[extropy-chat] Yesterday's home computer

[BillK]

On 2/16/06, Damien Broderick wrote:
> But *all* the people from the dying world of Metaluna look like that!
> This is not really a home computer, though, it's an interociter. You
> can tell by the big steering wheel.
>

Dirk did say it was a joke.  :)

<http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp>

Although the photograph displayed could represent what some people in
the early 1950s contemplated a "home computer" might look like (based
on the technology of the day), it isn't, as the accompanying text
claims, a RAND Corporation illustration from 1954 of a prototype "home
computer." The picture is actually an entry submitted to a Fark.com
image modification competition, taken from an original photo of a
submarine maneuvering room console found on U.S. Navy web site,
converted to grayscale, and modified to replace a modern display panel
and TV screen with pictures of a decades-old teletype/printer and
television (as well as to add the gray-suited man to the left-hand
side of the photo).

BillK