Comments on: Virus Inflicts James Joyce on Mobile Phone Users

Virus Inflicts James Joyce on Mobile Phone Users

Steve_at_Linnwood — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 11:56:23 -0800

Bloomsday Virus Inflicts James Joyce on Mobile Phone Users
The first ever computer virus that can infect mobile phones has been discovered, anti-virus software developers said today, rendering many phones virtually useless.

The virus was apparently released in time for the 100th anniversary of the eponymous literary holiday. It infects the Symbian operating system that is used in several makes of mobiles, notably the Nokia brand, and propagates through the new bluetooth wireless technology that is in several new mobile phones.

By: hackly_fracture

hackly_fracture — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:01:46 -0800

Ah, but my Apple Phone is completely safe. Right?

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:04:11 -0800

Link next to the story: Click here for the Page Two story from 1/27, Gondor Accepted to United Nations Before anyone gets in a tizzy, it's a joke.

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:07:08 -0800

or is it?

By: malphigian

malphigian — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:11:20 -0800

Though this is obviously a joke (although they seemed to forget the part about making jokes funny), there was indeed a mobile virus discovered by a kaspersky labs called "cabir".

By: jasper411

jasper411 — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:11:57 -0800

The Watley Review disclaimer section says... The Watley Review is dedicated to the production of articles completely without journalistic merit or factual basis, as this would entail leaving our chairs or actually working. Names, places and events are generally fictitious, except for public figures about which we may have heard something down at the pub. All contents are intended as parody and should be construed as such. We have no agenda other than the depletion of Uncle Zeke's whaling trust fund and the dutiful appreciation of smooth, smooth liquor. The Review is updated every Tuesday, when the hangovers wear off. So I'd say we're on pretty safe ground declaring it a hoax.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:30:59 -0800

I knew it couldn't be true because mobile phones don't use a Microsoft OS. QED. But for a second there, my scrotumtightened. Really. I was briefly alarmed.

By: trharlan

trharlan — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:37:48 -0800

*vomits*

By: hama7

hama7 — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:46:01 -0800

When the devilishly cruel evildoer is finally caught, he should be forced to actually read Ulysses, and then Finnegan's Wake, while listening to Mason & Dixon on tape.

By: Mossy

Mossy — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 12:47:41 -0800

I knew it couldn't be true because mobile phones don't use a Microsoft OS. QED Oh yes they do.. I have a Motrola Mpx 200 myself and it's quite spiff. You have to rate a phone with playable Doom and Nethack..

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:00:14 -0800

I liked Ulysses. I'm actually going to be reading excerpts in a pub downtown tonight. (The raunchy bits, mostly.) But I couldn't get through 25 pages of Mason & Dixon. I might have just been distracted, and there might be something good in there, but damned if I felt like looking for it. I never said I wasn't a snob. I did like Gravity's Rainbow, if that matters.

By: strangeleftydoublethink

strangeleftydoublethink — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:09:03 -0800

If it were not a hoax, a virus bent on taking out mobile phones could be a worthwhile endeavor for an idle cracker.

By: hama7

hama7 — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:15:28 -0800

But I couldn't get through 25 pages of Mason & Dixon. I actually bought the brick. Now I'll always have something heavy to bludgeon an intruder with, or use as a doorstop, or as a cure for insomnia.

By: Steve_at_Linnwood

Steve_at_Linnwood — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:17:06 -0800

Okay. There really is a first of it's kind virus for mobile phones spreading via BlueTooth, that was discovered today. This is a joke, I found funny, but apparently no one else did.

By: sonofsamiam

sonofsamiam — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:23:15 -0800

You people are crazy. I couldn't put Mason & Dixon down.

By: riviera

riviera — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:46:07 -0800

Finnegan's Wake Please assume the position while I thwap you with a copy of Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:18:29 -0800

This is a joke, I found funny, but apparently no one else did. I did. Thanks, Steve.

By: scody

scody — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:18:54 -0800

Bless you, riviera, I thought I was the only Joycean apostrophedant in the house.

By: macrone

macrone — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 15:52:21 -0800

Mason & Dixon is a terrific read. I think it's Pynchon's best work after GR, and it's easier to boot. But most people would find my reading tastes perverse.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 23:47:12 -0800

I love the Pynchon, but I too found the archaic diction and Comedy Capitalization of M&D jarring. Several forays into it, and I've still yet to get more than waist-deep.