Newton Fun

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From: Peter Langston <pud!psl () bellcore bellcore com>
Subject: The Apple Newton & Serious Bandwidth


[Have you experimented with an Apple Newton yet?  Well, I
haven't, so I was interested to hear of other people's
experiences with it.  At the recent Hacker's conference I
collected both a short and a long Newton anecdote. The short
anecdote involves the preparation of some promotion for or
with the publisher Random House, during which the publisher
(or some agent thereof) tried entering "Random House" only to
get "Condom Nose" recognized. The long anecdote consists of
the new lyric poem generated by entering Lewis Carroll's poem
Jabberwocky from "Through The Looking Glass" into the Newton.
Of course, to get the full effect you should really see the
faraway look in Talin's eye as he recites it, but as a poor
second I'll include a comment from Lewis Carroll (about Alice)
at the end that might easily have been written about the
Newton.  -psl]
Notes from Talin: Nonsense words were each written three times
to get the most consistent match. The result makes an
interesting kind of sense, almost metaphorical at times.


                TABLESPOONS


        Teas Willis, and the sticky tours
        Did gym and Gibbs in the wake.
        All mimes were the borrowers,
        And the moderate Belgrade.
        "Beware the tablespoon my son,
        The teeth that bite, the Claus that catch.
        Beware the Subjects bird, and shred
        The serious Bandwidth!"
        He took his Verbal sword in hand:
        Long time the monitors fog he sought,
        So rested he by the Tumbled tree,
        And stood a while in thought.
        And as in selfish thought he stood,
        The tablespoon, with eyes of Flame,
        Came stifling through the trigger wood,
        And troubled as it came!
        One, two! One, two! And through and though,
        The Verbal blade went thicker shade.
        He left it dead, and with its head,
        He went gambling back.
        "And host Thai slash the tablespoon?
        Come to my arms my bearish boy.
        Oh various day! Cartoon! Cathay!"
        He charted in his joy.
        Teas Willis, and the sticky tours
        Did gym and Gibbs in the wake.
        All mimes were the borrowers,
        And the moderate Belgrade.


Lewis Carrol's JABBERWOCKY as "recognized" by
the Apple Newton, (c) 1993 Robert McNally.
Permission is granted to reproduce this if the
copyright remains intact. ["It seems very
pretty," she said when she had finished it,
"but it's rather hard to understand!" (You see
she didn't like to confess even to herself,
that she couldn't make it out at all.)  --Lewis
Carroll]