Farenheit 451

I'm a huge Science Fiction fan. Laura's post mentioning (among many other things) Ray Bradbury's book recalls the (not a, the) time I won a trivia contest by knowing that paper spontaneously combusts at 451 degrees Fahrenheit. Just a bit of trivia, not everyone knows why the book is called that.

How the Internet Works cross posting from Legal and Ethical Issues

When you win a bid on for an Internet domain name, you don't own that name; you are only renting it. You pay the previous owner for the right to rent that name for a year - so who really owns it? The answer to that question is a tricky one. To answer it, you really need to know a little bit about how the Internet works.

In order to get an Internet connection to your house, business, car etc. you typically must pay an Internet Provider. This is similar to paying a phone company for telephone service and can be exactly like that as many phone companies are also Internet providers. Once you are connected to the Internet you can send email, listen to music, surf web pages and all other things cyberspace but what really happens when you type www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu into your browser? www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu is known as a URL or Universal Resource Locator. Each URL can be translated into a unique I.P. or Internet Protocol address. This translation occurs at a special type of computer called a Domain Name Server (DNS) which keeps a lookup table of URLs (www.gradcenter.marlboro.edu) and IP addresses (206.192.68.2). If you want to find the I.P. address of a URL you can go to a site like http://www.ip-adress.com/, type in a URL and it will tell you all sorts of information about it.

IP address location & IP address info:
IP address [?]: 206.192.68.2 Copy
IP address country: flag United States
IP address state: Vermont
IP address city: Marlboro
IP postcode: 05344
IP address latitude: 42.860100
IP address longitude: -72.728897
ISP [?]: TelCove
Organization: Marlboro College
Host: ernestine.marlboro.edu
Local Time: 2007-10-28 21:30

I also "own" a domain name 398North.com. Every year, I pay a hosting company called Planet Hosting $25.00 to continue to "own" it.

If I type my URL into another website http://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois I get back

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

Domain Name: 398NORTH.COM
Registrar: INTERCOSMOS MEDIA GROUP, INC. D/B/A DIRECTNIC.COM
Whois Server: whois.directnic.com
Referral URL: http://www.directnic.com
Name Server: NS0.PLANETHOSTING.COM
Name Server: NS1.PLANETHOSTING.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Updated Date: 07-may-2007
Creation Date: 26-may-2004
Expiration Date: 26-may-2008

What does this all have to do with Internet Real Estate? Notice the last like of the listing above; "Experation Date:" If I am even one day late in paying that fee, someone else can buy 398North.com - for one year - for my $25.00. So, if I am only renting my URL, who owns it? One possible answer is Planet Hosting; that's who I pay my rent to. However, I can change to another Internet Host, keep my URL and pay the new host an annual fee instead of paying it to Planet Hosting. Another possibility is ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. From their website -

ICANN is responsible for managing and coordinating the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure that every address is unique and that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique IP addresses and domain names. It also ensures that each domain name maps to the correct IP address.

- but I don't pay ICANN anything. So really what I'm paying for is to have the DNS system connect people who type www.398North.com into their browser window to the IP address I have designated. I'm pretty happy I didn't pay $150,000 for that.

Blogging about Bloging about Blogging

So, I read Maury's blog entry about Blogging and I have to agree that I would never have done it without being forced to in this class and will probably stop as soon as the class is over.

There have been some positive aspects, such as being forced to examine my life for technical interactions. The way it usually works is that I have an idea for a Blog entry, go research it so I don't sound like a fool and so I have supporting links to add, then sit down and start to write. I usually compose it in TextPad, my favorite text editor, so that I can write in chunks - rather that in one sitting - and so I can spell check it. Again, so I don't sound like a fool. After pasting the entry into the Blog, I go and make the links

That said, I am still disinclined to continue Blogging after class is over because I feel that the time I spend Blogging, I could spend learning something or accomplishing something and not just talking about learning or accomplishing something. Now writing a Blog PROGRAM, that would be cool.

iPod

I received a free iPod from Marlboro for promising to graduate. I would never have purchased an iPod for myself but was willing to try it out risk free. My impressions? So-so. Right away I started to have problems with it; I couldn't get it out of the plastic do-hickey attached to the box. It took a 14 year old that helps my wife with the horses to show me that you have to take the top plastic plate out of the box before you can see the instructions on the back of the plate showing you how to bend the plate to get the iPod out.

