March 26, 1984

Promising Macintosh Review

Considering all of the hoopla that has preceded the Mac's introduction, we are still greatly impressed with Apple's new product.  The Macintosh is a well-designed personal computer that, dollar for dollar, represents the most advanced personal computer to date.  The MC68000 processor, the 3.5-inch variable-speed disk drive, the high-resolution display, the advanced operating system and user interface as well as the rich use of graphics make this machine superior to the rest of the pack.  In our opinion, the success of the Macintosh will be determined by Apple's ability to provide or to encourage others to supply hardware expansions and exciting and usable software.  We think Apple has at least one thing right—the Macintosh is the one machine with the potential to challenge IBM's hold on the market.

- Thomas Neudecker
InfoWorld, March 26, 1984

March 25, 1932

One of the Most Mis-Quoted Movies in History is Released

MGM releases the black and white adventure film Tarzan the Ape Man,based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' popular novel Tarzan of the Apes on March 25, 1932. The film will give rise to a wildly popular franchise and the oft-quipped catch phrase "Me Tarzan, you Jane."

The phrase is never actually spoken in the film, though.  Nor is it ever used in the books. The quote is taken from an interview with the movie's lead star, Johnny Weissmuller, printed in the June 1932 issue of Photoplay Magazine.

In the interview, he jokingly tells a reporter I didn’t have to act in Tarzan, the Ape Man — just said, ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane.’” Shortly after the article hit newstands, the catchphrase entered the vernacular, often as part of comedy routines. The phrase quickly became associated with Weissmuller, and Weissmuller was intractably associated with the Tarzan films.  Thus, the misquote.

March 7, 2002

“Everybody should be in a business once in their lives that competes with Microsoft, just for the experience.”

-  Marc Andreessen (Netscape founder) in an interview with The Economist,
"The poster-child who grew up," March 7, 2002.

February 22, 2000

Memorable Interview: Kevin Mitnick

"Hacker" is a term of honour and respect. It is a term that describes a skill, not an activity, in the same way that "doctor" describes a skill. It was used for decades to describe talented computer enthusiasts, people whose skill at using computers to solve technical problems and puzzles was - and is - respected and admired by others possessing similar technical skills.

- Kevin Mitnick in "They call me a criminal"
Published in The Guardian on February 22, 2000

February 2, 2001

"Welcome to the red light district of the new millennium."

- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Secrets," February 2, 2001. In the episode, a school teacher is murdered after a student discovers a classified ad in which she is seeking sexual partners. In presenting the classified ad to the detectives investigating the case, a police computer tech in the episode characterizes the internet as "the red light district of the new millennium."

January 16, 1787

Founding father Thomas Jefferson writes a letter to Edward Carrington, expressing his feeling about the power of the press.

The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

January 4, 1996

A Serious Miscalculation

“…an Internet browser is a trivial piece of software. There are at least 30 companies that have written very credible Internet browsers, so that’s nothing… ”

- Bill Gates as quoted in
"The world according to Gates" by Don Tennant
InfoWorld Electric, January 4, 1996