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The Internet

Virgnia:Internet Capital 180

Posted by CmdrTaco from the you-gotta-be-kidding dept.
cpt kangarooski writes "Wired is reporting that the state of Virginia plans to issue license plates bearing the motto "Internet C@pital." I suspect Network Solutions put them up to it. " Really funny article. Everyone knows that Michigan is the real c@pital anyway.
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Virgnia:Internet Capital More

Virgnia:Internet Capital

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  • Sounds like a good poll (Score:3)

    by Eimi Metamorphoumai ( 18738 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @09:50AM (#1661266) Homepage
    What's the real internet c@pital?

    • Virginia
    • (various other places)
    • There is no capital, it's the Internet
    • J@r-j@r must die
  • Since the first packets were sent from California to... well, some other place, the answer is obvious and not even worth putting on a license plate. Insecure displays like that are for people that know they're wrong.

    "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
  • Here's an excerpt:

    ----------BEGINNING OF EXCERPT-----------------
    Network Working Group
    Request for Comments: 8888
    Category: Fake Standards Track
    A. Gore
    UVA/LCS
    September 1999

    The Commonwealth of Virginia as Internet Capital

    Status of this Memo

    This document specifies a Fake Internet standards track protocol for the
    Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
    improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
    Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
    and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

    Abstract

    The Commonwealth of Virginia is a state of rich heritage and extraordinary
    natural beauty. Its attractions are as broad and diverse as its geography
    and as abundant as its history. Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Blue
    Ridge and Allegheny mountains, Virginia is a mixture of exciting cities,
    historic homes and towns, plentiful resources, and a wealth of recreational
    activities.

    It is therefore the purpose of this RFC to recommend that the Commonwealth
    of Virginia be known for evermore as the Internet Capital of the World.

    Table of Contents

    1 Introduction...................................... .......7
    1.1 Purpose ..............................................7

    ----------END OF EXCERPT-----------------
  • I didn't think it was posible even here in Iowa [state.ia.us] we have a decent website...
    "Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
  • You mean AOL isn't the internet???!

    TheGeek
    Geekrights.org [geekrights.org]

  • I don't think virginia should issue this plate though Besides being stupid it defeats the view of the internet as a collection of computers with no true centralized point.

    I think they should, because if it's the Internet C@pital, some psycho nutbar like Saddam "The Internet is the great Satan" Hussein will blow the hell out of it trying to shut it down.

    POOF! No Virginia. POOF! No Iraq.

    TheGeek
    Geekrights.org [geekrights.org]

  • and id are there. Yup, that's right, Quake was born in one of the most stable states in the union. Epic too, right? (I'm from Richardson like the above, but now I live in Colorado, mountains and DSL keep life interesting.)
  • Actually, Paramount's Great America [pgathrills.com] theme park in Santa Clara, California is the real center of the Internet (tm).:-) It's located right smack in the middle between the Cisco, 3com and Bay/Nortel.

    Or, alternatively, for those looking for a real "capitol", the PacBell NAP (part of MAE West) is coincidentally on the same plot of land in downtown San Jose where the first capitol of California was 150 years ago. (Next time you're in SJ, look for the ring of palm trees around the historical marker between the Fairmont Hotel and Fairmont Office complex.)

    Anyway, with the distributed nature of the Net, it's inevitable that lots of places will try to make their own criteria where they're the most important place on the Net. They're welcome to do so because, in their hype process, they'll buy more communications gear from Silicon Valley companies. (And that's good for my stock options. :-)

    I personally think that the proportion of net.geeks in the population is the criteria that most people miss when they try to claim they've imitated Silicon Valley. It's taken all of this century to build up Silicon Valley to what it is. The technoculture here is just plain different.

  • heh. Leave it to the internet to have a high "net worth".

    Anyhow, from definition 2, "I" would be the capital of "internet". :)

    (and, therefore, TI would be the capitals of "the internet". Texas Instruments? What?)
  • I think the idea that Virginia is the "Internet Capital" is way biased by the fact that there's this company called America Online that is based in Vienna, VA--by far the largest user base of Internet users from a single ISP on the 'Net.

    There's only one thing though: AOL wouldn't have made it big if it weren't for companies based in Silicon Valley called 3Com, Cisco Systems and Netscape. Remember, Cisco provides the vast majority of the router hardware for Internet connections, and without Netscape, the Internet revolution would have taken a big longer to get going.
  • Gore is from Tennessee. Virgina has their own set of luser politicos.

