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United States

Massachusetts now the "Dot Commonwealth" 143

Posted by Hemos from the my-dear-lord dept.
RomulusNR writes "The 'state' of Massachusetts is firing back at years of Siliconia by nicknaming itself the ".commonwealth". (Ya see, MA isn't really a state, it's a Commonwealth, as are KY, VA, and PA, allowing them to come up with this somewhat tacky nickname.) Boston Globe has a story on this, and there's also the official .COMmonwealth site. Oh, and another groaner: MA is also now "the state of things to come". " Yes, it is official: Virgina - the .com state and MA are now in competition.
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Massachusetts now the "Dot Commonwealth" More

Massachusetts now the "Dot Commonwealth"

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  • Nevada: The .mob state. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Where the bottom of lake mead is the third largest populated area in the state! And where youz didn't see nutin'.
  • When the Ohio Turnpike Commission decided it was time to rebuild the entire highway (still ongoing - they're about half done), they took the opportunity to add a conduit down the center of the entire road, with the idea of giving them a place to pull fiber. The Ohio Turnpike runs across the entire top of the state, from east to west border.

    So, some of them ARE thinking about it.


    ...phil

  • Hello? The whole point about the Internet is that it makes physical location less important, no? I mean, a place can make itself attractive to Internet stuff with lots of good comms and fewer bad laws, but states are very much what the net is Not About, and watching two jockey to be the Internet State is so dumb it's funny.
    --
  • The Commonwealth in the context that you are thinking is the group of the UK and her former colonies. (IE what used to be the Empire). The 4 states in question also call themselves "Commonwealth" but that predates the Brittish usage, which in a real sense only dates to about the 40's. (Before that it was the Brittish Empire). Australia is also officaly "The Commonwealth of Australia" There are probably a few other things out there calling themselves a commonwealth. In the terms of the 4 states that do it is just a historical thing it has not real meaning.

  • Y'all :^) think that stuff is bad, Virginia just released special license plates that proclaim VA the Internet c@pital -- and yes, they screwed the pooch on the spelling of "capitol". Even though they border Washington DC, which is often inaccurately called the "Capital".

    Sigh.

  • Okay, so the plates were correct. Darn!

    I thought capitol was a place, and capital was a letter or money

    BTW, I sure hope Mozilla fixes those character entity problems... :^)

  • (Warning. Take this post in jest. No offense is intended to all of those I'd otherwise offend. We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.)

    OK.

    When the Stick became 3Com(soon to rename itself 3.Com, I'm sure ;-), I didn't care too much.

    When the Oakland Colliseum was rechristened Network Associations Station, thus making all games there played "At The Net", I shrugged a bit.

    I mean heh, corporations do these kind of things--it's just the 90's version of the Commercial Jingle. Who are we to complain.

    I really feel for Massachusetts taxpayers, who are funding this...ummm...experiment in corporate sleazification of the government. I feel so much, that I've got a little list for them. Without further ado...


    TOP TEN SIGNS CORPORATE INTERNET MARKETING AND GOVERNMENT POLICY HAS HAS CONVERGED A BIT TOO MUCH.
    10. www.speedingticket.com
    9. No Property Taxes!*
    8. New Position: Justice of the Piece
    7. New, easy to fake California Drivers Licenses have "hily sek00r" Autobot/Decepticon Authentication Systems.
    6. deltree k:\ansas\biology
    5. "Superfund 2, brought to you by your friends at McDonalds. Isn't Ronald's hair a special color?"
    4. http://www.whitehouse.gov, now with new and improved autopopup windows to http://www.gore2000.com and http://www.whitehouseinterns.com(gotta recruit some stiffs...)!
    3. Watch C-SPAN for 20 hours a month and get a check from http://www.capitoladvantage.com
    2. [ ] Nuke
    [ ] Don't Nuke
    [SUBMIT]
    1. lobby.ebay.com

    * With three years of modem rate MSN at a low low low price of $19.95 a month.


    Yours Truly,

    Dan Kaminsky
    DoxPara Research
    http://www.doxpara.com

  • My employer, Lawson Software, is just finishing its new corporate headquarters in downtown St Paul. The name of this building?

    Lawson.Commons. (pronounced "Lawson dot commons")

    I kid you not.

    I give it five years on the outside for the "." to be quietly dropped from the building's name...

