How the internet has changed people's lives.

[Retroboy]

Check this clip out:

In a story that didn't get as much U.S. press attention as it should have, kidnappers in Iraq freed an Australian journalist after they verified his identify with a Google search. The Google results confirmed that John Martinkus was in fact a freelancer working for Dateline SBS, a production of the Australian Special Broadcasting Service. The kidnappers had suspected that he was a U.S. contractor, CIA agent, or an informer for U.S. interests.
Anyone else got some stories about how having access to the internet has changed the basic nature of how we do things, or empowered us to do things completely differently?

What do you use the internet for?

-- Retro

[Homdax]

Work...customer database setups
Work...customer contacts
Work...web design (allthough some might disagree on the "design" )
Personal...banking
Hobby...web and forum setups
...and then some posting here

Not online gaming.
Not online dating...sigh
Not chatting, except here.

[SquidDNA]

A story from my lab from before I showed up--
Our rather stellar former post-doc had just joined from Russia and would often talk to my advisor about how to get information about yeast DNA sequences. The post doc kept insisiting upon using the internet, my advisor kept talking about using the world wide web; not being technically saavy, neither of them had any idea they were talking about (basically) the same thing.

That said, and pulling out the distinction, the web has gained a lot of importance in research, as HTML generally allows for a much simpler interface. The days of accessing a database via gopher or telnet are largely gone. Now (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi) it's (http://www.yeastgenome.org/) all (http://db.yeastgenome.org/cgi-bin/locus.pl?locus=sup35) web (http://db.yeastgenome.org/cgi-bin/ORFMAP/ORFmap?dbid=S000002579)
based (http://www.fermentas.com/catalog/re/bamhi.htm).

And then there's email, which sadly seems to have replaced written correspondance, but it's fantastically convenient. I mean, for everything.

God, Retro, could you have started a more open-ended topic?!

[Pleiades]

I meet international idiots not just local ones.

Actually Internet is the main tool of my job.

[Runefire]

Doesnt prove that hes not a CIA agent though. Just means he has a detailed cover :)

Pleiades first answer sounds about right for me :) Hehe but really its to kill time at the moment. Probably be research purposes etc for when I go to Uni.

Oh and buying dvd's as online stores tend to be cheaper which is great.

But it's changed everyones lives in one way or another. Good or bad.

[ionfish]

Squid: I still send people letters. :(

[SquidDNA]

You're a better.. er.. fish than I.

[ionfish]

"Aquatic creature"? ;)

[AntaresSITH]

Well, since i am studying computer science anything IT (which the Internet is part of) is my life. It would be lying if i claimed something else.

[M37]

Hay retro the insergets used the same trick to free a Canadan Jounalist who was the publisher of Espit de Corps, a Candian military magaizine.

[El Russo]

I have no idea where to start. The internet has meant, to me at least, easier and cheaper purchasing of items such as DVDs and CDs, flights, and even computers themselves; more open access to sports reports and stories, both from official sources and journalistic pieces; the chance to meet new people, to interract and form relationships, good or bad; the ability (less so now though) to find help for educational work; and a few other things I could no doubt go into, but are less significant, such as checking my bank accounts...

[Alliance]

I would of droped from school if there wasnt so much information on the internet...

saved me many a time!

[Langy]

How has the internet changed my life? Well, I went from being a complete loner to one who talks to people online to a decently extroverted guy (most of the time - I still have this completely unfounded fear of talking on the phone:/ I can only ever call people I know personally and talk to day-to-day and veer towards e-mail/etc for any other corespondance if I can help it).

So, basically, the internet made me extroverted when it comes to personal contact (or helped me out from being a complete loser, or at least I started talking to people on the 'net before I really got into talking to people in real life), but it also made me deathly afraid of phone calls because I never have to really use them except certain specific circumstances that scare the crap out of me.

[oneredpanther]

I don't really remember life before the internet.
I'll have been wired up for ten years this month and it still feels new.

[Starblade]

The Internet has warped my 15 year old mind beyond repair.

I am also both feared and (strangely) looked at in awe by my fellow classmates.

[Nurizeko]

provides multiplayer experience (i dont touch singleplayer at all, and if i do its got to be really good and i'll only play through it once, i liked the DoW demo mission).

and forums, for when you've got nothnig better to do.

[Artoo]

Well, it proved to be a quite significant change for me. I basicly use it for social interaction with various individuals like you lot :p

It is also a source of information for me. I also multiplay the crap out of it every once in a while ;)

edit: It has also become a means of communication with my "real-life" friends.

[killahstyle003]

I use it to purchase items on ebay.
Find information on game releases/reviews and discussions etc.
I also enjoy being an admin on an anime forum and this forum and do a bit of chatting using AIM. Play on Warhammer DOW too, dont play on many other PC games anymore, i try not to come online too much as it tends to make me feel like i have no life. So i enjoy going to college/being with friends etc too.

