Not entirely related to this afternoon's video, but somehow I just couldn't resist.
It's too big to see as is, so click here.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
COM125 Week 2: Email
Although long touted as the killer app for the internet, electronic mail, or email as it is now commonly called, actually predates the internet as we know it in its current form of the World Wide Web by over 20 years (para 2, Email, n.d.). In 1961, MIT demonstrated the forerunner to email, the Compatible Time-Sharing System. This system allowed multiple users to log in from dial-up remote terminals, and store online files on disk (para 2, Email, n.d.). And so, the first email system began life in 1965 as a way for several users of such a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate (para 2, Email, n.d.).
By 1966, this communication capability was quickly extended to network email, allowing users to pass messages among different computers. And in 1971, email began to take on its current form, when Ray Tomlinson first used the @ sign to separate user names and machine names (para 4, Email, n.d.).
It would be unwise to ignore the influence ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), the computer network developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, had over the evolution of modern email, it being the predecessor of the modern Internet (para 1, ARPANET, n.d.). In essence, ARPANET was the world’s first operational packet-switching network (para 1, ARPANET, n.d.), and email’s popularity grew by leaps and bounds because of it. As mentioned earlier, after Ray Tomlinson pioneered the usage of the @ sign in email in 1971, by 1973 75% of the traffic on ARPANET was email (Network Applications, ARPANET, n.d.).
Email is just one of various methods that one can use to send messages over the internet. In essence, e-mail is just that – mail sent electronically, in much the same way as ordinary mail is sent, without the need for postage or a postman. In addition, text is not all that can be sent. Pictures, videos, or any type of file imaginable can be sent via email. Size restrictions apply, of course, though significantly less stringently then before. It is now not uncommon to receive a file over 10MB (email etiquette notwithstanding) and since Internet speeds have been constantly rising over the last few years with the sharp increase of widespread cable services, it is no longer as big an issue as it once was. With the advent of instant messengers like MSN or AIM, the usage of email as a chat device is on the decline, but there still remains many, many applications for email.
The influence of email over the Internet as we know it today is, in a word, enormous. In fact, it is safe to say that email is the main reason many people all over the world log on to the Internet everyday. Be it for the purpose of catching up with family members who are abroad, or exchanging cookie recipes with a fellow cookie enthusiast. And of course let us not forget the massive deluge of corporate emails generated every day in companies of all shapes and sizes.
Email is one of the first, and perhaps the most primitive form of communication over the Internet. It is perhaps the easiest to learn, and countless people have gone online for the first time because of it. Email has also reshaped the way students do work and use the Internet. Gone are the days where project groups have to meet each and every day, since, for example, quick announcements can be made via email. Instant messaging (IMing) does not always work, since everyday scheduling conflicts practically ensure that not everybody can be present at the same time. Therefore, emailing one’s entire group is a much more effective method of keeping everyone informed, and it is also significantly cheaper than calling each member.
In addition, it could be argued that quite a number of applications that are used everyday over the Internet evolved from email. Instant messaging is one such example. Despite, strictly speaking, having evolved from Internet Relay Chat (IRC) (para 3, Instant Messaging, n.d.), instant messaging could have grown out of a need to communicate faster, without the need to repeatedly send email after email. This brings it much closer to the ideal of face-to-face communication, as opposed to, say, having a pen-pal.
Message boards and blogs may well be considered as such. Can a post and a blog entry be seen as an open email to whoever reads it? If email is mail sent over the Internet, posts – whether on a forum or on a blog – can, thus, be seen as an open letter pasted on a noticeboard. Whatever one may be talking about, be it politics, sports, or the environment, such posts can be alluded to sticking a flyer on a wall.
In conclusion, email is not only one of the forerunners to a host of Internet communication methods used today, it is, and remains, a vital and widely used technology that does not appear to be facing extinction any time soon.
__________________________________________________________
References:
Email. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24th, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email
Advanced Research Project Agency Network. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24th, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
Instant Messaging. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24th, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messaging
By 1966, this communication capability was quickly extended to network email, allowing users to pass messages among different computers. And in 1971, email began to take on its current form, when Ray Tomlinson first used the @ sign to separate user names and machine names (para 4, Email, n.d.).
It would be unwise to ignore the influence ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), the computer network developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, had over the evolution of modern email, it being the predecessor of the modern Internet (para 1, ARPANET, n.d.). In essence, ARPANET was the world’s first operational packet-switching network (para 1, ARPANET, n.d.), and email’s popularity grew by leaps and bounds because of it. As mentioned earlier, after Ray Tomlinson pioneered the usage of the @ sign in email in 1971, by 1973 75% of the traffic on ARPANET was email (Network Applications, ARPANET, n.d.).