    ---
    Maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains that you refuse.
  • It can be tough living in Massachusetts. Not only can you not buy alcohol on sundays (except around Christmas) and your baseball team has won the series since before your father was born, but we're run by a government without any really grasp of the technology needs for the state.

    Sure, Boston has a public transportation system, but does it run out to the route 128 "technology corridor"? Only by accident (commuter rail, green line).

    I sure hope that bridge being build in the middle of downtown is pretty so it can take my mind off the utter stupidity this state manifests some times. I blame the puritans.

    Ugh.

  • I am lucky enough NOT to get those new license plates yet. I wonder if it's against the law to cover up part of a license plate (ie the URL, not the rest of the plate). I don't see why, but there are a lot of dumblaws.com :)

    I will give it a shot and probably cover up the URL with some other URL. My truck right now has a vanity plate on front that says MLDOTORG ... of course that's in the past...
  • Well, when they say that Boston is the Hub, what they mean by this is that it's the Hub of the Universe. Because, see, all things revolve around Boston. Admittedly, the universe only extends as far as, maybe, Worchester. Maybe. To a true Bostonian, there's just nothing interesting any further away than that.

    And, if you're ever in Downtown Crossing, look around for a plaque set into the ground. It marks the precise spot at which the hub is located.
  • We live in SMASHaChusetts!
  • That's "Gastly Weather(TM)" and don choo fugheddit!

  • NOW they've done it... (Score:3)

    by jht ( 5006 ) on Friday October 22, 1999 @02:18AM (#1595292) Homepage Journal
    I've lived here since 1984, and that means:

    When the Patriots set a record for worst spanking in a Super Bowl, I wasn't embarassed to say "I'm from Massachusetts".

    When the ball went through Buckner's legs, I wasn't embarassed to say "I'm from Massachusetts".

    When Mike Dukakis got crushed in the '88 presidential election, I wasn't embarassed to say "I'm from Massachusetts".

    When our economy went in the tank in the early '90s, I wasn't embarassed to say "I'm from Massachusetts".

    When, in the midst of a boom, all our key local institutions (New England Telephone, Jordan Marsh, Digital, Shawmut bank, and many others) got gobbled by out-of-state companies, leaving us a corporate backwater, I wasn't embarassed to say "I'm from Massachusetts".

    When the Sox spit the bit again, to the hated Yankees, I wasn't embarassed to say "I'm from Massachusetts".

    But the .commonwealth? Now I'm embarassed! Gawd, I wish I could pimp-slap whoever paid for that clunker!

    For a better view of our fine state, try The Massholes page [masshole.com]. Much more appropriate than some lame-ass marketing slogan...

    - -Josh Turiel
  • There are so many essential misconceptions in these campaigns to attract "E"-businesses (ugh, I feel I should wash my hands after typing that word) that I don't know where to start. It's cargo-cult thinking at its worse.

    First, of course, the idea is not to attract tourists, it's to attract Internet businesses. That's the big miss there: Internet-based businesses don't move. They're home grown, from local nourished talent. They're based on a successful strategy for changing a "pre-E" business idea and "net-enabling" it (my hair feels pointier already) or they're the product of very smart people who understand what's possible with what they already have at hand. Almost no one says "can't start my E-business here, I better up and move to Mass. or Virginia!" Perhaps some of the larger success stories will satellite out on those criteria, but not really that many.

    The best route to growing e-businesses is actively building infrastructure - I think most of these regions are keen on this - and then emphasizing local education on every level to create and nurutre smart, talented, adventerous people.

    And THEN: making life INTERESTING for them. That's one way that the Bay Area and the Boston area have it all over a lot of places: each is a fun place to be, with cultures that value intelligence and difference. Each are stimulating, exciting, and diverse. The brightest and best, essentially, don't want to be bored to tears.

    One of my closer friends comes from Huntington, West Virginia. He describes it as a very "well-wired" place that tries to push itself as technologically cutting edge. I asked him if, insofar as he's In Our Field and very competitive and sought-after, he'd ever go back (he lives and works in San Francisco.) Essentially, the answer was "HELL no."

    Ironically, some of things that make a region a good ".com" region are the things that they emphasize the least: arts, education, culture, nightlife, music, and diversity.
  • With New Hampshire's motto being "Live Free or Die", will they become the Open Source state?
  • that's where everyone Incorporates for lower taxes.

