Ethernet and the meaning of life

Yesterday, I had to go by the office of Dynamic Interim, whom I worked for last year when I was doing the telemarketeer job for three months. Since I received my tax form a few weeks ago, and I hadn't still received the yearly paycheck overview that they're required by law to provide me, I gave them a call – most companies send these overviews around march, so it's a little late now. Turns out they've had some problems with those things going lost in the mail in the past – and the people who make up these documents for them charge them €10 if it gets lost. So, as a policy, they don't send it unless explicitely asked to do so; if it then gets lots, it would be my responsability. Since going past their offices is only a small detour on the way to our office, I went by there yesterday and got the document.

Now when I was waiting at the nearest bus station for my bus to arrive, I smelled something. Turning around, I saw a shop called "De alternatieve tuin der wonderen" ("The alternative garden of wonders") which sells a variety of books and objects related to spirituality and similar subjects; everything from a book by the Dalai Lama on "Geluk op het werk" ("happiness at work") through weekly fortune teller appointments up to a bouddhist decorated statue of an elephant sitting in the lotus position. In the entrance, a stick of incense was burning – hence the smell. Looking past all that, I could see the shopkeeper dressed in some sort of dress, which gave me the impression that should I choose to enter his shop, he'd likely turn around, put his hands together in front of his face, and bow in front of me.

Now, right in the middle of the showwindow, on a very prominent place, was a book called "Ethernet on the first mile", by Michael Beck. According to the cover, the book talked about matters such as network security, how the EFM protocol works, and other related things.

Needless to say, this book was completely out of place. I wonder why the shopkeeper chose to add this book to his collection; likely, it's because the word "Ethernet" confused him into thinking this might have something to do with some sort of net on which you're supposed to pour ether, to help you with your meditation. Or so.

It could be an interesting idea to think of what other words in the computer business could confuse specialized book shops such as this one. Think about a book entitled "fighting with mono" which would explain how one would write small shoot-em-up games with mono (which may or may not be possible at this time) in a book shop for books about health issues. Or a book called "GNU and penguins" in a safari book shop.

Could be fun.