Hi, it's me again! This is a thread for sharing things you appreciate that are freely available on the internet. Perhaps someone will share something you didn't know of, or didn't know much about, that you might end up really liking as well! I considered 3 ways of doing this thread: having everyone make a list with items, having everyone make a list with items and a short explanation, and having people post one item per post, and a description. I think the last option is the best one, as it'll make people more likely to check things out if there's not a lot posted at once, and it will also make the thread last longer if you post one thing per post. So please post a link to something, and a description/explanation of what it is. This can be anything, as long as it's (mostly) EMC appropriate and freely available on the internet. Examples are databases, stories, forums, posts, videos, music, video games, entire websites, et cetera. I'll start us off with an obvious one: I really appreciate Empire Minecraft. It's a really nice forum with relatively strict rules, but a lot of different subjects discussed. It's also got quite a feeling of community, even though it is rather large. I'm looking forward to seeing what you post, and I'm looking forward to sharing other things on the internet I appreciate. I encourage commenting on others' posts, as well!
This Will Destroy You: A Line Rider Feature Film This movie is freely available on YouTube. I've only seen it once, but I really liked it. I've used Line Rider myself a bit when I was younger, but I think you can also enjoy this film if you haven't ever used Line Rider. The only issue is that apparently there are ads on the YouTube video nowadays. This is understandable from the record label's point of view, but it's probably very bad for the flow of the movie. I'd advise downloading the movie if you can, or, alternatively, using a browser plug-in that can remove the ads, supposing that exists. I am normally against the use of ad blockers, but I do like that they are legal, for instances like this.
I appreciate webkinz.com for being one of the first games I played on the internet (first account for sure ;p). It was one of my favorite games when I was little, and I have had an account for about 10 years now! (Got it when I was 5) Webkinz has many fun things to do, and taught me how to play checkers when I was 5 years old (I love checkers) Overall a cute and friendly game, as well as educational
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA/videos I advise you to watch from the oldest to the most recent, and read his comments before watching the video. Many things to learn there.
Warning: Shell vent inbound. I just finished a 'major' OS upgrade today (upgraded the FreeBSD server at my parents place from the previous 10.3 to 11.1) and I'm very pleased with the results. VPN works, Samba servers connect and share their data through WINS (read: anyone of us open 'network neighborhood' and we get to see the whole lot. When one of my parents wants me to sent them a file of some sort I simply copy & paste it into their windows shared folder) and the servers even back each other up as mail relays. What I appreciate on the Internet? The Internet itself: See... most of us take the Internet for granted. You connect to your ISP, you browse the web, collect your e-mail and we're happy, right? Yah, good for you (no, I'm honestly not sarcastic here). Thing is though... What IS the Intetnet? The Internet is basically a huge TCP/IP based network. And TCP/IP? It's a set of network protocols usually associated with Unix (-like) environments. Ergo: the Internet is one huge Unix powered network. Guess what you can do on it if you have access to a Unix powered environment? So what are you seeing above? Well... 'Unicron' (reminds me to bump a thread) is my LAN server and you can see its IP address (ignore 10.0.1.6, that's used by a so called 'jail' ("virtual pc") running 'on top of' my server). And 10.0.0.5 is an address used at my parents place, approx. 30km away from mine. All powered by FreeBSD and OpenVPN. And all I needed was a simple Internet connection (and a decent cable modem) and the rest is history. Note: In all fairness the main drive behind this setup is OpenVPN which will also easily run on Linux, MacOS and even Windows. And all of this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for ME, the allmighty ShelLuser! No applause? Meh, tough crowd Ok, more seriously: This is what a deeper understanding of the Internet can get you. If you realize what the Internet actually is then.. you can seriously discover tons of cool stuff. The story of the netmask Have I ever told you the story of the netmask? No, I'm pretty sure I didn't (warning: it's going to become a little more difficult from here on, I'll do my best to keep it simple!) When you're asked to enter your IP address (10.0.1.25 for my Windows box I'm typing on) you're also often asked to specify a so called "netmask". Weird stuff right? Most people just fill out 255.255.255.0 and guess what? It works! <tadaaah!> But have you ever wondered what that weird number is all about? I mean.. what does that 255 stand for? It's all in the name really: net mask. It's a mask to cover your network. No; seriously! Sit around everyone, gray bearded Unix passionate Shell is going to tell a story inside a story 10.0.1.25. It probably tells you "computer stuff", it tells me "8bit network address". 8 bit? Hmm, weren't those "game" (lolz!) ""things"" our grand (? please tell me it isn't so!) -parents used 8bit stuff? 8bit basically means.. 8 bits. A bit is a value ranging from 0 to 1. A bit.. is a bit of... a byte And if you add several of them together you get something which can represent a normal value. 1001 \ \ \ \- 1 * 1 = 1 \ \ \- 2 * 0 = 0 \ \- 4 * 0 = 0 \- 8 * 1 = 8 + --------------- 9 (I know that graph looks horrible, consider it my punishment for actually trying to read this) See, a bit can represent a normal value based on its position. A 1 at the end will always have a decimal ("normal") value of 1. The 1 before that? 2. So here's a trick for you: in binary we're horrible people, we discriminate the leading 0's. They have no meaning for us. Begone ya 0's! Stop cutting in line! Meaning? 