    Chuck
  • Massachusetts has called itself a Commonwealth at least since 1780 [state.ma.us], back when the "Commonwealth" you refer to was still the British Empire, and would be for some time to come.
  • Hemos writes:

    >Yes, it is official: Virgina - the .com state and

    >MA are now in competition.
    Shouldn't that be .competition? *groan*

    --Tom

  • What is the deal with mass being a 'commonwelth'? Seriously though...

    And what about Rhode Island: isnt that the commonwelth of tabaco growers or something?

  • left as soon as I could because of the ghastly weather.

    I mean, how people tolerate this "snow" stuff is beyond me. And daytime temperatures that regularly drop below 60? Like, to 20 and even lower?

    I'm surprised anyone still lives there. I live in Southern California now, and I'd never, ever go back.

    D

    ----
  • BTW, if we become a republic, we will still be in the Commonwealth.
  • And what about Rhode Island: isnt that the commonwelth of tabaco growers or something?
    RI's offical name is "State of Rhode Island and Providence Planitations." You were close.

    ...The state of things to come
    Well then... Maybe Cuthulu should run for governor there.
  • Funny, I could have sworn my teachers taught me about the 50 states. Commonwealth sounds like a state full of people looking for a reason to look down their nose at you. And I speak from experience since I just moved out of the STATE of Virginia.
    Maybe the United States aren't so united.
    Digital Wokan, Tribal mage of the electronics age
  • presumably, it's a commonwealth of counties. the british commonwealth isn't a commonwealth with anything, either....i think what you've got here is a variation on a fencepost error.

  • Massachussetts has always been a commonwealth (although not a Dot Commonwealth) - if you visit the Official Website of the Commonwealth of Massachussetts [state.ma.us], you will see the word commonwealth all over the place. Looking around the website, I couldn't find an official explanation (though I'm sure it's there somewhere), but I did find out that our legislators have nothing better to do than create an official State Ceremonial March [state.ma.us]. If I remember my high school history classes correctly, there's no difference between a commonwealth and a state, someone it just thought it sounded funkier some 200+ yrs ago.
  • I sure am glad to be from Canada where people don't decide they've invented the net and pieces of land don't turn into webpages. And not even /good/ webpages.. I mean the idea's ok, but why is the bottom half netscape grey?! Yuck.
  • Pennsylvania is replacing all their license plates over the next few years. Instead of a state motto, the bottom of every plate will read "WWW.STATE.PA.US [state.pa.us]". Ughhh.

    I suppose this is marginally better than the current plates that say "You've got a friend in Pennsylvania". And (offtopic rant) much better than the scary signs hanging all over the Philadelphia airport saying "Philadelphia - the city that loves you back." Ewwwwwwwwww!

    And hey, Pennsylvania is a commonwealth too! So why not www.commonwealth.pa.us?

  • Don't forget T service after 12:30am - 1am!!
  • Putting in housing and parking affordable to all of the 20 something employees and eliminating the 12% state capital gains that kills our stock options might make MA more .com friendly... or, they could just name it the ".com" state. Aren't politicians great? I mean, why do anything to actually change the condition of the state when they can change the name instead.

    -m

  • Imagine what their IPO will be like.

    -Chris
  • 1900 - My gun is faster than your gun

    2000 - My nuke is bigger than your nuke

    2100 - My AI can run circles around your AI?


    Well, politicians have to do something to justify their hefty salaries while the rest of us get on with the real work :-(.

    LL
  • Actually for those of us who live there you missed a rather blatant one. Or at least it was when I grew up there...
    .TaxAchusetts
    And yes although I love the state and grew up there I still think this is really dumb.
    -cpd
  • Umm, Massachusetts has never been a state, it has been a commonwealth from its inception before the Revolution.

    My $.02...

