Guy, known worldwide. I’m definitely not the only computer historian, and I’m definitely not the only weblogging pundit, […]

Microthingies —

Some small ideas, probably to be developed in future entries. Dear Guys Who Purchase the BBS Documentary From Other Lands: I love you very much and I feel a bond with you, but when you request that I list the “value” of the documentary set to be $10 and the designation of the package to […]

Catching Flack for the Philez —

My man “Flack” O’Hara and I were having a chat about this whole “Where Have All the Philez Gone?” thing I mentioned last week. He goaded me into writing a letter to 2600, so I did, which was generally a good thing (we’ll see if I get into HOPE in a year and a half) […]

Wikipedia Templates —

Friends, both old and new, like to do the ol’ Wikicritic a favor by pointing out to him any little flame-up of wikipedia discussion that hits a prominent or not so prominent weblog or website or newspaper or the like. Almost none of these recent whorls of discussion expound on how great Wikipedia is; that’s […]

Leet —

I don’t know why I care, but I do. The sudden web-mainstreaming of “LOLCATS”, or “Image Macros”, inevitably leads to a discussion of the genesis of this weird way or writing stuff, which leads to some mention of “Leetspeak”, which then collapses into a pile of speculative jelly as to where the hell all this […]

Locks —

An interview conducted with an IF author put me in the Providence, RI area, 40 miles from home. While in the short term it might seem to be efficient and businesslike to zip in, do an interview, and drive back, the day was beautiful and Providence can be lovely if you squint. I ended up […]

Seedy Textfiles —

I got another nice letter today along the lines of “I’m sorry to bother you… oh god, don’t hit me… please, what’s going on with CD.TEXTFILES.COM?” Sure, there’s a lot of people who write to me like I’m the Super and they’re getting no heat, but others write with an overarching deference and politeness. So […]

Where Have All the Philes Gone? —

There’s an article in the Autumn edition of 2600 called “Where have all the Philes Gone?” It’s horrible. I’m sorry I only became aware of it recently; I don’t read 2600 much anymore. I don’t understand why 2600 doesn’t have a PDF version of itself available for a subscription fee or otherwise downloadable. I wish […]