Adam took a deep breath and pulled his chair up to the desk. It was late and the library at Western European Watcher Headquarters was dimly lit and quiet. As an added bonus the network traffic was usually light this time of night. It was his favorite time to work. Adam turned to the computer and logged in...
login: pierson password: canBonly1The computer accepted his password and replied with the following bit of less than useful information...
IRIX Release 5.3 IP22 hal Copyright 1987-1994 Silicon Graphics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. You have new mail.Adam started Netscape and glanced at his mail. There were several messages from the system administrator dated yesterday. <Probably all explaining that the system is down and that's why we can't read our mail> he thought wryly. There was a message from Joe. Adam made a mental note to reply to that before he left, but there was nothing that couldn't wait, so he decided to dive right into his research.
Adam selected his bookmark for Yahoo! and waited a few seconds while the page was loaded. He typed in the topic he wanted to search for... ancient history. Adam glanced at the results of his search, but didn't find anything interesting. He backed up and tried something different. He clicked on Religion.
<That's more like it> Adam thought as he looked at the list of topics which appeared. Buddhism... Celticism... Druidism. All these topics threatened to distract him from his real purpose. But he resisted temptation and was rewarded by finding exactly what he was looking for... Mithraism.
Adam Pierson, known only to a very few (with a poor grasp of Latin pronunciation) as Methos, clicked.
Adam spend the next hour engrossed in the sometimes surprisingly accurate information. <Hmmm, 208 BC, wasn't that when I fought that Egyptian and had to disappear after the quickening was witnessed by so many bystanders?> At other times he laughed out loud at the absurdity of the text. <"...remained celibate throughout his life..." Not likely.>
Next Adam turned to some translations that he intended to finish. His Latin was getting a little rusty, so he clicked on his bookmark for Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar. Allen and Greenough's didn't have exactly the information he needed, so her returned to Yahoo! and searched for...Latin. He choose the Social Science:Linguistics and Human Languages:Languages:Latin category, and was about to click on Study Guide to Wheelock Latin, but was distracted by Contemporary Latin Poetry. Adam particularly liked "Mors Petroni".
Adam was getting too tired for such serious subjects, so he decided to try something different. He searched for...Apicius. Unfortunately Yahoo! didn't have anything, so he tried Alta Vista instead. <That's better> Adam said while smiling at the results of his search. Adam clicked on And a la Apicius. Unfortunately his Danish was not very good, but he printed out the recipe anyway hoping that he might find someone at the University to translate it.
Adam pushed his chair back from the computer, and once again massaged the bridge of his nose. <I think that's enough work for one night> he thought. Adam went back to the Yahoo! home page once again, and typed in a new search string...Beer.
Adam chose a category, Entertainment:Drinks and Drinking:Alcoholic Drinks:Beer and clicked. He silently debated whether he should choose Guides, Personal Beer Pages, or Pubs and Bars.
First he chose Pubs and Bars and from there went to Guide to Pubs and Bars in Paris. Adam looked at the bars listed in the Pub Crawl of the Month. There were quite a few. A mere mortal might have been daunted by the long list of pubs, but Adam enjoyed a challenge. He carefully wrote down each address in preparation for the weekend.
Adam back up a few pages and this time chose Guides. He smiled with satisfaction because on the list of Guides he noticed his favorite site. <I thought I'd lost this URL> Adam thought as he clicked on Cheap Beer Server.
Hours later Adam closed Netscape and once again looked at his mail. Joe was checking up on him again. He fired off a quick email to let Joe know he was fine. Then Adam turned to the collection of mail he had received from the Watcher Headquarters sysadmin.
To: Adam Pierson (pierson@hal.watcher.org) Date: July 15, 1996 This message is to advise you of Western European Watcher HQ quidelines regarding World Wide Web access. We understand the usefulness of the WWW to researchers, however we also require that those researchers make appropriate use of their web access. Following is an example of an acceptable web site accessed by you on January 5, 1996, 10:55 PM: Internet Public Library (http://ipl.sils.umich.edu/index.text.html) This is an example of an unacceptable web site accessed by you on April 22, 1996, 11:34 PM: Playgirl Home Page (http://206.117.26.27/playgirl.com/index.html) If your unacceptable web usage does not cease immediately, we will be forced to terminate your account. Sincerely, System AdministrationAdam stared at the message in disbelief. <The Playgirl Home Page! I've never visited The Playgirl Home Page!> Adam studied the date and time of access shown in the mail. There was something familiar about that date. Finally Adam remembered the day in question and the guest he had brought to Watcher Headquarters with him that day.
<Amanda!!! That's the last time I tell you my password!> Adam thought
as his computer beeped at him signalling another piece of mail from his
system administrator had arrived.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to my beta readers and designated web surfers,
Daneen, SharonG and Paula, who really helped me with this story.
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