When one first arrives in Woods Hole, an ID card is waiting for you.
It’s very similar to our ID cards and the number on it is used to
register your computer on a local website (http://register.mbl.edu).
The website then enforces an immediate reboot of your machine during
which I believe it “reads” the MAC (hardware fingerprint of the
ethernet adapter, nothing to do with Apple computers) address of your
machine. From that point onward, your machine’s MAC address is linked
internally to your MBL id card and, as long as the id card is valid,
your machine will automatically be allowed onto the local network.
Interestingly for guests: even if you don’t have an MBL id, your
computer will be allowed web-based access to the internet–so that you
can read and send email via your institution’s web-mail interface.
Pretty nice system I think!
Now, on a completely different tack:
The suggestion was made, on the basis of yesterday’s extremely
successful seminars, that we stream web-cast our future talks. I am
very open to this possibility. The notion is that this would
simultaneously build the scientific reputation of Krasnow, while at the
same time, facilitating “virtual” attendance of our talks for those who
might find themselves deterred by the beltway.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 