It was smaller than I expected it to be, too small. I was afraid I would break it or drop it or sit on it every time I touched it. Still, this class is all about trying new technologies so I "ripped" a couple of my favorite CDs to my hard-drive using windows media player, plugged my iPod into my computer (which recognized it immediately) and ... tried to "synchronize" with my iPod. No luck.

After some research (browsing) I discovered that only iTunes can synch with and iPod so I downloaded and installed iTunes (aggressively saying no every time Apple insisted I give them my credit card number so I could open and iTunes account) and tried loading the .wav files I had ripped from my CDs. Hmmm, apparently, only mp3 format files can be transfered from Windows Media Player to iTunes so I re-ripped the CDs in mp3 format and, finally got a couple dozen songs on my iPod. I listened for a couple of minutes and turned it off. Enough for one night.

In the subsequent days, I loaded a class lecture into my iPod and listened to a couple of minutes of that too, before turning it off. After picking it up and setting it down a couple of times, I concluded that I didn't like an ear-full of music, I liked a car or room full. Off to Best Buy to price my options. For car? SOL. I don't have a tape deck in my stereo (who listens to tapes any more) so hooking it up through my car stereo becomes an electronic problem. I can buy a very nice speaker set to hook my iPod into but I already have a nice set of Bose speakers and I'm not inclined to blow another couple hundred dollars for a lower quality sound.

Finally I said "screw it" and gave it to the 14 year old who had dropped hers in a puddle and tried to dry it out in a microwave.

For $35.00 at Radio Shack, I bought an attachment for my stereo so I can play MP3s from my computer on my house stereo. I'll keep you posted.

Of cabbages and kings

I don't tend to look at who wrote a blog when I'm reading it but somehow always end up responding to Peter's postings - this one on RFID chips.

First, a note that three states have banned forced RFID tags, Wisconsin, North Dakota and now California, although Tommy Thompson, governor of Wisconsin has chosen to be implanted. I think Vermont should join the list.

And before you run for the protection of your tinfoil hat, please read this M.I.T. study ...

Routing Number

My newest brush with technology started with an anguished call from an out-of-state friend of mine who will be referred to as butt-head - "Dave, buddy, I know I haven't talked to you in a while but I need a favor ..."

He wanted me to drive down and bail him out of jail. Considering the copious amount of free time I have had recently, I wasn't really interested taking a day of work to deal with this problem.

Enter the routing number. A routing number is the nine digit number on the bottom of your check that isn't your bank account number. This number uniquely identifies every bank in the U.S. and can be used, you guessed it, to transfer funds from one bank to another. I got the routing number of a bank near the courthouse and for the paltry fee of $20.00, my bank transferred funds to that bank and one of butt-head's closer but poorer friends and bail is paid without me driving anywhere.

Butt-head is doing fine, holding down two jobs to pay me back and waiting for his court date sometime next year.

A blog on blogs

Today, at breakfast, at the Richmond diner, where I eat every Sunday, with my wife, who hates overusing commas, I was reading the Burlington Free Press. Not that I would ever pay to read the Free Press but a copy of it was lying on the counter and the comics were on top. (Really, I'm coming to a point soon.) So, after completing the comics, I moved on to other, less informative and less well written, parts of the newspaper. One article reminded me that I hadn't blogged for a while. A young Chinese man, living in China, was suing his internet provider for censoring his blogs. Apparently, it is common practice in China to delete politically controversial Blog entries.

