RE: Being Crippled Sucks

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From: Lucas Gonze (lucas@worldos.com)
Date: Thu Sep 28 2000 - 14:21:17 PDT


I usually do the boy scout thing. Have found that it is rarely resented unless
I stick around afterwards.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Strata Rose Chalup [mailto:strata@virtual.net]
> Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2000 2:34 PM
> To: Fork List
> Subject: Re: Being Crippled Sucks
>
>
>
> I always find myself trying to size up someone individually and figure
> out if they will be offended if I offer to help. It runs about 90/10 in
> favor of helping, but the 10 percent can be very very vocal.
>
> I think this one needs a media plot-- a major movie, tv show, or book
> featuring a character who invents some kind of sign, like wearing a
> yellow flower or a blue smiley face or whatever that means "I can take
> care of myself, but I wouldn't mind a hand now and then". Then we could
> just parse for the token and know what to do.
>
> _SRC
>
> Rohit Khare wrote:
> >
> > As a few of you know, I'm wearing a cast these days with pins in my
> > feet as the result of totalling a pickup truck in LA when I was
> > packing up and moving out.
> >
> > First, a word of thanks for technology. In a crash involving several
> > vehicles and a flipped SUV, every single person walked away.
> > Seatbelts and airbags rule.
> >
> > Always wear your safety belt. Always invest in technology. Never
> > invest in an SUV.
> >
> > Anyway, I'm writing this from the sidewalk in front of San Jose
> > baggage claim, in front of a SJ Murky newsrack whose front page
> > decries dot.com deaths, the highest job losses since December, and a
> > moratorium on new .com businesses in Redwood City and San Mateo.
> >
> > This is approximately twenty feet from the baggage claim, from whence
> > I hauled two pieces of serious luggage.
> >
> > The baggage claim is a hundred feet from the lobby.
> >
> > The lobby is a hundred and fifty feet from the Alaska Air gates.
> >
> > The Alaska Air gate is fifty feet from the jet, across the tarmac.
> >
> > The jet is up 30 stairs, with a glossy, shiny, ultraslippery railing
> > on both sides.
> >
> > The jet stairs are 15 rows down from coach.
> >
> > No one has offered to help.
> >
> > Now, I'm not the most sympathetic person in the world, and I
> > certainly can and did take care of myself. I don't feel at all
> > injusticed or angry or sad, just exhausted.
> >
> > Since Adam had to go get the rental car from, oh, Reno (at the rate
> > that this !$%^# renovation project has taken to remove rentals from
> > the terminal), I stole a wheelchair from the curbside outside Alaska
> > -- yes, stole, from the dirty looks and lecture of the
> > we're-shutting-down-the-airport-tonight-whaddya-expect-service?
> > school of support. It, like most airport wheelchairs in my few weeks'
> > experience, is a total frankenpile of shit. The brakes don't work,
> > the wheels are misaligned, the footrests won't fold out of the way,
> > and is generally as stable as a pile of tinkertoys for a 300lb CEO.
> >
> > And don't forget to balance those crutches across your lap as you
> > push your way forward on one good leg.
> >
> > And don't forget not to push too hard and almost tilt the whole
> > contraption over a few times, all but landing on your cast before you
> > remember you can't.
> >
> > And don't forget to balance your jacket across those crutches between
> > your thighs because it's chilly in Seattle but even in a silk
> > Hawaiian shirt you'll be sweating to the oldies as the muzak wafts by.
> >
> > But don't, in any case, expect a look of sympathy, concern, or
> > involvement from the milling civillians, police, and airport staff.
> > [Kudos, by the way, for the Napster-shirt wearing geek who carried my
> > crutches down the airstairs].
> >
> > It's too bad there aren't social transactions for exchanging contact
> > and recognition short of pity and full involvement. I don't feel at
> > all injusticed. I just feel invisible.
> >
> > Not for long,
> > Rohit
> >
> > ---
> > KnowNow is laying the foundation for the Two-Way Web: a world with
> > billions of embedded HTTP microservers in every device, desktop, and
> > application. Just as the One-Way Web radically decentralized
> > hypertext publishing, the Two-Way Web is a disruptive innovation for
> > publish-and-subscribe event notification. KnowNow's platform for
> > peer-to-peer applications reinvents the market for multi-million
> > dollar Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) solutions pitched at
> > CIOs as the vastly larger market for pay-as-you-go, usage-based Web
> > Application Integration (WAI) solutions for Webmasters and Web
> > developers.
> >
> > The KnowNow Network (KNN), our flagship Allband event notification
> > service, is a branded Internet infrastructure service, a deployment
> > strategy akin to Google. By hosting Event Server Page (ESP)
> > applications on the KNN, traditional Web sites can incorporate
> > real-time, dynamic Web Services ranging from credit approvals, to
> > system availability, to shipping options -- all integrated with
> > KnowNow's news alerts, instant messaging, and presence monitoring.
> >
> > Our Zero-Install JavaScript microserver transforms static Web pages
> > into Dynamic HTML user interfaces by wiring them into a peer-to-peer
> > XML message bus. By sidestepping the cost and incompatibilities of
> > Java or ActiveX applets, ESP app developers can immediately leverage
> > the massive installed base of 4th-generation Web browsers.
> > Furthermore, choosing to route across the KNN can leverage our
> > pre-provisioned real-time content, security, peering with wireless
> > carriers, and personalized prioritization engine to deliver the right
> > information, at the right time, on the right device, to the right
> > people & programs.
> >
> > KnowNow's platform is the foundation for three complementary revenue
> > streams: developing and aggregating Web Services, selling event
> > router hardware and software, and providing event-routing services.
> > Our product line ranges from an Open Source SDK to a high-performance
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> > HTTP, SMTP, WAP, SOAP, and Instant Messengers (IM) at
> > Enterprise-scale. Ultimately, The KNN combines these with a unique
> > Internet-scale clustering algorithm derived from Akamai's.
> >
> > KnowNow's founders bring to bear decades of research experience, both
> > in industry (W3C, Worldcom, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft) and academia
> > (Caltech, MIT, UC Irvine) -- as well as their own Internet
> > standards-strategy consultancy, 4K Associates. The team includes
> > designers of Palm.Net's wireless messaging backbone, DataChannel's
> > collaborative authoring notifications, EoExchange's XML search
> > engine, and founders of the market-leading Apache web server.
> > Currently located in Seattle, KnowNow has raised seed funding from
> > the founders and top executives at CommerceOne and Sun Microsystems,
> > including First Prize in Garage.com's National Student Business Plan
> > Contest.
> > -- A certain fledgling .com found in Fortune Small Business
> > this month :-)
>
> --
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Strata Rose Chalup [strata@knownow.com] | strata@virtual.net, KF6NBZ
> Director of Network Operations | VirtualNet Consulting
> KnowNow, Inc [http://www.knownow.com] | http://www.virtual.net/
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>


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