    Beren
  • I just moved to PA. Coudersport, PA, to be exact. It may be BFE, but if it wasn't for Hell Atlantic, Coudersport would have more DS3s per square mile than Cleveland and Buffalo combined. (Maybe it being the home of Adelphia Communications Corporate has something to do with that? :)

    Anyways, Pennsylvania's done something much *much* better than MA. We got new license plates this year. They're blue white and yellow, very tasteful IMO. And at the bottom (in PA, you don't have a county sticker/stamp) is a good one liner.

    www.state.pa.us

    HA! Touche, MA. God I love living in a state that has a sense of decency and taste. :)

    -RISCy Business | Rabid unix guy, networking guru
  • I _might_ forgive Governor-dot-head-Celucci if he'd see that the Big-dot-Dig got done. But seriously, any road construction project which needs a web site to explain its delinguency and delays is overdue for a reprioritization. If you don't believe me, see: http://www.bigdig.com/ I live here folks, mv .commonwealth/mass* /dev/null/ If you're enjoying life as a tech worker in Southern California, load the .commonwealth web site, back slowly away from your browser and do not come here. It's a great place for biotech, but biotech is old news and any Harvard or MIT technology investor worth his nuts will tell you that.
  • Standing in Boston, and looking around, if I had the power to make sweeping changes and I wanted to attract high tech talent (or any other sort of young talent), first I would:

    1. Repeal all Blue Laws
    2. Expand permits for entertainment venues, including public concerts, and liquor licenses
    3. Double the mass transit system (on some variable)
    4. Promote sensible housing costs

    As for high tech talent, increasing network connectivity would be #5. Somewhere around #6 or #7 would be where I start worrying about advertising.

    But then again, I'm not a rabbit-footed Republican second-rate governor named Paul Cellucci, so there you go.

    Romulus
  • The idea is that it is supposed to be a commonwealth of the people. It's all rooted in the whole enlightenment theories about the difference between civilised societies and the "state of nature".

    The revolutionary era choice of the world "commonwealth" is supposed to indicate that, as a state, it is a voluntary association of the people formed to pursue the common weal. A run of the mill "state" might be an association forced by a ruler who claimed divine right.

    There was serious revolutionary sentiment in Massachusetts at the time. It isn't well known, but after the American revolution, there was a subsequent revolt [shaysnet.com] by farmers who wanted to secede from the mercantile interests in Boston, on the basis that they were running the state for their own private interests. It was put down, but concessions were made and the politics of Massachusetts has never been the same since.
  • Well, for one things there's a ton of colleges here, some of them are pretty good. This gives you a home court advantage when recruiting, as well as access to cheap summer labor.

    Boston might not be San Francisco, but it is still a really great place to be a twenty-something; there's plenty going on in the music, art, and geek scene. Just get a nice attic or basement apartment in Davis Square, Somerville, and you're right on the red line to all the action in Cambridge and Boston.

    Probably the worst part about starting up a web business is Bell Atlantic, but there are certainly plenty of ISPS around, and a few of them are fairly good.

    As for taxes, nobody likes 'em, but you have to figure the total costs of taxes and fees for necessary goverment services (NH doesn't have an income tax, but its property taxes are murder). Anyhow, suppose you're single making about $100K. These are your approximate state and local taxes in several states:

    MASSACHUSETTS :11,400
    MISSISSIPPI :12,300
    MICHIGAN : 11,000
    CALIFORNIA :12,000
    CONNECTICUT :12,900
    WASHINGTON STATE:11,800
    NEW YORK : 13,600

    Massachusetts is about average taxwise, and quite competitive with places like Mississippi in terms of its cultural and educational resources. The weather, or course, sucks.
  • Philly... The city that Loves you Back?
    (Shudders) Thank the gods I got the hell out of there many years ago... ewwwww....

    But back to the original topic... I think it's just another sign of another state trying to prove that they are "on top" of this whole internet thing. Out here In the Land of Lincoln (Illinois) We have some corridor of Industrail parks/offfices off of the Interstate nick named "the Silicon Prarie" (Yes, I gag everytime I hear that term)

    Honestly, there are better ways to attract high tech firms to your state.. you don't need some corny-assed slogan/nickname.. (Or websites.. :-)

    ---
    I don't spell check, deal with it
  • In addition to th' .TAXachusetts one (which someone else already pointed out...) you appear to have forgotten the obvious domain name choice for all the young Hahvahd Squayah punks ...
    .grassachusetts - if i need to explain this, you need help :)




    "Cogito ergo es... I think, therefore you is." -The King of the Moon's Head,
  • flashback to high school...

