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CERN Animal Shelter for Computer Mice (2011)
- EbNar 1y agoThe CERN Animal Shelter for Computer Mice is a non-profit organization maintained by CERN staff during their leisure time...
- MultifokalHirn 1y agoReminds me of the fact that what to past or future civilisations perhaps looks dystopian or primitive, might just be jokes and a good time
- Mistletoe 1y ago“The scientists at the facility are believed to have worshipped or made sacrifices of their computer mice, due to their primitive minds’ beliefs that it would affect the outcome of their experiments.”
- jacquesm 1y agoSome SF author in Ancient Egypt seeing a hieroglyphic engraving in the works: "hmmm... I wonder if I...". https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/helicopter-hieroglyphs https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/helicopter-hieroglyphs
- tempodox 1y agoI love that CERN has such a strong bond with their animals. They are even monitoring the quantum entanglements of their sheep: https://home.cern/news/news/cern/cern-scientists-find-evidence-quantum-entanglement-sheep https://home.cern/news/news/cern/cern-scientists-find-eviden...
- perihelions 1y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43545349 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43545349 ("CERN scientists find evidence of quantum entanglement in sheep (home.cern)"; April 1, 2025)
- outsideoftime 1y ago[dead]
- lokimedes 1y agoAnd yet, not everything is so pretty at CERN. Just consider their Large Hamster Collider! It’s a travesty, and last I head, they were colliding billions of hamster per second. You also got to ask what they do with the resulting elephants and whatnot coming out of those relativistic collisions.
- ayaros 1y agoI'll do you one better: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-10-25 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-10-25
- tempodox 1y agoI always suspected platypuses are the evolutionary equivalent of fake news. And now we know!
- jacquesm 1y agoOh that's an easy one, they go to the Geneva Zoo and from there they get trafficked all over the world. It's essentially whitewashing of hamsters on an elephantine scale. We got one of those here as well, it looks like the real deal from a distance but up close the illusion falls apart. The thing that will get you is all the little eyes staring at you and the incessant mewing sounds.
- vjvjvjvjghv 1y agoHamsters can be kind of assholes though. At least my sister's hamster was one.
- kmoser 1y agoI remember when Outpost.com's initial gerbil collision tests led to public outcry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZIwetqq3H8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZIwetqq3H8
- shawn_w 1y agoI hope they're humanely harvesting their eyeballs for boba before putting them in the collider. Such a waste otherwise. https://img.ifunny.co/images/c736301a01cc03ff1f03dac1c8b87f7e4abedfd96c6507e8643e09e27c7283be_1.jpg https://img.ifunny.co/images/c736301a01cc03ff1f03dac1c8b87f7...
- junaru 1y agoThe site is so simple yet has so much soul - a part of internet lost.
- Levitating 1y agonot lost is it? this site is still up I think things like these have just become harder to find. There are some search engines which try to bring the "old" internet back to life like Marginalia Search.
- garbuhj 1y agoOMG thanks for that! The Random site button at the top is glorious! https://old-search.marginalia.nu/ https://old-search.marginalia.nu/
- spiritplumber 1y agoI miss the internet when it was like this.
- edent 1y agoIt is still like this. You just have to drag yourself away from the big sites and you will find all manner of weirdness.
- FuriouslyAdrift 1y agoJust keep hiting 'surprise me' https://wiby.org/ https://wiby.org/
- TYPE_FASTER 1y agoTHANK YOU I find this really cool for some reason.
- b3lvedere 1y agoThanks!
- timeinput 1y agoWell that gets a special place on my book marks toolbar right next to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random amazing!
