The Anti-Squatter... A web-based sidebar to the recent passing of WKRP Manager and Maytag Repairman
Gordon Jump: the 'dot-com' address with his name (as well as those for living and dead celebrities including
Jack Palance,
Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan and
Flip Wilson) are owned by Richard Shumaker of "Wilmerding World Wide", who, on each homepage, editorializes against "Celebrity Name Cybersquatting", declares he has "captured" the names for "safekeeping", and promises
"At no charge, I will be more than honored to transfer domain name ownership." [more inside]
posted by wendell
on Sep 26, 2003 -
12 comments
Yes, Virginia, there was life before the Internet... ...but nobody's bothered to archive it yet. Thanks to those wacky .edu's, there's a fair amount of historical data out there, but if you're hoping the newspapers who charge for archive "reprints" will have material from the '40s, the '60s or even the '80s, you're still better off going to the library and flipping through
microfiche (bet that's the first time THAT word's been used on MetaFilter). I hesitated blogging this story here until I saw how the
Internet History Timeline caught some people by surprise... Yes, even we MetaFilterers are sitting on the shoulders of Giants (and a few of us are old enough to remember "They Might Be Giants" as a
movie starring George C. Scott).
posted by wendell
on Jul 24, 2000 -
8 comments
"There is a nose that is getting longer every day but it doesn't belong to Gore." I'm not here to defend Al Gore; I think working alongside Bill Clinton for eight years is enough to corrupt any human being to the very depths of his soul, and he's certainly not alone being glibly mis-characterized by the press (the aftermath of Dubbya's "failing the foreign leaders quiz" comes immediately to mind).
But so many web-heads, including MetaFilterers,
(two
recent examples)
are so invested in perpetuating the myth that "Gore lied about inventing the Internet", it makes me wonder why. Maybe the "libertarian spirit" of the Web can't face the facts that without a hell of a lot of U.S. Government initiatives (oxymoron?) and intervention, many of which can be credited to this otherwise non-outstanding politician named Al, this incredibly powerful tool (and toy) of personal expression and individual freedom might - no, WOULD still be a closed system serving the Military Industrial Complex.
And yes, I have put on my kevlar underwear.
posted by wendell
on Jul 7, 2000 -
3 comments