Email is just one of various methods that one can use to send messages over the internet. In essence, e-mail is just that – mail sent electronically, in much the same way as ordinary mail is sent, without the need for postage or a postman. In addition, text is not all that can be sent. Pictures, videos, or any type of file imaginable can be sent via email. Size restrictions apply, of course, though significantly less stringently then before. It is now not uncommon to receive a file over 10MB (email etiquette notwithstanding) and since Internet speeds have been constantly rising over the last few years with the sharp increase of widespread cable services, it is no longer as big an issue as it once was. With the advent of instant messengers like MSN or AIM, the usage of email as a chat device is on the decline, but there still remains many, many applications for email.
The influence of email over the Internet as we know it today is, in a word, enormous. In fact, it is safe to say that email is the main reason many people all over the world log on to the Internet everyday. Be it for the purpose of catching up with family members who are abroad, or exchanging cookie recipes with a fellow cookie enthusiast. And of course let us not forget the massive deluge of corporate emails generated every day in companies of all shapes and sizes.
Email is one of the first, and perhaps the most primitive form of communication over the Internet. It is perhaps the easiest to learn, and countless people have gone online for the first time because of it. Email has also reshaped the way students do work and use the Internet. Gone are the days where project groups have to meet each and every day, since, for example, quick announcements can be made via email. Instant messaging (IMing) does not always work, since everyday scheduling conflicts practically ensure that not everybody can be present at the same time. Therefore, emailing one’s entire group is a much more effective method of keeping everyone informed, and it is also significantly cheaper than calling each member.
In addition, it could be argued that quite a number of applications that are used everyday over the Internet evolved from email. Instant messaging is one such example. Despite, strictly speaking, having evolved from Internet Relay Chat (IRC) (para 3, Instant Messaging, n.d.), instant messaging could have grown out of a need to communicate faster, without the need to repeatedly send email after email. This brings it much closer to the ideal of face-to-face communication, as opposed to, say, having a pen-pal.
Message boards and blogs may well be considered as such. Can a post and a blog entry be seen as an open email to whoever reads it? If email is mail sent over the Internet, posts – whether on a forum or on a blog – can, thus, be seen as an open letter pasted on a noticeboard. Whatever one may be talking about, be it politics, sports, or the environment, such posts can be alluded to sticking a flyer on a wall.
In conclusion, email is not only one of the forerunners to a host of Internet communication methods used today, it is, and remains, a vital and widely used technology that does not appear to be facing extinction any time soon.
__________________________________________________________
References:
Email. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24th, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email
Advanced Research Project Agency Network. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24th, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
Instant Messaging. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24th, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messaging
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The power of CI
Or how some bloggers and an internet forum managed to unravel a rather bizzare conspiracy to make George W. Bush look bad.
The Killian documents - wikipedia entry
It's a bit of a long read, but it's relevant in that the collective intelligence of the parties mentioned above actually challenged a claim made on 60 Minutes, normally an unimpeachably accurate newsmagazine TV segment, and from there were instrumental in having the claims examined a little closer, and later overturned.
The Killian documents - wikipedia entry
It's a bit of a long read, but it's relevant in that the collective intelligence of the parties mentioned above actually challenged a claim made on 60 Minutes, normally an unimpeachably accurate newsmagazine TV segment, and from there were instrumental in having the claims examined a little closer, and later overturned.
Friday, January 19, 2007
The evils of the internet?
Just saw this on CNN.com...
MySpace sued after sick bastards sexually abuse teens
It's an interesting double edge to what Kevin talks about in class, isn't it? For all the good the Internet and blogging and MySpace has done (and that's a lot), all it takes is one evil bastard to abuse it. Or in this case, 4 evil bastards. And I'm pretty sure it's not the first time this has happened. Nor will it be the last. Unfortunately, as with any advance in technology, there'll always be a bunch of whackjobs who'll find ways to pervert it. Always remember, kids... Tech in and of itself isn't evil. It's the people who use it. Guns don't kill people, people kill people and all that.
MySpace sued after sick bastards sexually abuse teens
It's an interesting double edge to what Kevin talks about in class, isn't it? For all the good the Internet and blogging and MySpace has done (and that's a lot), all it takes is one evil bastard to abuse it. Or in this case, 4 evil bastards. And I'm pretty sure it's not the first time this has happened. Nor will it be the last. Unfortunately, as with any advance in technology, there'll always be a bunch of whackjobs who'll find ways to pervert it. Always remember, kids... Tech in and of itself isn't evil. It's the people who use it. Guns don't kill people, people kill people and all that.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Comparative morality 101
Had an interesting conversation with Mahfudz and Jonathan over lunch today (yesterday, now)... We were sitting in the canteen, just kinda loafing around between classes... Mahfudz brought the paper, so we were all flipping through the various sections, when I happened across this
rather large picture (it was a lot bigger in the papers) of Saddam Hussein during his trial, arm and finger raised, yelling at somebody. Jonathan asked, "Do you think he's really evil?"
