Talk:technology

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 11:28, 1 February 2006

Extrapolates voice

"extrapolates voice"? I, uh, don't think that word means what you think it means. I'd correct it, but I can't think of anything better than "adopts a high-pitched voice"

Oh, and also, I've actually seen "Computers don't BYTE" posters. In the back of libraries, where even the librarians don't go anymore.

Endless Square?

• That doesn't seem right. It looks the the screen saver alternates between turning left and right, making it an endless zig-zag. And that doesn't seem to be worth mentioning. ~Ostrichburger
  • I concur, and I changed it to indicate alternating left/right. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 23:52, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
• Take a better look. Its actually just one corridor like end----end with the camera turning around to go back the other way. And, if you think about it, this actually makes a bit more sense from an sbemail humor standpoint. ~SuperKawaiiNeko
  • I agree with that - JamesDean

Has anyone tried...

• To decode what Strong Bad was saying in binary?The Noid 15:29, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
  • You could. This is a handy web-based utility. Short of decoding it yourself. ;) —THE PAPER ^PREEEOW 15:31, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
    • Actually, that doesn't work because Strong Bad doesn't say a number of characters divisable by 8, so all the decoder is doing is adding 0's to make up for the lack of bits. And could whoever put the translation specify which coding you are using? eaglescout1984 30 Jan 2006 15:40 GMT
    • Actually ASCII is 7 bit system. -- Crowther
      • Well, I'm still trying to find out if he is saying anything. I get lost, though. I have this so far: 1001101 means...m.The Noid 15:44, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
        • I don't have time to try again but I got 9945
          
          1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
          
          2¹³ + 2¹⁰ + 2⁹ + 2⁷ + 2⁶ 2⁴ + 2³ + 2⁰ =
          I R F 15:44, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
          • I don't think it adds up to anything now. I've used all of those programs, and they just come out with mainly this:�.The Noid 15:46, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
            • If you're using Windows, just open up Calculator, put it in Scientific mode, switch to Binary, enter 1001101101100, then switch it to Decimal mode again. It confirms that Strong Bad's binary translates to 9945 in decimal.
            • That said, I don't think his binary speak means anything in particular. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 16:21, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
  • For that matter, has anyone decoded what Strong Bad said in Semaphore? Or was he even doing real semaphore? -Ed
    • Well, in Morse code, it's EMITEAUN if zero is a dot; TIMETNGA if zero is a dash. --S Gleason 04:51, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Homestar Flying

• Why on earth does homestar fly up the left side of the screen? What's that all about? dayve_57
  • I'm not sure--it seemed to be more of a glitch than something done intentionally. Unless it was a callback to virus. TBC have a habit of referencing their older cartoons. Bruce

I'm pretty sure it was just a joke. The way Homestar Runner said "four" made it seem like it was done intentionally. - Joshua 18:47, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I think it was just a little addition to the ridicul-ous way he raised his pitch.--Robert Benedicio 20:52, 30 January

2006 (UTC)

It has to be intentional, not a glitch, because Bubs' eyes follow Homestar up as he flies away. And how could it be a reference to virus? dayve_57

I bet he was raised by wireless wires. —BazookaJoe 01:49, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

If TBC wanted it to be a reference to virus, they would have made Homestar with The Homestar Runner's body, they would have made his head come off, and they would have made those weird shadowy things appear behind him. It's probably just your everyday Homestar randomness. — Has Matt? (talk) 01:53, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

haha... I thought so. Everyday randomness, indeed!dayve_57

Just curious, did anyone see anything strange on the .swf file before it got black-boardered? -- Nobody Important (NI)

The Amber Screen

The screen in whihc Strong Bad describes how to select an email address is coloured Amber. this is a reference to a time in the mid 80's when Amber replaced green as the principle colour for monochrome screens. It was supposed to reduce eye strain or something. --"Creepy Pants man"

I remember we had one of those amber monochrome screens.. Well, I was pretty little. I remember it being quite like that - that same color, with the diagonal-ish lines going up it. No, I don't remember what year this would be.. probably very early 90's. (Probably just happened to have one.) -- AshyRaccoon 01:46, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

I would add that it's similar to the Tandy SB used to have. -- User who doesn't want to tell you his name (UWDWTTYHN)

Clarke's Third Law

It seems to me that Strongbad was referencing Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law with:

The word technology... means... magic. It's basically anything that's really cool that you don't know how it works. And if it breaks, you have to buy a new one. Why, I've got some technology beneath my pants right now! Whoo-ya!

'Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law:' Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke's Laws

--Kitsula

Oh. I just plain added the thing just now. Incidentally, although I didn't include it, it's even more similar to this corollary. - Octan Jan 30 2006, 3:44PM EST

Catacombs

When SB said "catacombs," the first thing I thought of was the second dungeon in the original Bard's Tale game, which used the first-person viewpoint as well. I'm sure other games had tombs/catacombs as well, since it's a standard RPG element. - Totoro 19:54, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

I was instantly reminded of DungeonQuest, with the Catacombs expansion pack. The screen saver itself resembles a first-person perspective of an extremely boring game of DungeonQuest (no catacombs). -Ed

Yeah, but the screen saver itself is just a clone of "3D Maze", which was one of a series of free 3D screen savers supplied with Win98. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 23:12, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

What about adding a bullet along the lines of "Catacombs were a common setting for dungeons in 1980s RPGs, such as the Bard's Tale and DungeonQuest." The 1980s might be superfluous, since tombs and catacombs are still popular settings in RPGs, but the feel of that screensaver is very '80s, and TBC love to make references to '80s games. - Totoro 00:34, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

The "feel" of the screensaver may be '80s, but that would be a very incorrect reference - that screensaver didn't exist until '96 or '97. (Besides, I doubt you'd find an RPG-style catacomb made up of brick walls.) —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 00:36, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

I remember having that screensaver when I was a kid.--Robert Benedicio 20:55, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

I remember an uncle or somebody having an old computer (not amber-screen or green-screen old, but still) with a game like this, it was a giant, brick wall maze game. Forgot the name, though. --אוקאלייליי (Ookelaylay)

I can make mine say oboe shoes!

Heh. Does anyone else like it when TBC refrence calculator words in such a funny way? So, one time, in third grade, I remember a few kids typing

 7734

on the calculators, and then turned them upside down. As you may of guessed, the H word was on the calculator screen. Very amusing. Especially when we could spell our teacher's first name on the calculator. Weird. So does anybody like calculator words? - Oopsyoubwokeit (not logged in)

It's a pretty common thing... I've done it before, but I don't particularily like it... - Joshua

Calculator talk is fun. There's 55378008, 58008, 0.7734, and a lot more I can't remember right now. --אוקאלייליי (Ookelaylay) 21:39, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Some Hebrew words can be typed on a calculator to! like 71070 or 7109179 (no need to turn it upside down for it!) — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 10:26, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

It's very similar to 1337. Now they have those calculators that type letters, though. Boo...--Robert Benedicio 11:28, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

The Cheatbot

I'm not going to STUFF this because it'd probably get denied right away, and I'm definitely not going to just add it to the email's fun facts list because it'd be taken off right away. In fact, I'm not even sure if this qualifies as a fun fact...it's fun to me, at least. Anyway, might could Strong Bad's mentioning of robot's purpose (other than destroying Japan) to be to serve hors d'œuvres be a reference to the first scene of The Second Renaissance? Just think about. And no, I'm not going to put a Wikipedia link to it, it's only worth discussing if you've actually seen TSR. --VolatileChemical 22:32, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

If by "Second Renaissance", you're referring to episodes 2 and 3 of Animatrix, then I know what you're talking about. And I think that's a stretch - the idea of service robots that can do all sorts of menial tasks has been around much much longer. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 23:15, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

PS: Just like when you were making fun of my name, I still think you're making things a lot harder on yourself with all that excess verbiage there. You know how much harder it is to type all that than just to type [[Wikipedia:Animatrix|Animatrix]]? —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 23:15, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes...I do. I do indeed, KieferSkunk. And do you know how much harder it is to type a message telling someone to type less in their messages on Homestar Runner Wiki talk pages, which is a decision that doesn't affect you or anyone else other than the one who types the message, than to type nothing at all, which is what would be better for everyone? And what else would I mean by Second Renaissance than the Animated Matrix episodes? I wouldn't care to hazard a guess. Plus, the only examples of fiction I can think of with robots that serve orderves are the 2nd Ren-sawnce, and [[Wikipedia:Clone High|Clone High]]. And I'm guessing Strong Bad wouldn't be referencing old Mr. Butlertron. --VolatileChemical 01:12, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Eh, it's not that hard for me. I type at over 100 WPM. That's not the point, though - I'm just trying to suggest ways to be less laborious and to allow yourself to be taken more seriously (at least in my opinion - I obviously don't speak for everyone). When I see "I'm not gonna bother to look this up, just gonna spew it out anyway", I see someone who is making a point of being lazy, and most of the time I tend to skip over the entirety of what they said as a result. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 01:24, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

As for the last part of that: See STUFF for quite a few examples of servant robots. It's pretty much gotten into TTATOT territory by now. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 01:24, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Email Song

Does the email song sound familiar to anyone else? I tried googling some of the key words to figure out which song it comes from, but no luck. It reminds me of something I've heard on a classic rock station though. Maybe fleetwood mac? --racerx_is_alive 22:35, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

I can't put my finger on it, but it isn't Fleetwood Mac (the closest I can come up with in this vein is that it shares a similar sort of tone to "The Chain", but not an actual series of notes or lyrics). Yaztromo 11:25, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Schrödinger's cat?

I'm not sure, so I didn't want to add this as a fun fact, and I didn't feel like going through all the STUFF stuff. Anyway, does anyone else think that the half alive/half dead goat is a reference to schrodinger's cat? No Smorking 00:53, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

No, I don't. — 220.237.71.13 (Talk | contribs) 01:21, 31 January 2006 (UTC) (left unsigned)

I think it's possible - here's the Wikipedia article: Schrodinger's Cat. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 01:25, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

I's more of a reference to "Is the glass half empty or half full?", that psycological question used to determine if someone is optimistic or pessimistic. — Has Matt? (talk) 01:58, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Digits of Pi

I don't entirely like the sentence "The number on the solar calculator, 3.14, is the most common representation of pi." under the fun facts heading. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but 3.14 is not a representation of pi, it is a representation of the number 3.14 which is not pi. Perhaps a better sentence could be something of the form "The number on the solar calculator, 3.14, is the first few digits of pi".

