The Center of the Internet

I’ve got this thing for symmetry. I love the hubs of wheels, I trace the patterns of ceiling fans in my mind, and I have this unconscious habit of identifying the center of anything I look at.

It doesn’t matter what it is, either. I look for the center line and midpoint of bananas, candles, throw rugs, tables, remote controls — you name it, I just do it. Everything. Even the internet. It’s something I’m in nearly constant contact with; I make my living on it, and it is a relatively large part of how I live my life. That’s why when I think about the internet, I think of example.com as its center.

It’s not a shiny or fancy site by any means. It’s not even a functional thing; its sole purpose is to be a URL that can be used in documentation and teaching. But it pops up everywhere in documentation, in default configuration files, all over the place in the bowels of the internet. If you look long enough, all of those links and references and pointers all lead back to that one simple address.

Just like the spokes of a wheel leading to the hub. And it makes me really happy.

Published by

Grant

I'm just this guy, you know?