Theos-Talk Archives (February 2005 Message tt00039)

krishtar wrote:
> Many thanks for the hints. As I own an external ADSL modem, the hint
> on acceleration using ordinary PCI cards will be useful for some
> friends of mine who still use the dial-up connection.It is a pitty
> that 2 years ago I was not aware of these accelerators or I would
> have saved time due to the high price of the minutes spent in
> callings.So much money is thrown away in callings and you pay a lot
> for something that will never be ours...the perfect example of
> buddhist impermanence. Anyway, thanks for the attention of you all!
There is a story of a town, where there was a clock in the town square. 
One day, the clock stopped working. They called in a repairer, from a 
neighboring town. He went up to the clock tower, took out a small 
hammer, hit a single gear, lightly, and the clock started to work again. 
He handed the town a bill for one thousand dollars and ten cents.

While the town could afford the price, the town council members were 
puzzled at the odd number. "What was the 10 cents for?" asked a council 
member.

"That," said the artisan, "was for hitting the gear with the hammer."

"But, then, what was the $1000 for?" asked another, even more puzzled, now.

"That," said the artisan, "was for knowing which gear to hit."

You are not paying for something that ephemeral. You are paying for the 
cost of workers, keeping the system running. You are paying for the 
sacrifices people made, so that they would have the extra capital for 
investment into an infrastructure. You are paying for the risk people 
take, that people might not buy their service.

Bart