• My dad and grandmother spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out why a particular website wouldn't load. It turned out it was an email address. -SmokeSignalSky from UGA

  

  A first generation Wii

• I was working for Verizon as a DSL install tech. This woman ordered a wireless router for her DSL connection. When I showed up to install it she got angry and yelled, "It's not wireless! See? You still have to plug it in!" and pointed to the power outlet and the cable box.
  - Scott H.

• When my dad is trying to email something out I have to describe the @ symbol as "uppercase 2." -Art from Kettering

• My mom wanted some help checking her email. I asked what the address was, and she said it was with her first-and-last-name@ hotmail.com. So I tried and tried to access it but couldn’t figure it out. Finally, in frustration, I asked if she had even set it up. She responded “No, I just figured everyone else has one like that so I probably had one in there too.”
  -Jonathan Danson
• My mom once sent me an email complaining that, "The Internet wasn't working."
  -Bryan E.
• My dad was going to Europe recently. He called to ask not only if his laptop would work over there, but also if the pictures he took would be compatible with his U.S. computer.
  -Brian S.

Meet the Dane-Cook-a-Tron! Enter any regular joke into the box below, and our advanced computer software will Dane-Cook-ify it. Your first movie deal can't be far away!

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This week's guest is illustrator and sculptor Derek Walborn. You can see his work at www.derekwalborn.com. Derek wrote the insanely funny Huey Hog article, and was also the star of our very own Dan Gurewitch's short film, A Death Sandwich.

TALKING POINT: Did video games used to be harder, or did we used to be stupider?

Derek: The two most difficult games I've ever played are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Battletoads, both for the NES. I have fond memories of Ninja Turtles but somewhere deep in my psyche I think I can indentify a flame of hatred for the frustration involved in navigating the Turtle Van. It's right there next to my repressed memories pertaining to Grandpa's bedroom closet.

Jeff: Some NES games are just flat-out unbeatable. They were just as complex as today's games, but much less elegant so you had no idea how to play. A Boy and His Blob is a great example. The only people who know what to do in that game designed it.

Derek: A Boy and His Blob just gave you nothing to work with. The only direction in the manual was something like, "Just be sure not to feed the blob ketchup flavored jellybeans! He hates them!" I wanted to feed that thing ketchup all day after my little soul was crushed knowing I had wasted my 5 day videogame rental in a masochistic manner.

Jeff: Older games often demand practice, while newer games just ask for general competency.

Derek: That's because 2D games often rely on timing and memorization, whereas 3D games are usually about exploration and discovery. That and the fact that Japan was still, at that time, hopping mad over WW2 and thought that making it impossible to drive the Turtle Van up the right street would be a most devestating act of revenge.

Jeff: Most recent titles also have a story to tell, so if they made the game impossible you would never hear the ending. That wasn't always the case. If you don't get past the first stage of Burger Time, you're not really missing anything.

Last week, I mentioned Facebook to my father. His response was "I don't even know what a Space Book is!"

Parents just don't understand technology, and now's our chance to embarrass them for it. Send ridiculous questions your parents have asked about computers to parentsjustdontunderstand@gmail.com. We'll post the funniest every week.

Just to get the ball rolling, here are some of the best from around the office.


Intern Patrick:
My mom still asks me "How is your internship at The Google doing?"

Jr. Developer Chris:
My dad wrote me this mysterious email - "I have no idea how to correct the gaps between sentences. In fact I don't even know how I created them. Writing with a pen is easier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Developer Nick:
"When I first got this job, I was trying to explain to my dad what a web developer does. He said, 'So you’re going to put it into language and make it a web?”

Intern Jeff:
We've had cable Internet for years, but my mom still asks "Are you off the phone yet? Can I go on the online?"

Designer Lori:
My mom has a bad habit of reading my emails over my shoulder. Any time I'm on a website with a banner ad she asks, "Who's that? He's cute! Are you going on a date with him?"