The mixed-up files of Charles E. Babbage

Did you know …

That one of Charles Babbage’s first attempts at building a computer consisted entirely of tying together several file cabinets with string, and then setting them on fire? It’s true!

While the experiment was a mitigated success at best, it did give us the common computer programming expression, “My word box is on fire!” Also, it put Babbage into fairly significant debt, as the cabinets he burned belonged to his neighbor, who was a lawyer or something.

Bonus fact: No one knows Babbage’s middle name! I just put the “E” in there for fun! Babbage himself refused to tell anyone his full name, on account of the vulnerability to sorcery he believed the dissemination of that information would cause him.

Brainstuff

Did you know …

That people who use .gifs (or, “jiffs,” if you’re going to be a gerk about it) to communicate on the Internet all seem to suffer from a mental condition that drastically reduces their capacity to think and understand? It’s true!

Scientists believe that the condition is related to a prion infection, but, unfortunately, to determine whether or not the .gif user is infected, the brain of the subject must be removed, blended up and baked, or something. So far, every .gif user tested has been infected, but until we can blend up all their brains, we won’t know how strong the association really is. But here’s hoping!