Birthday greetings - for a change.

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Boidem date tie-ins only very rarely commemorate birthdays. I prefer to stick to events, and especially those that are, or might be considered (dubiously or not), milestones on the continuum of the development of various communications technologies (in the broadest definition of that term), or those that in some way have special meaning for me. This time, however, I think that a small birthday celebration (or two) can be permitted, since it was on this day (in 1756 and in 1832 respectively) that two very competent communicators were born: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lewis Carroll.

Carroll's Alice has graced a few of these pages over the years, though my debt to both of them is much greater than a limited amount of Boidem references might suggest. Carroll's playfulness is always a source of new ideas, of new ways of looking at things, of getting from here to there without seeking out the shortest distance. Mozart is, well, Mozart - incredibly imaginative and inventive, and without a doubt playful. He worked within a set and clear structure, and seemed forever able not only examine all the possibilities inherent in that structure, but to transcend it as well.Both seemed to possess an irreverence that keeps us on our toes ... sort of like hypertext. They certainly deserve heartfelt birthday greetings.

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Go to: Burning memories.