Friday, March 07, 2008

HAMateurs!



When I was a kid back in the 60's, the only guy in my neighbourhood who regularily chatted with people living in other countries was the nerdy Ham Radio Operator. Sheesh.



I always thought that these dorky goofs were complete geeks. They had their own little, goofy, callsign certificates (Hamatars) that they proudly taped up on the wall. Gawd!



What the hell did they talk about? The weather? No they were probably Communist Spys. Na.

My best guess was that they were all sitting around waiting for some catastrophic climatic event to knock out the phone lines so that they could be Heroes, just for one day. That seemed like a lot of time, effort, and money, to invest for one glorious day of one-upmanship. Neener-neener-neener!

But how else could they justify having enough equipment in their rec room to run a small radio station and erecting that stupid, ugly, tower blotting out the sun in the backyard! I guess they could brag about their huge erections?Ooh Aah.


Speaking of huge erections, you could spot their lair from miles away because they had those big ass towers in their backyard. Nice. The cables led to the basement where they sat in the isolation wasting away hours talking to friends from other countries. Weirdos!

Now I realise that they were pioneer Bloggers. These dweebs were actually pioneers in interpersonal global communciation. D'OH!

Here we are in the 21st Century and I suppose that most of the general public still consider any Goofball who would waste time chatting with strangers in different parts of the world to be Weirdos.

I mean really, what kind of person would want to waste hours doing something like that?

45 comments:

  1. Who knew there were people just like us, before the advent of blogging on the internet?? Must have been very exciting when the first contact with someone on the other side of the globe crackled through the static. Guess we are all dweebs, then, too.....

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  2. Hildegaarde Entrailmat, this is Venetia Scuryplace, are you receiving? over.

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  3. CQ CQ CQ DX

    do you read me?
    over

    10 4 good buddy

    ReplyDelete
  4. See? Now you've come full circle. I'm sure that was an earlier incarnation of you in those pix.

    You teased them as dweebs, but now you understand that they were the first early blogging pioneers.

    Nowadays, we don't even need bad weather to do this. Roger Wilco, over and out.

    (And I salute your ever-increasing use of Photoshop to enhance your blog design.

    I especially like you as a Roman gladiator or whatever that is.

    It's becoming apparent that your ultimate goal is to become god, a master of all time, all things/everything.

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  5. And you know, of course that changing one's blog banner and identity constantly is the 21stC equivalent of "little, goofy, callsign certificates (Hamatars)". You're such a ham, Donn.

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  6. i hate reality. But we are not the first?! fudge. beep beep call sign ghost beep beep

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  7. As I was reading this I was thinking to myself that he is discribing the original bloggers and damned if you weren't. I guess man has always needed to communicate with the world outside of his little existence. Well done.

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  8. Anonymous7:14 pm

    Myrtle Beached (Excuse me Lord TennisAnyone, beg pardon, I needs must perforce tilteth back my chair to have a word with yon goode Lady or Lord Beached..)

    Lord or Lady Beached, as it be, you say:

    "I guess man has always needed to communicate with the world outside of his little existence."

    But what if there be but only other little existences? What then? Huh?

    I thusly expostulate in this belabored manor - that is, the virtual Abode of the Sir Lord TennisAnyone - to show mineself a Manne of both good breeding and sound philosophical temperament.

    And have you read Jane Austin's latest?

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  9. That's an excellent observation.

    I would love to waste hours like that.

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  10. What kind indeed??

    We are the dweebs of the 21st century.

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  11. I typed a really smart and creative answer and it got eaten by blogger, gah..I shall never have such a creative streak again!

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  12. Do I get dweebishness points for my shortwave radio?

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  13. i'm getting seasick over your banner. never did have sea legs.

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  14. It still goes on you know, that radio thing. There is a guy round here that pitches up on the top of the moor in his car and has a huge erection up all night. He sits in there talking to his mates from god knows where. Maybe I should call in and see if he has heard of the internet.

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  15. Pioneer bloggers. Nah. I reckon they're all working for the once-great BBC.

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  16. Who would? Me! Me! Me! I would! I would! Pick me, please!!

    Oh. Sorry. Got carried away there! Teeheehee!!

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  17. They all ended up working for the NSA or local equivalents, free headphones and all the Roger Wilco they can eat.