Well, I said yeah, he's evil, some of the things he's done are really too inhumane... Yet on the other hand, he did what he had to do in order to maintain some semblance of order in Iraq. I can't lay my hands on it right now, but I read a little blurb in a recent Newsweek, something along the lines of some U.S. government official saying (anonymously) that "...we feel like apologising and saying 'sorry, we didn't know you did what you did because you had to'." Or something like that, memory fails at the moment.
So now for the comparative morality... Was booting Saddam out of his palace really the right thing to do? For all the blood (and worse) he has on his hands, Saddam was able to maintain order of a sort. Of a sort. Yes, he was a cruel, tyrannical dictator. But here's the rub. Is that the only type of person who can keep Iraq from self-destructing? We've already seen that the Iraqis aren't likely to blossom into full-blown Jeffersonian democracy any time soon... Maybe the only type of diplomacy that works in Iraq is the kind that comes out the barrel of a gun.
I'm not in anyway supporting or endorsing Saddam or his practices, mind... Just wondering. What do the rest of you think?
rather large picture (it was a lot bigger in the papers) of Saddam Hussein during his trial, arm and finger raised, yelling at somebody. Jonathan asked, "Do you think he's really evil?"
Well, I said yeah, he's evil, some of the things he's done are really too inhumane... Yet on the other hand, he did what he had to do in order to maintain some semblance of order in Iraq. I can't lay my hands on it right now, but I read a little blurb in a recent Newsweek, something along the lines of some U.S. government official saying (anonymously) that "...we feel like apologising and saying 'sorry, we didn't know you did what you did because you had to'." Or something like that, memory fails at the moment.
So now for the comparative morality... Was booting Saddam out of his palace really the right thing to do? For all the blood (and worse) he has on his hands, Saddam was able to maintain order of a sort. Of a sort. Yes, he was a cruel, tyrannical dictator. But here's the rub. Is that the only type of person who can keep Iraq from self-destructing? We've already seen that the Iraqis aren't likely to blossom into full-blown Jeffersonian democracy any time soon... Maybe the only type of diplomacy that works in Iraq is the kind that comes out the barrel of a gun.
I'm not in anyway supporting or endorsing Saddam or his practices, mind... Just wondering. What do the rest of you think?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Every epic has a beginning...
But so do random ramblings that have no business being called epics by any stretch of the imagination. No prizes for guessing which category this one falls into, eh?
...No, I do not have a self-esteem problem. Leave me alone. In my dark, dark corner where no one can see me. Shoo.
Anyway, I must confess that I have always (and still do, to a certain extent) held that blogging is done by people with waaaaaaay too much time on their hands. I mean, seriously now... Does the world really need to know where I had lunch or what I think about this or that particular person who managed to get their names or faces in the paper or on TV? Or what kind of weirdos I meet on the bus/train?
I suppose I have to keep an open mind now... Since I'll be blogging and reading other people's blogs, and Kevin's opening lecture DID have a few rather salient points. Guess it's fun to have a little soapbox to call your own sometimes. And there's a few benefits to blogging after all.
About me (this'll be short, I promise)... Just got out of NS, currently working part-time as a magician's assistant (check out www.jeremypei.com... not that you'll see my face there, but that's my boss), and I game. A lot. PC, PS2, PSP... No online stuff, unfortunately... That's what happens when you're stuck on 512k broadband. And you can't afford the monthly fee for World of Warcraft.
So yeah, that's it for a first post... Feel free to read and feedback. Cheerio, all.
...No, I do not have a self-esteem problem. Leave me alone. In my dark, dark corner where no one can see me. Shoo.
Anyway, I must confess that I have always (and still do, to a certain extent) held that blogging is done by people with waaaaaaay too much time on their hands. I mean, seriously now... Does the world really need to know where I had lunch or what I think about this or that particular person who managed to get their names or faces in the paper or on TV? Or what kind of weirdos I meet on the bus/train?
I suppose I have to keep an open mind now... Since I'll be blogging and reading other people's blogs, and Kevin's opening lecture DID have a few rather salient points. Guess it's fun to have a little soapbox to call your own sometimes. And there's a few benefits to blogging after all.
About me (this'll be short, I promise)... Just got out of NS, currently working part-time as a magician's assistant (check out www.jeremypei.com... not that you'll see my face there, but that's my boss), and I game. A lot. PC, PS2, PSP... No online stuff, unfortunately... That's what happens when you're stuck on 512k broadband. And you can't afford the monthly fee for World of Warcraft.
So yeah, that's it for a first post... Feel free to read and feedback. Cheerio, all.
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