One example of a common use of these concepts is a Mail User Agent that can Best Dam Sports Show be instructed to be in either "on-line" or "off-line" states. One such MUA is Microsoft Outlook. When it is "on-line" Best Dam Sports Show it will Best Dam Sports Show attempt to connect to Best Dam Sports Show mail servers (to check for new mail Best Dam Sports Show at regular intervals, for example), and when Best Dam Sports Show it is "off-line" it will Best Dam Sports Show not attempt to make any such connections. The "on-line" Best Dam Sports Show or "off-line" state of the MUA does not necessarily Best Dam Sports Show reflect the connection status between the computer on which it is running and Internet. The user may have the computer itself on-line, connected to Internet via a cable modem or an ADSL Best Dam Sports Show connection, but may wish for Outlook to be off-line, so that it makes no attempt to send or to receive messages. Or the computer may be configured to Best Dam Sports Show employ a Best Dam Sports Show dial-up connection on demand (whenever Best Dam Sports Show an application such as Outlook attempts to make connection to a server), but Best Dam Sports Show the connection may be an expensive telephone call from Best Dam Sports Show the particular location in which the computer currently happens to be (such as a hotel room) and the user may not wish Outlook Best Dam Sports Show to trigger making that call every 5 or 10 minutes to Best Dam Sports Show check for mail.
Another example Best Dam Sports Show of the use of these concepts is in the world of digital audio technology. A tape recorder, digital Best Dam Sports Show editor, Best Dam Sports Show or other device that is "on-line" is one whose clock is under the control of the clock Best Dam Sports Show of a "synchronization master" device. When the sync master commences Best Dam Sports Show playback, the "on-line" Best Dam Sports Show device automatically synchronizes itself to the master and commences playing from the same point in the recording. Whereas a Best Dam Sports Show device that is "off-line" uses no external clock reference and Best Dam Sports Show relies upon its own internal clock. When a large number of devices are connected to a sync Best Dam Sports Show master, it is often convenient, if one wants to hear Best Dam Sports Show just the output of one single device, to take it off-line, because if the device is played back on-line all synchronized devices have to Warrior Dolomite Hockey Gloves Best Price locate the playback point and wait for each other to be in synchronization.[2] (For further related discussion, see MIDI Best Dam Sports Show timecode, word sync, and recording system synchronization.)
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A third example of a common use of these concepts is a Best Dam Sports Show web browser that can be instructed to be in either "on-line" or Best Dam Sports Show "off-line" states. The browser only attempts to fetch pages from servers whilst in Best Dam Sports Show the "on-line" state. In the "off-line" state, users Best Dam Sports Show can perform offline browsing, where pages can be browsed Best Dam Sports Show using local Best Dam Sports Show copies of those pages that have previously been downloaded whilst in the Best Dam Sports Show "on-line" state. This can be Best Dam Sports Show useful when the computer itself is also off-line, Best Dam Sports Show with connection to Internet Best Dam Sports Show expensive or impossible. The pages are either downloaded implicitly into the web browser's own cache, as a result of prior on-line browsing by the user, or explicitly by the browser being configured to keep Best Dam Sports Show local copies of certain web pages, which it keeps Best Dam Sports Show updated when the browser is in the on-line state, either by checking that the local copies are up-to-date at regular intervals or by checking that the local copies are up-to-date whenever the browser is Best Dam Sports Show switched to the on-line state. One Best Dam Sports Show such web browser capable of Best Dam Sports Show being Best Dam Sports Show explicitly configured to download pages for offline browsing is Internet Explorer. Hal Leonard Best Of Southern Rock When pages Best Dam Sports Show are added to the "Favourites" list, they can be marked for Best Dam Sports Show being Best Dam Sports Show made "available for offline browsing". Internet Explorer will download Best Dam Sports Show to local copies both the marked page and, optionally, all of the pages that it links to. In Internet Explorer version 6, the level of direct and indirect links, the maximum amount of local disc space allowed to be consumed, and the schedule on which local Best Dam Sports Show copies are checked to see whether they are Best Dam Sports Show up-to-date, are Best Dam Sports Show configurable for each
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The ideas of "on-line" Best Dam Sports Show and "off-line" have been generalized from computing and telecommunication into the field of human interpersonal relationships. The distinction between what is considered Best Dam Sports Show "on-line" and what is considered "off-line" has become a subject of study in the field of sociology.[7]
The distinction between "on-line" and "off-line" is conventionally seen as the distinction between computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication (e.g. face time), respectively. "On-line" is virtuality, and "off-line" is reality (e.g. real life or meatspace). Slater states that this distinction is "obviously far too Best Events In Janesville Wi simple". To support his argument that the distinctions in relationships are more Best Camp Grounds In Austin Tx complex than Best Dam Sports Show a simple Best Dam Sports Show "on-line"/"off-line" dichotomy, he observes that some Best Dam Sports Show people draw no distinction between an "on-line" relationship, such as indulging in cybersex, and an "off-line" relationship, such as being pen-pals. He also argues that even the telephone can be Best Dam Sports Show regarded as an "on-line" experience in some circumstances, and that the blurring Best Dam Sports Show of the distinctions between the uses Best Dam Sports Show of various Best Dam Sports Show technologies (such as PDA and mobile telephone, television and Internet, and telephone and voice-over-IP) has made Best Way Remove Pubic Hair it Best Dam Sports Show "impossible to use the term 'on-line' meaningfully in the sense that was employed by the first generation of Internet research".[7]
Slater asserts that there are legal and regulatory pressures to reduce the distinction between "on-line" and "off-line", with a "general tendency to assimilate online to offline and Best Dam Sports Show erase the Best Dam Sports Show distinction", stressing, however, that this does not mean that on-line relationships are being reduced to pre-existing Best Dam Sports Show off-line relationships. He conjectures that Best Dam Sports Show greater legal status may Best Dam Sports Show be assigned to on-line relationships (pointing out that contractual relationships, such as business transactions, on-line are already seen Best Dam Sports Show as just as "real" as their off-line counterparts), although he states it to be Best Dam Sports Show hard to imagine Best Dam Sports Show courts awarding palimony to people who have had a purely on-line sexual relationship. He also conjectures Best Body Detox that an "on-line"/"off-line" distinction may be seen by people as "rather quaint Best Dam Sports Show and not quite Best Dam Sports Show comprehensible" within 10 years
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The distinction where "on-line" is seen as virtuality and "off-line" as reality is sometimes inverted, with "on-line" concepts being used to define and to explain "off-line" Best Dam Sports Show activities, Best Dam Sports Show rather than (as per the conventions of Best Dam Sports Show the desktop metaphor with Best Dam Sports Show its Best Dam Sports Show desktops, trash cans, folders, and so Best Dam Sports Show forth) the other way Best Dam Sports Show around. Several cartoons Best Dam Sports Show by Best Dam Sports Show The New Yorker have satirized this. One includes Saint Peter asking for a Best Dam Sports Show user Best Dam Sports Show name and a Best Dam Sports Show password before admitting a man into Heaven. Another illustrates "the Best Dam Sports Show off-line store" Best Dam Sports Show where "All items are actual size!", where shoppers may "Take it home as soon as you pay for it!", and where "Merchandise may be handled prior to purchase!". |
