We were alerted by long-term NetGuide reader, Sue, to the fact that the smiley face emoticon, turned 25 on September 19. Thanks for the heads-up Sue; we'd have been mortified to have missed marking such a milestone in the world of computers. Its birth can be observed in an email string at http://research.microsoft.com/~mbj/Smiley/Joke_Thread.html where Scott E Fahlman, in a discussion on how to graphically represent a joke, comes up with the old 'colon, dash, bracket' solution that we are all familiar with today. Of course, the smiley face was just a taste of things to come as the true geeks among us took up the challenge of just how many pictograms you can make using ASCII characters to express an emoticon or the like. If ou want to find out more about emoticons and 'ASCII art', go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon.
alex, your sig is over 300 pixels too wide. you need to change this before a mod has his way with you.
plus, this is the wrong forum for this post. everyone would appreciate if you would read the rules you agreed to when you created an account here, i bet.
i'd already asked i_am_alex about fixing the ridiculous 6mile wide sig, however am intrigued as to what dRD will make of this thread being as he detests smilies so much hehe.
