I’ve noticed that when I get more than about 15 Facebook tabs open in Firefox, everything gets slow and non-responsive. I blame an incredible amount of javascript at Facebook: I can have more than thirty tabs open on sites that don’t try to offload their calculations onto my machine.
Back before the world wide web and before everyone had a computer we had one network computer for our entire office. I was taking a programming course and needed to write a simple fahrenheit to celcius conversion program in Basic. On the 2nd or 3rd trial run the computer went into a do-loop and crashed. A few minutes later I got a call from IT because I had managed to crash the main-frame as well.
This reminds me of an episode of The IT Crowd where Jen thinks the internet is in a black box. She drops it and then panics, along with the room full of stupid people.
I need to send this comic to my software “design for defense in depth” prof. We actually had a good deal of discussion around why the internet itself is “durable”. Ironically – it is, in part, because it wasn’t centrally designed. The parts of the internet that have more traffic have more paths which make it more robust and the part of the internet that has less traffic have fewer. Which occurred more or less organically. Thus, it is relatively easy to wipe out parts of the internet no one cares about and extremely difficult to wipe out the parts of the internet that everyone cases about. We had a pretty interesting project in determining why the internet could grow organically like this and get more stable where in applications they get less.
I can echo Bill the Nuke’s comment. Back in the late 1960’s our office had a very noisy Model 33 teletype machine that used a dial-up connection to a mainframe computer. We wrote programs in Basic and coded them on punched paper tape for upload to the big computer. One of our workers wrote a program that unintentionally caused the computer to do a destructive read/write of its entire memory. After the second try to get the program to run, the people running the computer called asking us to stop trying to run that program.
allen@home over 3 years ago
If there’s a way to delete the internet i’m sure you’ll find a way Earl. This time i think all you did is smoked your laptop.
parforden over 3 years ago
We should be so lucky.
Templo S.U.D. over 3 years ago
time to get a new laptop (and set up the Internet again)
Concretionist over 3 years ago
I’ve noticed that when I get more than about 15 Facebook tabs open in Firefox, everything gets slow and non-responsive. I blame an incredible amount of javascript at Facebook: I can have more than thirty tabs open on sites that don’t try to offload their calculations onto my machine.
pschearer Premium Member over 3 years ago
But then where would we get our comic?!
syzygy47 over 3 years ago
C’mon Earl, embrace the dark side with your malevolent superpower.
Cminuscomics&stories Premium Member over 3 years ago
Earl, you are my hero.
The Old Wolf over 3 years ago
Might actually be an improvement.
macky87 over 3 years ago
Hey Earl! If you hear a knock on the door, answer it. You just won the Nobel peace prize!
tzid over 3 years ago
If only
mandy052878 over 3 years ago
That’s imposs…
iggyman over 3 years ago
Earl let the smoke out!
jagedlo over 3 years ago
If it means that we’ll never hear from certain people who are only famous because of the internet, I’m with you, Earl!
Darryl Heine over 3 years ago
Crud?
Breadboard over 3 years ago
Earl now you must go shopping with Opal to get a new laptop !
Jeffin Premium Member over 3 years ago
I’ll give up gocomics when they pry the mouse from my cold dead hands.
jaythor70 over 3 years ago
He says from the internet….lol
Zebrastripes over 3 years ago
It’s bitter sweet!
The Reader Premium Member over 3 years ago
Oppressive regimes all over the world are already bidding for your services!
TheTrueNorth over 3 years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_XaJdDqQA0
Saddenedby Premium Member over 3 years ago
OH EARL – if it was that easy I would have done it a LONG TIME AGO – at first by messing up – but now ON PURPOSE – cue wicked laugh soundtrack!!!!
Wichita1.0 over 3 years ago
Bring on the Nobel Prize for generating an (at least brief) world peace.
MuddyUSA Premium Member over 3 years ago
I dare say, there are many Earl types who thought the same way.
Alberta Oil Premium Member over 3 years ago
Be a Nobel prize for you Earl.. if, you can remember how you did it.
anomaly over 3 years ago
It’s okay, Earl. I have a copy on my hard drive.
Bill The Nuke over 3 years ago
Back before the world wide web and before everyone had a computer we had one network computer for our entire office. I was taking a programming course and needed to write a simple fahrenheit to celcius conversion program in Basic. On the 2nd or 3rd trial run the computer went into a do-loop and crashed. A few minutes later I got a call from IT because I had managed to crash the main-frame as well.
Queen of America over 3 years ago
This reminds me of an episode of The IT Crowd where Jen thinks the internet is in a black box. She drops it and then panics, along with the room full of stupid people.
hooglah over 3 years ago
You’re better off.
Indianapolis Smith over 3 years ago
Like that’s even possi…..
Mayor Snorkum over 3 years ago
Funny—it’s still up and running for me. Try again, Earl, please.
Aficionado over 3 years ago
I find the interweb to be useful in many respects. However, I did finally abandon Facebook.
tremaine53 over 3 years ago
Earl’s computer makes some rather non-conventional sounds.
Dr_Fogg over 3 years ago
You quack me up
zeexenon over 3 years ago
Yep, Earl did us all a big favor.
Thinkingblade over 3 years ago
I need to send this comic to my software “design for defense in depth” prof. We actually had a good deal of discussion around why the internet itself is “durable”. Ironically – it is, in part, because it wasn’t centrally designed. The parts of the internet that have more traffic have more paths which make it more robust and the part of the internet that has less traffic have fewer. Which occurred more or less organically. Thus, it is relatively easy to wipe out parts of the internet no one cares about and extremely difficult to wipe out the parts of the internet that everyone cases about. We had a pretty interesting project in determining why the internet could grow organically like this and get more stable where in applications they get less.
theoldidahofox over 3 years ago
Good riddance.
Grace Premium Member over 3 years ago
A fresh start can be hard, but is sometimes quite welcome.
harvey812abc over 3 years ago
Can someone tell me what the last panel says… my screen suddenly went blank.
Doug K over 3 years ago
If you can’t get on the internet from your computer, does it really exist?
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace over 3 years ago
It’s embarrassing when I do that.
Billy Yank over 3 years ago
I can echo Bill the Nuke’s comment. Back in the late 1960’s our office had a very noisy Model 33 teletype machine that used a dial-up connection to a mainframe computer. We wrote programs in Basic and coded them on punched paper tape for upload to the big computer. One of our workers wrote a program that unintentionally caused the computer to do a destructive read/write of its entire memory. After the second try to get the program to run, the people running the computer called asking us to stop trying to run that program.
retrocool over 3 years ago
BURPLE and DOINK. Brian Crane is obviously a fan of the late Don Martin.
pbr50138 over 3 years ago
I kicked Book Face to the curb MONTHS ago.