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  18. Donn, my younger brother is a registered Ham radio operator. He still talks to total strangers in this day and age. And I fully understand his enthusiasm. Don't we feel the same way about blogging?

    Even now Ham radios save a lot of lives. Blogging can't do that.

    Figure it out!

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  19. So you are finally back to Donn?

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  20. Anonymous1:08 pm

    What is a ham radio?

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  21. Anonymous1:55 pm

    Only freaks talk to people they've not met.

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  22. I only come here to be cheered up!

    Success again!

    ReplyDelete
  23. And here I was thinking the chess club was the ultimate geek hideout.

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  24. ...folds Morse code book into pocket and creeps quietly back into shack to continue conversation with chap on moor in England whose neighbour does strange things with horses...

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  25. LOL @ your comment!! You know, all that HUNKY guy would have had to do was ask me to go with him. Damn...he was GORGEOUS and I probably would have let him sacrife me...lol!!

    As for the nekkid island girls? I tied them up until after I left....LOL

    Thanks for stoppy by and come back again ;o)

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  26. indeedz they were PIONEER BLOGGERS! wut a cool way to describe em...very clever.

    Keshi.

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  27. so sweet those ham operators were. I remember being able to talk to my sister when she was attending school in Bogata, Columbia in 1976 because we were able to patch it through with the help of a ham radio... sweet!

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  28. Anonymous6:20 pm

    Breaker 1-9 Breaker 1-9

    I think that is how it went.

    My grandfather was a ham radio nerd.He thought he was cool as hell though sitting there talking to people in his plaid shorts and knee high black socks.

    If they would have only known...

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  29. Anonymous6:25 pm

    That's right, weirdo :-))

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  30. Anonymous6:45 pm

    Gautami, if you still haven't saved any lives with your blogging... Have you disabled comments by accident or something???

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  31. Anonymous7:38 pm

    Ham Radio evolves into the internet... the only change is the removal of visible erections, and being arrested if you have one in the back yard.

    This may be disjointed as stace and I are both witing this, the correctly spelt portion is her.

    how about HAMlet Radio

    Alas poor Yorick you have just won tickets to Supertramp.

    SPAM radio

    Antenna keep falling down?? VIAGRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    It has been a long day.

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  32. So perceptive of you Donn.
    But it's obvious from their photos that those guys were just discussing the latest hairstyles.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous12:12 pm

    You have it here, come again. So here I am!

    I am so much honoured that you visited my lowly blog a while back. Do I curtsey? You see I don't know the rules.

    Ah well, I have already evaluated the 200 odd exam papers and tabulated those. Never let be said that Gautami slacked on anything! Does not go with her image! As you said, it is a necessary part of academia.

    Next on agenda is the school Time-table. I am an expert on that. I thought a bit of bragging peps up self-esteem!

    And you still on the Ham radio post?

    ok, da-di-di-dah!

    *grin*

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  34. I guess I qualify as a 21st century dweeb.....lol!!

    If we ONLY knew...

    ciao ;o)

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  35. I always knew I was a closet geek! (But I am NOT a dweeb... nope...)

    It'd be nice to have a huge erection in my back yard.

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  36. big guy...where art thou?

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  37. Speaking with people whom you've never met, across large distances?

    PISH.

    POSH.

    It'll never happen.

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  38. ponygirl,
    We are not Dweebs..we are all STARS!

    Venetia Scuryplace,
    This is Hildegaarde Entrailmat what is your position on recovering sofas?
    Over.

    ziggi,
    I think that you may have this confused with CB Radio ala Smokey and the Bandit...you bought that issue of nudie toodie Burt Reynolds on the bearskin rug didn't you?

    winky wankerpants,
    They were obviously well ahead of the curve. I have pretty much given up trying to release all of my inner guest writers...meh, nobody gets it anyway.

    andrea,
    The Head Bone is connected to the Blog Bone.
    The Blog Bone is connected to the
    Ham Bone.

