SUN 11 OCT 1998

WEEKLY WHINE

Vacancy

Things often remain vacant, but it is sometimes hard to explain why. For example, my desk is currently vacant because there's no PC for it yet. When a PC shows up for it, it will seem perfectly normal, as will GoobNet. Other things that appear to be vacant are for other reasons. The following things are at least partially vacant.

• An empty glass
• A half-empty glass
• The average sense of humor
• The occasional sense of direction
• A group of coffee cups
• Most Web browsers
• A used peanut shell
• The one from the shell game, you know, the shell that you always wind up choosing
• Many software packages these days
• My wallet
• Some mainframes
• Ponds
• Caltech's inside jokes
• Caltech's outside jokes
• Mathematical induction
• Useless messages
• Useful messages [since they contain no mass at all, just a bunch of pulses or lack of pulses]
• The selectbar on GoobNet
• GoobNet periodicity
• Fruit machines
• Congressional hearings

And finally...

• A good cheese steak on the West Coast