It’s a well known fact that somewhere between laptop technology and wireless internet technology, law school classrooms contained a half-circle of green computer screens beaming solitaire to the eyes of all the back-row kids. Indeed this is still the case even with wireless internet access. My property professor once announced that he was about to explain some ancient property history that would not be on the exam: “In other words, if there is a time during this course that you are not going to pay attention, it should be now. Now is the time to move red jack to black queen.”
Meanwhile, behind all those solitaire screens are carefully selected desktop wallpapers which convey the individuality and beliefs of the laptop owner. There’s the Eric Clapton guy, the girl with a picture of her boyfriend, the guy(s) with the Olson Twins, etc. The trouble is that no one ever gets to see these wallpapers, as they are always obscured by the solitaire game. And this, my friends, is what makes Howard Dean solitaire so ingenious. If only Microsoft would make a customizable version of the game, it would surely sell for a premium (ie something more than free with Windows). I bet solitaire is in the top three most used computer applications (excluding functionality programs).