  • I enjoy Gore's proclamations as much as anyone, but let's face it: He is but a pale shadow of Quayle [xmission.com], and will never be able to fill the true genious' shoes.


    ---
    Have a Sloppy day!

  • Re:Heh (Score:1)

    by Suydam ( 881 )
    G.R.?
    Holland?

    You're BOTH missing it. Kalamazoo is OBVIOUSLY the capital of the Internet... at least we agree Michigan is the home of the capital of the internet :)

  • Re:"Virginia is for Losers" (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Don't you mean "Virginia is for Lusers"? :)
  • and that's the only reason i'm stuck down here, too. =P
  • Now now, we all know how meaningful "Internet C@pital" is, but must you really call "Live Free or Die" stupid...I mean really now, I resent that being a New Hampshire resident...

    (note: sarcasm intended but not evident...I'm too tired to be funny)

  • A couple years ago I saw a map showing the 'density' of installed Internet bandwidth by location. At that time, the SF Bay Area was massively more dense than any other part of the world.

    While things probably have leveled out today, where the bandwidth is installed is probably more interesting than the topographical center or where the traffic is going through.
  • Actually, Jersey is the Garden State. I don't like admitting it, either, but it's really a green, gardeny place. Ever been to Sussex County (actually, Suss-hicks cow-nty)? It's all green around there. And to the moron who said "what exit are you from?" The Garden State and the Turnpike only run from New York City to (respectively) Cape May and Delaware. There's whole areas inaccessible to either. My parents live over an hour away from the Turnpike, and they're still in New Jersey! SO to you, I say: Bite me.
    --

  • But.....? (Score:3)

    by Fortissimo ( 45876 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @09:32AM (#1661290)
    I'm confused. I thought Al Gore was the capital.

    -F
  • It was bad enough that we're the home of AOL ... now this.

    We need Al Gore to proclaim something outrageous again to divert attention ... quick, someone tell him he pioneer DNA cloning!
  • Just wanted to point out that Canada is overall more wired than the US. And we dont have any "internet decency" censorship laws either. So I vote Canada. I'm typing this on DSL right now from a rather small little place that SHOULDNT have DSL at all, but DOES.

  • Heh (Score:1)

    by witz ( 79173 )
    Just being down the road from Slashdot, in Holland, Michigan, I'd have to agree :)
  • Ahh yes, when all else fails ... attack grammar or spelling. Bravo.
  • Puleeeeze... none of the mips are in either place. california is it for sure
  • You can plug kistler, but you know 3rd floor kirkpatrick rules GVSU. And /. is the real c@pital. (lame attempt to stay on topic, but i don't think it worked.)
  • I'm gonna have to disagree that the ARPANet and Internet were the same thing. One may be a descendent of the other, but thats as far as I would take it.

    And none of this supports the idea of placing the 'capital of the Internet' in Virginia.
  • What the hell's a "catpital"?
  • Well, /. is in Michigan, although I'd think that'd qualify it to be Linux capital...(well, outside of Helsinki, anyways. :)

    Seriously, though I think VA would qualify because thats where the Internet was born...(the Pentagon is, afterall, in Arlington.)



  • Wipe out VA and you'll be typing ip addresses to get to your favorite websites.

    There is a little known government law which rquires contractors and agencies to have offices to be within so many miles of the DC. The result a lot of things are based in Maryland and Virginia which into turn makes it one of the worst places for traffic.
  • Anyone ever seen the "Virginia is for Lovers" stickers? Heh.

    ----
    We all take pink lemonade for granted.
  • They also claim that blacksburg, VA is the most wired town in the US. I believe that VA Tech is located there, strangely enough.


  • Well, there's already a "Virginia is for Losers" parody sticker, so if we're to keep up with this "Internet Catpital" thing, then you're right, it should be "Virginia is for Lusers." --A proud DC resident.

    ----
    We all take pink lemonade for granted.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Absolutely. As we all know, Network Solutions is the Emperor of the Internet.
  • The real capital of the Internet is not in the backwoods commonwealth of Virginia.

    Everyone knows that a disproportionate chunk of the Internet is centered in the Independent Privateer Republic of Fairfax (made up of Fairfax and Arlington counties and the city of Alexandria).

    We have nothing to do with the rest of the state. We don't get along with them particularly well either.

