twoplustwoequalsblog

As you know if you listen to President Bush’s speeches, there are many Internets these days. The one most of you are used to surfing is the one you get when you fire up your web browser and visit MySpace and YouTube and Twoplustwoequalsfive. However, there are all sorts of other Internets that you aren’t using.

One of those Internets completely predates the era of HTTP and HTML, and that Internet is called Usenet. Usenet is made up of newsgroups are a sort of public discussion forum where people can go and talk about almost any topic. Your ISP probably gives you access to Usenet by hosting their own news server. However, I bet you have absolutely no idea what programs would let you connect to your Usenet server, much less through what port and at what IP.

Instead, the far easier way to access Newsgroups is through some website that lets you interface with them. The one I like is called Google Groups. You can search the entire collection of posts or just a sub-group on Usenet and find posts about what you are looking for. This can be an excellent way to find obscure information that is unlikely to be found anywhere else on the Internet. Things that people may have been interested in the 80’s, but not as much recently, can be found in archived posts. Since a large portion of Usenet posts are from over a decade (or two!) ago, you have to be careful that the information you’re getting is still relevant. This isn’t a problem if you’re looking up how to re-wire a crystal radio, but if you’re looking for a good restaurant to eat at in downtown Boston, you better be careful.

Usenet is just one of the many Internets out there that you probably didn’t know existed. Go check out Google Groups and search around and see what you can find.