I’ve been mixing metaphors in my mind all morning like a sleepy Marshall McCluhan. The sight of seeing the cable man pulling up the cable like Queequeg pulling in a harpooned whale and the way his motion seemed similar to a man peddling a bike (only with his hands) Got me thinking about Internets(sic) and fishing and sailing and the spouting of a whale and the spinning of a wheel. I was thinking specifically about where did belt drive machines evolve from in the industrial revolution and I think it is the rigging of ships and fishing tackle (though chain drive may relate more to the gears of milling). “Is the white whale just a cloud of steam?” Is technology one big fishing trip? I started thinking of that man on the roof pulling on a cable that is wrapped around the earth and spinning it just a little faster with each pull and a little faster again. (It’s a good thing too, because I don’t think anyone can really look at this experiment without DSL or cable… tell me if I’m wrong). Then I thought of us all on this electronic ship and that guy is up there in the rigging with the ropes and the wind. Someone should write a shanty.