    My house is 1/2 mile from the UUNet building in Tysons to the north and 1/2 mile from the other UUNet building to the south (on 50). Novell is with AOL out in Dulles (AOL used to be near me in Vienna). In Tysons is Sprint, MCI, TCI, AT&T, Unisys, and just about everyone else.

    It's a great place to live, much better than Pittsburgh (CMU should up and move) ... but the traffic is lousy (2nd only to LA! woohoo!)
  • All in all, it's a very colorful collection of goons we've got down here in the good ol' boy state.

    Two comments:
    1) If you don't want to grow up to be a goon, VCU might not be your best bet. Try VT or (gag) UVa.
    2) I thought VA was the good ol' boy state too, until I moved to NC, which has a considerably higher good ol' boy factor. Then I saw SC, and that took the cake. I hope I never have to go to Georgia.

    ----

  • Sounds like a good idea for e-mail address...Too bad they already registered pital.com, perhaps I will go for internetc@pital.net or internetc@pital.org.
    Maybe then everyone will want to be my friend...
  • Oh goody goody!!
    Does this mean everyone in Washington, D.C. will get funky new plates that say, "Bull-shitters Capitol" and California will get the "Plastic Surgery Capitol"?!?! What should Rhode Island have??
  • The AOL 1.x software was based on AppleLink, the BBS that Apple operated as a developer resource for 3rd party Mac developers (headers, devtools, developer tech support, preleases of MacOS). Its now long defunct, but longtime Mac developers will wince at the memory of AppleLink.

    http://hypermall.com/History/ah22.html#AppleLink
  • I find it less than surprising that less than 3 months after I moved to Fairfax, VA, the state (er, Commonwealth) declared themselves the Internet Capital...

    I should try moving to West Virginia as a joke and see if it helps them at all :)

    Side note : You know, I'd be much happier with this if I could get a .net or a .org
  • Clearly both are derived from the root /cap/ meaning, of course, "head" (and usage of one influenced the other). Separate but related etymologies.
  • Why?

    For one thing, we are the telcom capital of the world... Okay, so maybe its not the internet now, but you wait... All these companies will be/are shifting their business towards internet switches, etc..

    PS: How many companies are here, you ask? Just in a teeny tiny little area here in Richardson (north of Dallas), we have over 600 different telcom companies. That's not counting the companies in other parts of Richardson or anywhere else in or around Dallas.. (Its about a 2mi * 5mi range called the Telcom corridor)

    Ahhhh well... Perhaps in a few years we'll get recognition. :(


    --
    "A mind is a horrible thing to waste. But a mime...
    It feels wonderful wasting those fsckers."
  • Eventhough I went to JMU and recently graduated you shouldn't bust on VCU. It's a very good liberal arts schools, and its art program is one
    of the best in the world. Its medical school MCV
    is also very good.
    People put down VCU all the time because it's located in downtown Richmond. They're just scared
    of going to one of the only schools in Virgina
    where white people don't make up over 50% of the
    population.

    It all depends what you're looking for in the end.
    And VCU is the most diverse school in Virginia.
  • I'll be up in the GR area in a few hours to visit some friends at Calvin. Yes! Michigan! -- The Internet C@pitol! Maybe on my way up I'll pull over and fix the motto on the Welcome to Michigan Sign.

    -Al-

    P.S. If anyone is driving into Michigan taking I-94 and you see someone hanging upside down by there pant leg from the Welcome sign that goes over the road. PLEASE HELP ME!
  • From the Webster's site:
    1 a (1) : a stock of accumulated goods especially at a specified time and in contrast to income received during a specified period; also : the value of these accumulated goods (2) : accumulated goods devoted to the production of other goods (3): accumulated possessions calculated to bring in income b (1) : net worth (2) : CAPITAL STOCK c : persons holding capital d : ADVANTAGE, GAIN
    (make capital of the situation)
    2 [capital] a : a capital letter; especially : an initial capital letter b : a letter belonging to a style of alphabet modeled on the style customarily used in inscriptions
    3 [capital] a : a city serving as a seat of government b : a city preeminent in some special activity (the fashion capital)

    "Trouble is, just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's true"

  • Huh?

    I thought the first TCP/IP transmission happened between UCLA and Stanford, thus defining the 'birth' of the Internet:

    http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/columns/modemdri ver/docs/dp090999.htm

    That firmly places the 'birthplace' of the Internet in California...

