A History Not So Long Ago

I have made a pact with myself a few months ago to read all my electronic and communications books for the upcoming ECE board exams next year. However, when I got to the part,FAQs: The Internet & WWW, I had a hard time concentrating when my laptop with an internet connection is just a mere 4 feet away from me. Walking away from my boring study table and sitting on the shining throne sitting in front of my Compaq would be effortless. Congratulate me though, I finished reading the entire chapter before I plunge into this sweetest escape, the Internet.

But first, I want to give credits to a bunch of geniuses for providing humanity an intangible space, in which they can boldly do incredible things. First off, to the US Military, for developing and deploying communications networks,one of which is the ARPANET, which is, in turn, believed to be the precursor of the Internet. To the National Science Foundation (NSF) for administering the research of the Internet. Basically, the Internet was limited to academic and military use only. Then came the good year of 1995 when NSF ceased to take charge of the Internet. Commercial use was allowed since then.

Allow me to proceed with the individuals who shared their talents with the whole world. Timothy Berners-Lee, thank you for developing, designing and inventing the world wide web in 1991. And now, dear bloggers, do we actually know who is our hero? He goes by the name of John Barger. Try mentioning the name again with heavy breathing. It sounds like a drama actor in a romantic, 1980's movie, aight? As far as my reading is concerned, he just coined the tern, "weblog". As to who really started one, I do not know and I am not sure if he is really the one. Thanks to Peter Merholz for contracting the word to "blog". Shorter and cooler.

I have a quesiton. Are you sometimes using a word in your sentences that you literally don't know? Or talking about an acronym, the meaning or the sense of it you know, but the actual meaning of each letter you don't know? Guilty as charge? Like for us bloggers, we know what an RSS feed is all about. By publishing it and giving the world permission to reproduce it, anyone can contribute to a virtual "newswire" service. It's like shouting, "Listen to my own headlines!". But what does RSS stands for? It's really simple. Think think. I make up my own meanings of acronyms in my exams when I really don't know them. I pick out those technical words and put them all together. Sometimes, they might turn out to be correct. So, what is RSS? It stands for "Really Simple Syndication". I told you it was really simple.

Anyways, I think we ought to know the history of the things we like and love. We owe what we got to those persons who has allowed us to: enjoy surfing the net all day, blog our lives away, communicate with our clients and loved ones across the globe, earn and monetize our blogs, study online, date online, play online, the list goes on and on. Knowing their names makes their souls happy and er, for the living, an honor that nobody can take away form them.

To the budding geniuses, you made our cyber life complete. *Insert heavenly grin here*