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IP: Triumph of the Nerds, 3-hour PBS Jun.12th special
From: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 18 May 1996 18:24:00 -0400
From: jwarren () well com (Jim Warren) [Inflicted on you because you know me. Redistrib as desired.] Computer nerds and nerd-alikes might wish to mark June 12th on their calendars. PBS will air "Triumph of the Nerds" nationally on Wednesday, June 12th -- as a 3-hour special that they will be promoting as *the* PBS event for June. The host is Infoworld's "Robt Cringely" (a pseudonym) and is based mo'less on his book, _Accidental Empires_, that discloses how many personal computing personalities stumbled into successes. In the show, Cringely interviews a number of microcomputing's "pioneers" -- including Bill Gates ... and even li'l ol' me -- seeking candid insights and tales about the early daze <sic> of personal computing. The 3-hour premier show will include scenes that will *not* appear in later re-airings by various PBS stations, in snipped-down one-hour segments, nor will they be included in the "Nerds" videotapes that PBS will offer for sale. My understanding is that, among other things, the one-time-only showing will include some comments about Gates' notorious mid-1970s letter to editors accusing computer hobbyists of being thieves, pirating the life-blood of his little software company (i.e., duplicating the paper-tapes of Microsoft's first BASIC interpreter that -- if memory serves -- they were trying to sell for $350, for the MITS Altair 808-based computer kit that cost $395). Donno what other morstels will be included. NERDS IN THE NUDE Although the show was taped last fall, it follows a "tradition" later developed for pubic figures in the San Francisco Bay area: * In December, shortly before San Francisco's mayorial election, ex-police chief and then-Mayor Frank Jordan held a somewhat unusual photo-op. He was featured on front pages and teevee doing a nude shower interview with two local disk-jockeys. The shots were tastefully(?) clipped slightly above the jockey-shorts that Jordon was obviously not wearing. * Earlier this month, Stanford computer instructor and local microprocessor consultant/author/wizard John Wharton gained national fame as "Shower Man" when Dave Letterman chose him out of his Late Show audience to send to the showers -- broadcasting Wharton continent-wide, well-lathered in Letterman's shower where the show was produced during a week's visit in San Francisco. So ... When the "Nerds" producers first interviewed me last year, planning what they were going shoot with which of whom, I suggested doing the interview in my [large] hot tub -- on my redwooded San Francisco Peninsula ridgetop, overlooking about 100 miles of the Pacific. I mean, after *all* -- we Silicon Valley / Californica <sic> types *do* have our reputations to maintain. (Actually, I had more in mind doing the initial *off*-camera interview with the producer and very attractive assistant producer, who had properly oooh'ed and ahhh'ed over the ho'tub and vistas, as I was showing them around my mountaintop -- but that detracts from the story. :-) They discussed the idea and came back saying that Cringely would just *love* to do the ON-camera interview in the buff ... uh, in the ho'tub. (Woppps! -- my bluff was called.) I first said that I'd do it if all the video crew -- including, of course, the attractive assistant producer -- were also sans threads ... but it was a cool morning with wisps of fog flitting about, and for some strange reason they seemed disinclined, so I relented. Reasoned I: I *should* honor the origins of my [questionable claims] to such fame and accidental fortune. After all -- * I never would have gotten into computing in 1968, had I not been looking for work ... after resigning (upon request) from chairing the Math Dept at the College of Notre Dame, a catholic girls' college where the nun who was President somehow felt that the huge nude parties I was convening at my mountain home, not far from the area's nude beach, were somehow incompatible with the philosophy of a Catholic girls' school -- especially after rumors about the events began to spread through the student body [so to speak] ... in a college where many of the parents appeared to be doing everying possible to delay daughters' becoming women long enough to marry them off. [Hey! -- remember ... those hippie '60s were different times, back when Newt was smokin' dope and Willie wasn't inhaling. And no, I did not make a practice of inviting my students, and not even one of the Sisters ever attended -- though some of the lay faculty joined in.] * And for the seven years that I ran the Computer Faires and InfoWorld-to-be -- or they ran me -- clothing was always optional around our mountaintop compound, and the pool and ho'tub were popular in slack times, often sans slacks (ahhh, to return to the girth of those times :-). [You shoulda seen the UPS delivery guy when he walked into the office one day, only to find my completely-tanned, voluptuous young bookeeper and me consulting in the all-together with my office manager -- whom he knew was also my bookeeper's mother, and my next-door neighbor and good friend! We just turned casually, smiled brightly, and pointed to the outgoing packages.] [Back on topic] So with their "Nerds" camera rolling, Cringely and I began chatting about ISDN versus Frame Relay ... and stripped to zip. Once in the ho'tub, in place of coy camera angles, I turned on the bubbles for strategic opacity ("Bubbles, Bob?", asked I :-). You'll have to watch PBS on June 12th to, uh, see the rest. Somehow, I suspect that Bellevue Bill's interview was probably conducted with more mundane "style" ... but who knows. Guess we'll just have to wait for the movie. And oh yes -- Cringely tells me:
The shows have already run in England to great acclaim (our tub scene was especially popular). The series has also been sold to networks in Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Holland, Czech & Slovak Reps, Croatia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, South Africa, British Airways (inflight), and a couple of others I can't remember.
I guess this will sorta blow my cover. :-) But then again, I'm not planning to run for office ... and I *am* a WYSIWYG sorta guy. --jim Jim Warren, GovAccess list-owner/editor, advocate & columnist (jwarren () well com) 345 Swett Rd., Woodside CA 94062; voice/415-851-7075; fax/<# upon request> [puffery: John Dvorak Lifetime Achievement Award (1995); James Madison Freedom-of-Information Award, Soc. of Prof. Journalists - Nor.Cal. (1994); Hugh M. Hefner First-Amendment Award, Playboy Foundation (1994); Pioneer Award, Electronic Frontier Foundation (its first year, 1992); founded the Computers, Freedom & Privacy confs, InfoWorld; blah blah blah :-).] Hmmm, I wonder if ex-Mayor Jordon would like to come to my next nude party -- now that Willie Brown is Mayor. (Come to think of it though, by reputation, Willie would probably be the one more likely to attend. :-)
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- IP: Triumph of the Nerds, 3-hour PBS Jun.12th special Dave Farber (May 18)