Hi Frank,
I don't feel qualified to comment on the root servers, yet.
Let me finish Tim Berners-Lee's book and I'll get back to you. <vbg> Just kidding Frank, I know it's deeper than that! Berners-Lee does discuss the root servers briefly and I know he is none to happy with the Network Solutions crowd. Any fool who is tweaking with proxies up at that level had better have a darn good idea about what they are doing, and they had better be benign human beings because that IS the Achilles heel of the Web.
As regards MoreHits.com, well Charles Ponzi would be proud. Since I am in the tech stone ages, prefering ascii to xml, this will no doubt be a limited annoyance in my life. I think that we took Russ Horowitz to task with a great enough venom earlier that it won't be an issue on SI.
On a different note, here are several new and interesting developments in my research:
Quantum Bridge, a glass shop, thinking real hard about the Last Mile, has just updated its Website to be quite useful and informative. Part of a media blitz to let the world know they exist and have exciting prospects.
quantumbridge.com
The lastest from Loring Wirbel: "Momentum builds behind fiber optics in the local loop"
eetimes.com
Finally, this one is too good not to share:
Stolen from Kinbush, over on the GTR Forum:
<snip>
Some on-topic humor....
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5
inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used?
Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads
were built by English expatriates.
Why did the English people build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the
pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did they use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools
that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Okay...then why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagons would break on
some of the old long distance roads because that's the spacing of the
old wheel ruts.
So who built these old-rutted roads?
The first long-distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the
benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the
ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of
destroying their wagons, were
first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by
Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
Thus, we have the answer to the original question. The United States
standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original
specification for an Imperial Roman Army war chariot.
Specs and bureaucracies live forever.
So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's
ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial
Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the
backends of two war horses.
This story made me think of the difference of approach in business growth
between the AT&Ts of the world and the GBLXs of the world.
Why be trapped in a copper cage? <end snip>
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I love the Internet, who knew? Somebody did, and I'm delighted that he shared that little jewel.
Ciao,NoTracksInMyNeigborhhood,Ray |
