Posted on 06/10/2006 11:27:44 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile
What is this ball of colors? It is the North American Internet, or more specifically a map of just about every router on the North American backbone, (there are 134,855 of them for those who are counting)...
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.cio.com ...
It belongs to Al Gore, since he invented it.
V'ger...
Mebbe something to Tech pingify...
That's my brain scan!
Invented it? You lying pig-dog camel lover, he not only invented it, he personally bankrolled it, and owns 2/3 of it. He writes about 98% of the web sites on it in his spare time, too, as he told me while I was hanging out with him and my wife, Rebecca Romijn...
"That's my brain scan!"
If you read the accompanying article it mentions that this IS a map developed much like a brain scan. Ha-ha back atcha. 8^)
When they start charging my internet like my mobile phone the internet is going to be cut.
Some of the really nice backbones are purely L2 switch fabrics. If you count routers, these won't show up very well because they only run a routing source at peering points that require it.
"When they start charging my internet like my mobile phone the internet is going to be cut."
A lot of people agree with you and left services that charged on an hourly plan for that very reason. That's why it won't happen, or even better yet, why if it does the ISPs that try it will lose market share or still have to provide an unlimited plan at a reasonable price. Companies can try charging more, but the market is still going to be competitive enough to stop them, especially as the infrastructure for wireless gets better and better.
The thing we have to be most careful about is cities setting up their own internet umbrellas and limiting access as good little socialists. We have to be careful about ANY government involvement in the Net. Taking the free cheese always means strings are attached.
The Net will become a place of extreme rule and regulation. Say something that doesn't fit in with the local ISP and ZAP your off the air and possibly black listed.
Point taken--but does that significantly invalidate the map, do you think, or are these "best backbones" spread evenly across the router owners shown here? I think we might safely assume it's about the same spread percentage-wise of really quality backbones, maybe slightly tilted to the big commercial owners at worst. It doesn't seem to me that you can evaluate "ownership" of the Net any other way unless you can rely on the traffic evaluations of all the router owners, which would have its own shortcomings both in accuracy and collection to start with. But I'm up for suggestions, as is this blog. And I know I'm no expert.
CIO, btw, is a free subscription magazine for those in the industry, as is Eweek. I highly recommend free subscriptions. 8)
"The Net will become a place of extreme rule and regulation. Say something that doesn't fit in with the local ISP and ZAP your off the air and possibly black listed."
Crap! I better keep an eye on the ol' stock ticker for AA, ACH, CENX, IAL, and RS to rise, too! /sarc
Nope. I don't see that happening, so I am not going to get all messed up with this booga-booga-they're-takin'-over stuff. People like freedom. They LIKE wireless when they can get it, too. And it's happening more and more that computers are integrated with wireless, which is getting better and better. I think the result will be, as things get more and more wireless, that computers will be every bit as networked outside of a big evil corporate backbone as they are in one because people will collaboratively align to connect that way. It'll be a wireless setup with infinite connections set up between users, instead of a wired, central connection situation as the big boys like to imagine. So as wireless improves, it'll mean business and neighborhoods combine to turn into mini-nets that grow ever larger, without the towers and cabling infrastructure we find so necessary now. Given my perspective on the expansion of info sharing increasing, I'm obviously not as worried as you are.
Now, THAT's a V'ger. [/Crocodile Dundee voice]
The Internet perceives government as damage and routes around it.
The design of V'ger and the musical score were the only good things in that awful piece of garbage. Bob McCall and Syd Mead did some amazing designs and they were carried out to great extent by the FX team, though the actual realization was slipshod--some shots were cool, others really awful.
"The Internet perceives government as damage and routes around it."
You get it. You really do.
Government really screwed that up. And in allowing wireless data transfer, they've pretty much lost the whole ball of wax. As wireless transfer over ever longer distance emerges, it'll spell the end of the Internet in its current, wired form.
Wha...but...but, how could you not love Bones in his lounge lizard outfit!
DAMMIT! THEY DRAFTED ME, JIM! I'm a SWINGER, NOT A DOCTOR!
I liked Trek as a kid, can't stand any of the other incarnations because they just couldn't get the mix right.
The original Star Trek was the result of a combination of factors AND of LUCK. The chemistry (once the parts were properly cast--i.e. the new doctor, making Spock less emotional) and the stories made the show so interesting. The lack of FX sophistication (compared to now--I think it won an Emmy for FX) meant they couldn't rely on space battles and elaborate FX.
Today people complain about how fake the old shows looked, but for me, that's like complaining that a stage play looks "stagebound". I got into the old show, and if I had to meet it more than halfway, that was ok, because it was an interesting show.
But McCoy was the only interesting human being in that movie. Granted, an hour of people staring at a screen IS compelling moviemaking, but... ;)
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