CERN Animal Shelter for Computer Mice (2011) | Hacker News Reader

CERN Animal Shelter for Computer Mice (2011)

computer-animal-shelter.web.cern.ch

348 pointsEbNar49 comments

In high school twenty years ago, my IT class teacher told me that technically speaking, a collection of computer mice of different styles (that is, not all the same brand/shape/color/etc.) are actually called mouses, not mice. I always thought he was joking, but apparently it is/was considered correct at some point:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse#Etymology

Isn't it similar to fish vs fishes?

Or schemata/schemas, indices/indexes…?

Mice/mouses and fish/fishes are distinguished by whether they are homogeneous sets or not.

Multiple IT teachers (in different English schools) taught me that it was always mouses for computer mice. I don't know if they would be disappointed to learn I now often say mice, or if they do now too...

I love that CERN has such a strong bond with their animals. They are even monitoring the quantum entanglements of their sheep: https://home.cern/news/news/cern/cern-scientists-find-eviden...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43545349 ("CERN scientists find evidence of quantum entanglement in sheep (home.cern)"; April 1, 2025)

And yet, not everything is so pretty at CERN.

Just consider their Large Hamster Collider! It’s a travesty, and last I head, they were colliding billions of hamster per second. You also got to ask what they do with the resulting elephants and whatnot coming out of those relativistic collisions.

Oh that's an easy one, they go to the Geneva Zoo and from there they get trafficked all over the world. It's essentially whitewashing of hamsters on an elephantine scale. We got one of those here as well, it looks like the real deal from a distance but up close the illusion falls apart. The thing that will get you is all the little eyes staring at you and the incessant mewing sounds.

Hamsters can be kind of assholes though. At least my sister's hamster was one.

I remember when Outpost.com's initial gerbil collision tests led to public outcry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZIwetqq3H8

I hope they're humanely harvesting their eyeballs for boba before putting them in the collider. Such a waste otherwise.

https://img.ifunny.co/images/c736301a01cc03ff1f03dac1c8b87f7...

I'll do you one better: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-10-25

I always suspected platypuses are the evolutionary equivalent of fake news. And now we know!

Rock n roll. They are welcome to my brand new M100. She doesnt sit level on my desk, and arrived with a squeaky scroll wheel.

I dread buying a new model of anything these days, knowing that the MBAs will have found some way to shave a cent off a million units, or a millionth of a meter from a poor mouse foot. But I guess I'll replace her before there are only smart maice avAIlable.

Oh and CERN is an amazing place to visit if you ever get a chance. Plan well ahead since I waited a long time for a visitor slot last time I was in CH.

> I dread buying a new model of anything these days, knowing that the MBAs will have found some way to shave a cent off a million units, or a millionth of a meter from a poor mouse foot.

So true... Generally speaking, quality of anything from a reputable brand was taken as granted just a couple decades ago... Now, every time I buy something there's some detail showing how the people in charge wanted to save a few cents making it.

There was an article not too long ago about someone taking the old thumb wheel Logitech mouse and upgrading its electronics by adding a usb charging port and changing the switches used to make it easier to press. My perspective is heavily skewed in saying this but moving forward I foresee the ranks of people like that, as an entity unto themselves whether a minority or not irrelevant, upgrading and improving stock products for sake of durability, usability and serviceability. That last one in particular I’m reminded of things like relays and door locks in washing machines which are designed to last for approx. the duration of warranty, but it can extend to many other things also. While this hacker spirit has always been a thing, I suspect it’s been predominantly concentrated in developing countries where incomes are too thin to afford throwing things out, and so a repair may in fact fix a blemish of the stock product and extend life as if it is an upgrade unto itself. I think it will become more mainstream.

M240 is good

I miss the internet when it was like this.

It is still like this. You just have to drag yourself away from the big sites and you will find all manner of weirdness.

Just keep hiting 'surprise me'

https://wiby.org/

THANK YOU

I find this really cool for some reason.