Perhaps "most common approximation" might work better? Spell4yr 03:58, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree and have just changed it. -Polly 06:24, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Approximation is a better word, thanks. I do think "representation" is a correct word, as that's what most people think pi is, or at least what most people use when doing formulas with pi by hand. (It's also what a lot of math textbooks tell you to use.) —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 15:45, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Or worse, they would tell you to use ²²/₇, which is only 3.14 truncated and is nowhere near pi. However, most TI calculators use 3.141592654 for best approximation when graphing or calculating circles. I agree with you both, as no matter how many digits you calculate to, it is still an approximate value. — Lapper (talk) 16:16, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Cell phone movie festival

Hey, when was this email released? Because if it was after 5 am, we've got another case of creepy last-minute coincidence between a real-world broadcast and a sbemail (granted, NPR ain't Family Guy): check out this report on Morning Edition about a guy writing, directing, and producing a movie on his cell phone... and hoping to win a festival. At any rate, the festival itself might merit mention. —AbdiViklas 03:56, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Great leaping ocelots, that's amazing! Nice find! --VolatileChemical 01:26, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Forward Right...

• The screensaver goes in an endless loop of Forward, Right, Forward, Left, as shown here:

 ---- end
   |
   |---- end
   |  |
  end |---- end
      |  |
     end |...

I don't think it goes like this. It looks to me like its forward right, forward right, in a big square. Salty^Talk! 04:02, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

It seems to turn randomly left or right to me... - Joshua 05:08, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Maybe the behavior is different at different times or for different people? It looks to me like a movie clip, but there could be more code in there than that. Every time I've watched it, though, it's gone left/right/left/right, etc. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 15:47, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah I saw it go left/right/left/right... too. --Stux 17:17, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I just realized that the little picture up there is correct, but if you were actually walking across those lines, it would be right,forward,right,forward. Salty^Talk! 03:58, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

.swf changed.

The .swf file has changed from the original to completly black around the primary screen. Count X ^Talk _Email

Yeah, someone mentioned that somewheres. This and death metal, I think are like that. Salty^Talk! 13:35, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Worthless screensaver

That Screen Saver that Strong Bad is so proud of isn't gonna do the job. Anyone who has gone to an arcade can tell you about machines where the words "Game Over" or "Insert Coin(s)" has been literaly burned either into the glass or onto the colored mesh of the display. This is visible even when playing the game. HOWEVER, the point of a screen saver is to consistantly change the colors of these pixels so that the screen never has a chance of getting burned. While he's running his saver, the bottom part of the maze (probably about 3" of his screen) is always that dark yellowish color. Surely that would get burned into his screen if he runs it too long. -NFITC1 17:05, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

That's true.. however, the Lappy has an LCD screen. Can LCDs get burn-in? -- Mithent 20:16, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Nope. LCD panels don't burn-in. Plus, most CRT screens these days have built-in protection against burn-in. It's not to say that they will NEVER burn in, but a screen saver like that would be unlikely to cause burn-in even on a CRT screen. It has partly to do with the contrast and brightness of the screen, partly to do with the intensity of the colors, and also the specific technology the CRT is using. Older CRTs, like in the arcade games, and cheaper CRTs not of computer-monitor grade, are more likely to burn-in simply due to those factors. —  KieferSkunk (talk) — 21:02, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

LCDs don't burn like normal CRTs because they're made differently. They can, however, be damaged by direct sunlight or physical abuse (heh, what can't?). I wasn't arguing that his screen would get burned, I'm just saying that as far as screen savers go, this one's bunk. NFITC1 05:08, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Strong Bad knows it's a Floppy Disk

In email #75 ("funny") he says "I can tape a floppy disk to my forehead". It's a 3.5" floppy. Just thought I'd point that out.

Ooh. Now that's an observation worthy of a remark if ever there was one. Nice figuring. --DorianGray

The Screensaver in general.

The screensaver is an obvious reference to the 3D Maze screensaver on windows 95 and later (I don't think it's on XP though), so why was my addition deleted? - Volbeat A The Cheat 05:01, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Your edit was reverted because that reference was already listed near the top of the Real World References. Heimstern Läufer 05:10, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

.5 or ½

When refuring to floppy disk shouldn't their size be in fractions? For example 3½" floppy instead of 3.5" floppy. – Zntrip 05:16, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

I see 3.5 much more often that 1/2 - Aaronstj 09:19, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Cell Phone Videos

It seems to be at least worth mentioning that the President's of the United States vdieo for Some Postman was indeed filmed entirely with cell phone cameras, specifically 12 Sony Ericsson K750i Aaronstj 09:17, 1 February 2006 (UTC)