    Like, gahd, this is just so wicked queeah...
    like, i was drivin' my cah down ta Hahvahd, like, to hang out at the Hahvahd Yahd, which is just, like, so wicked cool... and i heard some wicked gay geek tawkin about callin the state the "Daht Cawmmanwealth"
    like, oh, my, gawd! that is just soo gay!
    /flashback

    (i do not, in fact, talk anything like that at all, nor do i think "gay" or "queer" are appropriate derogatory terms regardless of pronounciation, so please save the abuse for someone who deserves it :)

    johnny lives in Ma, but for how much longer?

    PS... what the hell do i have to do to put a phony html tag in here without it interpreting it as a real html tag? \'s and such did not seem to work %'}


    "Cogito ergo es... I think, therefore you is." -The King of the Moon's Head,
  • I can just see Nevada (home of that place called Las Vegas) calling itself the State of Affairs...

    The State of Things to Come? That's just... lame.

    ------
  • So, I guess I ought to register iCyberEOnline.com

    Ought to get the $$ rolling in on that one.
  • Montana has a speed limit now. Effective was May 30, 1999 or so.

  • Capital- is a place Capitol- is a building A pet peeve of mine. Indiana, PA (home of IUP) has a sign on 422 East saying, "Welcome to Indiana, Christmas Tree Capitol of the World" The sign on 422 West has it spelled correctly Sad times when the home of a major state university has kept a syntax error on their welcome signs for over 10 years now. And I think it's great .Mass does .Com, why not? I need to laugh more anyway.
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  • I lived in Boston for 25 years ('til I was 25), and I don't mean Newton or the other outskirt cities where people grow up and claim to be from "Boston" like it makes them cool. I grew up in the big pile of dog shit that you drive by on the way from the airport to the Sumner tunnel called East Boston. "So hey, you're from Boston? Which part?" ... "I'm from Chelmsford" ... "Screw you, asshole, you ain't from Boston"
    Taxes in Massachusetts are nowhere near as bad as in California or say Arizona (where I live now).
    I miss the drivers... Compared to the idiots and old people who drive around Arizona, Massachusetts drivers know how to be total pricks while still avoiding major accidents. I swear to God, I see a turnover accident involving a pickup and some mini japanese car here at least once every 2 or 3 weeks. You can't drive in the breakdown lane in Arizona because it's always filled with morons who've lost tires or gotten into road-rage induced fender benders.
    I'd still rather live in the Bay state than California, but for now, I'm taking a (perhaps) decade break from the mess that is Route 93 (The Big Dig) and the rest of the rat-race... But lucky me, my wife and I have to go back for Christmas!
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Actually, Canada left the British Commonwealth officially some years ago. There was a big celebration for the retirement of the last governer-general. That's the token official sent by the British Crown to member states of the Commonwealth. Actually, I suspect that the Brits are letting the Commonwealth detach by attrition, as I don't think any new governer-generals are being appointed to replace the ones leaving by old age.
  • Thats what us Massholes call this state. Taxs are nuts but there is more companies on 495 then all of silicon valley. I grew up in a Sun Microsystems dumpster ;)

    -I am why they use compactors now

    -Kris
  • Yeah the New Sun Fortress is Sweet! I have takin some classes there and also work right where rt3 and 495 meet in Chelmsford -right across the street from the old Sun buildings
    -Oh and you have to love the traffic when all the companies let out...
    -Kris
  • Residents of the '.commonwealth' will be known as 'M@ssholes'.
  • MIT. Harvard. Wouldn't have made more "sense" to go with a name like the .edu state?
  • This can mean either one of two things:
    1. Prostitution is being legalised there
    or
    2. Microsoft are moving development there ;)

    Seriously though, I think these states suddenly "discovering" the internet is not a good thing - they should be spending thier time and money on improving things for the people there.

    Calling yourself anything internet related just looks silly, (unless your are "show me" Missouri who need a new slogan), and even then the Missouri Secretary of State's website [state.mo.us] calls itself "The information place"

    How long will it be before DC calls itself the .GOV place...?
  • If you look at any legal state documents or books, say a Judges Manual, (mine is dated 1957) you will see the legal name for Mass. is "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts"

    Nothing really new here.

    IANAL.

    Cheers
  • Just another reason to fight the massive goverment/corporate/microsoft conspiracy. Their propaganda campaign sucks up all the advertising talent, leaving poor old Massachussetts with the guy who's best idea was ".commonwealth". But that's all part of the conspiracy's plan, you see.. we'll all be too busy puking every time we hear another dumb slogan to notice them inplanting the mind control chips!

    generated by MS Populace Diversion and Misdirection 98. This post will self destruct in ten seconds.

