[1] 15 digits to dial a local number? He dials 15 digits to connect
to his school computer. Sounds the recordings studio went a bit
over board with the sound effects...
[2] The modem carrier tones. Really... Beeeeeep Beeeeeeeep Slllllh is
normal. Not "diddly-de-duh" "diddly-de-duh" Again, the public wants
cool noises, not the real thing...
[3] The time taken to establish carrier. Really, hear the tone - and
pmf! You're on? Handshaking? Anything? Naaah..
[4] This is a beauty. He connects using a 300bps modem, and then gets
the information on his screen at real time! Where can I get one
of these?
[5] A tiny technicality. I think the movie was made in 1982. (yes/no?)
Anyway - he frequently uses full screen editing. Something that
didn't really appear until vi hit the screen. (remember the curse
of edlin?)
[6] He *always* takes the correct disk from the shelf. Always. He has
tonnes of 8 inches around the place, but always takes just one
from the shelf, and it's always the right one. Really..
[7] During his demon-dialling, he has the most fantastic modem detector.
Not only does it detect carriers, it detects busy signals, *and*
voice, all within half a second! Wow. (Want this as well!)
[8] The *classic*. He attack dials with an acoustic coupler. How the
hell is this possible? Really. And why did he bother to dial
the first number in his demon list?
[9] A tiny glitch. At one stage he's playing galaga (for the second
time) - and he's "doing well" with 3 lives left. He dies, and
pmmf! All his lives are gone, and he says he's owed a quarter
for the game.
[10] Whilst he's attack dialling, he picks up the acoustic coupler,
shows it off (to show what's it's doing) - but the modem just
keeps on going. What a clever little modem.
[11] A dream this one. He calls a computer, is given a LOGON prompt
(nb , not login:) - and manages to get information from WOPR
without being logged on as any one. Wouldn't that be nice?
[12] During his elite hacking, he asks for the printer to be turned
on so he can get a hard copy. But! There is no noise! None!
A silent dot-matrix printer! (or perhaps daisy-wheel! gasP!)
[13] I wish I had a terminal like him. He connects at 300bps, and
manages to get fantastic graphics up on the screen , on
a tty terminal!
[14] While he's playing with WOPR (the 1st time) he decides to
turn off his computer. By flicking one switch, he manages
also turn off every screen at the Defence Center! Gosh,
does that mean when I turn off my computer without logging
off, the other computer dies as well????
[15] How is it that WOPR is able to trace where he lives, when even
the telephone companies are unable to do it? Sheeeze, really..
[16] He disconnects his computer frow WOPR (only a terminal remember)
closes the phone line, yet the clock still counts down the time
on his terminal (with a great deal of background ooooooohhs).
[17] How is it that the most top secret military installation allows
visitors to walk around on guided tours of it? really....
[18] Another amazing feat, the "voice-synthesiser" he has in his
bed room suddenly appears in the defence headquaters. And
anywhere else he happens to be. Wow! That's a loud voice synth.
[19] They apparently scramble f16's , but it's actually two f15's that
take off into the air..
[20] As they're running around on the island away from Falken's place,
before the helicopter arrives, the island is *bathed* in light.
Where from ? Amazing...
[21] Look out DES. As WOPR is sprinting the launch password, it finds
once character at a time! How long did it take to find the last
character? Aaaaaaages. How long does it take to go through the
alphabet?
[22] As he's playing tic-tac-toe, the game gets faster, and faster,
etc, and actually *drains* power to help WOPR think. I know
for a fact that my lights dim when it comes to number
crunching ..... :)
[23] That woman taking damn notes from WOPR. Why? What is her job
title? The "offical-watch-the-flashy-lights-on-wopr" job?
[24] After all the lights and everything gets really flashy, the
place is still in darkness. After the lights have blown, WOPR
manages to turn all the lights back on!
[25] The little clock on the side of WOPR only turns on when someone
is looking at it? Wow! How about that for reliable!
W H Y C O P S H A T E Y O U <<<<&l <
-if you have to ask get out of the way-
Have you ever been stopped by a traffic cop and, while he was
writing a ticket or giving you a warning, you got the feeling that
he would just love to yank you out of the car, right through the
window, and smash your face into the front fender?...
