Gather -- the Most Interesting Place on the Internet. Cuckoo?

When you really stop to think about it, Gather is the most interesting place on the Internet.

“Que, no es possible! Oh, yes! Most definitely.

I needed cheering up last night, so where else to go but to Jay Leno or onto Gather where you would find “Nippy Katz”.

Jay is on Tivo, (he could wait), so I summoned my friend to come over and look as Nippy’s latest creation, “Game: Another Game with Training Wheels”.

My friend seemed disinterested at first, as he usually has to complete with -- in his words -- the dogs, cats, inanimate objects, photos, and other icons on Gather. He had never seen Nippy before and proceeded to label him “Kermit the Frog.” He stood over me casually reading the article, and I watched him as he became more and more . . .shall we say, interested? He said, “What the hell?” and told me to get out of the chair. I could see he was serious, and I very quickly moved out of the seat. He sat down, leaned over into the screen, and read the article and comments with great interest, looking very puzzled, his critique being, “This is nuts! It’s just nuts!” (I was thoroughly enjoying it all; it was better than Jay Leno, especially when he said to me, “What else you got?”) “Gotcha!” I thought.

I took him to Keith Kalish’s article, “How Do You Make Chili?” Keith presents his recipe for chili, then there are the traditional comments. What I wanted my friend to see was the racoon’s final statement which was an instruction to Keith.

Raccoon: Throw in cumin, a touch of cocoa powder and some beer in place of some of the water or tomato sauce (again, just a bit of all of these) You'll get a yummy chili. Add some sugar to offset the spice.

Keith: Sugar? What's sugar?

(Every time I read that I laugh so hard that it brings tears to my eyes.) However, my friend walked away, seemingly disgusted and shaking his head saying, “ I’ve seen it all now! A raccoon running down to a man how to make chili!”

I took him to see two of my other favorites, Kris M, the Kool classy black Kat, and Matt C.’s the (I don’t know what it is) Icon holding a mug of beer in his hand and forever smiling. I showed him that even Barack Obama was on the Gather site. He nearly found it hard to believe, amidst the other varied characters he had seen. “You even got Obama mixed up in this.” He said. (How COULD I have any Presidential candidate mixed up in anything? I guess he figures the same way animals, people and inanimate objects are carrying on discussions.)

We went through Gather for a little time longer, with my showing him various animals talking to other animals or humans, with such great intelligence; inanimate objects speaking on politics, health, humor, religion, and life‘s other issues. Eventually he begin to laugh with me. He commented that Gather should rename itself, “Cuckoo’s Nest”, which I didn’t find particularly funny, but whatever; at least he has a new appreciation for what my fascination is about this Gather.

Epilogue: He telephoned this morning, wanting my ID and password, because he wanted to go back to see Nippy’s article and to see the “raccoon running it down to the man.” I told him, “No,” of course, but at this rate there may be another Gatherer very soon.

Referenced:

Article: Game: Another Game with Training Wheels

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977112893

Article: How Do You Make Chili?

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977105456