Walmart Parking Lot ($0)
Park Rapids, Minnesota
August 30, 2024
730 AM
53 degrees currently. Good sleeping weather. Parked with a couple of 18 wheelers last night. Parking lot lights were bright so I rigged up some things to block the light. Thanks, Buddy.
Almost three weeks out. What the hell am I doing? What am I running from? Or what am I running toward? I probably know and don’t want to admit.
Seeing the headwater of the Mississippi was cool. I remember trying to find the headwater of the Colorado but the road was snowed in for the winter. But I got close. And in Cairo, Illinois I saw where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi. That was cool, too. And the Colorado River … in Texas. Didn’t know there were two (maybe more?)
Nice to communicate every now and then with Bob Kaplan, the cyclist from Chicago. He told me about the Mississippi headwater. He’s cycling toward LA, looking forward to Death Valley and Owens Valley. Cycling from Chicago to LA — wow. I hate to say I couldn’t do that but I couldn’t do that.
Maggie May is playing in my head. A month early. Late August, I guess, will always mean a “rebirth” Still feel an excitement about college football starting but that feeling is waning. The sport has changed too much. Looking forward to cooler weather (almost ZBB’s “Colder Weather.”). Kinda down on ZBB, too. Seeing them in Atlanta, I felt like they are somewhat mailing it in. Same old setlist. Not that most of the songs aren’t great. Probably just me.
Lots of old people live in rural Minnesota. I wonder if that’s true or it’s just my bias?
Off to McDonalds for breakfast. And to hook into their WIFI. Speaking of that, did you know…
Wi-Fi originated in Hawaii in 1971, where a wireless UHF packet network called ALOHAnet was used to connect the islands. Later protocols developed in 1991 by NCR and AT&T called WaveLAN became the precursor to the IEEE 802.11 standards.
The Wi-Fi Alliance was formed in 1999 and currently owns the Wi-Fi registered trademark. It specifically defines Wi-Fi as any “wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 802.11 standards.”
Initially, Wi-Fi was used in place of only the 2.4GHz 802.11b standard, however the Wi-Fi Alliance has expanded the generic use of the Wi-Fi term to include any type of network or WLAN product based on any of the 802.11 standards, including 802.11b, 802.11a, etc. in an attempt to stop confusion about wireless LAN interoperability.
How does Wi-Fi work?
Wi-Fi networks have no physical wired connection between sender and receiver. Instead, they function by using radio frequency (RF) technology a frequency within the electromagnetic spectrum associated with radio wave propagation. When an RF current is supplied to an antenna, an electromagnetic field is created that then is able to propagate through space.
The cornerstone of any wireless network is an access point (AP). The primary job of an access point is to broadcast a wireless signal that computers can detect and use to establish a connection to the network. In order to connect to an access point and join a wireless network, computers and devices must be equipped with wireless network adapters.
How Wireless Networks Work
Wi-Fi vs. Internet
Wi-Fi and Internet are closely related and often used interchangeably, but there are important distinctions between the two. First and foremost, the Internet is a wide area network (WAN) that uses a series of protocols to transmit information between networks and devices around the world. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, is simply a means for connecting devices without cables.
It’s entirely possible to have a Wi-Fi connection with no Internet access if there is no modem or Internet service from an ISP. For this reason, the signal strength of a Wi-Fi network is not directly correlated to the Internet speed a user might experience when connected. It is also why isolated Internet connectivity issues are usually attributed to the user’s device or Wi-Fi network router as opposed to the ISP’s service.
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