Blinkenlights: Difference between revisions
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As computers became more ubiquitous, the trope faded from the public consciousness. ([[Real Life]] 21st-century mainframes don't even have diagnostic lights any more, at least not where people can see them.) Nowadays it's used in works that purposefully invoke [[Zeerust]], always paired with [[Beeping Computers]]. |
As computers became more ubiquitous, the trope faded from the public consciousness. ([[Real Life]] 21st-century mainframes don't even have diagnostic lights any more, at least not where people can see them.) Nowadays it's used in works that purposefully invoke [[Zeerust]], always paired with [[Beeping Computers]]. |
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[[Wikipedia]] has a page about [[wikipedia:Blinkenlights|Blinkenlights]]. [[The Jargon File]] has [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/blinkenlights.html a page about them], too. And [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blinkenlights so does] the [[Urban Dictionary]]. |
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Not to be confused with illumination for [[Nursery Rhyme|Winken, Blinken and Nod]]. |
Not to be confused with illumination for [[Nursery Rhyme|Winken, Blinken and Nod]]. |
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== [[New Media]] == |
== [[New Media]] == |
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* [[Wikipedia]] has a page about [[wikipedia:Blinkenlights|Blinkenlights]]. |
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** [[The Jargon File]] has [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/blinkenlights.html a page about them], too. |
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** And [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blinkenlights so does] the [[Urban Dictionary]]. |
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== [[Newspaper Comics]] == |
== [[Newspaper Comics]] == |
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[[Category:Truth in Television]] |
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Revision as of 20:57, 5 June 2020
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ACHTUNG! |
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Originally, Blinkenlights were simply diagnostic lights on electronic devices. In some places, they still are. But that's boring.
Thanks to signs in "mock German" that appeared in various computer rooms in the 1950s, Blinkenlights became something for non-technical people to look at, instead of touching something they really shouldn't touch. From there, it was only a matter of time – less than a decade – for Blinkenlights to become a visual shorthand for high technology in general, not just computers ... and, in Hollywood, they were always blinking.
As computers became more ubiquitous, the trope faded from the public consciousness. (Real Life 21st-century mainframes don't even have diagnostic lights any more, at least not where people can see them.) Nowadays it's used in works that purposefully invoke Zeerust, always paired with Beeping Computers.
Not to be confused with illumination for Winken, Blinken and Nod.
Advertising
Anime and Manga
Comic Books
Fan Works
Film
- The Q-Bomb in The Mouse That Roared was covered in Blinkenlights.
Literature
- In the very first scene in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, the self-aware computer Mycroft ("Mike" to his friends) is described as using his blinkenlights to laugh:
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"You asked what I knew." His binary read-out lights rippled back and forth — a chuckle. |
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Live-Action TV
- Shown in The Prisoner episode "The General". The fact that they switch off is a plot point.
- Star Trek: The Original Series faked Blinkenlights in Engineering, by sliding cutout screens back and forth behind backlit wall transparencies.
- Knight Rider's KITT had a simplified set of Blinkenlights inset into his front bumper.
Music
New Media
- Wikipedia has a page about Blinkenlights.
- The Jargon File has a page about them, too.
- And so does the Urban Dictionary.
Newspaper Comics
Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends
Pinball
Podcasts
Professional Wrestling
Puppet Shows
Radio
Recorded and Stand Up Comedy
Tabletop Games
Theatre
Video Games
- "Blinken Lights II", from Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, is an exotic puzzle that combines blinkenlights (as the name suggests), Morse code and the Simon game.