  • Stupid specialty license plates. (Score:3)

    by thal ( 33211 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @10:39AM (#1661331) Homepage
    I live in Pennsylvania and there are so many damned specialized license plates that it's really starting to get annoying. For example, if you donate money to some "save the animals!" thing, you get a license plate with an owl on it. There are several variations of that theme. Then there's another one for D.A.R.E., one for every public university, and various military ones (I suppose I shouldn't whine too much about those). And there are probably others I don't know about.

    The link from the Wired story that has the actual picture of the plate says that that "Virginia offers more than 150 specialized plates...". 150!?!? That's ridiculous! Isn't the primary point of license plates to identify the car for legal purposes? How is a Virginia cop supposed to recognize 150 different license plates so he knows that one or another isn't a fake? What do you say when you see a hit-and-run or something?

    cop: Did you see the license plate?
    you: Yeah. It was 32DFJ-23.
    cop: What state?
    you: Uh, I dunno. It had a picture of a rabbit, I think. Or maybe it was a Klansman. All I know is that he had a carrot or a flaming cross.
    cop: uh-huh.

    Now I'm not really suggesting that these types of plates are going to enable people to remain anonymous from crimes (no security through obscurity!), but I'm just "nostalgic" (imagine that at 19 years old) for the days when Virginia's license plate was Virginia's license plate and they all looked the same. Do you have to pay to get a special "internet" license plate (probably)? It sounds like a stupid scheme to get more money from the super-consumers that the internet has contributed to. If you really need to express your personality to people behind you in traffic, just get a bumper sticker. It just seems really lame to try to pigeonhole your personality through some government-created license plate.
  • As for where the Internet was born, The Pentagon in Arlington, VA is technically the correct location, while the Implementation began in Cambridge, MA.

    The papers [rand.org] which started it all were written at RAND in Santa Monica, CA (though the Pentagon paid for them). As for the birth of the ARPANET, which became the Internet--well, even though BBN (in Cambridge, MA) was contracted by (D)ARPA to build the hardware, the actual "first byte" was transmitted at UCLA, which last time I checked was in Los Angeles, CA.

    The most popular Internet site [yahoo.com] is based in Santa Clara, CA. (AOL claims more visits, but a significant fraction of these aren't Internet-based). The major manufacturers of Internet infrastructure equipment are based in Silicon Valley, also in CA.

    If being the center of Net VC and Net Companies doesn't make Silicon Valley the "center of the Internet," what would?

    -Ed

  • Hey, that's nothin'. We now have Interstate Mark McGwire here in St. Louis. Just because he hit seventy homeruns (shakes head). And poor Joltin Joe had to wait until he was on his deathbed before those bastards in New York would give him his highway (That's right New York, you heard me). Thank god we also have a highway 67 in case he only hits that many this hear.

    Our motto here in Missoura is "The Show-Me" state. Show you what? I have no freaking idea. The money? My bunghole? Well okay. They should have called us:

    Missouri "Hey, we've got an extremely large, metal, half of a McDonald's sign standing next to the dirtiest river in North America and you don't" state.

  • The Internet existed before TCP/IP, tho.

  • Re:Heh (Score:1)

    by niteq ( 37029 )
    topic? huh? hehe..

    3rd floor kirkpatrick? hmmm...i know one person on second floor and from what i hear you guys have some funky rules about playing your music too loud. it`s not as restricted in our solid oak and concrete building here eh :)

  • Re:Heh (Score:1)

    by niteq ( 37029 )
    are you still on campus? email me, we could get together

    __niteq__

  • Re:Heh (Score:1)

    by witz ( 79173 )
    I live in Kalamazoo, work in Holland (at Donnelly Corporation), and play in Grand Rapids. :)
  • it is also the home of MCI Worldcom and UUnet (ok... well technically MCI Worldcom is in DC)
  • Oh yeah. Fairfax Station. Ugh. Miles and miles of perfect little homes nestled on their snug 1/2 acre, with Wally and the Beav playing out back. And you're never more than 4 miles from the nearest Target.

    DC gets a bad rap, but there are a lot of people who would rather not live in the endless NoVa suburbia. Whatever your choice is, more power to ya. And yes, currently I live in "the yuppie section" of DC (Dupont), but I used to live in heavily hispanic Adams Morgan, and I miss my old neighbors.

