From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Jul 29 23:10:10 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i6U3AAO19710; Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:10:10 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:10:10 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200407300310.i6U3AAO19710@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #356 TELECOM Digest Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:10:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 356 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Group Warns DVRs Endangered (Monty Solomon) Attention, Shoppers: You Can Speed Straight Through Checkout (M Solomon) FBI CALEA Petition on FCC Agenda for August 4 (Jack Decker) Telco Video & VOIP Stakes Rising (Jack Decker) Grand Haven, Michigan, Cuts the Cord (Jack Decker) AT&T CallVantage (2000) Re: 911, Only Simple 911 at Best (Jack) Re: 911, Only Simple 911 at Best (Fritz Whittington) Vonage Compared to AT&T CallVantage? (Chip G) Anyone Using Avaya Communication Manager API? (Chip G) Re: Bare-Bones DNC Coverage Draws Lower Ratings (Paul Coxwell) Re: How Does Vonage Sound (Rob Levandowski) Re: Dial 411 for a Category Search (Joseph) Re: PayPal Notice of Pendency: Class Action; Proposed Settle (Joseph) Re: Cell Phones Using Wi-Fi; How Will Hotspots Cope? (Scott Dorsey) Re: Telecommunications: Blogs, Bloggers, and Blogging (Day Bird Loft) New Jersey Labor Board page for NorVergence Employees (David Rodriguez) Problem With Recycled Cell-Phone Numbers (jmayson@nyx.net) Re: Last Laugh! Interesting Origins (Henry) Re: Last Laugh! Interesting Origins - Ship High In Transit (Jack Adams) Re: Last Laugh! Interesting Origins (Bill Turlock) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 08:48:49 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Group Warns DVRs Endangered By Katie Dean Television fans who like to choose when and where they watch their favorite programs are in for a rude awakening next year when new copy controls encoded in digital television streams will limit such freedoms. Broadcasters have been steadily moving from broadcasting content in analog to digital format over the past several years, as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. To protect this digital content from piracy, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a rule that digital television tuners recognize copy controls, called the broadcast flag (PDF), encoded in content streams. Digital video-recording devices would detect the broadcast flag, and the flag would prevent users from making multiple high-quality copies of the programs for illegal distribution. As of July 1, 2005, it would be illegal to manufacture or import devices that can receive digital programming without responding to the broadcast flag. To fight the impending rule and to stoke backlash from TV viewers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation earlier this month launched the Digital Television Liberation Project to guide people on how to make their own personal video recorders from off-the-shelf parts. The digital-rights group is encouraging people to buy digital TV, or DTV, tuner cards for their PCs, and is distributing instructions on how to build TiVo-like digital video recorders. The idea is to get people hooked on the charms of time-shifting -- recording a program and then watching it at a later time -- and to help them understand what they would be missing once the broadcast flag rule goes into effect. http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64309,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 09:05:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Attention, Shoppers: You Can Now Speed Straight Through Checkout Radio-frequency chips are retail nirvana. They're the end of privacy. They're the mark of the beast. Inside the tag-and-track supermarket of the future. By Josh McHugh Issue 12.07 - July 2004 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/shoppers.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 12:59:03 -0400 Subject: FBI CALEA Petition on FCC Agenda for August 4 Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com This is from The Jeff Pulver Blog at: http://192.246.69.231/jeff/personal/index.html July 29, 2004 FBI CALEA Petition on FCC Agenda for August 4 The August 4th FCC Meeting may be a historic one, now that the FBI/DOJ/DEA CALEA Petition has made it to the meeting agenda. The FCC's ruling on this petition will have a direct effect on the state of IP Communications in the US and will influence pending the VoIP legislation in the House and Senate. Posted by jeff at 10:13 AM ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 13:49:21 -0400 Subject: Telco Video & VOIP Stakes Rising Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.boardwatch.com/document.asp?doc_id=57021 Traditional telcos are gearing up for the battle of the century, and triple-play service over DSL is the main weapon of choice, according to new research from Heavy Reading, Light Reading's research service. The capability to build and deploy new services such as VOIP and video over copper networks is already here, thanks in part to vast improvements in DSL technology. And with the cable competition coming fast, telcos see their DSL triple-play strategies as