    ReplyDelete
  39. ghostay,
    Reality is only what you want it to be.
    Over.

    myrtle beached whale,
    Welcome MBW!
    Yeah it struck me the other day as I walked past a neighbour who has a huge erection in his back yard.

    paul maurice chevalier,
    Did you think that I had reincarnated yet again? As for Ms Austen I regret to inform you that her "realism, biting social commentary, and masterful use of free indirect speech" came to an abrupt end on July 18, 1817.

    allan,
    I would too, but having visuals makes it ONE TRILLION TIMES "more better".

    menchie,
    Embrace your inner dweebishness. Nurture it. Love it. Release it.

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  40. cazzie,
    I will have to take your word for it. Blogger is a cruel and unusual program and totally unpredictable. Nothing pisses me off like losing the funniest comment EVER!

    mj,
    You do not need any more dweebishness points..you hit the maximum allowed under Canadian and International Law several years ago.

    now now misti,
    I find that hard to believe?

    tom,
    Do not attempt to make contact with this person. He is obviously transmitting secrets back to Albania where preparations are in order to celebrate the advent of making fire.

    malc,
    The once great Beeb? Say it isn't so...wait a second Davey Attenborough is haviong Tea with me..Dave some guy is knocking the Beeb...malc he said"The *&@#%@%^#*%@*& BBC can #%@*$ right up my^#%@!"

    I guess you're right.

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  41. eternally curious,
    I would pick you too. How else could we be exposed to all of these nutters out here?

    Dame daphne wayne-bough,
    I have never eaten Wilco but I have ingested massive quantities of crow..and on a regular basis.

    gautami,
    That's cool but I betcha that he still thinks that Hamming is better than Blogging.
    Yes (sigh) thanks to your gentle prodding I am back to just plain Donn ..
    for now anyway.

    fathorse,
    A HAM radio is a derogatory term for Hardass Alchoholic Mussoliniist. Although some are still hiding in basements all over the world most were eradicated soon after Italy was defeated by Luxembourg during the Second World War. Now, Go back to sleep.

    citizen of the world,
    Sound advice. We were all told to NEVER EVER EVER talk to strangers weren't we? Now just look at us...we are just being rebellious.
    Hey Mom look what I'm doing! Neener neener neener.

    ReplyDelete
  42. whitesnake,
    Thank You. Now sit down and relax. Put your feet up. Get out of that HEATWAVE! I cannot believe how brutal that must be. How do you cope with that?
    ((glug glug glug))

    THGE michael,
    The nerds in the Chess club looked like Caligulan Swingers in Vegas compared to the Hammers!

    dinahmow,
    Weird things with horses on the moors? Sounds like you have Druids.

    jillie,
    I see that you like to play by your own rules. I suppose that you can never go back to that island paradise because the local women will have made about 6,000 voodoo dolls and they are pissed off and ready to start pokin'!

    keshi,
    Pioneer Bloggers indeed. I had an old girlfriend whose Dad loved Hamming almost as much as he hated me.
    This was my way of releasing all of the mean things that he called me.. but in a positive vibe.
    *wipes hands of the humiliation

    ReplyDelete
  43. kindness,
    She was a Contra? No wrong country.
    It must have been very interesting studying in Columbia during the zenith of the Cartel supremecy. How long did it take her to get thorough customs??

    preposterous ponderings,
    Plaid shorts and black knee high socks..I remember that. Do you suppose that "look" will ever come back? I suppose that fashion violation is still IN in parts of Florida and Arizona eh?

    hildegarde,
    Weirdo?
    Wie zijn u die roepen een weirdo?

    paul maurice chevalier,
    It's best not to upset Gautami when she is visiting my blog...you never know which "gautami" is going to reply and she can eats guys like us for lunch. Just slowly start to step back but keep your eyes on her...quietly..

    aidan,
    I LOVE Supertramp.
    Your schpalleeng isn't getting any better but I always seem to know exactly what you're saying...sort of...close enough.
    Are you guys all settled in?

    kaz,
    You may very well be right. Look at them. If I didn't know any better I would think that those fellers were "really happy".

    gautami,
    SORRY. I'll write something right away...wait don't go..DON'T GOOOOO!
    Dammit what am I going to do now? I know. I'll blame it on paul maurice chevalier..yeah that's the ticket. heh heh heh

    ReplyDelete
  44. OK F#$&*% Blogger is at it again...I'll try again.

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  45. mwaaaaaahahahahahaaaaa...
    maybe bloggers should start hanging signs on their front doors, or their front gates?

    ReplyDelete

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