Stupid Networks are the smart answer

OK, I think I know a lot. In fact, I know I know a lot, but every once in a while something comes up behind me and hits me in the back of the head and I am surprised. In this case, I am talking about an article about "stupid networks" by David Isenberg.
This may sound silly, but the Internet is a stupid network. The old telephone network (well, the network that we still use for voice calls, or at least most of us do) is an "Intelligent Network". Follow me so far? The whole point of this discussion is that the Internet takes the control of routing, the destination and the transmission of data away from the network and puts it in the hand of the user or the "client" as computer people put it.
Think of the Internet as a system of highways with cars on it. Drivers decide when and where to enter, where to go and there to get off. Think of the old network at a railroad, with the trains routed by the network from start to end. Railroads are intelligent networks, highways stupid networks.
Well, enough of that analogy. Read the article linked to above if you want his take on this. It is from 1997, over 10 year ago. This came up when reading an article on the Economist about Internet neutrality. What goes around comes around... or something like that.

More Interesting Sights

OK, I like Fry's, the huge electronics store in Renton. I noticed this sign last time but the spot was occupied. Now, I have to wonder about a place that
has to have a spot reserved for the police.

This is in the parking lot, the closest space to the front door. They must have a lot of shoplifters. I do know it looks like they have a ton of security features in the store.

Lowe's is right across the parking lot from Fry's. This is the coolest idea: a rental truck for hauling your purchases home! I love it. One less reason for everyone to have the old pickup sitting around the yard. This is quite the innovation in my opinion. I saw a Home Depot van of the same type, but did not get a picture of it. Note that there was not a space reserved for the local police at Lowe's.

So, new sights around Seattle.

Morning Commute

I drive down I-5 southbound on my way to work. On the way I usually take the express lanes through downtown. Well, here is a picture I took the other morning. Yeah, this is how I feel in the morning driving to work. It is slowly becoming the surreal experience of not remembering most of it. The human brain does this automatically; we have neither the storage nor the capacity to remember all of the information we encounter during our day. The morning commute is just one of those experiences for me. The second picture is a little less surreal and the lighting is different as well.

Other stuff from Seattle

First, something cool I ran across just off the Burk-Gilman Trail in Lake City.

This is a fountain near the water across from 175th street or thereabouts. It is just sitting there, a drinking fountain with a stylized salmon. At least, that is what it looks like to me.

I have been walking along the trail in this area when the urge strikes and it is a nice place to walk. Here is a picture of Lake Washington from the trail. As you can see it was a little overcast and actually pretty chilly. The wind was coming off the lake, or should I say a breeze was coming off the lake. The architecture of the houses is interesting but I will not post pictures of the houses, as all you have to do is walk or drive down there yourself!

The next thing I noticed this week is this building. Do you notice anything asynchronous about it? This is a sign company called McManara Signs. Look at the old sign on the front of the building. Now, I ask this question: could this be a slick marketing ploy? Maybe leaving the old sign all messed up is a way of saying, "You need to not have a sign looking like this one!" They also have a large banner on the concrete wall behind their parking lot. Now, maybe they make other kinds of signs, like the banners or their landlord does not want them taking the old sign down. For whatever reason they have decided not to do anything with that old, ugly sign.



Last, but not least, is a picture of Deer Mountain on Revillagegedo Island, Alaska. It is right behind Ketchikan and is a landmark you cannot miss unless the clouds are low. This winter they have had a lot of snow, to say the least and the mountain is covered like I have never seen it before. It certainly is a beautiful picture. I took it from the Ketchikan Daily News web site.