- kilroy123 1y agoIt's still alive and well! Just burried under a mountain of shit. Also see: https://kagi.com/smallweb https://kagi.com/smallweb https://cloudhiker.net https://cloudhiker.net https://randomdailyurls.com https://randomdailyurls.com
- witnessme 1y agoOh CERN folks, you beautiful people
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- 6LLvveMx2koXfwn 1y agoNot sure the Panicking pick depicts panicking though
- keiferski 1y agoIn high school twenty years ago, my IT class teacher told me that technically speaking, a collection of computer mice of different styles (that is, not all the same brand/shape/color/etc.) are actually called mouses, not mice. I always thought he was joking, but apparently it is/was considered correct at some point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse#Etymology
- whitehexagon 1y agoRock n roll. They are welcome to my brand new M100. She doesnt sit level on my desk, and arrived with a squeaky scroll wheel. I dread buying a new model of anything these days, knowing that the MBAs will have found some way to shave a cent off a million units, or a millionth of a meter from a poor mouse foot. But I guess I'll replace her before there are only smart maice avAIlable. Oh and CERN is an amazing place to visit if you ever get a chance. Plan well ahead since I waited a long time for a visitor slot last time I was in CH.
- EbNar 1y ago> I dread buying a new model of anything these days, knowing that the MBAs will have found some way to shave a cent off a million units, or a millionth of a meter from a poor mouse foot. So true... Generally speaking, quality of anything from a reputable brand was taken as granted just a couple decades ago... Now, every time I buy something there's some detail showing how the people in charge wanted to save a few cents making it.
- hn_throw_250915 1y agoThere was an article not too long ago about someone taking the old thumb wheel Logitech mouse and upgrading its electronics by adding a usb charging port and changing the switches used to make it easier to press. My perspective is heavily skewed in saying this but moving forward I foresee the ranks of people like that, as an entity unto themselves whether a minority or not irrelevant, upgrading and improving stock products for sake of durability, usability and serviceability. That last one in particular I’m reminded of things like relays and door locks in washing machines which are designed to last for approx. the duration of warranty, but it can extend to many other things also. While this hacker spirit has always been a thing, I suspect it’s been predominantly concentrated in developing countries where incomes are too thin to afford throwing things out, and so a repair may in fact fix a blemish of the stock product and extend life as if it is an upgrade unto itself. I think it will become more mainstream.
- contingencies 1y agoM240 is good
- yardie 1y agoThis is the Internet of whimsy I grew up with and I miss it constantly. Thank you, poster.
- Findecanor 1y agoOh, some classic mice of a previous generation. I can spot two three-button Logitech PilotMouse. It was OEM'ed for many brands (SGI, DEC, ...) and also very common standalone. The Sun mouse is probably an optical one made by Mouse Systems. I think it is the one in the same style with ball that is rare.
- b3lvedere 1y agoAwesome site. Great pictures. It solved a very important logical mystery for me: Where the front/mouth of a computer mouse is and if we really cover its mouth with our filthy paws when we plug its long tail into our computer when we are browsing cat video's. :)
- account42 1y agoDon't be fooled, the mouth is obviously the opening on the bottom where the ball (tongue) sits, like a facehugger or headcrab.
- Theodores 1y agoIn the 1990s I needed my mum to check something on my dad's computer. So I phoned her up and talked her through the arduous process of turning on the computer and clicking on a few icons. However... This was going nowhere, and, after about half an hour of struggle, I asked my mum which way the mouse was in her hand. She had the 'tail' coming out the back, which made sense to her. Before working this out I was wondering if the light from the window was making it through the flimsy plastic of the mouse, to prevent the sensors from working. Or maybe something else was plugged in, robbing the MS-DOS PC of enough interrupts. Or maybe the ball was clogged with cat hairs. We got there in the end, however, it was a lesson in not jumping to conclusions. I had just been temporarily defeated by my mother's lack of computer literacy.
- b3lvedere 1y ago
- vjvjvjvjghv 1y agoI hope it's a no-kill shelter. Do they have adoption events?
- supportengineer 1y agoWhatever happened to the people who made this kind of content? I can't find them any more. At my current FAANG, nobody talks to each other. There is no laughing, joking, or discussion of any matters, other than work.
- lovich 1y agoThe corporations have been putting their thumb screws on labor in the tech market since 2022. Everything you’re describing is a luxury that people have abandoned as they all desperately compete to keep their job
- supportengineer 1y agoI started working in the mid 90's. It was very common back then to go out for lunch with your co-workers, almost daily! That's a very rare thing now. Back then I was making $8 an hour and you could get a nice meal at a Chinese or Mexican restaurant for about $5.