How the Internet Began

[carolynkerr]

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SNOPES, OR FACT OR FICTION, OR WHOEVER, TO CHECK ON THIS!

The History of the Internet


In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham , her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was known as Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates ' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham , what we have started is being taken over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua , being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE).


That is how it all began. And that's the truth.

[viking33]

Great piece of writing!

[viking33]

I forgot to mention that I'll send a copy to Al Gore.

[ChrisGreaves]

I forgot to mention that I'll send a copy to Al Gore.

I got the Geriatric Old Recluse, but, but what's with the "E"?

[BobH]

Extraneous

[viking33]

I guess you guys didn't hear that VP and Pres candidate Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet?

[StuartR]

I guess you guys didn't hear that VP and Pres candidate Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet?

I've certainly heard this reported, but I wonder what he actually said. In my experience the press often like to make a big story out of something that was really not a big deal. Do you have a pointer to the actual words that he used?

[Bigaldoc]

Snopes sez: snopes.com: Al Gore Invented the Internet

[BobH]

There was an interview on CNN in 1999 (I think) when Albert was running for President. Wolf Blitzer was the interviewer (or maybe one of several). I have searched for the exact text of that interview or a video or audio clip to find out exactly what he said. I have been unsuccessful.

After the interview aired, his opponents claimed that he had said - or intimated - or hinted - that he had invented the Internet.

I too would like to know exactly what was said and what was implied. I would also like to know exactly what responses Gore made to those who said he made the claim. I do not trust Snopes.com to have this information correctly stated. I have come to believe that snopes is a political tool at worst and a frequent source of obfuscated information at best.

If anyone can get the complete interview - preferably in unedited video - I'd like to see it.

[StuartR]

...I do not trust Snopes.com to have this information correctly stated. I have come to believe that snopes is a political tool at worst and a frequent source of obfuscated information at best...

I'm surprised by this. I have always found Snopes to be very good at quoting its sources, to the extent that I now generally trust it without following up every source.

[Bigaldoc]

Well anyway, back to topic...

Now I feel like I'm violating one of the Ten Commandments since I covet Amazon Dot Com so much in my daily (ordering) life...

         

[DaveA]

Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ8cHAlco" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and you will hear what was said!

Edit:
The statement is made at about 53 seconds into the interview.

[BobH]

Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnFJ8cHAlco" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and you will hear what was said!

Edit:
The statement is made at about 53 seconds into the interview.

Thanks, Dave.

He seems only to have taken credit for supporting the initiative that started the Internet instead of claiming to have invented it.

I supported that initiative, too.

[stuck]

He seems only to have taken credit for supporting the initiative that started the Internet instead of claiming to have invented it.

Which is exactly what Snopes says

Ken

[BobH]

He seems only to have taken credit for supporting the initiative that started the Internet instead of claiming to have invented it.

Which is exactly what Snopes says

Ken

Investing credibility in a single source has never been easy for me. I began to suspect that Snopes had a bias after reading them on several issues with which I was familiar. I am not alone in suspecting their lack of bias. It is easy enough to appear to be unbiased yet exhibit a bias. Politicians do it routinely.

http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/123270 ... ts-Agenda-

And here is truthorfiction.com on Gore and the Internet:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/goreinternet.htm

But take even this with a grain of salt. Check multiple sources. Challenge. Question. Dare!

[DaveA]

He seems only to have taken credit for supporting the initiative that started the Internet instead of claiming to have invented it.
I supported that initiative, too.

Listen again and you will hear him say "took the initiative in creating the internet."

[BobH]

The real issue here is not what AEG did wrt the Internet. The real issue is that he appears to be trying to credit himself with something meaningful and tangible that could never be proved or disproved. The Internet had its start in the early 1970's. Gore was but a student in those days. He might have jumped on the bandwagon and joined the parade. If he did, he gets credit for jumping and joining but he gets credit for nothing more.

This type of meaningless self-promotion is a favorite of politicians. For as long as motherhood and apple pie were considered irrefutably good, you would never find a politician who was against it or who had not supported its creation. Of course, now that abortion is a cause celeb, that stance is no longer universal.

Politicians of all stripes and all parties and probably in all nations are guilty of this type of misdirection. The lie, if there is one, is in the inference not in the fact. But, which is worse. . . to imply responsibility without actually having been responsible or to lie about it outright? I think the former. YMMV.

[viking33]

Having been somewhat involved in this project, I can say that AEG had nothing to do with this initiative or actual formation of same.
Political back patting? You bet!

The precursor to the Internet, ARPANET was a large wide-area network created by the United States Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). Established in 1969, ARPANET served as a testbed for new networking technologies, linking many universities and research centers. The first two nodes that formed the ARPANET were UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute, followed shortly thereafter by the University of Utah.

[BobH]

Having been somewhat involved in this project, I can say that AEG had nothing to do with this initiative or actual formation of same.
Political back patting? You bet!

The precursor to the Internet, ARPANET was a large wide-area network created by the United States Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). Established in 1969, ARPANET served as a testbed for new networking technologies, linking many universities and research centers. The first two nodes that formed the ARPANET were UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute, followed shortly thereafter by the University of Utah.

Hi Bob!

Congratulations on your part in ARPANET and thank you for the benefits brought by its great-grandson.

I was learning about networks about then and helped build the first one our company that went live in '71. It was mainframe and big blue centric using bisync communications.

Did ARPANET begin life as a packet switched network? If so, does it continue in its original architecture or has it been radically changed? If it was not a packet switched design, can you share any light on what it used?

[viking33]

ARPANET was designed as a packet switched network, but has been phased out and replaced around 1989/1990 with much more secure versions, named MILNET and I think NFSNET. ( there may be others? )

There is a rather good article at the Wiki site, with more details.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;