Now I know who inspired Randall Munroe to create Bobby Tables. Quote from here

My mother is a computer systems analyst, just retired from the New York City transit system, where she was a troubleshooter. I remember one day in the '70s when, as a teenager, I wandered into the kitchen in search of food. My mother was at the table with a huge contraption next to her on the floor, something about the size of a small refrigerator, waist-high, with the receiver of our telephone cradled into it.

"I am accessing the Hunter College Library, isn't that neat?" I thought it was, but wondered, when was dinner?

Hush! you ate yesterday!!!

Yes! Hanners and Suzanne Vega in the same blog post. Coincidences are nice.