Topic two

NewsGroups/ Email lists:

I joined a newsgroup on yahoo and managed to find a list that I wanted to join. Unfortunately many posts on the group were spam which is probably due to it being a public group. Here is my reply and the original post from one of the other users:
--- In Rainbowfish@yahoogroups.com, (name and address removed)@...> wrote:

I recently finished establishing the plants in my 100g Rainbowfish-to-
be tank. Are there any resources pertaining to where I could find
rainbowfish to stock my tank? Local selection is lacking.

Hi, whereabouts in the world are you? I know theres some breeders in Australia that will send the fish worldwide. Try http://www.ausyfish.com/.
Michael
Then to complete the experience I joined a email list by the name of ‘old punks’ (genre industrial/rock/punk) for music lovers. I figure I’ll stick around this list a while and see what sorts of interesting information come my way.

Chat:
MSN/Skype.
These programs play an integral part in my life. In face Skype is pretty much a requirement for me to communicate with my girlfriend overseas at the moment. One comment I do have about these programs after using them extensively is that it is very easy to be misunderstood. This is because text doesn’t carry the same meaning as the non verbal communications we give off in one-to-one communication. Even when using emoticons to add the lost meaning can often lead to miscommunication especially between cultures. A common example of this is ‘:D’. In msn (and skype) this means a open mouthed smile. However Chinese people interpret the skype ‘big grin’ to be a laughing face due to the animation and possibly translation of the emoticon name.


I also ventured into IMVU with one of the lovely ladies from our class. We visited several different locations like a dance floor and even paragliding! I can see people getting caught up in designing their avatar and customizing it. Many actions are possible such as body language, hugs, flirting etc. Communication is quite simple: simply type and hit enter. Right clicking on the avatar brings up the other options such as body language. A key thing with these avatars is people can create them to look any way they want. Often the avatars bear little or no resemblance to the owner. I think due to the anonymity people also tend to be less shy on IMVU. It’s a fantasy play world where people can be who they want to be without many of the fears associated with a physical encounter. I must say IMVU held no real interest for me though as it was just a virtual reality to replace real life.

Topic two

First thing I note is the discussion on the email topic. Although I had previously realized it was important; I had not really ever considered it with any more depth. To divide the topic into two separate parts is a great idea (urgency or action required, and further information). I can see how it will be useful when composing 'work' emails. Another important point is to specifically mention what is required rather than a general comment. This would save considerable time and highlight the importance of the email for the receiver.

I thought the replying to emails section was very much common sense and have no comment about it. As far as quoting goes I would only quote the appropriate passage. If the whole text is quoted often it becomes unwieldy and loses its meaning. I use quoting extensively on another news site I post to and recently discovered a new term: QFT (quoted for truth). QFT is a statement of 100% agreement with what the previous poster has said (but I will stop wandering off on this tangent now).

The section of text largely agrees with my own views (simplicity is beauty). Having an easy to read email with appropriate paragraphs is definitely a good thing. I wouldn’t however not use caps for the reason provided (hard to read). I think caps look aggressive and symbolize 'shouting' at somebody and therefore aren’t appropriate for most situations (unless of course you're in the middle of a flame war on a political website (etc)). For emphasis I prefer bold or italic which are less aggressive.
RE: Attachments

A major source of frustration for me when emailing is usually the build in firewall/antivirus that is included with most email accounts. Hotmail seems to be especially annoying. Problems occur (for example) when sending a .exe file to a friend as .exe files are automatically labeled as potentially dangerous and filtered out. WinRar works wonders to bypass the antivirus/firewall however this is obviously also a weakness in the firewall/antivirus defense system that could be exploited. Be very careful running exe files and ensure it is reputable first! Generally I only run a file I first requested a friend send me. Sending zipped files also seems to reduce the chance of decoding errors (in my experience).

The multitudes of formats are definitely an issue when transferring a file to somebody else. I try to use formats that are suitable to the receivers’ ability. Thus I try to stick to word 97, pdf,rtf,txt,mp3, and possibly excel files. It’s only to fellow geeks that I would send (for instance) a mp4, mkv or other codec requiring file. If I had to urgently send a text file to someone I would likely send the file in two different formats attached to the same email. Alternatively I would request a immediate reply if the attachment doesn’t work and resend it in another format.

Topic 1

However I dont see my personal router IP address so that is maybe only the trace between curtin and the website? cmd provided a completely different result with the packets being routed through various routers of my isp before hitting the WWW and finally curtin.

Curtins Ip is 134.7.16.xx... xx being the local address. It takes a different amount of time to access curtin from my computer via ping than the website which is located (presumably) in the US as they have different locations. However different ping responses will be received every time due to network traffic etc... however, the first three routes go through my IP's personal routers so I assume that would likely provide faster pings as its on an internal network AND doesnt have to travel under the sea.

CAPITALISATION MATTERS ??? Hmmm ok I guess I learnt something there. But was it necessary to put the text in a txt that is infinitely wide??? Its a real nuisance to read!

Bleh. Telnet... If you want to feel like a geek use a dos system. People still maintain these or is this accessed through a museum? I much prefer the current systems to book searches with dos. The current systems are far more intuitive and therefore useful as you don't have to be a professor in dos commands to use them.


We were then sent to look at:
telnet://towel.blinkenlights.nl
This just goes to prove that some people have far too much time on their hands. Then again some of the greatest internet entrepreneurs probably came up with their ideas probably either through boredom or by getting ideas off other people who do make creative things such as these. I suppose this could be considered a forerunner of Gif images. It reminds me of 'jump joe' on the old 286.

I have to say the 'dos days' hardly hold fond memories for me. It was frustrating and annoying. Im just happy GUI's were invented and wonderful programs called Operating Systems (Hang on I just complemented Microsoft I'd better check if I have a fever). Anyway... I still use dos sometimes for tasks such as network diagnostics. Its good to see how far we have advanced, however its not possible to say studying dos is useless as it does have its applications. However, such uses are rather few in number for direct methods (such as Command prompt) and most other tasks are taken care of by the OS in the foreground. I prefer it that way.

Top 5 Tips for bloggers:

1: Dont write top 5, top 10, top 100, top anything lists. They suck!
2: Dont Bore me
3: When creating a discussion don't cover all arguements from each topic. Controversy and discussion = hits!
4: Write for your audience. If you have crude humour dont expect to gather refined listeners!
5: Dont overcomplicate your blog page with rubbish. Simplicity = less distracted/annoyed readers.