  • being from pennsylvania, i didn't know that we weren't considered a state technically(i've heard the term all the time but just never paid attention to it), but we are for all purposes of the constituion. Our government just runs differently than the other states, as all states have different regulations. For one, we get to elect out judges, da's, coroners, whereas other states do not.

    As far as the techincal term, i am also interested in what technically makes us a commonwealth.

    No, nobody here's a commonweath of britan.

  • I, Marketer (Score:5)

    by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) on Friday October 22, 1999 @12:12AM (#1595342)
    Somewhere out there is some east coast yuppie, who makes a lot more money than me, bragging to his friends that, ".commonwealth" was his idea.

    I'm copywriting these before he does it again.

    .massmailachusetts - cyber promotions.

    .TandAssachusetts - porn domain.

    .sundaymassachusetts - for catholics.

    .ACHOOsetts - local clarin distributor.

    .yahoochusetts - no explanation needed.

    .sadomassachusetts - Local S&M forum.

    .criticalmassachusetts - Nuclear Regalutory Board.

    .gasachusetts - Amoco domain.

    Ah, Noble and Proud Massachusetts, land of many names.

  • And to think I'm from the Internet C@pital and currently living in the .commonwealth.

    Can I win some sort of prize for being more "wired"?
  • 1899- paved roads, tv, supermarkets, etc, didn't exist and it would have been difficult for the average human to even imagine the way things have turned out. maybe without Human Nature's competitive streak we wouldn't be nearly so well connected to each other.

    still, there are way too many voices around here who are quick in slamming even a modest move by The State of Maine to acknowledge the 3rd Human Nature revolution.
  • hey man, this whole buzzword stuff does work, or no one would be doing it. Many people do find that it works well, including those people who are fascinated by this new-fangled computin' stuff.
    I do agree that it is annoying and idiotic, but it does work.
  • its a commonwealtb of the united states, like puerto rico
  • Wrong Great Britian got there in 1649.
  • Ahem. I quote,

    "The name, The.commonwealth, was created by a coalition of leading technology associations..."

    Does it really take a coalition of anything to come up with a silly nickname? One would think that a single person could do quite adequately. I can just see these people having weeks of meetings and getting paid loads of money just to figure this out. Hell, with that much concentrated brain power, you could light a cigarette.
  • This is a good start, but really, if this is an Information Superhighway, and it benefits society broadly, shouldn't the Government be taking a more active role?

    It's been my experience that the Internet is getting slower and more clogged all the time. It may be time for the Government to step in with some aggressive investments to push this along.

    I'm not typically an advocate of Government involvement in the economy beyond what is necessary, but this is probably a good example of a place where Government can really take the lead to provide essential infrastructure.

    I don't even foresee a net cost to taxpayers here. Any bandwidth that could be added could be sold at market rates, or perhaps a little less, to pay back the tax payers for the initial capital infusion.

    It would seem to me to be a real good first step to encourage eBusiness in your State.

  • It seems to me that if States were really serious about pushing their net.friendliness, they would consider building infrastructure.

    Laying some fat fiber along highway rightaways would be a fairly inexpensive thing to really improve net performance in a given state.

    States could link up all the major population centers and also provide grants to carriers to increase coverage in the smaller towns if fiber isn't justified to that area. Local governments could issue bonds to chip in their part. If a small town wanted their own fiber connection to some major hub, there could be matching funds made available or something.

    Doing this could really improve intrastate net performance and if the lines were located strategically, could link up with major arteries going out of the state to various high bandwidth destinations like Silicon Valley, Seattle, etc.

    It's the kind of thing that is ideal for Government to consider as it requires huge capitalization up-front, but by selling line time to the carriers, at discounted commercial rates, it could be recouped over time. It might also increase the demand for new line construction so dramatically, that the companies that lay fiber could gain huge economies of scale and the price of new lines construction would go down.

    Eventually, when the installation was paid for you could give the line time away to carriers based on their ability to provide high bandwidth out-of-state. The carriers who are investing a lot in laying lines now might react negatively at first, but really it's very complimentary to their services as they are generally laying the Extra-state lines that will be big connection points for these lines. Really, if states want to start providing information and services over the net, like they seem to be saying they do, they kind of have a responsibility to make sure their citizens in smaller towns are covered well too.