the key to this fight, according to the report -- Telco Triple Play: the DSL Imperative. Already this week, financial results have backed up this view. Service provider Goliath Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) logged a solid quarter this week, citing DSL services as one of its new engines of growth to counter the erosion of legacy voice services (see Verizon Boosted by DSL, Wireless). Heavy Reading says this is likely to be an acclerating trend in 2004 and 2005, given that the largest local providers in the U.S. are only just now starting to realize the business benefits of a long-term investment in broadband. They're now likely to focus on more revenue per broadband customer, through the bundling of new services such as video and VOIP. What's driving the new urgency? Quite simply, competition. VOIP and broadband services have driven the collision betwween cable MSOs (multiple systems operators) and traditional telcos, a war that's likely to grow more intense in the next few months. Full story at: http://www.boardwatch.com/document.asp?doc_id=57021 How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 13:47:30 -0400 Subject: [VoIP News] Grand Haven, Michigan, Cuts the Cord Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004039.html Grand Haven, Mich., makes splash with full-city Wi-Fi coverage: This seems like yet another city announcement, but it might be the first city with this scale of access that 100-percent live and commercially available. (Dissenters, please write in.) While there are plans for Cerritos, Santa Clara, and Chaska (Minnesota) to have full coverage, Grand Haven may have beaten them to full deployment. The folks at Ottawa Wireless sent out a press release full of the technical details, such as their support for 802.11a, b, and g, and the fact that their service extends 15 miles into Lake Michigan, providing access for boaters and marinas. The coverage extends six square miles across the town, and its optimized to handle VoIP; a beta test is in progress right now that will cost $30 per month for unlimited calling nationwide. The service has 300 subscribers at its formal launch out of a local population of 12,000. However, the town sees two million -- yes, million -- visitors a year. Customers include the city, and public safety and health groups will eventually use the network. [Comment: And I think about 1½ million of those visitors all try to jam into the town during the Coast Guard Festival the first part of August. That would create problems in any small town, but Grand Haven is basically surrounded on three sides by water (Lake Michigan on the west, the Grand River on the north and east) and there is only ONE aging drawbridge across the river, and every so often it gets stuck open and you have to go about 15 miles east-southeast to get to the next river crossing at Allendale. US-31 goes right through the center of the city but it is a divided highway with traffic lights; there are plans to build an expressway bypass that would go to the east of the city but the Granholm administration temporarily put that project on hold, virtually assuring something close to gridlock conditions continue to exist during the Coast Guard Festival for the foreseeable future.] Full story at: http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004039.html ------------------------------ From: 2000@osaf.org (2000) Subject: AT&T CallVantage Date: 29 Jul 2004 12:24:26 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com AT&T CallVantage (broadband phone) service does not support Motorola and Siemens phones. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 04:07:02 -0400 From: Jack wrote: > charlie@cdsdetroit.com (charlie3) wrote in > news:telecom23.353.10@telecom-digest.org: >> Cell phones have been around for years and have similar >> problems to VOIP phones; more and more cell phones and VOIP >> phones are going into use and many will replace traditional >> copperline phones, regardless of 911 concerns. Public >> officials will find solutions to 911 calls originating from >> cell and internet phones. >> I'm simply no longer willing to pay for a 100 year old POTS >> phone when I can get five times the functionality and >> unlimited US minutes for a lower price from Vonage. With a >> cell phone for backup my internet phone does not have >> perform exactly like a traditional phone. > Hope you never need emergency services any time in the near > future. You know, every time I read a comment like this, my gut reaction is to want to strangle the writer (figuratively speaking, of course). First for the obvious reason that he is trying to impose his own sense of values on others, but also because it's such a pathetically stupid statement. I mean, to me people who say things like this sound like they want us to live in a rubber room with a 100% reliable phone with a big red speed dial button programmed for "911." One could just as easily say "I hope you never go outside to check your mail without taking a cordless phone along" or "I hope you never decide to take a walk in the woods." The point I am making, in case it isn't obvious, is that (if we are reasonably normal people) we ALL have times -- and probably many more than we think about -- where we are NOT near enough to a telephone that it would do us any good if