NYT GoofUp

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated Tue, 19 Mar 2002  5:48:21 PM Eastern Standard Time, Mark A Mandel <mam at THEWORLD.COM> writes:

>
>         [Mark II*]
>
> * Hey, I can do that, but don't youse guys start thinking you can get
> away with it.
>
> -- Mark A. Mandel

Not too long after Mark Twain's "Letters from the Earth" was published, I discovered that the Pentagon had a computer system called "Mark Twain".  I said to somebody that I doubted Mr. Clemens would appreciate having his pseudonym on a military system, and was told the system acquired its name because it was designed by two men, each named Mark.

Not very relevant, but at the same time there was a system managed by one Lieutenant Colonel Dean, who graciously gave permission to his science-fiction-reading subordinates to name the system "the Dean Machine."