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Dave Hughes' Campaign To Connect 6 Billion Brains
polarfleece writes "The Asociated Press has a fine story about Dave Hughes, one of my personal heros. For those of you who may never have heard of him, he is THE pioneer in the use of wireless networking for mass connectivity. His main website is at wireless.oldcolo.com." An anonymous reader also point to the profile of Hughes accompanying the article.
"So he let troops paint tanks in psychedelic colors, drive them in road rallies and bring wives and girlfriends along as navigators. He stocked base hangouts with beer and go-go girls, encouraged black troops to stage Guerrilla Theater and brought in such diverse political speakers as Cesar Chavez and William F. Buckley."
I wonder how "strongly encouraged" his retirement was......
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
For a pioneer of mass connectivity, he sure does have a boring webpage.
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
Probally not very good, but I still woudln't want to be next to him at a lan party
From the computer speaker comes the thud of the GayWP
Geek: HAHAHAHA I 0wnz0r3d j00!!!!!!
Dave: I'm going to knife you for that
Geek: You'll never get close enough to knife me, I have m4d AWP
Dave: You're already close enough for me to knife you
Geek: You're dead, and the games doesn't start for another...hey, what's that in your boot?
Dave: (buries boot knife in geek's chest)
Dave: n00b
At first glance I thought it said "Collect" 6 billion brains...
/. was going to ask for donations.
I thought
Well, its been 20 minutes, I was expecting more posts. I didnt know much about the guy, so after a quick google search. Found the Wales site that was mentioned in the article. http://www.arwain.net/arwain.htm Pretty good site too, warchalking info and all. :)
Also he was named one of the 100 most influential individuals in the Computer Age. Lots of article on his use of Spread spectrum, and demoing it at colleges across the USA.
Sounds like a very interesting guy. At 74, doing all this work for schools across the world, he actually understand the need for the Internet and open information. (For his gathering of information, legal, etc...)
Ah, the Internet of the 1970s! Takes me back to the cyberpunk heyday of writers like Gibson and Stephenson.
Hughes is like some weird combination between the cowboy hackers of Neuromancer and Count Zero, and the dude who was pushing the hive mind project in Cryptonomicon.
Any thoughts? Do you think that Gibson or Stephenson ran across Col. Dave Hughes, USA, Ret., in their research? Think the Cowboy Curser inspired any personalities in Cryptonomicon or SnowCrash? Neuromancer? Count Zero? Mona Lisa Overdrive?
What's your opinion?
One does have to wonder though if connecting previously sheltered cultures, like Sherpas who rarely leave their home area, or small tribes in South America, will encourage them to join the rest of the world. If I had no previous contact with the outside world's mass culture, one look at the internet would scare the living hell outta me. Slashdot alone would convince me all ousiders should be killed on sight.
Mod Points: Helping you keep your opinion to yourself.
Found more info that was quite interesting, pissed me off.
Hughes is lobbying for the FCC to increase the power to at least 5 watts, which would expand the service area to 50 to 70 miles. That would make a big difference in rural areas, he noted. The FCC staff originally recommended that the transmissions be allowed at up to 100 watts at any frequency above 75 mhz. The spread-spectrum technology allows practically unlimited transmissions without interference, Hughes said, but the objections of companies such as Motorola and Bell South helped to stunt those potentially visionary rules.
Someone once said to me, 'cultivate your own garden,'" Hughes says. "I said, I'm going to use a microprocessor as a hoe and a modem as a wheelbarrow."
...and if he happens to come upon /., he'll get plenty of fertilizer to assist in cultivation...
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
What we'd hear from some (in)famous brains of our time:
George W. Bush's brain: I must remember to chew my pretzels. Bomb Iraq. I must remember to chew my pretzels. Bomb Iraq. I must remember to chew my pretzels. Bomb Iraq.
Tony Blair's brain: I must do whatever Dubya says cos Dubya's a smart man and he obviously knows what he's doing. Now where's my leash?
Saddam Hussein's brain: I didn't have anything to do with that attack. Why's George picking on me all of a sudden?
Osama Bin Laden's brain: Boy, am I glad that George's forgotten about me!
Bill Gates's brain: With all these wars to worry about I think the Government's forgotten about me. Time to pull out those plans for world domination again.
Pamela Anderson's brain: Gee, My boobs are looking kinda small. Time to call the surgeon again.
Britney Spear's brain: Damn that Christina's dirty. I wish I was.
Justin Timberlake's brain: Damn, I wish I was Michael Jackson. I'd love to be in his shoes.
Michael Jackson's brain: Damn, I wish I was with Justin Timberlake. I'd love to be in his trousers.
Slashdot editor's brain: Hmmm, yet another duplicate story/obvious hoax/shameless plug for a "me too" product. Now where's that "post" button gone?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
I guess you're too young to remember also.
They were called "Bulletin Board Systems," or BBSes.
Sheesh, I feel old.