we had a heart attack or some other emergency. I don't have a wireless phone (in my situation I really have no pressing need for one). I sometimes take walks in the woods, I go out to the outside shed and putz around or do some task outside, and I never have a phone with me and am often out of view of anyone else. Oh the horror, I might have a heart attack and not be able to call 911! Well you know what, if that's my time to go, it's my time to go, and I don't need any goody two-shoes know-it-alls trying to tell me that I am being irresponsible by not having the level of communica- tions that they think I should have. In fact, people like that sometimes almost make me wish I could check out a bit sooner. If they succeed in making the world a perfectly safe place to live, but one in which you have no options left because someone else has dictated all aspects of how you must live, why would I want to keep on living? I don't know about anyone else, but I couldn't escape a world like that fast enough! I'm just waiting for these people to start trying to get "unsafe" recreational activities banned, like hang-gliding or rock climbing or motorcycling or any of the hundreds of other things people enjoy doing but that have the potential to get them killed. > BTW, what happens to VOIP when there is a power outage? Is there > anything similar to "lifeline service"? My 100 year old POTS phone > still works. I know because I have had to use it several times during > outages. Bully for you. No one is asking you to give up your 100 year old POTS phone if that's what floats your boat. But you have absolutely no right to decide that I or anyone else needs to have that level of service. I don't WANT to be 100% safe 100% of the time. A life like that would be boring as hell, not to mention that the cost of living would be far higher. What about the Amish people who don't even have telephones, nor for that matter cars to drive to a hospital at 70 MPH in an emergency? Would you be the one to tell them that they need to conform to your acceptable way of living? If I, or anyone else wants to have phone service from VoicePulse or Vonage or any of those companies, and we know what the limitations of 911 are and are willing to accept them, it is none of your damn business! Take your finger-wagging to someplace where it's appreciated, though I cannot imagine where that might be. Sorry if the above seems a bit strong, but sometimes I just get really sick of hearing from people who want to suck all the LIFE out of living because all they can think about is safety, and not only for themselves, but they want to pass their obsession on to others. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Jack, the possible, but unlikely problem of 'what to do in an emergency when all you have is Vonage' is just a red herring anyway. The main problem with so many of those people is that they are shills for an old, dying method of communi- cations where 'the telephone company' is the be-all, end-all way of doing business. They have such a love affair with POTS; a system which won't die soon enough IMO. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Fritz Whittington Subject: Re: 911, Only Simple 911 at Best Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 20:48:24 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet On or about 2004-07-28 13:15, Mike Donnelly whipped out a trusty #2 pencil and scribbled: > charlie@cdsdetroit.com (charlie3) wrote in > news:telecom23.353.10@telecom-digest.org: >> Cell phones have been around for years and have similar >> problems to VOIP phones; more and more cell phones and VOIP >> phones are going into use and many will replace traditional >> copperline phones, regardless of 911 concerns. Public >> officials will find solutions to 911 calls originating from >> cell and internet phones. >> I'm simply no longer willing to pay for a 100 year old POTS >> phone when I can get five times the functionality and >> unlimited US minutes for a lower price from Vonage. With a >> cell phone for backup my internet phone does not have >> perform exactly like a traditional phone. > Hope you never need emergency services any time in the near > future. > BTW, what happens to VOIP when there is a power outage? Is there > anything similar to "lifeline service"? My 100 year old POTS phone > still works. I know because I have had to use it several times during > outages. > Mike Donnelly My POTS phones were out for 6 hours this morning, along with the electric service. That's because in my neighborhood, groups of a few blocks are served by an ONU (Optical Network Unit) in the alley. It's basically a mini-CO with a fiber connection back to the traditional CO. Done because there is so much demand for copper pairs that don't exist. (The upside is, I could have a great xDSL connection, since I'm only 300 feet from the CO. Downside is having to pay a one-time fee of $200 for SBC to install a DSL modem at the ONU.) In any case, this whole ONU CO runs off of the regular power lines, so if the transformer running it quits, so does your phone. Oddly, we still had battery on the line, because they use real batteries in the ONU so you don't get hum. But there's no dial tone. That's why we have one cell phone for each person in the house. Well, one of the