Mystery Of The Flipped Screen
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
I threw the POST down on the virtual desk of my Holistic Detective Agency. There it was in gray and blue: a public request for an investigation. After pondering my course of action for a few moments, I came to this conclusion: the people at the POST know I come expensive. They must know what they're getting into, so I could forgo my usual narratives about how I act, and why my expenses seem so odd.
My first course of action was looking at the basic facts: apparently, there was evidence that cameras were place in computer monitors, which is why the public announcement said that the new brosing mechanism was on the left, instead of the right. Now, let's be honest: people on H2G2 don't only use one kind of computer. People here use PCs, Macs, Etc., and installing a camera to look through a transparent window at every single company that makes computers is just too improbable for me to consider. Being the detective I am, I twisted that thought around in my mind until I could logically (however incorrectly) assume that only one kind of computer was installed with the camera. Or was it a camera?
People kept saying, "Through the window." Well, that obviously pointed to Windows programs, but how could I use that? Sifting through all I had on the Windows programs, I found an outdated program called "Wicked Windows." One of the little toys in this program was the ability to flip you screen and, "see what the gremlins living in your computer see." So there it was, then. The gremlins were at it again.
However, that still didn't explain how the misinformation go into the hands of those at the H2G2 towers. So, I posted a question in the necessary forums, and waited for a reply.
Shortly, I received some very important info from two of my informants. First of all, Joanna pointed out that there were frequently TDV employees on H2G2, but they said very little. Then, Irving Washington brought to my attention the demonstration of what H2G2 would be like on the WAP service. Apparently, H2G2 would be keeping track of the preferences and interests of researchers, as well as keeping a tracking mechanism to find them, wherever in the world they might be.
It didn't take much holistic imaginings to then discover what had happened. The gremlins within our computers were (somehow) being paid by TDV to relay information on researchers so that this preference list can be started ahead of schedule. Now, while this might seem evil and nefarious, keep in mind that H2G2 was only doing something to help make life easier for we researchers.
I kindly request that we just politely ask TDV to cut it out, abandon the gremlin project, and allow researchers to be as inconspicuous as they wish. As for the gremlins, rest assured that I am in the process of removing them from the computers, and into a safer occupation such as the postal service, banking, or zoo keeping.
