The Internet and the Word-Wide Web

Has it really been a few months since the last post! 😃

In September of this year (2017), I will have been connected to the Internet for 30 years. I remember sending my first e-mail in 1987 from the computer room of Concordia University's Hall Building, in downtown Montreal. I was hooked!

The Word-Wide Web had not yet been invented. In other words, browsers did not exist and would be a few years in the future.

A few years ago, when I posted on my Facebook timeline that I had been connected to the Internet for however-many years that it was at the time, someone commented that it wasn't the Internet as we know it now. This comment was not technically correct. I felt the urge to correct the person, but decided against it. This posting will attempt to explain the difference between the Internet and the World-Wide Web and the other protocols that use the Internet.

The Internet (infrastructure work-horse)

The Internet may be seen as a massive collection of computers (nodes) that are connected together to form one gigantic network. Information may flow through each node on its way from point A to point B.

Information is split into a sequence of data packets of a uniform size. Once the sequence of packets reaches its destination, it is reassembled into its original form. These data packets move from computer to computer in an endless torrent of data that crisscrosses the planet.

The data flows between computers at the electrical level using the Ethernet Protocol (EP). Layered on top of this protocol is the Transfer Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). This is the layer that actually carries the data packets. It is these packets that require the use of your unique IP address.

Internet Applications (what to do once you're connected)

Since the Internet is just one big, massive collection of computers, what can we do with this infrastructure?

Apparently, we can lots of stuff with this infrastructure.

One application of the Internet is to browse the Word-Wide Web using the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) and its secure alternative, HTTPS. This is the Web with which everyone is familiar.

An application is to transfer files to and from our computers using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

An application is to send an e-mail using the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP).

An application is to receive e-mail using the Post Office Protocol, version 3 nonetheless (POP3).

Each of these protocols are layered on top of the TCP/IP protocol that is the backbone of the Internet's packet relay system.

(It can be seen that the Word-Wide Web is merely an application of the Internet and not a synonym for the Internet. This misunderstanding is primarily responsible for people assuming the the Internet and the Word-Wide Web are interchangeable terms. They are technically not interchangeable!)

An Analogy

I'd like to offer an analogy on how the Internet and its applications may be seen.

Imagine the existing network of streets that traverses the globe. These streets are merely concrete paths that have been laid down. They are not very useful on their own; We must find some applications for this infrastructure.

An application is to drive a car on the street to go shopping for food.

An application is to ride a bicycle on the street to commute to work.

An application is to ride a motorcycle on the street to visit a friend.

An application is to drive a truck to deliver food to the grocery store.

It is obvious, here, that the road and driving a car are semantically different concepts. Driving a car requires a road upon which to do the driving. It is the same with the Internet and the Word-Wide Web. One requires the other in order to operate.

In Conclusion

I hope that this article was helpful in explaining the difference between the various applications and the Internet upon which they depend.

By the way, this article was requested by your browser using the HTTPS protocol. See, its right up there at the beginning of the URL, in your browser's address bar.

How were the data packets for this article actually transmitted to your computer? Using the Internet and its TCP/IP protocol (and the underlying EP).

How do water molecules decide on which snowflake form to take?

There is a saying that asserts that no two snowflakes are alike. I don't believe that at all. Nobody has catalogued every single snowflake that has ever fallen onto this planet throughout its existence.

Regardless of whether snowflakes are alike, I am more fascinated with how they build themselves with such symmetry. We can all agree that snowflakes seem to form along six stems with equal angular distance between them. Each stem having the same pattern as the other stems.

What mystifies me is how the water molecules all agree to form similar patterns along each stem. Seriously... just consider the following:

A water molecule is two hydrogen atoms connected to an oxygen atom. The water molecule floats around until the conditions are just right for joining with other water molecules and forming some crystalline shape.

Now, here's my question: how do the water molecules know what pattern to become in their local area to match what is happening on the other side of the emerging snowflake?

An average snowflake consists of around 10^18 molecules of water. Relative to the size of a water molecule, a snowflake is an immensely voluminous structure. How do water molecules at one end of the collection know what's going on at the other end? Is there some form of communication? If so, then how does it occur?

I would expect some random mis-mash of water molecules. However, there is incredible organization in a snowflake. Why always a six-sided figure? Do water molecules know how to count? Why not a snowflake with six stems of different patterns?

