Okay, so you've probably seen this guy on the new Mac commercials. He's the one who plays the PC, the nerdy guy with glasses. He's also a contributor to the Daily Show, where he first appeared to talk about his book, The Areas of my Expertise (website), apparently, spending a disproportionate amount of time talking about hobos. And, he's an Eli, like so many of the cool kids are. So, I was already slightly in love with him. But a bit on the Daily Show the other night sealed the deal. Head lice, intestinal parasites, and commensal bacteria were never so funny.
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Tara C. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology. Her research involves a number of pathogens at the animal-human nexus. She also writes for The Panda's Thumb and previously for WIRED SCIENCE's Correlations. Please note the views expressed on this site are Dr. Smith's alone and may not be representative of the groups mentioned above.
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Infectious Disease Series
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Marry me, John Hodgman
Category: Humor
Posted on: September 15, 2006 3:15 PM, by Tara C. Smith
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Comments
I thought you were already married. Polyandry doesn't go over well in Iowa.
As for Elis, didn't George W. Bush go to Yale?
Posted by: somnilista, FCD | September 15, 2006 5:35 PM
While macs are alot better than they used to be, these commercials will only keep macs out of the business world. Keep portraying the mac as a fun machine with lots of built in time wasters, and mac will never move to have anything resembling a respectable market share. Besides, everything they claim is specific to macs (web authoring, pic editors, USB connectivity), I can do on any of my PCs (and I have crashed my share of macs). Anybody who knows anything about computers knows the commercials are BS. I might consider buying a mac in the future, but not until I can get my computer fixed in town, and their advertising convinces me that they are serious about producing a business machine (pet peeve for a communications minor).
Posted by: Robster | September 15, 2006 8:12 PM
That was hilarious.
Posted by: Zach | September 15, 2006 9:05 PM
Hey Tara, thanks for giving me a good laugh!
Posted by: Shalini | September 15, 2006 10:54 PM
"apparently, spending a disproportionate amount of time talking about hobos."
I disagree. The amount of time he spent talking about hobo matters in the interview was roughly proportional to the amount of time he spent discussing it his complete book of world knowledge.
Posted by: Dennis | September 15, 2006 11:18 PM
somnilista, sure--ruin my fantasies with a dose of reality. :)
Posted by: Tara C. Smith | September 16, 2006 1:01 AM
While macs are alot better than they used to be, these commercials will only keep macs out of the business world.
They don't need to. Much like Nintendo, Apple has managed to carve out it's own niche market in it's industry (and also like Nintendo, they have a rabid, fanatical cult-like fan-base to keep it going). For Apple to think it's going to crack to server or home desktop markets like PC would be absolutely silly.
Posted by: Tyler DiPietro | September 16, 2006 2:42 PM
*Stares longingly into Hodgman's eyes*
"Fine sir, you had me at Face-hugger!"
Posted by: Dave Carlson | September 17, 2006 10:15 PM
80 foot tape worms are always good for a laugh. Video showing extraction is priceless.
Posted by: Stephen | September 18, 2006 9:19 AM