I'm such a rube.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp


The picture is actually a "vintage" year-2000 shot of a nuclear submarine
control room, as seen on the website of the U.S. Navy:


http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/news/news_stories/sub-centen02.html


The picture was modified as an entry to one of the many photo-alteration
contests on fark.com, by the following steps:


Converted to grayscale.


Added gray-suited man to left of photo.


Overlaid monitor with console TV, and keyboard with teletype-printer setup.


The giveaway is the difference in pixel density; the console TV is taken
from an older (and grainier) image, while the teletype-printer setup is
trimmed from (most likely) a catalog of the day.


Of course, the fact that the man is standing crookedly, the paper doesn't
interface correctly with the table, the console's been covered with a
computerized fill pattern, and the room beyond is still shown with its many
consoles doesn't help it any.



On 12/24/05, Pelzig <pelzig@...> wrote:
> http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a369/nanasha/Computer001.jpg
>
> From 1954 Popular Mechanics:
>
> "Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this
> model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look like in the year 2004.
> However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the
> average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will
> require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 10 years from now
> scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype
> interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use."
>