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Wi-Fi, Now Available On the ISS
Grant Henninger writes "Rejoice! The next time you have an extra $20 million and decide to visit the International Space Station you won't need to leave the window to tell all your friends how cool it is. The ISS now has a new Wi-Fi network, so all you'll need to do is fire up Twitterrific and announce how much better you are than your Earth-based friends."
Alright, who is going to be the first to start the new war-orbiting trend?
I wonder if it is an unsecured wireless network. Does being far above anyone else who could access your wireless network count as security through obscurity?
The next time you have an extra $20 million...all you'll need to do is fire up Twitterrific and announce how much better you are than your Earth-based friends
The next time I have an extra $20 million, I won't need Twitterific or even a visit to the ISS to let my friends know how much better I am than them. I'll hire people to follow my friends around town to let them know that fact on an hourly basis.
I'm a big tall mofo.
You just know that NASA will probably cooperate with a stunt like this. Heck, they may even hold a contest for engineering students: "Who can be the first to ping our wifi network from a ground station and hold the signal from horizon to horizon?"
Winning team gets a photo-op with NASA engineers, bragging rights, and job interviews when they graduate.
Runners-up have to be content with $250 cash prize and a promise NASA will actually read their resumes.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
There is nothing inherent in the phrase Wi-Fi that mandates that a network is Internet-connected. Indeed, nothing in the "article" suggests any access to the Internet from the station. This appears to just be an extension of their existing LAN.
Evidently, the key to understanding recursion is to begin by understanding recursion. The rest is easy.
That would explain why every 90 minutes or so "ISS" pops up on my available networks and then promptly disappears.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
I thought there are fears that once the Shuttles no longer service the ISS in 2010, then access to the ISS will be limited to nations that can say "Da, you can have Georgia" in Russian.
So your friends will have to accept you talking through a Russian interpreter. This may well improve the conversation. I mean, how often can you say 'The earth is a blue and white ball' without getting boring. Whereas, a mistranslation such as 'Why on earth are your balls blue and white?' will at least help.
My 20 mil contract does not say anything about WiFi. Should I buy a cup of coffee to use it?
To: Gfnnrzx
From: Plftspnk
Subject: New WiFi Hot Spot
Hey dude! I was cruising thru the wasteland in my saucer and I found this great open hot spot. Its right near that crazy pile of junk orbiting planet Irth. Just pull up behind them, so they won't see your ship and you can log your laptop onto the Irth Internet and download lots of cool homosapien p0rn. Also, log onto this site called Slashdot and post something about welcoming alien overlords. They'll get a kick out of it.
Later, dude.
P.S.: What's a lap, anyway?
Have gnu, will travel.