< condensed from Gordon's reply>
........................... Sounds good to me. Cause with the RBOCs and Cable banging at the door, ISOC fumbling just as badly as the CIX, people suggesting that the IETF needs to incorporate but no one there finding time to do it, I sure do wonder who and/or what will ever manage to preserve and protect the internet vision?
The irony of the situation is interesting. We are almost in complete control of our destination. The US is in the process of an historical telecommunications deregulation. The 'last mile' in wireless is moving to DS3 by 1Q 96 and the FCC is opening it's procedures as never before. Meanwhile, with a wide open ocean, sunny skies and an unprecedented tail wind.... we can chart our own course and destiny. We all understand that telecommuncations is the corner stone of the democratic process. We all understand the power of the media. We all understand that united we grow, divided we fall. But most important of all, we all know in our hearts that technical progress without an basic foundation in the advancement of our fragile social fabric is futile. Have you ever seen the joy in an elderly person, retired, isolated from the world, on the Internet, communicating with both the young and old. The most beautiful sound I heard this week was my mother, a grandmother, telling me how much she want to .... " cruise the net and explore cyberspace ..." with a sound of excitement in her voice I have not heard in years. We stand on the edge of a social event that has the potential to reshape the world, much like Einstein's much hailed atomic theories. IPSPA.ORG should consider the social benefit that the Internet brings to society, our children, our grandparents, the isolated, the weak. This is our ultimate social responsibility as citizens. If we do this with kind consideration of our fragile infrastructure as we build networks, our civilization benefits greatly. There are a lot more "profits" to reap than the $$$$ mentioned earlier. There is an intangible social benefit that will do more for our democracy and society than money can ever buy. That is what we should strive to obtain and value...... the things in life that money, included federal money cannot buy and has never bought since the dawn of social programs in the country. .... quixotically believing in the American dream..... Tim -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tim Bass | #include<campfire.h> | | Principal Network Systems Engineer | for(beer=100;beer>1;beer++){ | | The Silk Road Group, Ltd. | take_one_down(); | | | pass_it_around(); | | http://www.silkroad.com/ | } | | | back_to_work(); /*never reached */ | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+