The United States of America

For all it's faults the United States of America is the finest country in the world. In my 30 years I have seen, tasted, and examined lands far and near. There are many naysayers and otherwise people who feel negatively about the USA. But I can say without any doubt in my mind this is the best country in the world, period.

Why? Because it was established under the pretext of freedom and it still carries that concept 200 years later. Though the ideal has been occasionally corrupted we have never failed to return to the basic principles of freedom, life, and liberty. Don't get me wrong as I know there are many who are unjustly locked up and otherwise suffering within the borders of the USA as I type this. It is my belief that we can peacefully work out these problems in due time. Hopefully I'm not wrong about that and it will not be too late for those currently suffering. The further we stray from the basic human rights and freedoms that every law abiding person who regardless of race or origin deserves the more we are in peril of destroying the precious concepts this country was founded on.

I am aware there were a number of horrid things that were occurring when this country was founded. Slavery for instance was a travesty beyond words. But it was a sickness that this country eventually fought off and I believe we are making progress beyond our racial differences that would have blown people away 50 years ago.

It is with great pride I reflect that currently there are millions in the service of this great country around the world. Daily they put their lives at risk and sometimes die simply so we can go on with our lives without danger.

I hope everyone who happens to read this post will heed the need to respect and support the men and women who work in service to the USA around the world. For better or for worse this is our country and it's up to all of it's citizens to right the wrongs and make a better world. No one or country is perfect and this country is no exception to that fact. But together we can make the world better for our children. Else succumb to mutual destruction of all. The choice is ours.

makes ya think..

While hundreds of millions goes down the toliet daily to banks and war efforts our soliders who have fought and shed blood so that we may enjoy life are struggling to get basic care. Caught within a mammoth beauracracy are millions of our loved ones who should be getting better care from the VA.

The state of Veterans Hospitals in Atlanta and likely nationwide is a disgrace. Shouldn't our veterans get the best possible health care??

didn't bandwidth used to be ... hard to get?

(don't drink and blog)

I recollect in the olden daze, back way before the youngan's of today were on the Internet... Wasn't bandwidth hard to get?

Sitting there watching HS/LINK (wasn't that it?) doing it's thing on a USR COURIER HST 16.8 was like being on the cutting edge of bliss. let alone we had to pay; what, $1g for those puppies? To upload at the same time was a perk of HS/LINK. The HST 16.8's were not bi-directional (a sacrifice that seemed to be revived in the 56k half-digital era). These days when I click and fiddle on a website for a few minutes enough bandwidth is wasted to fill up my first hard drives. isn't it a trip?

Now the lil chitlin's get all they want thanks to little flashy lights (aka fiber optics) and lots of multiplexing, copper/fiber conversion, etc. Thanks Mr. Edison, Marconi, and all yawl. I'm simply remembering back to a time past. Modern bandwidth is wonderful. But isn't it cheap now? I mean cheap like a whore in Mexico as It's lost some of the value and glimmer. No longer is it like a big talented star of the magnitude of say Katharine Hepburn. Instead it's like a low grade actor on a soap opera who is available on demand but not very talented. When reflecting I have to remember that it was not so glittery and cool to get 'on line' back in the late 80's/early 90's. It was often a struggle simply to get access to a computer let alone a "real" system or something connected. Enough administrators found this out as I discovered Xenix, System V, SCO, System 75's, etc.

I'll never forget finding my first networked Unix machine when war dialing with toneloc. It was entirely confusing and new to me. Never before had I rooted a box to find it actually CONNECTED to something. There were other login: prompts without needed to ATDT anything!

I didn't know what to do with it so it's likely I "wasted" the "opportunity" at the time.
It was probably another dozen systems before I figured out (in those days before google) how interesting and useful it really was to have other networks connected via TCP.

Considering I was all of 11 years old at that time and had no formal documentation or education; I can't be too harsh on myself for taking so long to learn. To even type a simple Unix command like ls | more was a huge mystery that took some months to discern. My LOD manuals and Phrack issues were imminently helpful in systems penetration but not for use. The man page system once I discovered it was heaven sent. Let alone the O'Reilly books years later when I'd entered the legitimate world of making money through my life long love.

But I started from the opposite side of many. Instead of having a Unix shell to start out on I had to 'force' my way in first. What a luxury & gift from the Gods Linux was when I had it's first 20+ 1.44meg floppy install! No longer would I have to depend on someone Else's machine just so I could type ls and see a directory. Hacking became a vain luxury to some degree at that point for me. Now I could travel legitimate paths without the necessity of what some would call a 'criminal' act.

Back then it was a path of discovery; Like being on some new frontier where anything goes. The systems were out there and I was young enough to be ignorant of the legal & social ramifications. They were wonderful times of learning that ignited in me a life long love and respect for computers and freedom.

welCOME.. to tHE MACHINE

OK I think systems are a GO.

now the mind sputters..