5 ms·
Penn Jillette’s Surprising Success as a Computer Columnist
- hprotagonist 7y agoThis contextualizes the Hackers cameo a little.
- butterisgood 7y agoOne of his buddies is Rob Pike.
- nourse 7y agoAnother is Randy Pitchford.
- amayne 7y agoI once got to have dinner with Penn and Rob Pike years ago. I had no idea at the time who Pike was. Looked him up afterwards (this was pre-Wikipedia) and felt like an idiot.
- hinkley 7y agoEveryone needs to be taken down a peg from time to time. I knew someone who rode the Monorail in Seattle next to Jeff Bezos. No idea who he was, even after he introduced himself. Told others they "met someone named Jeff Bozos on the train." Yep, that sounds about right.
- brandonmenc 7y agoI was an avid reader of PC/Computing in middle school and vividly remember calling that fake ad number.
- piratesjustarr 7y agoWhat a terrible article.
- alanwil2 7y agoPenn created Desert Bus...worst computer game ever. https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/10/4510388/why-teller-created-desert-bus-the-worst-video-game-in-history https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/10/4510388/why-teller-created...
- masonic 7y agoThat article credits Teller only, in the title, and primarily, in the body. And Desert Bus was a parody, not a game per se.
- perl4ever 7y agoI would like to see an update of Desert Bus that uses all the latest 3D technology and satellite data like they put in flight simulators. I mean, Teller referred to it as "a game that just reflects reality", so how real could you make it? Recreate a real bus, but the most boring one possible. ...Desert Bus 2020
- wincy 7y agoYou could probably make a mod for American Truck Simulator VR.
- BubRoss 7y agoA parody game is still a game.
- chiph 7y agoHere's a Desert Bus playthrough. The player collects 3 points by completing the trip three times, a feat which normally takes 8 hours each way, but the video is at 3x speed, so you see it in "only" 8 hours. Catch the excitement at 2:45:20 as the player scores their first point! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LtiHla1dNg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LtiHla1dNg
- ludicast 7y agoOver the years, I've really come to appreciate Penn Jillette as a public person. Always pops up with new interests and insights. Believe it or not, something about his recent appearance on Rogan inspired me to cut down my drinking. Just the way he made a life of temperance seem aspirationally cool (and not just cool in a Christian rock sort of way)
- coldtea 7y agoLOL, "cool as Christian rock" would make for a nice expression!
- mastry 7y agoI love his “thurman” idea.... definitely going to use that the next time someone asks me for help with a computer problem. Ehh, maybe only in April since it’s a little mean.
- torgoguys 7y agoI remember reading that column regularly. One in particular that I recall was a joke he proposed for the (then much less serious) airport security. If I'm remembering correctly, back in the day they wanted you to turn laptops on to show someone that it really was just a computer. Jillette proposed that maybe you should set your autoexec file start the computer saying something along the lines of "bomb detonating in 5...4...3...2...1" to freak them out...or it was something like that. Obviously pre-9/11. You'd probably get detained at the very least (and maybe arrested) if you did something like that these days. Maybe I will be able to find that column again... Edit: oops, the article mentioned that very incident at the end.
- dayofthedaleks 7y agoThe dial-up BBS Penn and Teller ran around 1990 was quite good.
- campfireveteran 7y agoIs this the same nutty libertarian who lives in a sheltered, utopian mirage of a privileged, isolated rich person?
- BubRoss 7y agoIf by nutty you mean thoughtful and open, by sheltered and isolated you mean exceptionally well traveled over four decades, and by privileged you mean hard working, then yes.
- oceanplexian 7y agoGo watch one of his shows. He’ll often hang out afterwords. I’ve met him and he’s an incredible person. Penn is probably one of the most approachable and open minded celebrities out there.
- yoshamano 7y ago+1 In fact, I did this just last week. They both hang out after their shows until everyone that wants to meet them is able to. They also engaged in my attempts at conversation with far more grace than the attempts deserved. I look forward to the next opportunity I have to see their Vegas show again.
- Reedx 7y agoYep, same. He's extremely nice, caring and thoughtful. To hate on someone like Penn you must have to be in an awfully dark and hateful frame of mind.
- anjel 7y agoAm I the only one who remembers logging into Penn's public BBS in the late 80s? Each screen would finish with "push any key to proceed to the next screen" followed by "except that one." Ancient history I know, but he's been into computers since the beginning of the PC was.
- joezydeco 7y agoWas this the Jungle Lord BBS?
- joeevans1000 7y agoI still feel like the duo just cashed in on wrecking the magic of magic by focusing on just revealing the mechanics of how it's done. Obviously, not a problem for dry adults, but there's an in between world of folks who suspend their disbelief and the fun of doing that for the rest of us.
- ShamelessC 7y ago"We demand to be taken seriously!"