.::REALITYRECALL::.

1982: At precisely 11:44 a.m., Scott Fahlman posts the following electronic message to a computer-science department bulletin board at Carnegie Mellon University:

19-Sep-82 11:44 Scott E Fahlman 🙂
From: Scott E Fahlman

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:

🙂

Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use:

🙁

With that post, Fahlman became the acknowledged originator of the ASCII-based emoticon. From those two simple emoticons (a portmanteau combining the words emotion and icon) have sprung dozens of others that are the joy, or bane, of e-mail, text-message and instant-message correspondence the world over.

See Also:

Photo Gallery
Emoticons Jump From Web to Real World 🙂

Fahlman was not, however, the first person to use typographical symbols to convey emotions. The practice goes back at least to the mid-19th century, when Morse code symbols were occasionally used for the same purpose. Other examples exist as well.

In 1881, the American satirical magazine Puck published what we would now call emoticons, using hand-set type. No less a wordsmith than Ambrose Bierce suggested using what he called a “snigger point” — \__/ — to convey jocularity or irony. Baltimore’s Sunday Sun suggested a tongue-in-cheek sideways character in 1967.

But none of those caught on. The internet emoticon truly traces its lineage directly to Fahlman, who says he came up with the idea after reading “lengthy diatribes” from people on the message board who failed to get the joke or the sarcasm in a particular post — which is probably what “given current trends” refers to in his own, now-famous missive.

To remedy this, Fahlman suggested using 🙂 and 🙁 to distinguish between posts that should be taken humorously and those of a more serious nature.

Fahlman’s original post was lost for a couple of decades and believed gone for good, until it was retrieved from an old backup tape, thus cementing his claim of priority.

Source: Various

Photo: Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman smiles away in his home office. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

This article first appeared on Wired.com Sept. 19, 2008.

Memory cards in a video camera aboard a post-Second Word War military aircraft may hold a clue as to why the plane crashed on Saturday at a Reno, Nev., air show killing, nine people, including the pilot.

The next time someone tries telling you that videogames are a waste of time be sure to bring up Foldit, a game that gives players the chance to play with proteins by trying to fold them, and how it was used to solve a problem scientists have been working on for over a decade. Oh and the problem dealt with understanding an enzyme that will help lead to a cure for diseases like AIDS.

Despite the fact that putting the enzyme on Foldit was a last resort (scientists even tried using a special protein-folding program to solve this) it took members of the Foldit Contenders Group less than ten days to find a solution to this puzzle. This may be one of the coolest things I have ever read, and just goes to prove that videogames are good for more than just goofing around for a few hours. Of course, we already knew that, didn’t we?

Gamers solve molecular puzzle that baffled scientists [Cosmic Log]

Normally we wouldn’t get too excited about a thermostat, even a so-called smart one. But, unlike what normally passes for a “smart” home heating solution, Honeywell’s upcoming touchscreen devices are going to be paired with some real brains courtesy of Opower. Details of the partnership are still a little thin, but we do know that customers will be able to program and monitor energy usage, not just from the thermostat itself but, via internet connected devices like smartphones. Opower will even provide suggestions for trimming energy bills. The first trials are expected to begin in the next few months through utility companies, but Honeywell eventually expects to offer the devices through broader retail channels. Check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Honeywell and Opower team up for cloud-connected smart thermostat

Honeywell and Opower team up for cloud-connected smart thermostat originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |   | Email this | Comments

edit@hollywoodreporter.com (Philiana Ng)
Fox’s cult hit returns Friday, Sept. 23 at 9 p.m.

read more

Admit it. There are a bunch of you out there who still wash your clothes in hot water. Don’t worry, I’m with you. But this just in: Stop. Use cold. Washing with hot wastes money, energy, and is bad for the environment. More »

Dish Draining Closets are a Finnish invention that combines a dish drying rack and a cabinet. If you regularly hand wash dishes you might find that using one cuts out a significant amount of work as you just put the wet dishes in the closet. More »

Have you heard about this new thing called Windows 8? It has a nifty Metro-style UI, and reader Sebastian Nielsen put together a Windows 7 desktop to bring some of that style around a little early. Along with some other attractive customizations, it’s today’s featured desktop. More »

A 20-year-old Irish man was caught by the Brazilian Federal Police with 72 bags of cocaine inside his intestines. This is how he looked inside, using a three-dimensional computed tomography body scanner. It’s actually more disgusting than I expected. More »