My daughter Evie, who will turn 7 in March, has a few favorite activities on her OLPC XO. Out of all of them, the one that tickles me most is that she loves wardriving. You heard me right.
She will generally haul her XO anywhere she’s allowed, including in the car on trips. Recently we had a day of inclement weather on which the county where Evie goes to school decided to open two hours late, while the county where my son Ethan’s preschool is opened on time. That day, Evie rode with my wife to drop Ethan off at preschool, and of course took her XO along for the ride, watching the network map.
On the way back home after dropping the boy off, my wife stopped at a light in downtown Fredericksburg, and Evie giggled from the back of the car. “What are you giggling about?” asked my wife.
“F***s***b****t**s,” replied Evie, giggling some more.
My wife, disbelieving, turned around and looked at her. “What did you say?“
“That’s what it says for this network, Mommy,” said Evie innocently, showing her the XO’s network neighborhood map, which — sure enough — prominently displayed the unlikely named “F***s***b****t**s” network. Nice!
Thus there followed a conversation about grownup words. Thank goodness Ethan wasn’t in the car at the time, or we’d have our own little George Carlin routine on constant repeat.