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A tease. A close, warm kiss on the corner of the mouth before pulling away, winking, and walking off. Matching all the lottery numbers the one week you forget to buy a ticket. Catching a whiff of the filet mignon being savored by a neighbor.
The Internet still exists. I now know this. The complete Internet still exists though many places haven't updated in a while. Okay so yeah, saying 'the complete Internet' is a bit odd. But keep in mind, very few sites have been available lately but it's not like NOTHING's been available.
Today, for a few hours, EVERYTHING was available. National news sites. International news sites. Torrent sites. Message boards.
Today, for a few hours, I hoped to drink up every last drop of information that I could. To find out what was going on across the country, or even the world for that matter.
Was anybody else lucky enough to catch this far-too-short opening of the informational vault?
Did anybody else think it was surprisingly...bereft...of anything noteworthy?
Did anybody else get the impression the crazies had taken over the Webs?
I guess it's not that surprising that the national news sites, CNN, MSNBC, etc., weren't up-to-date. If they're down for everybody, what's the use in keeping them up-to-date? But why were the international sites, CNN International, the BBC website, and so on...why did they have little more news than what we citizens received from the President a few days after the attack?
There were no shortage of editorials on the international sites, though. Many showing surprise and concern at how quiet our country had become ever since the attacks. Some celebratory. Some nervous. None shedding more light on the facts. Half of the articles showed concern for our country, the other reveled in our humbling.
All, however, seemed to dabble in various conspiracy theories however. And there was a common "it's quiet...a little TOO quiet" theme to it all.
The message boards were worse. Though I had mostly grown out of being any part of any online clique, I still frequented the boards of one particular online site with a sizable community. (As an aside, wonder how many SAGoons still exist after all this....) Anyway, seems quite a few of the regulars there all had the same idea: post what you can, while you can. In this way, I learned far more about the state of the nation than I did from any news site.
A massive thread exploded around the Post Your Situation theme. It was...painful reading. People days away from being out of food, out of housing, out of medicine. Attempts by Those who Have to share with Those Who Have Not. People trying to trade or even share bread, money, insulin. People with lost loved ones. People finding lost loved ones.
Almost as painful as the tearjerkers were the constant conspiracy-theory derails. As organized as the real world had become thanks to the quick police response, things were utter chaos in an unmoderated message board thread. But eventually people, driven by the need for information, worked out an agreement to move the 'conspiracies' to a separate topic.
Even the crazed masses can organize themselves when the common goal is large enough.
On the Internet everybody is an expert. This is no deep insight. But even hidden among the wannabes, the script kiddies, are a few people who know what they're talking about. And even in a sea of random noise, a constant pattern can emerge that hides some hint of truth.
I'm not saying that any of it IS true. I'm just saying I'm a little unnerved now.
Some of the common themes include looting, robbing, especially in apartment buildings and residential neighborhoods. Odd, considering how solid the police coverage has been. But then, this shouldn't be that surprising...I mean, in a time of crisis looting is a common occurance, right? So I guess that's not so odd. What was, though, was how many people were saying that the Internet semi-outages were extremely suspicious. Comparisons to a hastily-designed, previously untested firewall. Notes on how it didn't seem to correspond to particular servers, but to actual content.
I don't know. I'm no IT professional. I'll have to talk to Andy about this. But stickied at the top of the conspiracy thread was a signup for an e-mail group, an attempt for everybody to stay in touch. I typed in my address, clicked send, and then got an Unreachable Page error.
And then the Net went totally dead for a few hours.
Now, obviously, it's back up again, only...same crippled state as before.
An effing tease. And now I'm a little concerned.
Where's the information?
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1 comment:
A little too raph!
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