UW in fiction
Ray Butterworth
The June 2003 issue of "Asimov's" magazine contains a short
story, "Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers" by Cory Doctorow,
who "lives in San Francisco". Something on the fifth page
sort of jumped out at me:
He looked puzzled. "The trans-d device," I said,
remembering what he'd called it.
"Yes," he said. "It was developed by a researcher
at the University of Waterloo and stolen by Osborne
so he could flee justice. We had that one fabbed up
just so we could chase him."
Aha. The whole shtetl was built over the bones of
the University of Waterloo -- my house must be right
where the physics labs once stood; still stood, in the
technocratic dimensions. That explained my popularity
with the transdimensional set.
...
We both struggled into our shoes and took off after
him. By the time I caught sight of him, he was off
in the bicycle fields, uprooting a ripe mountain bike
and pedaling away toward Guelph.
There are later references to Toronto, Flamborough, and
Hamilton, though nothing that would indicate a knowledge
of the area beyond what one could gather from a simple map.
Ryan M Bayne
Ray Butterworth <rbutte...@mfcf.math.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>Anyone collecting instances of UW's appearance in fiction?
>
>The June 2003 issue of "Asimov's" magazine contains a short
>story, "Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers" by Cory Doctorow,
>who "lives in San Francisco". Something on the fifth page
>sort of jumped out at me:
>There are later references to Toronto, Flamborough, and
>Hamilton, though nothing that would indicate a knowledge
>of the area beyond what one could gather from a simple map.
Cory is a UW drop-out
<http://boingboing.net/2003_04_01_archive.html#200176145> who grew up in
Toronto. He writes for the blog Boing Boing <http://boingboing.net> and
has a personal website craphound.com <http://craphound.com/>. There's a
bio, his novel available in downloadable form and other writings.
I assume it's obvious to mention Douglas Coupland's Microserfs as
literature with a UW reference?
Simon Law
Ryan M Bayne wrote:
> I assume it's obvious to mention Douglas Coupland's Microserfs as
> literature with a UW reference?
Banana Boys by Terry Woo is worth mentioning. He was a
co-worker of mine for a while, before he published his book. I
recommend reading it, but am biased since I:
a) Read "The Joy Luck Club"
b) Go to UW
c) Had Terry buy me lunch one day.
Simon
Doug Payne
> Anyone collecting instances of UW's appearance in fiction?
Well, there's The Adolescence of P1, and the best-forgotten movie
Utilities, starring the Red Room and Robert Hayes, in which can be seen
some extras in the form of DCS (now IST) staff members.
David Evans
Doug Payne <dwp...@ist.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>
>Well, there's The Adolescence of P1, and the best-forgotten movie
>Utilities, starring the Red Room and Robert Hayes, in which can be seen
>some extras in the form of DCS (now IST) staff members.
>
"He turned the lights off and the city on." Wow. Sounds like it could
be a good drinking movie. Perhaps.
--
David Evans (NeXTMail/MIME OK) dfe...@bbcr.uwaterloo.ca
Ph.D. Candidate, Computer/Synth Junkie http://bbcr.uwaterloo.ca/~dfevans/
University of Waterloo "Default is the value selected by the composer
Ontario, Canada overridden by your command." - Roland TR-707 Manual
Walter C. McCutchan (Duke of URL)
Ray Butterworth <rbutte...@mfcf.math.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>
Well, there is The 'History Man' by (Sir) Malcolm Bradbury
wherein I saw UW, but some might disagree....
Or, to qualify for your collection do you require it spell
it out as "University of Waterloo" located in Waterloo, Ont?
..regards
..walter
--
walter mccutchan (Duke of URL [tm]); AppTech (IST) w...@ist.UWaterloo.CA
network: Anything reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with
interstices between the intersections. (Samuel Johnson)
Ray Butterworth
rmb...@engmail.uwaterloo.ca (Ryan M Bayne) wrote:
>In article <bbo263$gee$1...@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca>,
>Ray Butterworth <rbutte...@mfcf.math.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>>Anyone collecting instances of UW's appearance in fiction?