reasons, anyway. ------------------------------ From: Chip G Subject: Vonage Compared to AT&T CallVantage? Organization: Comcast Online Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 21:00:25 GMT I recently received solicitation from AT&T to join their CallVantage program which appears to be similar to the Vonage offering. I am trying to decide which (if either to try). If you have experience with both of these and could provide commentary, I would truly appreciate your insights. Thank you, Chip [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: First of all, I do hand out Vonage e-coupons for a month of free service. I don't come anywhere close to earning a living from it, so I hope that does not cloud what I say here. But regards Vonage customer service, I have never caught them lying to me or trying to stall me or prod me for personal infor- mation. With AT&T on the other hand, with their audacious voicemail hell system (you never ever get the same rep twice), I have had them lie to me, pry for personal information, insist I did not know what I was talking about, tell me I did not know who my local phone company was or how much I had to pay, etc. They in most cases refuse to discuss their service unless you tell them your local phone number first (an unlimited, blanket plan should be an unlimited blanket plan; what difference does it make *who* my local carrier is), and they are just like SBC in the sense that one rep makes you promises on something then the next rep denies ever hearing of such a plan. Do as you wish, but for what little phone service I need these days, Vonage works just fine. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Chip G Subject: Anyone Using Avaya Communication Manager API? Organization: Comcast Online Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 21:00:26 GMT I am considering shifting my application development efforts from TSAPI to the new Avaya CMAPI since all of my business seems to be with Avaya switches lately. Does anyone have experience with the CMAPI? Please let me know what your take is on it. I know TSAPI works with multi-vendor systems and the CMAPI only works with Avaya but it seems like CMAPI opens up a lot of capability that I have wanted but not been able to get from TSAPI. Here is all the info I have found so far about the CMAPI. If you have any other info, please post it or send it to me. http://www1.avaya.com/enterprise/sig/devconnect/cmapi.html Thanks! Chip ------------------------------ From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Bare-Bones DNC Coverage Draws Lower Ratings Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 11:41:20 +0100 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I remember very well the 1952 > conventions, which were the first ones to be on television. We > had four TV channels in those days in Chicago (2-5-7-9) or maybe > it was 4-5-7-9, I don't remember, but in any event they had total > coverage on all four channels afternoon and evening sessions each > of the four days of the convention. There was nothing else to > watch even if you had wanted to. PAT] Pat, It looks as though station WBKB was on channel 4 around that time. I found this rather fascinating site on the history of TV in the Chicago area: www.chicagotelevision.com Regards, Paul [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, there was a channel 4 in Chicago in the early 1950's, and no channel 2. Then eventually Channel 2 started as WBBM-TV, and Channel 4 was taken away and given to the Milwaukee Journal newspaper where it became WTMJ and what had been on Channel 4 (WENR) then became WBKB; Balaban and Katz movie theatre chain) operating on Channel 7. Channel 5 remained on 5 as the NBC outlet in Chicago, and Channel 9 was (and still is) WGN, since the Chicago Tribune is and always was the (W)orld's (G)reatest (N)ews- paper. No one would hear of Channel 11 -PBS- (W)indow (T)o (T)he (W)orld for a few more years, until it went on the air about 1955 as an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry, broadcasting five or six hours from the auditorium of the museum Monday through Friday. A couple years prior to the 1952 politcal conventions which were full time coverage on all channels daily, they had a similar commotion on television daily on all channels for several *months* without interuption: the 1950 'Senator McCarthy Hearings'. Those damn things went on five days per week from about 9 AM Central to around 3 PM central time, with a break for lunch around noon central, at which point channel 9 would run 'Bozo Circus' for about 30-45 minutes then back to the McCarthy hearings. Joe McCarthy, as older readers will recall, was the deluded Republican Senator from Wisconsin who found 'Communists' everywere he looked and in his daily congressional hearings must have grilled and interogated every public servant in Washington, DC. His belief was everyone working for the federal government was either a 'Communist' or a homosexual or both which he said was often the case. One thing we could count on was McCarthy recessing his lurid Congressional hearings each day about 3 central/4 eastern when he grew bored and wanted to get on with his own life which meant going out to cruise all the gay bars (in those days) in Our Nation's Capitol. McCarthy and his foolishness has been well documented