
Penn Jillette’s Surprising Success as a Computer Columnist - KC8ZKF
https://tedium.co/2019/09/26/penn-jillette-pc-computing-magazine-columnist/
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ludicast
Over the years, I've really come to appreciate Penn Jillette as a public
person. Always pops up with new interests and insights.

Believe it or not, something about his recent appearance on Rogan inspired me
to cut down my drinking. Just the way he made a life of temperance seem
aspirationally cool (and not just cool in a Christian rock sort of way)

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coldtea
LOL, "cool as Christian rock" would make for a nice expression!

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alanwil2
Penn created Desert Bus...worst computer game ever.

[https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/10/4510388/why-teller-
created...](https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/10/4510388/why-teller-created-
desert-bus-the-worst-video-game-in-history)

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masonic
That article credits _Teller_ only, in the title, and primarily, in the body.
And Desert Bus was a _parody_ , not a game per se.

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perl4ever
I would like to see an update of Desert Bus that uses all the latest 3D
technology and satellite data like they put in flight simulators.

I mean, Teller referred to it as "a game that just reflects reality", so how
real could you make it?

Recreate a real bus, but the most boring one possible.

...Desert Bus 2020

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wincy
You could probably make a mod for American Truck Simulator VR.

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torgoguys
I remember reading that column regularly. One in particular that I recall was
a joke he proposed for the (then much less serious) airport security. If I'm
remembering correctly, back in the day they wanted you to turn laptops on to
show someone that it really was just a computer. Jillette proposed that maybe
you should set your autoexec file start the computer saying something along
the lines of "bomb detonating in 5...4...3...2...1" to freak them out...or it
was something like that. Obviously pre-9/11\. You'd probably get detained at
the very least (and maybe arrested) if you did something like that these days.
Maybe I will be able to find that column again...

Edit: oops, the article mentioned that very incident at the end.

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hprotagonist
This contextualizes the _Hackers_ cameo a little.

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anjel
Am I the only one who remembers logging into Penn's public BBS in the late
80s? Each screen would finish with "push any key to proceed to the next
screen" followed by "except that one." Ancient history I know, but he's been
into computers since the beginning of the PC was.

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joezydeco
Was this the Jungle Lord BBS?

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butterisgood
One of his buddies is Rob Pike.

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amayne
I once got to have dinner with Penn and Rob Pike years ago. I had no idea at
the time who Pike was. Looked him up afterwards (this was pre-Wikipedia) and
felt like an idiot.

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hinkley
Everyone needs to be taken down a peg from time to time.

I knew someone who rode the Monorail in Seattle next to Jeff Bezos. No idea
who he was, even after he introduced himself. Told others they "met someone
named Jeff Bozos on the train."

Yep, that sounds about right.

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mastry
I love his “thurman” idea.... definitely going to use that the next time
someone asks me for help with a computer problem. Ehh, maybe only in April
since it’s a little mean.

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dayofthedaleks
The dial-up BBS Penn and Teller ran around 1990 was quite good.

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brandonmenc
I was an avid reader of PC/Computing in middle school and vividly remember
calling that fake ad number.

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joeevans1000
I still feel like the duo just cashed in on wrecking the magic of magic by
focusing on just revealing the mechanics of how it's done. Obviously, not a
problem for dry adults, but there's an in between world of folks who suspend
their disbelief and the fun of doing that for the rest of us.

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ShamelessC
"We demand to be taken seriously!"