>>
>>The June 2003 issue of "Asimov's" magazine contains a short
>>story, "Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers" by Cory Doctorow,
>>who "lives in San Francisco". Something on the fifth page
>>sort of jumped out at me:
><excerpt removed>
>>There are later references to Toronto, Flamborough, and
>>Hamilton, though nothing that would indicate a knowledge
>>of the area beyond what one could gather from a simple map.
>
>Cory is a UW drop-out
>who grew up in
>Toronto.
Less than 8 hours after I posted the original article,
I got mail from the author himself containing this same information,
along with the comment "thank you, Google Groups!".
...
><http://boingboing.net/2003_04_01_archive.html#200176145>
Jeff Voskamp
Carol Hulls <chu...@kingcong.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>In article <bboqbm$tj3$1...@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca>,
>>In article <bbo263$gee$1...@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca>,
>>Ray Butterworth <rbutte...@mfcf.math.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>>>Anyone collecting instances of UW's appearance in fiction?
...
>Going way back in the past, I think there is a reference to UW in
>Thomas Ryan's The Adolescence of P1. I think P1's programmers were UW
>dropouts. But my memory is really fuzzy on this one as it has been
>more than 20 years since I read the book.
Good call! (One work of fiction in my office library ...)
Haven't re-read it recently myself, but I recall that:
UW is not in Kitchener (pg 19 - the start of chapter 2);
I still can't figure out where they went up stairs to the 1st
floor of M&C (from outside); and the Village Green description
was strange.
Time to re-read it. Maybe during the slow bits of the yard sale tomorrow.
(Yes, it's a shameless plug.)
>Carol Hulls
Jeff Voskamp
Isaac Morland
>>Thomas Ryan's The Adolescence of P1. I think P1's programmers were UW
>>dropouts. But my memory is really fuzzy on this one as it has been
>>more than 20 years since I read the book.
>>
>
> Good call! (One work of fiction in my office library ...)
>
> Haven't re-read it recently myself, but I recall that:
> UW is not in Kitchener (pg 19 - the start of chapter 2);
> I still can't figure out where they went up stairs to the 1st
> floor of M&C (from outside); and the Village Green description
> was strange.
I don't recall exactly, but I thought they went up stairs from the first
floor to the second, and looked out over the red room. This would be
possible using the stairs that extend from the secure corridor on level
one up one level only, and which have been closed for as long as I have
been here.
Of course now you can't look out over the red room either....
Prabhakar Ragde
> Less than 8 hours after I posted the original article,
> I got mail from the author himself containing this same information,
> along with the comment "thank you, Google Groups!".
Googling oneself once is something we've probably all done
furtively. Making a habit of it is another matter. Has anyone coined a
verb for this? --PR
--
Prabhakar Ragde plr...@uwaterloo.ca
Professor, School of Computer Science DC 1314, (519)888-4567,x4660
Faculty of Mathematics Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1
University of Waterloo http://db.uwaterloo.ca/~plragde
Joe Szalai
> rbutte...@mfcf.math.uwaterloo.ca (Ray Butterworth) writes:
>
> > Less than 8 hours after I posted the original article,
> > I got mail from the author himself containing this same information,
> > along with the comment "thank you, Google Groups!".
>
> Googling oneself once is something we've probably all done
> furtively. Making a habit of it is another matter. Has anyone coined a
> verb for this? --PR
Autogoogleist.
Joe Szalai
Doug Payne
> Googling oneself once is something we've probably all done
> furtively. Making a habit of it is another matter. Has anyone coined a
> verb for this?
Vaingoogle.
Walter C. McCutchan (Duke of URL)
Jeff Voskamp <je...@thor.voskamp.ca> wrote:
>In article <bbostd$vej$1...@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca>,
>Carol Hulls <chu...@kingcong.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>>In article <bboqbm$tj3$1...@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca>,
>>Ryan M Bayne <rmb...@engmail.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>>>In article <bbo263$gee$1...@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca>,
>>>Ray Butterworth <rbutte...@mfcf.math.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>>>>Anyone collecting instances of UW's appearance in fiction?
>
>...