    There's also poor sections of town, and dangerous sections. Show me a city where there aren't poor and dangerous sections. All I know is I've never once felt threatened walking around the city, alone, very late at night. People are just nicer here. Whenever I'm in NoVa, everyone looks hurried, mean and unhappy.

    I roll my windows up and lock the doors when I leave the city.

    ----
    We all take pink lemonade for granted.

  • I used to live in Richmond. We have a client who was very excited at getting a 56k dedicated dialup, apparently there isn't much to be had. Thank Ghod for Northern Virginia; it sucks in every way except for the fact you can get DSL or cable at the drop of a hat.
  • Well, having been born in Michigan, lived in Northern Virginia for 12 years, and now I live in Silicon Valley, and I like California a lot better, so I'm gonna have to go with California :)
  • NO! NO! NO!
    You got it ALL wrong!
    Janet Reno's the mother of the Internet, Al Gore is the father of the Internet, Linus helped deliver the child, and Virginia adopted the worthless little shit.
  • Well, specialized License Plates in Virginia are comparitively cheap too I beleive (that's what I was always told when I lived there, they're like $50/year I think). Which I'm sure doesn't help any. BUT - when I was living in Virginia I actually did pay for a specialized one, and I NEVER GOT IT! They sent me the plain old boring blue-on-white one. And they never gave me my money back or responded to any of the voice mails or letters I sent them. So down with Virginia and it's stupid personalized license plates!
  • Of course, NJ is really "The Garbage State."
  • The problem is that Qualye wasn't as dumb as he sounded, and Gore is (as dumb as Quale sounded). Qualye recognized when he said something stupid (leading to the "I stand behind all my misstatements" quip), while Gore sets his staff out to defend them . . . .
  • If not the c@pital, at least they had the first node.

    The first two nodes: UCLA and Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International).

    KV

  • No offense intended, only clarification:

    It's interesting that you would falsly accuse the good Commonwealth of using the wrong spelling of the word, when it is actually you who suggested the wrong spelling of the word.

    What makes it even more interesting is that you went so far as to include the definitions of the two words, which proved their spelling and disproved yours.

    As I learned many years ago, and the definitions in your post clearly explain, is that the city is capital and the building is capitol.

    RP

  • Ok, i don't get it...Virginia [to coin a phrase] "sux0rz", i should know, i live here. i havn't seen anything to make me think that this is the "internet capital of the world" besides for UUnet and AOL (does it count?)...i mean, i do have 2 ISPs in my town, but only one counts (my isp kick ass...a bunch of load-ballanced FreeBSD boxes..the one accross town runs Linux, but the admins just play Quake logged in as root on 2 tty's).
    how ever, half the population at least is like, bubba-ville (atleast the part of the state i'm in)

    maybe if i got my ass out of my room, off of my computers, and looked out side, i might see where the c@pital is...hrm...oh well

    ---------------------
    bsDaemon
    dfree@inna.net

    "the United States is like that guy at the party who gives everyone cocaine and still nobdy likes him"
  • Nah. boston's already the center of the universe. let one of the other little states have this one.

    "'Internet C@pital'? Aww, Virginia thinks it's important! that's awful cute."
  • I live in Pennsylvania and there are so many damned specialized license plates that it's really starting to get annoying. For example, if you donate money to some "save the animals!" thing, you get a license plate with an owl on it. There are several variations of that theme. Then there's another one for D.A.R.E., one for every public university, and various military ones (I suppose I shouldn't whine too much about those). And there are probably others I don't know about.

    The worst of which, from the standpoint of recognition, is the Pennsylvania "Flagship Niagra" plate. It has white lettering on a pale brown image, giving very little contrast between the lettering and the background. The State Police were opposed to this design for good reason, but I gather that PennDOT or the state legislature ignored that practical matter and made the decision on aesthetic grounds.

    I just visited the PennDOT [state.pa.us] web page to try to link to a picture of this plate, but it appears not to be available these days. I wonder why...

  • Okay, so Network Solutions and AOL and major hub are in Virginia. But Washington state has far more companies that influence were the net and tech will be going.. Real Networks, M$, Starwave, Amazon.com (just to name a few) and a ton of start-ups that are too numerous to list and many that we don't know about yet are based in the Seattle-Bellevue area. The content, the technology (both hardware and software), the vision is coming out of this region. If any state deserves the title of Internet C@pital it's Washington!
  • I live in Charlottesville, Va (but never went
    To UVa). This is really embarassing. It's like when you were a kid, and your grandmother
    made you wear a shirt that said "Nana's Favorite Boy"
    and all your friends saw you and they'd laugh.
    Not that it ever happened to me...or if it did, I blocked it out.
    Did @l Gore invent Virginia? I'm confused...

