Subject: *WAR GAMES* - Top 25

From: [email-masked] (TheCure)
Date: 10 Oct 91 05:17:13 GMT

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         -=[ The top 25 *unbelievable* things in War Games ]=-
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[1] 15 digits to dial a local number? He dials 15 digits to connect
    to his school computer. Sounds the recordings studio went a bit
    over board with the sound effects...

[2] The modem carrier tones. Really... Beeeeeep Beeeeeeeep Slllllh is
    normal. Not "diddly-de-duh" "diddly-de-duh" Again, the public wants
    cool noises, not the real thing...

[3] The time taken to establish carrier. Really, hear the tone - and 
    pmf! You're on? Handshaking? Anything? Naaah..

[4] This is a beauty. He connects using a 300bps modem, and then gets
    the information on his screen at real time! Where can I get one
    of these?

[5] A tiny technicality. I think the movie was made in 1982. (yes/no?)
    Anyway - he frequently uses full screen editing. Something that
    didn't really appear until vi hit the screen. (remember the curse
    of edlin?)

[6] He *always* takes the correct disk from the shelf. Always. He has
    tonnes of 8 inches around the place, but always takes just one
    from the shelf, and it's always the right one. Really..

[7] During his demon-dialling, he has the most fantastic modem detector.
    Not only does it detect carriers, it detects busy signals, *and*
    voice, all within half a second! Wow. (Want this as well!)

[8] The *classic*. He attack dials with an acoustic coupler. How the 
    hell is this possible? Really. And why did he bother to dial
    the first number in his demon list?

[9] A tiny glitch. At one stage he's playing galaga (for the second 
    time) - and he's "doing well" with 3 lives left. He dies, and 
    pmmf! All his lives are gone, and he says he's owed a quarter
    for the game. 

[10] Whilst he's attack dialling, he picks up the acoustic coupler,
     shows it off (to show what's it's doing) - but the modem just
     keeps on going. What a clever little modem.

[11] A dream this one. He calls a computer, is given a LOGON prompt
     (nb , not login:) - and manages to get information from WOPR
     without being logged on as any one. Wouldn't that be nice?

[12] During his elite hacking, he asks for the printer to be turned
     on so he can get a hard copy. But! There is no noise! None!
     A silent dot-matrix printer! (or perhaps daisy-wheel! gasP!)

[13] I wish I had a terminal like him. He connects at 300bps, and
     manages to get fantastic graphics up on the screen , on 
     a tty terminal!

[14] While he's playing with WOPR (the 1st time) he decides to 
     turn off his computer. By flicking one switch, he manages
     also turn off every screen at the Defence Center! Gosh, 
     does that mean when I turn off my computer without logging
     off, the other computer dies as well????

[15] How is it that WOPR is able to trace where he lives, when even
     the telephone companies are unable to do it? Sheeeze, really..

[16] He disconnects his computer frow WOPR (only a terminal remember)
     closes the phone line, yet the clock still counts down the time
     on his terminal (with a great deal of background ooooooohhs).

[17] How is it that the most top secret military installation allows
     visitors to walk around on guided tours of it? really....

[18] Another amazing feat, the "voice-synthesiser" he has in his
     bed room suddenly appears in the defence headquaters. And
     anywhere else he happens to be. Wow! That's a loud voice synth.

[19] They apparently scramble f16's , but it's actually two f15's that
     take off into the air..

[20] As they're running around on the island away from Falken's place,
     before the helicopter arrives, the island is *bathed* in light. 
     Where from ? Amazing...

[21] Look out DES. As WOPR is sprinting the launch password, it finds
     once character at a time! How long did it take to find the last
     character? Aaaaaaages. How long does it take to go through the
     alphabet?

[22] As he's playing tic-tac-toe, the game gets faster, and faster,
     etc, and actually *drains* power to help WOPR think. I know
     for a fact that my lights dim when it comes to number
     crunching ..... :)

[23] That woman taking damn notes from WOPR. Why? What is her job
     title? The "offical-watch-the-flashy-lights-on-wopr" job?

[24] After all the lights and everything gets really flashy, the 
     place is still in darkness. After the lights have blown, WOPR
     manages to turn all the lights back on!

[25] The little clock on the side of WOPR only turns on when someone
     is looking at it? Wow! How about that for reliable!

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    __      __  __      __  __
    /  /_/ /_  /   / / /_/ /_   On candystripe legs the spiderman comes
   /  / / /_  /_  /_/ / \ /_    Softly through the shadow of the evening sun
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       [email-masked] [email-masked] [email-masked]
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    __      __  __      __  __
    /  /_/ /_  /   / / /_/ /_   On candystripe legs the spiderman comes
   /  / / /_  /_  /_/ / \ /_    Softly through the shadow of the evening sun
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