in many places. Then the television stations could get back to their regular programming. Poor Senator McCarthy ... deluded old man. When Channel 11 first started broadcasting they were on Monday to Friday only, I think a few hours each afternoon with classroom lessons for school kids. They were dark -- off the air -- on weekends with the exception of Sunday evening from 7:55 PM to 9:05 PM. They would turn on their power at 7:55 PM, play the National Anthem, and the announcer would give their call sign and say, "Now, this weeks program from Chicago Sunday Evening Club at Orchestra Hall." After that religious service ended at 9 PM, the same announcer would come back on and sign the station off the air with the obligitory announcements about station, owner, frequency, power, etc and again the National Anthem. They stayed at Museum of Science and Industry until the early or middle 1960's when one of their major patrons, Edward L. Ryerson, then chairman of Inland Steel Company gave them money to build the 'Edward Ryerson Television Center' on the campus of Northern Illinois University on the northwest side of Chicago. With their move to NIU and the Ryerson Television Center, WTTW went on the air full time and their original weekend program (Sunday Evening Club) is still with them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Rob Levandowski Subject: Re: How Does Vonage Sound Organization: MacWhiz Technologies Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 12:22:47 GMT In article , poepauv@yahoo.com (Ed Abbott) wrote: > I'm interested in finding out how clear phone calls are via VoIP. > Perhaps you would be willing to enlighten me. > Anyone else who has used VoIP who would like to chime in please do so. > I'm seriously thinking of going in this direction. In general, the audio quality is indistinguishable from a standard phone line. In some cases, it's better quality, because your analog "local loop" is six feet instead of a few miles. Vonage seems to have added a small amount of artificial noise since I first started using the service -- fewer people now wonder if I've hung up if I stop talking. However, I do have one complaint about the call quality. The echo cancelling is hit-or-miss. Some calls are just fine. Every once in a while, I'll have a call where I can hear the other party fine, but when I speak, my voice is echoed back to me on about a 0.75-second delay, sometimes at a loud volume. The other party doesn't hear this, but it sure can interrupt your train of thought. If it's really bad, hanging up and re-dialing usually fixes it. It seems more common on calls I place rather than calls I receive. I believe this is an artifact of the analog-to-digital devices that Vonage and its ilk use. When I worked for Global Crossing, we used the Cisco VoIP desk sets internally, and they had no such problem. Of course, you may also have call-quality issues if you're hammering your broadband line with other traffic. I understand the newer Vonage adapters are supposed to help with this. If your router supports any form of QoS, that may help you as well. I've also had difficulty getting timely technical support from Vonage. Thankfully, other than initial setup issues -- as the first person in my exchange, I got to discover that Vonage's CLEC and the ILEC hadn't set up call routing 'twixt each other right -- I've not had much need to get technical support. Rob Levandowski robl@macwhiz.com ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Dial 411 for a Category Search Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 07:23:29 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 16:16:53 -0400, Monty Solomon wrote: > Need a Florist in Freehold or Fort Worth? Dial 411 for a Category > Search > No Need to Ask for a Specific Listing; Operators Will Offer Choices > Based on the Business Category and Locality > NEWARK, N.J., July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Customers in New Jersey can now > dial Verizon's Local and National 411 and ask for a bookstore in > Morristown or a caterer in Cincinnati, without a specific name or > street address, using Verizon's Business Category Search service. > With the new service, customers can ask for a type of business in a > locality or city, and the Verizon operator will offer three choices > randomly selected from telephone listings for the area. T-Mobile's "T-Mobile connect" (411) service has had this service for a good while now. In addition they will connect your call to a local two state area included in the cost of the call in addition to normal airtime charges. They also include directory information for Canada as well. remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: PayPal Notice of Pendency of Class Action; Proposed Settlement Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 07:27:19 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 16:39:43 -0400, Telecom Digest Editor noted in response to Monty Solomon's posting: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I strongly recommend everyone with a > PayPal account review this class action settlement file. You might > very well wind up with **fifty dollars** credited to your Paypal > account, if you get to that site and can make certain statements > about your dealings with PalPal or PayPal Debit/Credit