and more: ........................................... Oualline's Law of Computers 1-There is nothing so important in computer science as a firm grasp of the obvious. 2-There is nothing obvious about computers. ............................................. The original version of the UNIX mt command had a unusual error message that appeared when it couldn't understand a command: mt -f /dev/rst8 funny mt: Can't grok "funny" For those unfamiliar with Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, grok is a Martian term for understand. This term did not transfer well to other countries. One German programmer went nuts trying to find "grok" in his English/German dictionary. ................................................. A student had just typed in his first BASIC program and started execution with the RUN command. The computer printed a set of numbers and then proceeded to quickly scroll them off the screen before the poor fellow had a chance to read them. The student thought for a minute and then asked, "If I type WALK, will it go slower?" ..................................................