>
>>Going way back in the past, I think there is a reference to UW in
>>Thomas Ryan's The Adolescence of P1. I think P1's programmers were UW
>>dropouts. But my memory is really fuzzy on this one as it has been
>>more than 20 years since I read the book.
>
>Good call! (One work of fiction in my office library ...)
>
>Haven't re-read it recently myself, but I recall that:
>UW is not in Kitchener (pg 19 - the start of chapter 2);
Well, a long long time ago.... St. Jeromes had a building way out
King St near what is now Fariview Park Mall. And as StJ was (is)
part of UW, one could argue that UW had a presence in Kitchener.
..walter
(who prolly should not admit to being able to remember some of the
things he remembers....)
Sailesh Agrawal
of the internet who would grep newsfeeds for posts containing his middle
monicker. Now the guys's quite famous with a news group / religion
devoted to him.
http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/~ingvar/legends/good.html
http://groups.google.ca/groups?&group=alt.religion.kibology
Alex Lopez-Ortiz
Prabhakar Ragde <plr...@uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>rbutte...@mfcf.math.uwaterloo.ca (Ray Butterworth) writes:
>
>> Less than 8 hours after I posted the original article,
>> I got mail from the author himself containing this same information,
>> along with the comment "thank you, Google Groups!".
>
>Googling oneself once is something we've probably all done
>furtively. Making a habit of it is another matter. Has anyone coined a
>verb for this? --PR
e-gotism? iNarcissism?
Then again, there is "google fights" where you type each person's name
and whoever comes up the highest or has the most matches wins.
--
Alex Lopez-Ortiz alop...@uwaterloo.ca
http://db.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o Assistant Professor
School of Computer Science University of Waterloo
Chris Redmond
Walter C. McCutchan (Duke of URL) <w...@ist.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>>Haven't re-read it recently myself, but I recall that:
>>UW is not in Kitchener (pg 19 - the start of chapter 2);
>Well, a long long time ago.... St. Jeromes had a building way out
>King St near what is now Fariview Park Mall. And as StJ was (is)
>part of UW, one could argue that UW had a presence in Kitchener.
St. Jerome's was in Kitchener (previously Berlin), at various
locations, from 1866 to 1959. I can't think of any UW "presence"
in Kitchener for most of the following four decades, but the
university currently has two outposts there -- the distance and
continuing education office on Gage Avenue, and the Centre for
Core Area Research and Design on King Street downtown.
CAR
David Evans
Alex Lopez-Ortiz <alop...@softbase.math.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
>
>Then again, there is "google fights" where you type each person's name
>and whoever comes up the highest or has the most matches wins.
>
Automated, even.
Stephen Forrest
> I found the reference in Microserfs to be a bit weird. If I recall
> correctly one of the characters is a broke student/startup programmer
> who flies to Waterloo. He doesn't fly to Toronto and take the bus
> but instead flies to the city of Waterloo, which just didn't make any
Hmm, I thought he went to Toronto first. I remember he played a joke on
the friend he was travelling with, by filling his wallet with Iraqi
banknotes, and I believe this was on a flight to Toronto. (Flying to
Waterloo from Toronto is pretty weird, but not completely unreasonable.)
> sense to me. I think there is a reference to the Bombshelter in the
> book too, but I could be misremembering.
There is -- the main character meets BarCode, who is a female computer
engineering grad student at UW -- in the Bombshelter. (She then
picks a fight with a bunch of engineering undergrads.)
Steve
Paul Nijjar
On Fri, 6 Jun 2003, David Evans wrote:
> In article <bbqp7o$tgk$1...@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca>,
> Alex Lopez-Ortiz <alop...@softbase.math.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> >
> >Then again, there is "google fights" where you type each person's name
> >and whoever comes up the highest or has the most matches wins.
> >
>
> Automated, even.
>
> http://www.googlefight.com/
autogooglist (0) vs. vaingoogle (0) --> autogooglist [??]
e-gotism (70 700) vs. iNarcissism (0) --> e-gotism [!]
autogoogle(15) vs. ego surfing (29 800) --> ego surfing
Hrm..
"ego surfing" (5 300) vs. "e-gotism" (0) --> "ego surfing"
- Paul (procrastination (241 000) vs "life experience" (307 000))