what have we here?

[rone]

This is some stuff from some ancient IRC logs.  OK, ancient meaning late 1999.

<rone> ==========================================================
<rone> CONFIDENTIAL - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE WIRED VENTURES
<rone> ==========================================================
<rone> Sorry for the spam, but does anyone happen to know somebody who has suffered
<rone> voice strain injuries as a result of using voice recognition software?

<rone> Welcome to bianca, the alternative online community.
<rone> Calling ourselves biancateers, (as in mouseketeers), we roam the San
<rone>      Francisco Bay Area looking for down and depressed souls

I'm sure some of you will wonder at the first bit, so i will come clean and say that yes, i worked at Wired Digital/Hotbot (a Lycos™ company!) for a horrible and tedious 3 weeks.  It was a terrible time spent as a contractor, working for some clueless Canadian kid at an enterprise overrun with what i call "neo-Bohemian trendoid hipsters", the worst sort of plastic San Franciscan you encounter littering the SoMa region.  And, well, what would you expect from Wired?  And their Hotbot farm was a clutch of NT boxes in some Exodus cage that were rebooted with a stick poked through the cage enclosure.  It was awful.  They fired me because they said that i "projected a negative attitude"; i can hear some of you guffawing already, but i assure you that i am on my best behavior in any situation until i feel comfortable enough to let the bear out.  That usually means sticking around past the 90-day probationary period.  3 weeks... pff.  I shudder to think what those sissies would've thought of the regular ol' me.  I hope they rot in hell.  Not that i'm still bitter.