0011 equals => 11 ("we don't need any stinkin' zeroes"). So: 2 + 1 = 3 (see chart above). aaaand. 1001 (in bits, also known as 'binary') equals 9 in decimal (our normal numeric system). Don't believe me? So what does this got to do with 255 you may wonder? Good question! If you apply the method I showed above to all 8 digits you end up with: 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 Trick question: 128 + 64 + 32 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 2 +1 = ??? No, do not feel ashamed if you didn't get it right away. Let's be perfectly honest here: the only reason I could calculate that within a second is because I already knew the answer ... which is 255: 4 + (2 + 1) = 7 + 8 = 15 + 16 = 31 + 32 = 63 + 64 = 127 + 128 = 255 (read from left to right, '=' separates) In binary coding this would account for: 1111 1111 So.... 255 means that you get 8 bits. Those's 1's up there represent those bits. Now for the cool stuff... a net mask means just that (I am repeating myself). You really need to visualize this as something 'on top' of your IP address. And it basically tells your system the range of your TCP/IP based network. It shows us the variety in addresses. Seeing is believing: 10.0.1.25/255.255.255.0 We all saw that 255 = 1111 1111 (= 8 bit). As such: it is a "full" number, there is no 'variety' here. Ergo: the numbers which correspond to the mask cannot change; "full is full". (fictional mathematics): 10 + 255 = 10, 0 + 255 = 0, 1 + 255 = 1, 25 + 0 = '0 - 255' Looks bizarre I think? See: the 'mask' helps us to "control" the numbers. 255 means: "stay right there you!". But a 0 accounts for nothing, so the number is free to do what it pleases to do! And it goes rampage on us! Wait.. why only 0 - 255 and not, say: 0 - 48934? Well... Remember those 8 bit comments I made? 10.0.1.25 is a so called 8 bit IP address. And 8 bits means it cannot go beyond 255 (see above). That's the rule of this binary game we're now playing. As such... 1- 255. YES my fellow geeks: before you hit reply in order to tell me about the network and broadcast addresses: let's keep our target audience in mind? Please? <3 ya! SO what is the cool part here? Well... the 0 at the end of the netmask (255.255.255.0) means that the last number can vary. So if my computer has IP address 10.0.1.25 then the only reason I can access 10.0.1.30 is because of my network mask. It literally tells my system: "Yo dude, we're not alone here. Also expect computers 1 to 254 to come at ya bro! peace!" (that was probably horrible, but... hopefully you get me bonus points for trying) Wait... 1 - 254? Ya, we're not going there right now. If you want to dig that deep I suggest the subnetwork wikipedia page (or just PM me (let's not derail this thread) ). otoh.. this is about the Internet and the Internet IS about IPv4 stuff (= 8 bit network addresses). 607: HELP! I wrote myself into a hole I cannot get out of without /ftp (forum teleport ). w00t, thank you I can see clearly now, the rain IP is gone So now you may be wondering what the point of all this is.... Open a command line. On Windows this is a 'DOS prompt' (win-r, then enter 'cmd' (no quotes) and hit enter). NOW enter: ping 8.8.8.8. Do you know what you just did? You sent a so called ICMP signal towards IP address 8.8.8.8 and it responded. ICMP is one of the many protocols within the TCP/IP suite. Hmm... if you can sent 8.8.8.8 short ping requests ("ICMP data"), would you be able to sent a random computer encrypted data? Ayups Which is exactly the thing you saw happening above. Now, I'm not going to explain that in more detail (I hijacked 607's thread long enough) but this honestly DOES tell you why I answered the above. The Internet is one huge Unix-powered network of computers. Microsoft once tried with Windows. True story (no bashing): At one time they tried to replace Sendmail ("Unix mailserver") with Exchange ("Windows mailserver"). It crashed on them, and so way beyond 2005 Microsoft kept relying on a Unix box to sort out their own internal mail traffic (no joke!). But... In true Microsoft fashion (no disrespect intended) they also managed to catch up and get with the program and right now Exchange can pretty much handle the same workloads as Sendmail can. (for the record: I honestly enjoy working with both, but.. my personal preference still lies with either Sendmail or Postfix ("another" Unix mailserver)). Wait... (last rant 'branch')... Did I say "another"? My 2nd reason which I appreciate about the Net: it brings people together. The Free Software Foundation ("FSF") (I deeply respect them) or the FreeBSD foundation (I seriously admire them) would not have come to be if it wasn't without that crazy IP network I just told you guys about. And that.. seriously.. is the Internet for me. Have I ever told you about that time when I was 21 (1991) where I could do "ping 10.0.2.24" and I'd ping a server in Japan? Or how about 10.x.x.x (sorry: I honestly don't remember) which would ping a server which was directly connected to the Undernet IRC network? Wait, what's that? me a BSD fanboy? I'll have you know that I was using RedHat linux until around 2003, switched to Debian until around 2006 (give or take) and then I met the dark side: Solaris/x86 10 got released But yeah.. rounding up.. This is why I LOVE the Net. ... did I ever tell you the story of me actually meeting a real girl on Undernet IRC #linux (I know this to be true because we met up 2 years later and dozens of people can confirm (oh dear, the geeks we were)) and then instant messaging happened? Oh well... let's leave it at this (the girl in question went under the alias of Cheetara and we chatted for hours through IRC with the #holland channel as conduit). And we still are in contact today but we're good friends (she's married). Congrats! you survived another shell vent! Maybe you should remember the number 32767. Why? I dunno... maybe for the case someone goes crazy and uses this number as some kind of leverage to see how many have read this? naaah, stupid idea, you're right!