    --------------------------
    Your Favorite OS Sucks.
    ^D

  • Re:Heh (Score:1)

    by niteq ( 37029 )
    Nope. got that wrong...Allendale :P GVSU CS owns michigan as far as i am concerned...oh yeah if any gvsu students read this other than me i just *have* to plug kistler house...cuz it rocks.

    rgdx
  • Agreed In virginia, really only arlington and fairfax hold the large number of technology and internet based companies (myself living only 10 minutes from PSInet and 15 from UUnet in fairfax)

    I don't think virginia should issue this plate though Besides being stupid it defeats the view of the internet as a collection of computers with no true centralized point
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • CMU is up and moving. Well, the graduates are [post-gazette.com].

    As for NetSol -- So what happens when their competition overwhelms them with competence? Will the license plates then read, "The state formerly known as the Internet C@pital"?

    (Former Pissburgher now on the left coast)

  • Re:Ack! Yeah right (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    How would you pronounce "Internet C@pital?" "In-tur-net Cat-pit-ul"

    Internet Cat Piddle? Sounds like Mr. Bigglesworth is involved somehow! :D
  • You obviously don't live here. Mabye a lot of the government here is dirty, but the city as a whole is a beautiful place to live.

    Good god, what am I doing? Replying to an AC troll? How low have I sunk??

    ----
    We all take pink lemonade for granted.

  • Re:Huh? (Score:1)

    by Uart ( 29577 )
    I thought it was UCLA and UCB, but, hey, I wasn't there, so i don't really know. Yes the internnet existed before tcp/ip, way back when there was only one computer connected to it and it was based completely in UCLA.
  • Well... I will say that Michigan is the Internet C@pitol, when I get better than a 26K connection in Grandville.

    I keep on badgering ATT@HOME to get service out here but noooooooo.... They do not feel like upgrading this town.
  • was that before or after he was part of the team that developed Internet Filtering Software???
  • Actually Al was created via cloning. But, well, you know how when you make a copy of a copy, it doesn't come out exactly the same? Well, Gore was a copy of a copy of a copy of the original, and he came out a bit dull :-(
  • hey hey hey...

    watch your flame.
  • So where is "Virgnia" anyway?
  • Catpital is what you find on your carpet if you don't clean your cat's litter box for awhile...
  • No no no! Al Gore, while in Virginia invented the Internet. Therefor Virginia is the birth place and true home of the Internet. Get your facts strait. P.S. Gore was working on his Open Source web site at the time.
  • That technological hotbed that is...Mississippi
  • No, C@pitol is the building where your tax dollars are wasted. C@pital is right.

    ----

  • Well, no. A "capitol" is a building.

  • figures.. (Score:3)

    by Catatonic Dismay ( 88112 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @09:40AM (#1661396)
    netsol did actually put them up to it:

    Network Solutions and Northern Virginia e-business, Strategic-INFO developed the plate and worked with Virginia Delegate Jeannemarie Devolites to garner support for it from Virginia's General Assembly.

  • Ack! Yeah right (Score:5)

    by Enoch Root ( 57473 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @09:41AM (#1661397)
    Just the fact they call it a capit@l proves they're not. @nyone using th@t @nnoying ch@r@cter @ny pl@ce @t @ll except for em@il @ddresses @nd @s @ shortcut to '@t' is just riding the hype. @m I the only one getting tired of it? Wh47 n3x7??? M4rk3t3rz w3311 b sp34k33n 13yk 7h3 31337???? Disclaimer: yes, I know no 31337 uses the word '31337'. I'm not 31337. Tank G0d, 3y3 can speel.

    "There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."

  • If not the c@pital, at least they had the first node.



    I can tell you the meaning of life,
  • The Internet capital is in St. Louis because that's where the domain geek.net will be as soon as I move it from its former home in Minneapolis.

    Just waiting for my T1 to come up in my townhouse so I can move the box.

    :-)

  • All the dorms at Virginia Tech have ethernet and even most apartment complexes in the area have *ethernet*.
  • Ahh, just another reason why statehood should be granted to Northern VA! It's a whole different state..
  • Hey. I live in Fredericksburg, Virginia (actually Spotsylvania). We are 50 miles from D.C. or 45 miles from MAE EAST. We have DSL and almost Cable modems.
    Virginia is very net savy! There aren't many people or business I know around here that aren't on the net. Hell even the local laundry mats have web cams...

