Thursday, May 28, 1998

Potential of the Web, or
What's The Point?
By George Runkle III ([email protected])
By George Runkle IV ([email protected])

A few years ago when the World Wide Web was first getting attention, we didn't really understand its possibilities. It was obviously useful for doing research, but it wasn't until recently we discovered the amazing potential of this medium. We were visiting Washington, DC, and there was an article in the paper about a woman named Jenni who placed a web cam right in her bedroom (http://www.jennicam.org/guests/index.html). It seems some people were concerned, since we might be able to see Jenni in her underpants.

In reality, if we want to see a woman prancing around in her underwear, we can just go see a Madonna video. Check out Jenni's site, and you'll see it's better than that. Yesterday, she was putting together some furniture, the other day she was making her bed, and last night her web cam was pointed at her pet rabbits. What's great about this is her site is a totally useless waste of time, and really fun to visit.

There are a few other sites that are just as good. You can look at the intersection of Seven Locks Road and Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda, MD (http://www.dpwt.com/jpgcap/38.html), (where the Runkle homestead was in the 60s) at any time, day or night. It's fun checking out the old neighborhood in the middle of the night. There's a camera in the Pocono Mountains (http://www.sbccomputer.com/vidcam.html), which is fun to check out, too, but sometimes you see wildlife. That ruins the pointlessness of the whole thing.

Who would have thought that a technological wonder like the World Wide Web would revolutionize our ability to do nothing. No longer are we held to playing solitaire, or making potholders that catch on fire the fist time they are used. We can now watch Jenni watch TV. Of course, only do this at home. Never ever pull this at work. Of course if you work here in Pittsburgh, check out the camera at Greentree Road and the Airport Parkway (http://salsa.visus.com/~wdvecam/parkway.jpeg). Of course you'd only do this to check out the weather; we may have a bad storm approaching or something. It's amazing the totally worthless pursuits we can take up without ever leaving our chairs.

Others may rave about how great the Web is, and why we need to have computers and ever faster modems. Sure, just like you need the four-wheel drive on your sport utility. Or that you even need a sport utility for that matter. No, the Web is wonderful because we can now waste time in ways we never thought possible in the past. No longer are we limited to what we an see out our front window; we can watch the world from a monitor now. The more mundane and ordinary the scene, the better it is.

It's hard to imagine how our technological advances will allow us to abuse our time further, but we are at the threshold of a new era. In future generations, our children and grandchildren will accomplish useless activities that we can't even imagine today. Yes, Jenni is part of the new revolution, even if we never really get to see her in her underwear.

Now, there are somewhat more useful sites on the Internet. There are places that tell your fortune. Or, you can see the Australian Scientific Camp in Antarctica. That's sure to be a great place to spend your Friday nights. That sure makes you feel better if you don't have a date, and are stuck surfing the Web.

You're probably wondering how this relates to investing, personal finance, credit cards, and so on. It doesn't, which is the beauty of the whole thing. Through the magic of modern technology, we can drift off into pointless activities that even Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and other great science fiction writers could never have dreamed of.

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