[HexHammer]

I consider the internet to be:
Virtual Sapiens Liberatus (roughly translated = liberater of the virtual modern man)

Sending collectinve information, is as easy as ever. I can provide people links, with animations, sound ..etc.

I don't have to write a single letter to each and every dude I know, I can just make a mass sending in no time.

If I'm on hollyday, no snail-mail postcards are nessesary, only showing 1 damn picture, now I can send loads of pictues, if they take up too much bites, I can just upload them on some server, and link them in a mail, and why stop at pictures? I can also provide video.



The easy interaction

I can get together with people with different interest. Interchange information with eachother, without signifigantly loss, contray to telephone communication, where words get lost and alterd, or addet ..etc

Meeting with people doesn't involve any transportation, from home to the local club, bar, or whatever place a hobby takes place, everything is in a browsers reach.

If I just have ½ an hour on my hands, I can easily spend it on a fun game online, and have a really fun time, it's nearly impossible to have instant fun in real life just in ½ an hour.

[ionfish]

Yeah, because everyone knows that things with Latin names are automatically better.

[HexHammer]

Not quite, my good ionfish.

Just having THE right sound to it :D

[edit] AND in this context I find it appropoate to use latin, each language for different use.

If I give harsh orders, german language would be appropiate. :jk:

When speaking tender words to a cute girl, some frensh would easily do.

You see?

[ionfish]

Is it liberation to have the freedom to misspell to your heart's content, or merely a different kind of chains?

[HexHammer]

Your point of sarcasm?

[M37]

The net is great fore accesing tons of inormation at the click of a mouse.
- Type anyting into :google: and you wil get a response. Tust me anything.

Want a test I'm going to see If I can find technical specifications for the matilida Tank used in WWII - just for kicks

See results
http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/matilda_tank

Matilda tank



General CharacteristicsLength:6.0 mWidth:2.6 mHeight:3.5 mWeight:27 tons Speed:24 km/h(road)
15 km/h(off-road)Range:80 km Primary armament:2 pdr (40 mm) gunSecondary armament:7.92 mm coaxial machine gunPower plant:- Crew:4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)

The A12 Infantry Tank II Matilda was a British (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/united_kingdom) tank (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/tank) of World War II (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/world_war_ii). In a somewhat unorthadox move, it shared the same name as the A11 Infantry Tank I. The name Matilda itself comes from a cartoon duck.

The armored fighting vehicle (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/armoured_fighting_vehicle) weighed 27 tons (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/ton) and was armed with a 2-pounder cannon (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/cannon). In the deserts (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/desert) of North Africa (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/north_africa), the Matilda often averaged ~9.5km (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/kilometre) per hour. The tank had frontal armor of ~7.5cm (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/centimetre).



Table of contentsshowTocToggle("show","hide") [showhide (http://javascript<b></b>:toggleToc())]

1 Production History (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/matilda_tank#Production History)
1.1 Variants (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/matilda_tank#Variants)

2 Combat History (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/matilda_tank#Combat History)
3 External Links (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/matilda_tank#External Links)


Production History

The Matilda was first produced in <A title=1937 href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/1/19/1937.html">1937 but only two were in service when war broke out in September (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/september) 1939 (http://www.sciencedaily.com/1/19/1939.html). Some 2,987 were produced until 1943 (http://www.sciencedaily.com/1/19/1943.html).

Now that took me about 2 minutes. it would have been faster but the silly page took so long to load.
I doubt only the best libaries would have this information. Its specific and its not a commonly known tank when compared to the Sherman. Of couse I've used it for real recerch. I often use online deata bases to sort throgh 20 jounals at at a time to get exactly what I want. -its powered by the information technology. BTW the Net was originly put in place to decentralize information to prevent the loss of C&C systems in the event of a nucluar ecxhgge between the superpowers during the CW. It whent from tactical to practical in a little over 35 years. I can still remeember the first Iime I looked at an old P150 and used a 14.4 baud modem to go to a local BBS and thight it was the best thing ever.

[jetfx]

The internet is a vast repository of knowledege. And Crap. Both provide me with much entertainment.

Since going off to university this fall, it has become my main means of communication with pretty well everyone. I went nuts all summer because I didn't have the internet at home.

[[bulletproof]]

The Interweb gave me pants.

[Nurizeko]

to be honest without the internet i would be skull numbingly bored so often it wouldnt be amusing in any sense of the word.

[iwanthw2]

I don't have to buy porn anymore since that's what most of the internet is.

[Handarazuur]

I don't have to visit my local library to get information any more.

[El Russo]

I wonder what annoyed fishy yesterday...

[Reignfire]

Maybe he drank all his beer, but no one refilled it so he flopped around in his mug, glass, keg, whatever until someone did?

[jetfx]

I don't have to visit my local library to get information any more.

Too bad nothing on it is considered a reputable source by any academic authority, even if what's posted is from an academic authority.