It was one of those rolling, strolling, conversational afternoons in the pub. Percy,
Scott, Iain and myself had done a fair old stitch-up on the well-loved trilogy - This,
That, and The Other. Glasses tinkled to accompany our convivial banter, and cider, lager
and gin all found their way down the correct throats. And the background music was, for
once, in the background where it belongs.
But, just like the ballroom-dancing passengers on the very
Titanic itself, we had no idea whatever how completely our lives were about to alter -
with one simple question apparently plucked out of cyberspace itself.
Have you read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?
And do you remember how Phaedra's depression began? The depression that was to reduce him
to near catatonia for a year? It was nothing more dramatic than his teaching colleague
innocently remarking...."I hope you're teaching them Quality."
For us it was Percy what done it. "Why do you need an internet service
provider?" he very reasonably asked. "Why can ye no just dial up the
internet?" Here big P did a demonstration of dialling on the phone. Press, press,
press on the bar counter.
It was a very good question, to which, it has to be said,
no one present appeared to know the answer. Nor do they yet. As neither do I. And we're
still searching.
So, dudes: if anybody out there knows the truth, then do
please email and I'll pass your nuggets on
to the widest possible readership.
Q: Why is an ISP needed to browse on the World Wide Web?
Magnum of bubbly to the clearest, most concise answer as usual. Thirty words maximum,
and no techie talk whatsoever.
Wednesday morning possums, and the magnificat household is buzzing with what's come to be
known as the PERCY QUESTION. After having a heated debate with Thing, my paying guest, we
settled on the following problems, which we then attempted to answer.
1. What is the telephone service?
2. What does a browser do?
3. What is the WWW?
4. How does it relate to FTP, hyperterminal, and other such niceties?
And I must say "Thank you, Thing, for your input to this vexed matter.
Unfortunately yours truly has to go and earn an honest crust for the next few hours, but
more later. Let me leave you with the following thought ---
You do NOT dial up anyone on your phone. The only connection you have is to the green
box somewhere in the street outside your house, and it is open the moment you pick up your
handset. That is all that there is, and all of your conversations are in one sense with
that green box..