    Having this is justified just for Schools and Universities alone, and would benefit Industry a great deal too. It also would allow Intrastate eCommerce a leg up over eCommerce from far away. I've always thought that regional eCommerce makes a lot of sense in that you can combine the benefits of eCommerce with more efficient distribution (warehouses closer to the customer). A lot of communities are concerned about eCommerce taking serious retail sales away from their local merchants.

    Where would Interstate Highways and Hydro-electric power be if we had to wait for Industry to provide them?

  • in your iList of prefixes, you forgot the one that really start to *** me off, the i.

    I wonder which state will clame to be the iState...

    -John
  • Uh, isn't that a bit stupid after pointing out the fact that they're a commonwealth, not a state? I mean, "Hey, look, we're not a state, we're a commonwealth.... ummm... unless 'state' fits into a catchy slogan, in which case we're not a state or a commonwealth, we're just whores."
  • hahaha, I mean, hahahaha, sorry, must hahahahaaha
    hahahaa, oh dear, hahahahahahahahahahaahaha.

    Not sure what's happening in canada. But here in Australa, the
    queen has not been thought of as the leader for a
    rather long time. In fact, next month australia is
    having a referendum on wether or not to cut all ties
    to the monarchy, and to form a republic. And the funny thing,
    is that the monarchist's aren't even defending the queen
    herself as a leader (or rather, head of state) but rather that we don't need change,
    and that if we do become a republic, we'll suddenly be
    like indonesia and mass riots and instability and fun stuff like that will occur,
    the other favourite tactic is that it is all a Big Plot
    By The Government (woooooooohhh).

    Sometimes I think the real reason australia stays in the
    commonwealth is so we can trounce all the other countries at the
    commonwealth games every four years.
  • d'oh!

    oh well, more gold medals for australia then!

  • Does that preceding dot mean that it's hidden?

    Maybe they don't want anyone to find them (unless they know about the -a option :)

  • I think this story is a good enough reason to ask you folks to implement a new feature: statea-moderation. Could somebody please take some points away from Mass so they don't get past my hard limit of one?

    I thought it couldn't get any worse than Sun's last ad campaign. I thought wrong.
  • -Oh and you have to love the traffic when all the companies let out...
    Yeah, it's just like 110 when the Lucent (where I work), HP, and Compaq buildings all get out at 5. Thank god I live in Westford and don't have to fight with all those people trying to get onto 495.

    -Bryan
  • We could also add .slashachusetts and have our lil slashdot mirror running in case the main server ever borks out :)

  • gimme a break (Score:3)

    by Ater ( 87170 ) on Friday October 22, 1999 @12:04AM (#1595359)
    *sigh* Is there no end to this kind of crap? I'm just of sick of clueless suits aimlessly tacking on buzzwords and other crap to generate interest. The worst part of the whole internet revolution is this whole buzzword trend thats come across. Seems like everyone's adding "Cyber-", "E-", "-Online", or "-.com" in a pathetic attempt to cash in off the web. The sad part is even the government has been induced into all of this mindless drivel, passing various "Cyber-" bills and what not, and now the state of Massachusetts is pulling this crap. I'm not questioning Massachusetts' status as a top technology state, but all this method of advertising it is pathetic. You're not going to win many people over with this, because nobody cares about how witty and clever your naming ability is. Concentrate on proving that Massachusetts is a real legitimate place to locate a technological business. In fact, I bet the majority of skilled engineers and programmers Mass is trying to recruit will probably be turned off by this blatent act of shallow self-promotion and head back to the Silicon Valley. And just another hint Massachusetts, you do have one of the top tech schools in the nation (MIT of course), why not focus on getting all those promising students to continue their work in MA instead of trying to flash around a punned logo.

  • Compared to some other states (Louisiana, New York, California, Connecticut), MA taxes aren't that bad.

    But we've gotta do something about that Turnpike.


  • don't you think this should be under the "humor" topic?

    this is one of the lamest things i've ever seen. not to offend anyone living there but good god.

    good laugh though :)
  • Well I just moved here (got a tech job outside of Boston) and I am embarased! Of course what do you want here in the Communist of Massachusetts. :(
  • If you think "The Hub" coul dbe updated
    to "The Switch" yhen you must not drive in
    Boston....
    I think "The Hub" is quite apropriate.