Since this is a technology blog, and not a political one, I will refrain from commenting on the morality of censorship and, instead, will note some of the advantages and disadvantages of using a Blog v.s. traditional printed material as a method of disseminating political opinion.

• Paper
• 
  
• Advantages
• You get to meet people who are interested in your cause (handing out pamphlets)
• Anyone who can read is a potential audience
• Potentially more enduring media
• Hard to completely suppress
• 
  
• Disadvantages
  
• Potential difficulty finding a printer or maintaining your own press
• More limited to localized distribution
• 
  
• Blogging
• 
  
• Advantages
• Easy to create a message (computer access being relatively common)
• Easy to disseminate
  
• Potentially massive audience
• 
  
• Disadvantages
• Your target audience must be computer literate
• Censorship can completely destroy your message
• A little more difficult to be completely anonymous

Anyway, just a note from a Sunday morning diner.

An after-note. That list was supposed to be outline-indented. It showed up fine when I was writing the post but was butchered on display ...

CSS reply

After reading the Technology Blog entry on CSS, I have several comments.

I do some contracting and the problem of changing technology plagues me as well. If a client wants me to do something obscure that I don't already know how to do (like program hand scanners), I let them know that I will have to learn it and I bill them time. Particularly if it is not a resalable skill.

Something like learning CSS though is a different matter. A client for whom I do a lot of work, I would bill them 1/2 time for learning new skills that would save them time in the future and raise my price for new clients because I would then have more skills and be worth more.

That's just how I do it.

Microsoft Office and Podcasting

At work on Thursday, we installed Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Access. For you non-techies, a Service Pack is an accumulation of patches since the last Service Pack. (patches are quick error or security fixes). So, we grabbed the SP from Microsoft, installed it on all twenty or so computers in the office and waited for disaster. This one turned out to be a real pain. For Microsoft Access format 2000 forms, the check boxes no longer respond to mouse clicks - only the space bar. To fix the problem, you have to create a new Access 2007 form (which works fine). Apparently, Microsoft is aware of the problem and will be issuing a Patch soon.

Hey Peter, if it makes you feel any better, I've never listened to a Podcast in my life :)

On early adoption

I completely support EagleRay's comment on early adoption. In spite of being a geek, I'm a late adopter. I hate wasting time learning something that has no staying power. I hate dealing with buggy software or substandard hardware. I want someone else to deal with the pain and suffering the newest toy, give feedback to the company and watch their beloved toy become obsolete in six months. I've lived without whatever-the-%$#!! it is so far and I'm willing to do without it for another year or so until they get it right.

I DON'T think you're being too harsh. The same things happens in the fashion world. Early adopters pay boutique price. The sycophants pay high-end department store price. The wanna-be's pay discount store prices and, finally, the late adopters pick it up for a couple of bucks at a second hand store.

(p.s. I'm liking this blog-comment thing)

Yet another blog - comment idea

I hate to keep kicking a dead horse (well, I dislike it a little) but the comment on other blogs still isn't working for me. I read them. I would like to comment on some but it's such a pain in the butt. How about this. We can comment on other peoples Blogs in OUR Blogs. It will give us something to write about and the blog aggregators will still pick up the posts.

For example:

Maybe it's just because I'm a database person but I find the 911 system fascinating. I had a vague guess at how it must work but this post helped firm up the concept.

Today's brush with technology came from a completely unexpected source. My wife and I are having an addition put on the house. A friend of mine is helping us build it and instead of hiring an architect - he paid $50.00 for Super Home Suite, a simple but functional drafting program. We just spent four hours (in which I was supposed to be getting my assignment for Project Management in gear) puttering around designing our extension. It has a 3-D rotating view mode with a helicopter cursor that we played with like kids in an arcade. I was particularly impressed that you could look in a window from outside and see what had been designed in the room. For example, you can look right into the downstairs tub from the upstairs guestroom. Looks like we'll need those curtains after all.

Oh and it also makes blueprints. Whatever.