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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 2010)
14 business february 9 2010 Intruder Alert – So Far, So Fast, the Internet of Today By Burt Tschache As a computer professional, I hear people complain about Internet speed on a regular basis. However, if you want to go back just a few years, the Internet speed we have attained today is truly blazing by comparison. It was just under 50 years ago that the first paper on the theory of packet switching was pub- lished. If you recall just a few columns ago, I explained that the packet is the basic electronic construct of information transfer on a network. For those that missed that one, a packet has a header, a trailer and your information sandwiched between the two. There is no one person that can claim they invented the Internet. The reporters that twisted Al Gore’s com- ments about his support of the Internet as the Information Superhighway knew better than that, but they simply wanted to cause difficulties for him. The former Vice President just knew a good tool when he saw it. It was in the mid 60’s when the Department of Defense’s Advanced Re- search Projects Agency or ARPA (even- tually DARPA) began limited testing of a digital communications network at a dizzying speed of 1200 bps. Meanwhile, colleges and universities were looking for ways to transfer papers for peer re- view at a more rapid rate than the U.S. Mail. By the end of 1969, the first 4 nodes of what will become the Internet are up and running at UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, University of Cali- fornia at Santa Barbara and the Univer- sity of Utah. Zipping along at a blinding 50 kbps, the Information Superhighway is on its way, albeit more of a one-lane road at the time. By 1971, 11 more nodes are add- ed and 2 years later, there are 2,000 users of what is referred to as ARPANET; not bad for 10 years of hard work and study. The next 10 years see establishment of standards and protocols that will assist in the further growth of this new commu- nications tool. The year 1973 sees the first international connection to the Uni- versity College of London and we have not looked back since. The 70’s also see the beginning of Smilies or Emoticons initially used to add a bit of humor to the text-based sys- tem. They are initially derided as inane and silly, but look how rampant they are today. The 70’s also saw the first SPAM sent by the Digital Equipment Company touting their new, soon to be released, computer. With the 80’s comes the first major crash due to a virus and a bevy of competing networks vying for suprem- acy as the provider of choice. Trans- mission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol merged to become the location awareness system we know as TCP/IP. The Domain Name System or DNS also came into existence as the way to trans- 2010 Vernonia Lake Trout Stocking by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife March 8 March 15 April 12 April 26 late the Domain Name into an IP address just so we can type in a Domain Name in whatever language we choose and it will find its way to the correct outpost in Cyberspace. The 90’s see the business com- munity taking note of the Internet and the need for speed becomes pre-eminent as files get larger and complex graphics are incorporated. By the end of the de- cade, remote meetings are commonplace and one of the largest non-events, Y2K, comes and goes. I would like to think it was a non-event because of all the work put into making it so. (To Be Continued . . .) Burt Tschache is the owner of B&B Com- puting in Vernonia. He can be reached at bnb998@msn.com or 503-429-0817. TACK, FEED AND FARM 3,500 Rainbow 4,000 Rainbow 3,000 Rainbow 2,500 Rainbow ENGLISH AND WESTERN February Specials! Preorder in February for March delivery Stocking dates subject to change without notice Free Fishing weekend is June 12-13th, 2010 - Chicks, ducklings, turkeys “Bag It” dispenser available - black oil sunflower, chick starter, grit, fine cracked corn, flax seed, thistle seed We Carry Hillsboro Feed! Get It Locally! Featured Sale Items Include... - Grade A Ultra 24, multipurpose milk replacer 4lb/$19.95 - Corid $19.95 - Wormer - Injection $49.95 - Zareba electric fence, 15 mile range, Red Snap’r $102.00 - Zareba polytape electric fence, 1.5” x 656’ $68.95 DON’T FORGET! MARK YOUR CALENDAR St. Mary’s “Spring Clean” Rummage Sale Cummins Onan Portable Generators February 26th & 27th 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM St. Mary’s Church 980 Missouri Ave. Vernonia Questions? Call Maria at (503) 429-1069 or St. Mary’s at (503) 429-8841 - P3027 - P5550e $550. $950. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm and Sun 12-4pm 1103 Bridge Street (on the corner of Rose & Bridge) Dawn@DoubleCTack.com 503-429-TACK (8225) www.doublectack.com Total Body Conditioning ARE YOU READY TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR FITNESS? Join today! Boot camp style training with a serious kick - to give you real results! Special pricing… $79.00 for 12 Classes* Classes on Mon, Wed & Fri at 8:30am No evening classes through February Teresa Williams, NSCA-CPT Certifi ed Fitness Trainer Individual Training Sessions Also Available 503-429-5051 or 503-799-3424 fi tnessbytw@netzero.com Sign Up & Save! *Pricing available for single classes