This has intrigued me for many decades of my life. I am still waiting for a satisfactory answer.

The Internet and the Word-Wide Web

Set of all 40-GByte hard drives

A true 40-Gbyte hard drive contains 40 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 bytes. At 8 bits per byte, this results in 343,597,383,680 binary bits.

Theoretically, the number of arrangements of these bits is 2 ^ 343,597,383,680. This is an insanely large number. In decimal notation, this number would be comprised of 103,433,118,919 digits.

Most of the hard drives would contain nonsense information. However, among the set of all such 40-Gbyte hard drives, you would find hard drives with the following contents. (Of course, each and every item listed below merits the following condition: Assuming that it would fit on a 40 Gbyte hard drive.)

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• Fresh installs of every single version and update of every single operating system that has ever existed and that will ever exist, in every single dialect of every single language that has ever existed and that will ever exist.
• Digital versions of every single song that has ever been recorded and that will ever be recorded. Each song encoded in every single digital format that has ever been created and that will ever be created. Each song sung by every person that has ever existed and that will ever exist. Each song sung in every language that has ever existed and that will ever exist. Included, as well, are duets (triplets, quartets, quintets, etc.) of every single song that has ever been recorded and that will ever be recorded, including; you and Elvis Presley; your father and my father; All men with first name "Vance" currently living in London, England.
• Digital photos of every moment in Earth's history as well as all possible Earth futures taken from every possible point of view. Included in this subset are photos of every single person that has every existed and that will ever exist. Each photo encoded in every single digital format that has ever been created and that will ever be created. Each person having photos of their every living moment taken from every point of view. Every photo that you have ever seen is included. Also included are actual pictures of, say, Albert Einstein at every moment of his life taken from every point of view. Also included is every picture of the cast of "Seinfeld" if we replace each original cast member with any person that has ever existed and that will ever exist. Also included are photos of you reading this very e-mail message taken from every single point of view.
• Digital versions of every single movie and television show that has ever been created and that will ever be created. Each movie encoded in every single digital format that has ever been created and that ever will be created. Included is every home movie and video ever recorded by every person that has ever lived and that will ever live. Included is every movie where the main actor is replaced by every single person that has ever existed or that will ever exist. Also included are video segments of every event that has ever occurred on Earth and that will ever occur. Every conceivable imaginary event would also be represented, such as: video of Marilyn Monroe's wedding to Albert Einstein on a beach in Fiji, as well as you and Leonardo da Vinci playing table tennis in Paul McCartney's living room filmed from every point of view; Julia Roberts doing porn.
• Digital versions of every single written story, song, poem, script, newspaper article, top-secret government document, term paper, etc., that has ever been written and that will ever be written. Each item encoded in every single digital format that has ever existed and that will ever exist. Each item written in every single dialect of every single language that has ever existed and that will ever exist.
• Every e-mail or newsgroup message that has ever been written and that will ever be written. Each e-mail and newsgroup posting containing an attachment of any combination of items listed in the preceding paragraphs. This particular e-mail is already included. The very next e-mail that you will send is already included.
• Combinations of all the items described in the preceding paragraphs.

Where would this set of hard drives be stored?  Not anywhere on Earth.  This set would occupy volume on the order of 10 ^ 103433118906 cubic Km.  That is much larger that the volume of the Milky Way galaxy (to say the least).

The Mandela effect

Apparently, many other people have experienced an anomaly that causes strong memories and reality to conflict. The effect is now known as the Mandela Effect. For me, the effect came to my awareness several years ago, before the name had been introduced.

The effect earned its name from the fact that millions of people have strong memories of Nelson Mandela having died while still in prison. Many of those same people even remember seeing his funeral on television. Yet, in this reality, Mandela died in 2013, which is 23 years after having been released from prison.

My own experience with this bizarre effect occurred several years ago when I happened to be viewing the life story of Johnny Cash. His death was recorded as having occurred in 2003. However, I have a very strong memory of having announced his death to two of my friends the day after his death. I distinctly remember their lack of enthusiasm at hearing the news. I met these two friends in April of 2005. I have e-mails to back up my memory. I asked these same two friends whether they remembered me telling them about his death. Of course, they did not. Why would they? It was a trivial event. This experience left me with a weird feeling for quite a while.

I recently stumbled upon a couple of videos dealing with the Mandela Effect.