    Afterall...there are quite a few places (esp in
    Boston Proper and that horrible Pit of a shithole
    Cambridge) where the Star Topology is evident.

    In cambridge, all roads lead to Harvard Square
    or Central Square (depending on which end your at)
    Then from there there is one central Road (mass
    ave) which connects them to Downtown Boston.

    Then of course, once you get just south of Boston
    all roads lead to Downtown.

    Thus all of these areas are really overcrowded and
    a pain to drive through. Of course I supose there
    are side routes that bypass the central hubs...
    but you have to know how to route through them.
    (Not that routing through certain places like
    Harvard square are easy...even when there is
    little traffic and no colisions)

    Of course the "Big Dig" Hopes to help...but its
    kinda like laying down a larger backbone that
    goes in and through...once your inside the network
    the bandwidth is no different (just more sceneic
    while you sit there in traffic on acount of no
    more raised artery)

    -Steve
    A Chelsea Resident
  • And you'll never see any of the following:
    e-moose
    e-beer
    e-hockey

    Well, you might see the e-hockey, because it just became marketable down south.

  • Masspike is leasing land to telcos, who are running fiber along the median the entire distance of the mass pike. I saw this being installed in the berkshires a few weeks ago. Here's hoping the pike gets paid off sometime soon (tho $2.70 isn't a bad price, considering the same distance in NYS). -Mark
  • What? The weather here rocks.

    Right now outside, it's probably 55 degrees. Nice crisp autumn weather.
    In a few months we get snow. Maybe a little, maybe a lot, who cares? It's still snow.

    Now, the drivers trying to make it through said weather is a different story. The only thing LA has on rt 128is the gun laws (or lack of).
  • "Massachusetts", the Indian name for Blue Hill [bluehill.org], is routinely referred to as "the commonwealth" in the local media, pronounced "cawmonwealth". So, calling it the "dot commonwealth" is just a natural pun, and a pretty good one, actually.

    Boston, BTW, is often referred to as the Hub: that too could be changed perhaps to something more modern. Yes, a switch might very well be just the thing.

    Oh, and lookee here: slashdot has the word "dot" in it. What suit came up with that, and isn't it making you all sick? Maybe lame dot signatures would be a better name for this site judging from all of the rip-snorting good humor I see here. Of course, theah in New England, John Hancock [johnhancock.com] will always be THE dot signature guy for being first to add his public, key, authenticating mark on the Declaration of Independence, giving us all a general public license to speak our minds.

    Of course, they do pronounce open source as open sawce which sounds just like free beer to my ear.

  • Mass of Wannabes
  • we're the /dev/null state
  • you got the conspiracy thing wrong, it's ... the goverment/corporate/microsoft/free mason/scientologist conspiracy
  • yeah...you've got moose, beer, and hockey
  • http://www.canadiens.com http://www.molson.com http://www.sinbad.net/~muck/Mooscam.html well....maybe you will see these things...although the moose-cam is in Alaska, it is still e-moose....eh

  • You forgot...

    1999 - My OS is better than your OS.


    w/m.
  • But here in Australa, the queen has not been thought of as the leader for a rather long time.

    She's a ceremonial figure in Canada as well. However, it's rather anachronistic at this end of the century to have a British monarch as the official head of state. I'm not sure why canada and australia don't finally break off and declare themselves republics. Even Malta did that, and I can't see anybody in Australia rioting in the streets because they can't salute their queen.

    In fact, most nations of the commonwealth are independent nations which don't recognize the queen as their official head of state. You can still be a member for the sporting events and the govt. summits which jointly waste everyone's money.

    w/m
  • For several decades, the word "Commonwealth" has referred to the 54 [tcol.co.uk] nation alliance [thecommonwealth.org] of former british colonies, much like the word "America" refers to the US. Die hard Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia still consider the Queen of England to be their leader (a dubious sense of judgement, but oh well).

    The other commonwealth is the CIS [yahoo.com] - Commonwealth of Independent States, a horrible name chosen for the group of nations which were once part of the USSR. Not sure if the CIS still exists in theory, or if they even care.

    And now comes Massachusetts, kinda late to the party of entities vying for the moniker "commonwealth", but then it has the advantage of a ghastly URL...

    I'd say they're too late to form a name brand at this point, but then, they are too clueless to care.

    Wooly Mammoth.

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