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If your one of those people who like to tinker with computer systems and see what sort of trouble you can cause, I have the website for you.
The HackersLab is free webspace that contains video game-type levels. The site, which began in 1999, is an alternative for hackers so instead of tearing down the Internet, they might be able to sharpen their skills for a better good.
While most experts would jump at the opportunity to tell you that the Internet is a relatively new invention, apparently not all places on the World Wide Web agree. The Institute of Internet History clearly describes the foundations being set as far back as 1839. That's when Aldophus B. Huxley came up with the idea of creating better punch cards, which led to a "steam pattern system" the following year.
Leading off, Green Day. Batting second, Snoop Dogg. Batting third, Tim McGraw. And the cleanup hitter, Britney Spears.
If you think this is a weird baseball lineup, you're right. On the other hand, if I were playing in the Fantasy Music League, I'd probably be in the World Series.
This is not a joke. The object of the FML, according to the website, is to create a label that generates the most revenue, based on the world music charts. Apparently the winners share in $25,000 cash and prizes.
Building a playhouse/fort out of a cardboard box used to be a chore enough. Now, Australian researchers and architects have created something that goes beyond that: a fully sized and usable cardboard house that can be completed in six hours by just two people.
It's difficult for me sometimes to understand why spammers do what they do. Do they really expect that the millions and millions of emails sent will provide income from the products they are selling? Do they enjoy intentionally slowing down the Internet to a relative crawl for email users? Do they have any idea why even non-watchers of Country Music Television have noticed that Shania Twain seems to be on an endless loop infomercial on that station?
The Purdue University Liberal Arts featured myself and The Developers in its spring issue. I had communicated with a representative in Alumni Relations about sending information for the magazine, but little did I know that they would devote more than a quarter of a page to me. I shared the page with Ted Allen, the cook from "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy," who is also a Purdue grad. On the preceding page, basketball great John Wooden, yet another Purdue alum, is spotlighted for receiving a reward.
Determining what a computer is seems like a fairly simple thing. A laptop: yes. A piece of chocolate cake: no. A PC: sure. Sean Connery: probably not, but it's not out of the question that he could be a robot.
Then again, comparing what we know as a computer and an analog computer is a bit different. An analog computer, according to the Wikipedia, is a form of computer that uses electronic or mechanical phenomena to model the problem being solved by using one kind of physical quantity to represent another.
While there is a bounty of useful items on the Internet, there is also that vague area of things that serve some purpose, but by themselves, would be utterly useless.
An obvious example of this is a Web counter. Create a Web page by putting nothing on it other than a counter. Put it on the Web. What does it prove? If people actually go to your site, they are insane? True, but in a sense, we already know that everyone is crazy.
Understanding and knowing the details of every single type of server on the market today is not necessary to be successful on the Internet. In fact, I've gotten to this point without knowing much of anything concerning a variety of things, including server types, server names and dogsledding.
It's amazing how many people online now have never experienced the original Atari. You still see Space Invaders and Centipede appear in various places occasionally, but I wonder how many people even know how popular these games were in the late 70s and early 80s.