Artful Code

A few of us are old enough to remember the days before the Internet, when “online” meant you had Prodigy, AOL, or CompuServe. Some of us are venerable enough to predate even those dinosaurs and recall the age of 300 baud modems, Telix, typing ATDT into the terminal, and local BBSes with names like Gunner’s Grotto and Elfstone (and if you recognize those two, you probably know where I lived in high school). I spent quite a few late nights chatting on the Grotto, a lavish MajorBBS with more than a dozen phone lines on rotary. I remember getting that brand new 9600 baud modem and being awed by its speed.

I’m old enough that I remember when email happened on the local university’s VAX system or by dialing into some yahoo’s computer running Angelfire BBS with four phone lines.  I remember just how blazingly fast a 9600 baud modem seemed.  I’m even old enough to remember typing ATDT into Telix :).  Alright, I’m only 30, [...]