I personally appreciate all the ways I can meet new people. Too many to link just one, that's for sure.
For all of you that like post-rock and the kind of music this line-rider film is based upon, I recommend 'Godspeed you! Black Emperor'
My favorite website Ok, ok, I know, we use it everyday. But it's still awesome. Other than that, I'd say Discordapp. Another thing I use daily, convenient for talking to friends and people.
Ah, yes, I've seen that before! Very interesting, even though it doesn't interest me specifically. Thanks for the interesting read. I wonder how many people here don't know how binary/8-bit works... it seems so basic, and yet when I think about it, some of my friends at school might not even know.
I.N.D.U.C.K.S. The Disney Comics Database I got linked to a page from this database by Donald Duck (yes, I sometimes interact with Donald Duck on Facebook ) some time ago, but had forgot about it again, until I found it recently when looking for information on a certain story I had read. This database has got information on all Disney stories. It also doesn't matter where you're from. Reading an American release, or an Italian one? A Danish one, or a Dutch one? You should be able to easily find the story you'd like to know info on, and get everything there is to know about it. From here you can get to a lot more interesting stuff. I suspect Donald Duck is quite a niche interest... but to those who are interested as well, this is a very valuable resource.
This picture on Wikimedia Commons, by Muhammad Mahdi Karim. Since this appeared as the featured picture on the homepage for the English Wikipedia (almost two years ago, I think), I've used it as my iPad lock screen wallpaper. I still really like it. I love ants in general, but this photograph is amazing.
Edit: As it turns out, this game is not universally liked. Many people felt like the story was unnecessary, and forced. To me however, when my English improved in-between playthroughs and I understood more of the story, the game became more special to me. It might be cliché if you've read and seen a lot, but to me it was definitely new. I as such still recommend it. But I can't promise you'll like it. I'd really encourage you to check this one out. This thread made me remember The Company of Myself. A puzzle platformer game I've played 3-5 times before, but which still delivers a very special experience. I just replayed it, before dinner. It took me less than 20 minutes, but if you haven't played the game before it might take longer. As a kid not too patient at solving puzzles it took me around 40 minutes, I think. I just Googled the name and found a couple of reviews, and a page on tvtropes. That should be a sign of how special this game is. I'd recommend just playing the game, though, after reading my post (or a bit later), and not reading anything else about it beforehand. I think skill-wise, all of you should be able to beat this game. Some of the puzzles I had quite some difficulty with as a kid (there was one level that used to take me 15 minutes to beat because I had a really cumbersome method), but the platforming itself is easy, and the mechanics are so interesting yet simple that it's a lot of fun to simply play around, if you can't solve a puzzle right away. Warning: this game features some mature subjects. Not EMC-inappropriate subjects, however. But this game tells really quite a sad story. There's an option to skip over the intro text, but you should not do that. It's very important to have read it. Try to read all other text too. During the game, sentences appear in the playing field, and while sometimes they are simply hints on the mechanics of the game, often they are important parts of the narrative. I won't tell more about the story than that: it's best to not know everything during your first playthrough. The game is so short and so interesting that it's got a lot of replayability anyway. Here you go. Note: I recommend zooming in, so you can see the game better. It's displayed rather small on Newgrounds.
yay another computer nerd! Haha I’m glad to see your throwing around those terms, though I bet only people like us would actually know what it is. I was half expecting to see you briefly talk about the OSI Model.
Ok but anyway, what I appreciate about the internet... So first off did you guys know what the internet was first built for? Originally the internet was restricted to the Army so that they could communicate to say allies out in other locations. It was also used to share and collect data. The thing that I enjoy the most about the internet is what it was made to do, to share information abroad. I mean how else did YouTube get to be such an amazing resource, and the tons of websites you relied on when answering questions for that big test?
Perhaps tell us a bit about YouTube, or (because I think most people know YouTube already) about one of those 'tons of websites'? It seems like many people are interpreting this thread from the title only, rather than from the OP and my examples. MoreMoople and TheBidule did post something exactly like I intended. (and Shel's post was quite welcome as well, but not really too close to the intention (but he clearly wasn't trying to) )
