I'm at her diner 'cause I have the week off. I agreed to help remodel the back room to make it spiffy and new again... so far we have the painting done, the new lighting up, plumbing set up and the hardline for the order-logger set up. She goes into the storage room and brings out wireless stuff (router, other router, different router, blinking light box, wires.) My new task according to her is to setup the Internet Field Generator. This is my new techno-phrase of the day. Internet Field Generator. According to her Internet Field strength is measured in WOO!s. Why? Because people go "WOO! INTERNET!" when they get a signal. Now what would the minimum signal be? 5 miliWOOs? And is there some kind of international standard IsoWOO? Aw yeah she cracks me up sometimes.
Time flows at a different rate inside an internet bubble, setting up a field generator in a diner makes sense eta: How many WOO!s in a HUZZA!
The IT geek in me feels compelled to guess the role of each of these. Tell me if I'm right. router - this is the DSL or Cable router from the ISP. other router - this is the wireless router plugged into the ISP router to provide public wi-fi. different router - this is the "inside network" router, also plugged into either the the ISP router (or the "other router" if the "router" is a cable modem that will only provide service to one device), to provide the internal secure network. It may, or may not, have its own password protected wi-fi. blinking light box - switch plugged into the "different router" to go to internal workstations. wires - duh. Well? Do I win the Interwebs?
Blinking Light Box provides the internet. Then we have the switch that splits the signal into the Private Wifi for the POS pads the waitresses carry, and the Public Wifi that entertains the customers and truckdrivers out in the lot. Oh and I came up with this chart: 1 WOO is when it works. "WOO!" 2 WOO's is when it works fast, easily and reliably. "WOO HOO!" 0.5 WOOs is when you first get it to work, but then realize it's at half or lower speed. "WOOoooo.... crap!" -1 WOO is when you barely have an internet, and you say it sarcastically. "woo, fucking, hoo."
"What is today's password?" "Deep-fried Kangaroo meet slathered with Beer-Maple-Syrup Butter Served Over A Bed Of Flash-Steamed Grape Leaves and A Side Of Sour-Cream And Chive Flavored Black-Eye Peas." "Windows Zero says 'password rejected, go somewhere that serves real food'."
Damn, you'd really think anybody would REALLY type that on the hell that is today's smartphone interface?
I'm officially in love with this thread. I need to find this mysterious place so I can visit, just to give it my very own WOOs.
I could see that phrase being used by a show set in the near future, but aired when the web first came out, back then the idea of the web without wireless would have seemed a big deal
The idea of "wireless data transfer" like this has never been a "big deal" to me... I grew up in a technical family we've been waiting for the technology to mature for a long long time. For us it was never a matter of if but when. Uncle Norm and I used to transfer Commdore 64 data files via ham radio to another fellow in Vermont. A bit cumbersome and crude sure... but Uncle Norm and Fred assured me (and the rest of the family) that someday data would come directly to our homes that we would have control over content and all that. This was the late 1970s early 1980s, by the way.