Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 21:22:20 -0800
Reply-To: Westyman <thewestyman@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Westyman <thewestyman@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: The Larry Chase Report
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Sorry for the duplicate post, some have mentioned parts are unreadable, so
thought I'd send again in a [hopefully] more legible form!
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A Short Science Fiction Story ~or~ A Larry Chase Report
Imagine: It is 2075. You type the phrase "Larry Chase" into Google (now a
comprehensive planetwide research source) and this is what comes out.
Early 21st Century Automata: Research Paper, Angolls and Nishigawa, Kyoto
University, 8/2050
Extract: The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw the emergence of
so-called "bots" on the Internet - chatty programmed personalities that
would therapize you, pretend to be an eligible single, or, increasingly, try
to sell you something - either by being available on a company website to
chat with customers and answer simple questions, or, as in a method first
popularized by the famous "Larry Chase" bot, posing as a unique personality
on a newsgroup. The "Larry Chase" bot, paid for by a consortium of VW
Vanagon companies, posted literally thousands of reports on modifications to
its "van" in online newsgroups in hopes of driving demand for similar
modifications in others. It was far more successful than its followers, in
part because the consortium went to unusual lengths to ensure...
The "Larry Chase Trip Reports": Early Postmodern Travel Writing
Research Paper, Flanders and Swann, University of Angola, 4/2068
The "Chasebot" is already fairly famous for its role in sparking a huge wave
of so-called "stealth advertising bots" on the Internet in the early 21st
century. It is less well-known as a travel writer, but travel writer it
was.
In order to flesh out its believability, the consortium that funded the
Chasebot at one point decided it would have to leave its virtual driveway
and actually drive somewhere other than a Vanagon parts store. Its creators
chose a fairly unusual method for developing these reports.
Rather than just hiring some cheap hack to write up some travel reports and
post them on the Web at regular intervals, the Chasebot creators developed
some additional code that scanned the Web for other trip reports, compiled
them, and developed a "trip" of its own from this accumulated data (a
"metatrip"). It would extract bits from one report and bits from another,
smooth them into a consistent style, and post the results at erratic
intervals. Although other travelers had written postmodern literary
travelogues, this was one of the first reports that used technical
postmodern methodology (essentially, re-using the works of others, on the
grounds that there are no original experiences anymore)...
Trip Report: First Encounter With The Actor Known as Larry Chase, Mullendore
and Gilman
(1/25/03)
We have just left Mesa, Arizona, current residence of Larry Chase (or
possibly an actor playing him, we aren't sure). His van is absolutely as
insane as you would think from all his posts and then some. It requires
three times the normal number of fused circuits to support all his added
electronics, which include as you know stereo this-that-and-then-some, video
flatscreen and assorted feeds (satellite and then the sides of the van for
when there really isn't anything on TV), and enough lights to stage a rock
show. It has outside speaker hookups so this may be exactly what he's
planning (Larry and the Bears? Larry, that's so '60s...). All this takes
up its share of the cabinetry: we estimate that he will have room for about
one change of clothes and his toothbrush in his cabinets after all the
electronica is wired into place. We did our part to take up a bit more,
installing a furnace under the rear bench and an EMPI ball on the antenna.
At this point Larry, or the actor hired to play him, hereafter referred to
as "Larry", estimates that he is three weeks from leaving, but his van
already has more features and functions than most RVs come with off the lot.
Including "Roadhaus" stickers. The Gilman was very tempted to cut them up
and reassemble them as "Warthog" stickers.
"Larry" was pretty well versed on the intricacies of his van, and was
surprisingly mechanically ept - he removed his water pump successfully
although he required my help to get it back on. Unfortunately, he wasn't
given a fully accurate cue sheet, and insists that he met both of us in San
Francisco/Van 'o' Rama. He appears to have a fairly normal social life,
with various other characters coming and going over the two days we were
there, but we suspect that his "roommates" are the actual residents of his
house. If we didn't care more about being three hundred miles away from a
megalopolis as soon as possible, we would be tempted to slip back and check
up.
At any rate he is a character and a gentleman. He was quite considerate and
did not mind minor van resections on his driveway. We hope he is renewed
for another season. Please mention this if you call GoWesty or his other
major sponsors.
****************************************************************************
(BTW, this amazing story was written by the illustrious Lurker 'Gilman', not
by me)
Karl
1987 Syncro Westy 1.9TD
OnTheRoad, now in Tucson AZ, today took me through Tombstone, Bisbee, and
Nogales! What an amazing country!
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