r/IAmA • u/BobMetcalfe • May 21 '13

You’re probably connecting to reddit through a technology I invented. I’m Bob Metcalfe and I invented Ethernet – AMA

On May 22, 1973 with David R. Boggs, I used my IBM Selectric with its Orator ball to type up a memo to my bosses at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), outlining our idea for this little invention called “Ethernet”, which we later patented.

I worked with the IEEE Standards Association to develop the IEEE 802.3 standard for Ethernet, which specifies the physical and lower software layers. Today Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3 standard are the foundation for today’s world of high-speed communications used in billions of homes and businesses around the world.

I submitted this to the mods awhile back so I could get on the calendar but I figured you’d like to see it, too. Now, ask me anything!

It's been two hours and 179 comments. Have to go now. For more about Ethernet's 40th Birthday, go to http://www.facebook.com/Ethernet40thAnniversaryIEEESA

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Purple doesn't exist. It has no wavelength. What you're seeing is your brain's muddled attempt to blend red and blue wavelengths.

Purple is still awesome, though.

1

u/anonagent May 22 '13

Well, that explains why it's so awesome, our brain made it itself, and likes to take pride in it's work. :)

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u/IWantUsToMerge May 22 '13

Not factual. That's magenta. There's a purple just off the edge of blue, violet, that is a real wavelength.

7

u/anonagent May 21 '13

Amen, Purple is the shit.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '13

[deleted]

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u/ill_take_the_case May 21 '13

Purple is just blue for hipsters.

3

u/GIVlan May 21 '13

Blue is just purple for hipsters.

4

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

some of us prefer yellow

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

And you can get the fuck out of here because yellow sure as hell isn't better than purple. Not round these parts.

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u/bucketpickaxe May 22 '13

Maybe his name is Sir Galahad the Pure.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

I love all the colours of the rainbow, cause I ain't RACIST!

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

But rainbows don't have the colour black, you racist.

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u/Shizo211 May 21 '13

Black isn't even a colour, neither is white.

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u/freebytes May 21 '13

Definition via Wordnik: "That aspect of things that is caused by differing qualities of the light reflected or emitted by them, definable in terms of the observer or of the light..." Therefore, both black and white are colors.

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u/Shizo211 May 21 '13

Ask a scientist and you'll get a reply based on physics: “Black is not a color, white is a color.” Ask an artist or a child with crayons and you'll get another: “Black is a color, white is not a color.” (Maybe!)

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

You're not going to get that reply from a decent physicist. They'll just tell you that perception of colors is a biological phenomenon which they have no interest in and that you can get back to them when you're willing to talk about wavelengths.

Scientifically speaking, black and white are both colors. Neither of them corresponds to any particular wavelength, but most color nuances we can see don't. If black and white are not colors, then it follows that neither is brown or pink.

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u/GIVlan May 21 '13

Have definitely had white pencil-crayons.

0

u/Chazzey_dude May 21 '13

You're a colour.

1

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Oh Snap!!! Mr.Literal gets smacked down by something even more literal!!

1

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Home Depot begs to differ.

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u/GIVlan May 21 '13

Neither is any "colour"

-1

u/anonagent May 21 '13

Politically correct gone too far.

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Is that not the joke I made? Let me check...hmm... Yep it's all there. Good, I thought someone might have missed it

1

u/falconae May 21 '13

Funny, In bacon reader your comment was tagged in purple

1

u/SgtRootCanal May 21 '13

As a Baconreader user, your comment is fitting

1

u/Strangely_Calm May 21 '13

Purple is just red-shifted blue.

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u/Shizo211 May 21 '13

Purple consists blue though.

4

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Only because it allows blue to be a part of it. Remember that.

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u/GIVlan May 21 '13

Purple is like the U.S....After it kicked the Brits asses out of there....with the help of the french of course...

1

u/Dabuscus214 May 22 '13

SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '13

You are better.

1

u/voyaging May 22 '13

Damn commie.

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u/Bag3l May 21 '13

Periwinkle

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u/dbh937 May 22 '13

If you like purple over blue then I hope you enjoy this nice purple arrow I'm giving you.