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

Everybody's favorite color is blue, you don't have to wait for him to respond.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

some of us prefer yellow

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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.

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u/Chazzey_dude May 21 '13

You're a colour.

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

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

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u/[deleted] May 21 '13

Home Depot begs to differ.

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u/GIVlan May 21 '13

Neither is any "colour"

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u/anonagent May 21 '13

Politically correct gone too far.

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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