Here is the first video:

Besides the death of Nelson Mandela, here are some of the the anomalies listed in this video:

• How many people were in the car when J.F.K. was assassinated? I only remember 4 people, but the memory isn't that strong for me, so learning that there were indeed six people only vaguely surprises me.
• What does Crocodile Dundee actually say? Did he say "This is a knife", or did he say "That's a knife"? Again, my memory isn't clear, so I have no attachment to either answer. The correct answer is the second quote.
• Rubik's Cube spelling. Do you remember the spelling as Rubik's or Rubix? I always knew the spelling as Rubik's, which is the correct spelling.
• Does Mickey Mouse have suspenders? Apparently, he never did have suspenders. I have no clear memory of this aspect of his costume.
• Does Darth Vader say "Luke, I am your father", or does he say "No, I am your father"? Over the past few decades, so many people have quoted the first phrase, that it seems normal that this would become our memory of the phrase. Even James Earl Jones said the first quote during an interview on some talk show. However, if you watch the movie, he says the second quote with the stress on the word "I".
• Do you remember C-3PO being all gold or do you remember him having a silver leg? Apparently, he did have a silver leg. I don't have any strong memory either way, but it did surprise me to see photos of him with a silver leg.
• Is evangelist Billy Graham dead or alive? Apparently, he is still alive and kicking. I do not follow his life, so I have no memory either way.
• Is the movie title "Interview With A Vampire", or is the title "Interview With The Vampire"? Do you have a strong memory either way? I do not. I have not even seen the movie.
• Do you remember the game Monopoly? Does the tuxedoed moneybag guy wear a monocle, yes or no? He does not. I have memory of him having a monocle, but it doesn't bother me that he does not.
• In the movie "Jaws", does Roy Scheider's character say "We're gonna need a bigger boat", or does he say "You're gonna need a bigger boat"? I have no clear memory either way.
• In the movie "Sleeping Beauty", does the evil queen say to the mirror, "Mirror, Mirror on the wall...", or does she say "Magic mirror on the wall..."? I again suspect that this is a case of so many people mis-remembering the actual quote over the decades that the mis-remembered quote takes on a life of its own. I have not seen the movie, but I always did believe that the first quote would have been the correct one. However, I am willing to acknowledge that I am probably remembering the phrase that millions of others also remember.

Watch the video for more examples.

Here is another video to test whether you may experiencing the Mandela Effect:

Let me know if you have your own Mandela-Effect anomalies happening in your life.

AVG fails

I just discovered why my Google Chrome browser was no longer able to connect to most of the sites that use a secure HTTP connection, otherwise known as HTTPS. It was due to my AVG anti-virus program!

Several days ago, my Chrome browser started acting peculiar. When I would connect to the majority of sites that require an HTTPS connection, my Chrome browser would refuse the connection and cite a certificate error and display "CONNECTION NOT PRIVATE". Chrome would not let me actually continue through to the site.

I discovered, however, that if I used the Firefox browser, or even the new Microsoft Edge browser, then I had full access to all sites without any error messages at all. It seems normal that I would suspect that the Chrome browser was at fault, right?

I visited numerous help forums, but to no avail. I was beginning to believe that I would have to uninstall my beloved Chrome browser and use the Firefox browser, which is bloated and runs slow.

A short while ago, I was again visiting help forums and spotted a suggestion that a forum moderator gave to someone. The moderator recommended uninstalling their particular anti-virus program (which was not AVG anti-virus). I do know that most anti-virus program do install themselves in browsers in order to intercept suspicious code when visiting websites. I was not fully aware that anti-virus programs also intercept HTTPS connections and verify certificates.

I decided to uninstall my (paid version) AVG anti-virus to see whether my connection issues would disappear.

After uninstalling AVG, and rebooting the computer, my connection issues with Chrome have disappeared! This is a great relief to me. However, I still need to have a working anti-virus program installed on my machine. I am debating whether to re-install the free version of my trusted AVG anti-virus, or whether to go with another anti-virus program.

I have been using AVG anti-virus for almost fifteen years. I even paid for a subscription at the beginning of 2015 because I wanted to show the company a little love. However, if this is the way that the program is going to act from now on, then I must abandon them.

If you have any suggestions for a good anti-virus program, let me know!

UPDATE: I installed AVG Free, but without the Web Tuneup. I now have anti-virus protection and my Chrome browser works as it should. 👍