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The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

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Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#61

Post by khuey »

alistairjudson wrote: post #48

My Dad was an ROV technician for a brief period in the early 2000s, he got made redundant in early 2002 just after 9/11, and the dot com bubble bursting. On his last of the only two trips he made, he was based in Recife in northern Brazil. The ship was just there, on call, ready to respond to any breakages. My Mum, sister, and I were lucky enough to be flown out to Brazil for Christmas 2001, and it's something I'll n…

> I believe until very recently there was so much fibre laid during the dot com boom, that we didn't really need to lay much more.

My understanding is that there was a one-two punch of the dot com boom laying a huge amount of fiber followed by wave division multiplexing shortly afterwards massively increasing the capacity of existing fiber that resulted in an oversupply that lasted a decade or more.

Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#63

Post by TimTheTinker »

rob74 wrote: post #62

Right from the start, the tone of the presentation struck a wrong kind of chord with me. "The world's most important infrastructure"? Dear author, try living without electricity or fresh water for a few days, then I'll ask you again...

It's an interesting, well-written article written in good faith.

I think small semantic issues like this should be ignored so we can enjoy worthwhile discussion.

Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#64

Post by kwhitefoot »

ajdude wrote: post #30
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the information density is too low You failed the marshmallow test [1]. There is a traditional, long-form article that presents a rewarding read. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experim...

I really hate how articles are starting with full page slides and animations now. This is the third article that I've seen this week following the format. I suppose since two of those three were on the HN front page it's a format that works, but I guess I'm not the target audience.

This one is different from most. The visual design is consistent, engaging, and well done. The pictures are relevant and interesting and complement the text.

I agree that most articles that start with slides are just dross, this one is an exception.

Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#66

Post by astura »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #33
jasode wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You failed the marshmallow test [1]. There is a traditional, long-form article that presents a rewarding read. I didn't downvote but reading an unknown article with unknown or non-existent payoff is not the same premise as The Marshmallow Test because the Stanford experiment explicitly specifies the "reward" upfront: ">, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if the…

It’s not a random article. It’s been upvoted to the HN front page. > if JumpCrisscross explicitly told the reader that there would be a guaranteed mind-blowing insight payoff at the end I literally said it’s “a rewarding read.”

>It’s not a random article. It’s been upvoted to the HN front page.

Lol, So? HN front page has plenty of garbage.

Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#67

Post by 98codes »

ctenb wrote: post #15

I stopped after the first 3 slides, since the information density is too low and the animation too slow.

This article definitely wins my award for the most unnecessary scrolljacking -- the animations add no value, are too short, and only serve to delay being to read further in the article.

Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#68

Post by IncreasePosts »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #18
ctenb wrote: post #15

I stopped after the first 3 slides, since the information density is too low and the animation too slow.

> the information density is too low You failed the marshmallow test [1]. There is a traditional, long-form article that presents a rewarding read. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experim...

That's not failing the marshmallow test, because the reward is obvious at the start of the test.

Is the reward obvious for reading any random article? No, but it may be there. But I sincerely doubt that you, or anyone, devotes themselves to consuming 100% of the content they come across on the internet, in hopes for a payoff(which may never come) in the end.

Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#69

Post by FireBeyond »

Simple, but perhaps silly, question. If a fiber optic cable breaks underwater, the crew brings it up to the boat. But what if there is water contamination? Like if a fiber strand is broken or exposed, what's to prevent water particles entering the fiber?

Re: The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

#70

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

Octokiddie wrote: post #26

For those complaining about the presentation, Safari's "Show Reader View" works well. Also supported on Firefox. On Chrome, it's complicated.

However, you will miss a couple of rather cool transitions from line-drawn images to moving photographic images. It is reminscent of rotoscoping, but not the same. I sense a new art form, similar to when those GIFs with only a single moving object appeared some years ago.
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