ANS Connectivity Agreement

Tue Jan 7 20:47:28 UTC 1992

   Date: Tue, 7 Jan 92 15:19:34 PST
   From: ahoover at hoovermac.ans.net (Al Hoover)

   The thread of your question implies that the infrastructure of
   NEARnet and that of ANSnet are symmetrical.  Providing national
   backbone services as well as direct attachments and gateways
   positions ANSnet within a different economic and operational
   structure.

Now that I'm an adult, I stand 6'2" and tip the scales around 240 lbs.
I'm pretty strong, and when I'm in shape, I'm fast.  Even when I was
growing up, I was generally among the largest and most physically
powerful of my classmates.  I also happened to be among the brightest,
which made me somewhat of a favorite of the teachers.  Situations
occasionally arose in the schoolyard during which I could have used my
size to advantage, and I frequently could have used my ability to
quickly complete classwork in order to gain favor with my teachers.

But I was taught at an early age not to impose my will upon others by
use of my size, and I learned not to ask for special treatment from
those in authority over me simply because of my intellectual ability.
Either act (beating up a kid on the playground, or sucking up to the
teacher) would have lost me the respect of my peers, and it's hard to
have friends when they don't respect you.  It was far better to hold
my temper and talk my way out of arguments, and to simply let my
academic performance speak for itself.

I eventually learned that I generally ought not to consider myself
better than others, or in a different class and deserving of special
treatment.  I learned that I should particularly not make such claims
in their hearing, because it tends to antagonize them.  This general
principle serves me well, and I have lived more or less peacefully
with those around me since I began to generally apply it.