Bet you didn't know this!



I know I haven't been around much lately, but here's another offering from TK to brighten your day. :)
How the internet began - the real version.

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.
And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?"
And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"
And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.
And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.
To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew.

It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP)
But this success did arouse envy.. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted - for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.
They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."
And Abraham looked out over thee Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.
Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside.
It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)
And that is how it all began.


A Mother's Story: Birthday

A Mother's Story: Birthday

Family trees

They're fascinating and very addictive, I've discovered as I have recently taken advantage of the two week trial membership of Ancestry.co.uk and have spent almost every waking hour of the last couple of days delving back into the misty realms of my forebears. One branch leads back to the twelfth century - that would be our Norman connection, then, you know, the Grosveneurs, de Veres and de Leighs. Name dropping? Moi?
It is noticeable how firmly rooted Dad's family is in Cheshire and Mum's in Shropshire, with a few forays into Staffordshire and Worcestershire. Families of ten children were not uncommon and a fair few  were married more than once - no doubt because the poor wives either died in childbirth or were worn out by producing so many children.
I often watch the advert for Ancestry.co.uk and wish that we really could talk to family members through the ages but, in the meantime, I'll carry on with the investigations and a bit of imagination. At least the dining room table is now covered with sheets of family tree, a change for the better from Keith electronics.

Plaster board and dust

So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...