Re: Christopher Columbus was wrong! (was: professionalism and wysiwyg)

I will add to this wonderful post that the world is only about 1% wired for
Internet Access!  My there are a lot of Ignorant people out there!

Sincerely,

Mike Burks
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Messina <webmaster(at)sandstormpublishing.com>
To: darren.stephens(at)onyx.net <darren.stephens(at)onyx.net>; hwg-theory(at)hwg.org
<hwg-theory(at)hwg.org>
Date: Monday, October 12, 1998 9:58 PM
Subject: Christopher Columbus was wrong! (was: professionalism and wysiwyg)


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><DISCLAIMER>
>I was ignoring this thread for awhile, but it's got some meat! (with
>chunks, baby!): society, the power of Lynx, and there are countries outside
>the US???
>
>Okay, so I'm interested...
>
>I'm just jumping in hoping that all the tomatoes are well beyond ripe...
></DISCLAIMER>
>
>
><SUMMARY>
>* Old, beat-up Ford browsers (<IE2) do NOT meet current need and are due
>for 50,000 mile checkup.
>* But car analogy is poor. Cars cost too much. I want a Kia. Delivered in 3
>hours. Everyone should get one too. Because everyone can.
>* Well, I'm from Mars where I have to pay for dailup. I could buy a new car
>for three hours time online! Don't assume too much. I'll get my alien
>buddies to abduct your cable modem. I swear the truth must be out there.
>* Actually, a browser is more like a car CD Player: unnecessary, but fun to
>have. Why should I buy a Lexus for a new CD Player anyway? My vintage Bug
>runs fine!
></SUMMARY>
>
>Okay, I hope I didn't distort the facts too much. <g>
>
>I think we need some clarification:
>
>The Internet is great because (choose one)
>  a) Yahoo and Netscape are runnin the show in a building in CA and that's
>where it's always sunny.
>  b) Microsoft can be sued for millions for a product it _sells_ for
nothing.
>  c) It's a good for dinner-time conversations ("Hey, mom, guess what I
>learned about the oral office at whitehouse.com today?")
>  d) You can get free guitar mus--oh wait, not any more! Oops! (read: the
>OLGA(olga.net) has been shut down)
>  e) For once people can talk across the ocean without yelling, can do it
>in a non-violent, standard format, and all this INFORMATION can be accessed
>from all corners of the Earth at any time? (oh, and you can sell and buy it
>too)
>
>Well, I hesistated on C but I think I'd have to place my money on E. The
>
>whole reason why the Net is so popular is because people never conceived of
>it 60 years ago and because you can finally meet those relatives you lost
>60 years ago when you couldn't afford the postage to keep in touch! Now I
>can buy stuff, chat, mail, research, deliver my packages, write, draw,
>exercise (the two-step finger tap), and so on, all from the same chair.
>It's great because all of a sudden we're all so much more important and so
>much more able to do /stuff/ than we were before. Could I ever have been
>able to do an intensive report on social welfare with world-wide sources
>and references five years ago in two weeks?
>
>Maybe.
>
>But not likely.
>
>Would I have ever have been able to buy a CD immediately after I heard it
>on the radio?
>
>No--and besides, who's to say Johnny Redshoes' Greatest Hits would be in
>stock if I went to the store (and now I can even listen to the radio on the
>Net (check out http://www.broadcast.com and search for WFNX)--no more
>static!)...
>
>I have so much power I don't know what to do with it!!
>
>
>
>I've still got the local library. I've still got subs to U.S. News and
>Newsweek. Then there's always the trusty local paper. And yes, I think I
>have a TV... I haven't checked lately... the point is, information is
>ubiquitous in yesterday AND today's society. It has just taken the Internet
>to make us aware of this. The fact that I or anyone can spend countless
>nights downloading information on a wholesale level excites certain
>individuals, especially those that subscribe to the "Information = Power"
>theory (just like E=MC^2). It just so happens that the browser is the
>vehicle that will get you what you want in today's world the quickest
>(before it was the car, the buggy, the pony express... an empty bottle).
>
>I came after the heyday of Mosiac, gopher, archie... I started out on AOL
>2.0. Well, actually, I started out as a CHARTER member of the Microsoft
>network... on my now-clunky HP Pavilion with 8MB RAM and a 486DX. Go ahead
>and cringe, we've all been there. Some of us have adapted to the plight of
>society, others haven't, most don't care or don't know about it. For
>instance, while few exist any longer, what about those rainforest tribes
>completely cut off from society, technology, the knowledge of satellites?
>Would the Internet bring to them a new outlook on life? Would these
>"savages" become civilized? Hah! Another question for another time... are
>we /that/ civilized, after all? Eh, booger-face? Would it stun those
>peoples to find that the world is round? Would they care???
>
>Appropriately, one could begin to argue that Columbus was indeed wrong.
>What if he had consulted MapQuest before he left? Surely he would have
>sailed right off the face of the Earth (get it? everyone thought the earth
>was flat before Vespucci or whoever, right? yukyuk...)... What if Columbus'
>navigation system relied on a GPS? Hmm... maybe he would have really found
>India and there would be no United States... would that mean there would
>never be any Slinkies, silly putty, Cliffs Notes??? Oh, it's too horrible
>to think about!!
>
>Damn, this has turned into a rant. Well, I needed one. so ANYWAY...
>
>My points so far: life existed before the Net and hopefully will continue
>after its proprietary holy browser war. The electronic spirit of society
>surges on just as the heart of the human race moves forward, with or
>without a 400MHz processor inside.
>
>Final thought for today:
>
>Question our progress,
>question our speed at which we attain it,
>make sure we don't stumble,
>in flash of information greed.
>
>Think about it.
>
>Long live the machine and people who know how to stop it.
>
>*****CAR-RT-SORT*****5-DIGIT 03110
>CHRIS MESSINA             JAN 1 00
>SANDSTORM PUBLISHING          EAST
>
>HTTP://WWW.SANDSTORMPUBLISHING.COM
>..SANDMAN(at)SANDSTORMPUBLISHING.COM.
>|||.....||..|||||...|.||...|..|.||
>

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