SLAVE.DOC
				  or
		    The Psychology of Studly Nerds


mduncan@starbase.neosoft.com writes:

> Based on my informal survey, the most Frequently Asked Question
> about the HP48 would be, "How do I make a cable to transfer data to
> my computer?"  What's with making your own cable?  Does HP not offer
> them, or are they ridiculously expensive, or is it a studly nerd
> thing, or what?

Right on, brother!  I used to be puzzled by otherwise reasonable
people who spend hundreds of dollars on the world's most AWESOME
handheld math box, and then lack the aesthetic sense (not to mention
the financial prudence) to buy a quality I/O cable.  Instead, you find
these folks plugging a REPULSIVE, CHEAP, EMBARRASING piece of JUNK
into their EXPENSIVE and BEAUTIFUL calculator.

I finally figured out why.

Classsical psychology can explain this irrational behavior.

The owner feels threatened by the HP48's manifestly superior
intellect.  He feels subordinate.  The HP48, which was intended to be
his slave, has become his master.  Using an HP I/O cable would only
accentuate the problem.  So he compensates.  He regains symbolic,
subconscious control by fashioning his own home-brew cable, which in
his mind holds the HP48 captive and returns him to his rightful
position as master.  Not recognizing the humiliation that this bondage
must cause the HP48, his deviancy worsens, until other controlling,
sadistic behaviors appear reasonable, such as carrying the HP48 around
in a ludicrous case; keeping ugly keyboard overlays on it; feeding it
a prison diet of batteries with substandard or dubious chemistry; and
(perhaps the final pathetic act of paranoiac power struggle) running
CODELOCK or GATEWAY password software as a sort of HP48 chastity belt.

If this sounds like you, please: seek help.  If you don't buy a cable
from HP, buy one *somewhere*.  You need it.  You *both* need it.

-Joe Horn-    -For sale: home-made I/O cable, slightly kinky-