Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Natural Selection
A cold wind sweeps across the Spanish Tundra. Winter is coming. In their brains an instinct is triggered that has existed for time immemorial. The roots of instinct run deep, so deep that they punch right through the permafrost of logic and reason. And so, without knowing or caring why, the wild internets start their seasonal migration south for the winter.
But the herd of internets are not alone on the tundra this night. Up on the hill overlooking the pass used annually for their migration, a preditor looks on. His saber teeth seemingly glow in the light of the setting sun. Preditors have insticts too, but for the moment this one waits, crouched in the tall grass awaiting his opportunity.
There it is! Wounded, or sick, one of the internets has fallen behind the herd. The preditor is off like a shot, bounding down the hill. The sabertoothed preditors of the Spanish Tundra are world famous for their persistence. Once a male of the species has chosen his prey, he does not let up the chase until he has made the kill. This one is a ferocious hunter, it won´t take long before his hunger is satisfied.
The poor internet senses it is in danger. It calls out for its herd, but they do not answer. The herd of internet know it is worth sacrificing one invalid to avoid losing many stronger internets warding off a voracious foe.
The preditor pounces. His powerful jaws openned wide. The struggle takes only moments. Soon the weak internet is dead, and the rest of the herd is a healthy distance away. Tonight the preditor will feast.
That fallen internet in the passage above, that was my internet. Though the entire dorm has maintained a healthy internet connection, mine passed away last night at about 11:30 (my time). I was able to tell the receptionist what had happened (sparing her the darwinist details) in Spanish, which I was proud of. She said she had no idea what the problem was, but she would call Josep (I assume Josep is the kind of person that would know why an internet connection up and dies in the middle of the night for no reason, but still has the courtesy to apologize whenever I try to activate it). But Josep didn´t pick up the phone. I can only assume that he is dead too, perhaps murdered. Or maybe he died in the fire that ravaged my building over the weekend. I´m not saying he was the one that set the fire, or that he burned alive, but maybe he was in one of the rooms when they filled with smoke, but didn´t leave because the smoke detectors didn´t go off and died of smoke inhalation. That seems the most logical course of events.
So until I can get my hands on a new internet, I won´t be online, nor will I be able to check my mail, other than at the IES computer lab (which will be closed tomorrow on account of the holiday... don´t ask me what holiday it is, I have no idea). However, I will do my best to check my mail and my blog as often as possible, so I will be in touch. I plan on spending the long internetless hours catching up on writing my blog. I´ve been remiss in updating, but it´s only because I´ve been so busy doing stuff that I should be writing about.
Talk to you when I can.
-Tim
But the herd of internets are not alone on the tundra this night. Up on the hill overlooking the pass used annually for their migration, a preditor looks on. His saber teeth seemingly glow in the light of the setting sun. Preditors have insticts too, but for the moment this one waits, crouched in the tall grass awaiting his opportunity.
There it is! Wounded, or sick, one of the internets has fallen behind the herd. The preditor is off like a shot, bounding down the hill. The sabertoothed preditors of the Spanish Tundra are world famous for their persistence. Once a male of the species has chosen his prey, he does not let up the chase until he has made the kill. This one is a ferocious hunter, it won´t take long before his hunger is satisfied.
The poor internet senses it is in danger. It calls out for its herd, but they do not answer. The herd of internet know it is worth sacrificing one invalid to avoid losing many stronger internets warding off a voracious foe.
The preditor pounces. His powerful jaws openned wide. The struggle takes only moments. Soon the weak internet is dead, and the rest of the herd is a healthy distance away. Tonight the preditor will feast.
That fallen internet in the passage above, that was my internet. Though the entire dorm has maintained a healthy internet connection, mine passed away last night at about 11:30 (my time). I was able to tell the receptionist what had happened (sparing her the darwinist details) in Spanish, which I was proud of. She said she had no idea what the problem was, but she would call Josep (I assume Josep is the kind of person that would know why an internet connection up and dies in the middle of the night for no reason, but still has the courtesy to apologize whenever I try to activate it). But Josep didn´t pick up the phone. I can only assume that he is dead too, perhaps murdered. Or maybe he died in the fire that ravaged my building over the weekend. I´m not saying he was the one that set the fire, or that he burned alive, but maybe he was in one of the rooms when they filled with smoke, but didn´t leave because the smoke detectors didn´t go off and died of smoke inhalation. That seems the most logical course of events.
So until I can get my hands on a new internet, I won´t be online, nor will I be able to check my mail, other than at the IES computer lab (which will be closed tomorrow on account of the holiday... don´t ask me what holiday it is, I have no idea). However, I will do my best to check my mail and my blog as often as possible, so I will be in touch. I plan on spending the long internetless hours catching up on writing my blog. I´ve been remiss in updating, but it´s only because I´ve been so busy doing stuff that I should be writing about.
Talk to you when I can.
-Tim
# posted by Mr Tim @ 8:08 AM 