    Watch my computer yard sale this saturday here.
    eservnet.com/yardsale
  • I don't get it. What's a catpital. Is this some play on the word "caterpillar"? That's gotta be it. Virginia is the caterpillar of the Internet, chewing up the pesky milkweed pods that cause packet loss, data corruption, and dandruff.

    Eventually, Virginia will pupate and finally become an adult butterfly, fluttering across a green meadow, chased by a cat... Hey, cats, CATpital... obviously, I'm on the right track.

  • and Maine is "Vacationland", and New Jersey is "The Garden State". Since when did these things have to make any sense?

    ----
    We all take pink lemonade for granted.
  • Contrary to hyped-up opinion, Al Gore never claimed to have invented the internet. What he actually said was that he was instrumental in getting the laws passed in congress that made the internet available to the public. At no point did he *ever* claim to have 'invented' the internet.

    The notion that he claimed to have invented the internet was developed by opposition pundits in an attempt to portray him as a liar, with delusions of grandeur.

    Why am posting this? Because you all sound stupid when you're making fun of Gore for saying that, when in reality you've been duped by knee-jerk, right-wing Clinton haters...

    I know Slashdotters are smarter than that.

  • MAE East (Score:4)

    by The Dev ( 19322 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @09:42AM (#1661420)
    Since 1995, Virginia, or more specifically Tysons Corner has been the "center" of the internet, topologically speaking. The MAE East public peering point has and still is the most populated peering point. At one time over 60% of
    all internet traffic, and some 80% of international traffic passed through MAE East.
    Recently however the proliferation of private peering has significantly reduced those
    numbers (of course a significant ammount of private peering occurs between backbone routers at
    the MAE East location(s).

    As for where the Internet was born, The Pentagon in Arlington, VA is technically the correct location, while the Implementation began in Cambridge, MA.

    As for Sillicon Valley? Well they were the capital of the previous revolution,
    the Personal Computer. They might even say they are the center of Net VC, and Net Companies, but
    not the Internet itself.

  • I heard MA is getting in on it... (Score:3)

    by chandoni ( 28843 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @02:26PM (#1661438) Homepage
    Supposedly, their new plates read:

    .commonwealth of Massachusetts

  • As a graduate of a Virginia high school, I take offense to your assertion that the State can't spell. We can. Never mind the fact that I dropped out of college ;o). Here is an illustration of the difference:

    The State Capitol is in Richmond. It is a building.
    The Inbreeding Capital of America is West Virginia. It is a place.

    And there you have it.

    ----

  • Re:Internet C@pital? (Score:3)

    by drivers ( 45076 ) on Friday September 24, 1999 @09:46AM (#1661440)
    "Internet Capital"? Like "Internet Money"? Perhaps they mean "Internet C@pitol" instead? Sheesh! Can't the State even spell?

    Very interesting etymology on capitol vs. capital...

    Main Entry: capitol
    Etymology: Latin Capitolium, temple of Jupiter at Rome on the Capitoline hill
    1 a : a building in which a state legislative body meets b : a group of buildings in which the functions of state government are carried out
    2 /capitalized/ : the building in which the U.S. Congress meets at Washington


    3capital
    Etymology: French or Italian; French, from Italian capitale, from capitale, adjective, chief, principal, from Latin capitalis

    1 a (1) : a stock of accumulated goods especially at a specified time and in contrast to income received during a specified period; also : the value of these accumulated goods (2) : accumulated goods devoted to the production of other goods (3) : accumulated possessions calculated to bring in income

    3 [2capital] a : a city serving as a seat of government b : a city preeminent in some special activity "the fashion capital"
  • This is just as bad as all the Internet IPOs. Every politian has to jump on the "Internet Bandwagon". Unfortunately, the people who claim they are the most "wired" are usually the most clueless.

    As was pointed out in the article, there really is no center of the internet. It's built on the hub and spoke system. Almost any major metro area can claim to be "internet capitol". Usually, they are just satisfied with "the next silicon valley".

    Its funny, in the Midwest, we have several areas competing to be the Silicon Prarie!

    And I'm sure all this will play well over in Europe... These stupid politians keep forgetting that the internet is only partially based in the US.

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