07/22/2002 Entry: "WiFi (And Five Cent Philosophy.)"

Fascinating. While walking home today, I saw a familiar and telltale marking on the sidewalk. This is the first time I've ever seen WarChalking in person. I find it coincidental that Sunday's Doonesbury was about using open wireless networks. Perhaps the Boyfriend and I (or my mom and I, for that matter) ought to take a little walk around the neighborhood sometime. (I'm reminded of when someone [cough] first got his new laptop and accidentally discovered a neighbor's open network. Unfortunately, it was a painfully slow network, so that ended pretty quickly.)

It surprised me to see the marking there, actually...no, I'm not surprised that a SoMa loft space would have a wireless network. I forget that sometimes ideas that spread on the Web do affect the real world. I usually take what I read on the Internet with a healthy grain of salt, which is good; but I do myself a disservice to think of everything online—particularly the smart, talented people who I know through the Web—as abstractions. (Thank you for bearing with the shallow philosophical noodling. We will return you now to your cheese sandwich, already in progress.)

Replies: 3 comments

And someone is able to access a neighbor’s wireless network from work as well. This one's DSL.

Posted by [cough] @ 07/23/2002 11:48 AM PST

mmm, filled with cheesey goodness, uuurrllllgggghhh

Posted by aaron @ 07/23/2002 12:30 AM PST

i'm such a philistine. i still don't understand what any of this means. wireless web that's free? wireless web? eh? i just turn on my computer and hope for the best.

Posted by pj @ 07/24/2002 08:35 AM PST