Thanks!

Well that gets a special place on my book marks toolbar right next to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random amazing!

It's still alive and well! Just burried under a mountain of shit.

Also see:

https://kagi.com/smallweb

https://cloudhiker.net

https://randomdailyurls.com

This is the Internet of whimsy I grew up with and I miss it constantly. Thank you, poster.

Oh, some classic mice of a previous generation.

I can spot two three-button Logitech PilotMouse. It was OEM'ed for many brands (SGI, DEC, ...) and also very common standalone.

The Sun mouse is probably an optical one made by Mouse Systems. I think it is the one in the same style with ball that is rare.

Awesome site. Great pictures. It solved a very important logical mystery for me: Where the front/mouth of a computer mouse is and if we really cover its mouth with our filthy paws when we plug its long tail into our computer when we are browsing cat video's. :)

Don't be fooled, the mouth is obviously the opening on the bottom where the ball (tongue) sits, like a facehugger or headcrab.

Thanks for this insight.

Now i have new questions about how laser mice consume... :)

Well, clearly, they vaporize their food with the laser and then simply inhale the fumes.

In the 1990s I needed my mum to check something on my dad's computer. So I phoned her up and talked her through the arduous process of turning on the computer and clicking on a few icons.

However...

This was going nowhere, and, after about half an hour of struggle, I asked my mum which way the mouse was in her hand. She had the 'tail' coming out the back, which made sense to her.

Before working this out I was wondering if the light from the window was making it through the flimsy plastic of the mouse, to prevent the sensors from working. Or maybe something else was plugged in, robbing the MS-DOS PC of enough interrupts. Or maybe the ball was clogged with cat hairs.

We got there in the end, however, it was a lesson in not jumping to conclusions. I had just been temporarily defeated by my mother's lack of computer literacy.

I think it is too late to change computer mouse layout, but your story made me think about if humans should include more nature and perhaps biology in their design plans. Thank you.

> She had the 'tail' coming out the back, which made sense to her. > > Before working this out

What's wrong with the tail coming out of the back? That's how all mice are used.

> She had the 'tail' coming out the back, which made sense to her.

It made so much sense that the very first computer mouse had the cable there, which is was why the device was initially nicknamed a “mouse”. They soon moved the cable to be more out of the way, but the name has obviously stuck.

Grief. Do I have to watch Engelbart's Mother of All Demos now? I think I need to, not to quibble with you, because you are right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos

The CERN Animal Shelter for Computer Mice is a non-profit organization maintained by CERN staff during their leisure time...

Reminds me of the fact that what to past or future civilisations perhaps looks dystopian or primitive, might just be jokes and a good time

“The scientists at the facility are believed to have worshipped or made sacrifices of their computer mice, due to their primitive minds’ beliefs that it would affect the outcome of their experiments.”

Some SF author in Ancient Egypt seeing a hieroglyphic engraving in the works: "hmmm... I wonder if I...".

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/helicopter-hieroglyphs

Whatever happened to the people who made this kind of content? I can't find them any more.

At my current FAANG, nobody talks to each other. There is no laughing, joking, or discussion of any matters, other than work.

The corporations have been putting their thumb screws on labor in the tech market since 2022. Everything you’re describing is a luxury that people have abandoned as they all desperately compete to keep their job

I started working in the mid 90's. It was very common back then to go out for lunch with your co-workers, almost daily! That's a very rare thing now. Back then I was making $8 an hour and you could get a nice meal at a Chinese or Mexican restaurant for about $5.

Oh CERN folks, you beautiful people

The site is so simple yet has so much soul - a part of internet lost.

not lost is it? this site is still up

I think things like these have just become harder to find. There are some search engines which try to bring the "old" internet back to life like Marginalia Search.

OMG thanks for that! The Random site button at the top is glorious!

https://old-search.marginalia.nu/

I hope it's a no-kill shelter. Do they have adoption events?

Not sure the Panicking pick depicts panicking though

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