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Celebrities Born Today: <
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Jimi
Hendrix (1942-1970, Age 27)
Michael Vartan (1968)
Bill Nye (1955)
Jaleel White (1976)
Bruce Lee (1940)
Eddie Rabbitt (1941)
Brooke Langton (1970) |
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Emoticon
History
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Like prehistoric cave dwellers, the devotees of electronic bulletin-boards
and "e-mail" have struggled to find a new way to express
themselves. Wall painting would not work. Words, it seems, are
not enough. Inarticulate sounds cannot be displayed on screens.
To make their messages feel more like personal contact, they
have hit on using the punctuation marks on an ordinary keyboard
in order to pull faces at each other. To read these signs, you
have to put your head on your left shoulder.
The basic unit is:
:-)
the "smiley", a standard smiling face. In context,
this can mean "I'm happy to hear from you", or other
pleasantries. The smiley can also wink:
;-)
or frown:
:-(
among other things. The language can express many things about
the user's appearance:
8-) :-{) 8:-) :-)-8 :-Q @:-)
These signs mean, respectively, that the user wears sunglasses,
has a moustache, is a little girl, is a big girl, smokes, wears
a turban. The smiley can also indicate some subtleties of mood
and response:
:-D :-/ :-e :-7 :-X
These mean that he is laughing, is skeptical, is disappointed,
is wry, is keeping his lips sealed.
Many of the signs (perhaps the majority in use on America's
biggest computer networks) are simply absurd fun, verging
on the unintelligible:
:-F *:o) +-:-) @=
C=}>;{))
The user is a buck-toothed vampire with one tooth missing, is
a clown, holds religious office, is pro-nuclear. The hieroglyph
on the next line means that the user is a drunk, devilish chef
with a toupee in an updraft, a moustache and a double chin.
Now you know what electronic mail is used for.
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Bill
Nye's Words of Wisdom::
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"Try things then clean up after yourself. Then try some
more things and clean that up too."
-Bill Nye |
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Jimi
Hendrix Said...
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I will be dead in five years' time, but while I am here, I will
travel many highways and I will, of necessity, die at a time
when my message of love, peace, and freedom can be shared with
people all over the world.
Once you're dead, you're made for life.
-Jimi Hendrix
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Persective
on What You Do, By Bruce Lee:
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First of all, the word superstar really turns me off -- and
I'll tell you why. The word "star" man, it's an illusion.
it's something what the public calls you. You should look upon
oneself as an actor, man. I mean you would be very pleased if
somebody said (punches his fist into his open hand) "man,
you are a super actor!" it is much better than, you know,
superstar.
-Bruce Lee |
