[thechat] Yet Another Stupid On-Line Test!

Martin Burns martin at easyweb.co.uk
Tue Nov 4 17:26:01 CST 2003


On 4 Nov 2003, at 22:46, Luther, Ron wrote:

>>> the only Umberto Eco I've read is Name of the Rose.
>
> That confused me too. I was meaning to ask Martin why Eco would
> be considered 'geeky'. Did he write a Solaris manual on the
> side or what?
> <quick bit o' research />
> Oh! I see! Semiotics, eh? Hmmmmmm ... looks interesting!
> Okay, yeah ... Martin's right ... that *is* geeky.

Not just the work stuff (although thinking about the difference between 
objects and the things we label them is pretty relevant. Here's a 
related example, which I think we'll all agree has the geek nature in 
the way it plays with language and layers of meaning.
http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_papers_radford.html

I can absolutely recommend Travels in Hyperreality), but also the 
essays. He wrote the classic piece waaay back claiming that Macs are 
fundamentally Catholic while DOS is Protestant.
http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_mac_vs_pc.html

Good starting point: How to Travel with a Salmon. Here's a sample or 2:
http://www.netjaunt.com/thinkinghurts/eco.txt
http://www.libr.org/Juice/issues/vol2/LJ_2.43.html#15
http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/indians.html

William Baskerville (the protagonist in Name of the Rose) is a complete 
geek too (albeit a mediaeval one!).

Cheers
Martin
--
Now playing on iTunes: "Had She Been Aye" by Ivan Drever from 'Every 
Breaking Heart'



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