cards, etc. PAT] And as in other class action suits you can bet your bippy that the lawyers will buy a new Lexus with what *they* get. Class action suits only put a hardship on companies. The end "user" usually gets close to bupkes (zero.) remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Cell Phones Using Wi-Fi; How Will Hotspots Cope? Date: 29 Jul 2004 11:42:18 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Phil Earnhardt wrote: > Yesterday, Motorola announced a GSM phone that also works with Wi-Fi. > From the 7/27 Wall Street Journal: >> Motorola Inc. yesterday unveiled a phone that combines cellular >> and wireless Internet-calling capabilities. The device, called the >> CN620, which could be the first mobile phone that combines >> wide-area GSM cellular technology with shorter-range technology >> known as Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, could open the floodgates for >> users to steal away significant minutes from cellular networks >> and place free calls over the Internet. > I was talking with the owner of a local cafe that provides Wi-Fi for > its customers about this yesterday. I was wondering how these little > shops would cope with such phones when they start to become widely > available. Will they have to buy new base stations that will disable > their network for such devices? Start limiting bandwidth to each MAC > address? Do any reasonably-cheap base stations provide such > capabilites today? Any of the cheap base stations that have "firewalls" will do the job already. You can easily filter whatever port is being used. Already they should be filtering a lot of traffic to and from the outside, most notably forcing outgoing e-mail through a filtering server to prevent spammers from taking advantage of their services, and blocking the Microsoft network ports for security reasons. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: loft@pigeons.ws (Day Bird Loft) Subject: Re: Telecommunications: Blogs, Bloggers, and Blogging Date: 29 Jul 2004 09:39:03 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com New Drinking Game [ A little Humor ] Thanks to the Telcom post yesterday [ see below ] Net Fusion has come up with a new game on counting the number of times blog is used in their article. see http://www.nwfusion.com/weblogs/layer8/005801.html#005801 Cheers :-) Telcom Post 28 July 04 loft@pigeons.ws (Day Bird Loft) wrote in message news:: > Telecommunications: Blogs, Bloggers, and Blogging > From newspapers to television shows, from small business to the > world's largest corporations, and from religion to politics, everyone > is riding the blog power sphere. > WASHINGTON DC (IPR Wire) 28 July 2004 --- With the coming of age in > blogging, people can demonstrate strength in numbers. > With the power of blogs it is apparent that it's time for personal > knowledge to be recorded and published. > In the past five years, blogs have gone from the backroom to the > boardroom. More recently during the previous six months, blogs have > begun to dominate the information highway. Lately, blogs have become > the mainstay of grassroots' politics. > However, on the subject of blogging, one might ask "What about > business applications?" According to Hans Schnauber, Internet Web > Guru, "Blogs are the future of online business . . . they are a > structure of communication that will change the way people come > together." > Mr. Schnauber stated "With news articles in the press appearing hourly > on the subject of blogs, it is time for everyone to join the power of > blogging, the power of numbers, the power of the people. Blogs can > revolutionize the web and blogging presents an opportunity for social > networking in topics where knowledge and innovation play an important > role." > After discovering in 2001 that hyphens work great for blog technology, > Mr. Schnauber waited patiently and then began registering more than > six thousand blogs on Blogger (Google's free service) and as a result > has created the world's largest mega-blog. > The mega-blog guarantees that everybody will be treated equally and > without favoritism. It is a proven formula that assures every person a > voice in the future. > As an 1998 ISOC nominee, he has centered the focal point of the > mega-blog on subjects that span business, education, and politics. > With Google's free Blogger and Feedburner service, it is time for > everyone to register their own blog and connect to friends, family, > and familiar faces. > Business blogs include: http://auto-dealers.blogspot.com, > http://corporate-law.blogspot.com, and > http://newspaper-publishers.blogspot.com > Educational blogs include: http://business-schools.blogspot.com, > http://law-schools.blogspot.com, and > http://state-university.blogspot.com > Political blogs include: http://democratic-party.blogspot.com, > http://republican-party.blogspot.com, and > http://election-coverage.blogspot.com > Mr. Schnauber will reveal his plans for the global mega-blog in the > upcoming Fall of 2004. > Many will remember this cunning individual as the driving force in the > domain name craze utilizing hyphenated domains and registering > thousands of names at a price of $100 per domain. > Telecommunications: Blogs, Bloggers, and Blogging > see: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb144837.htm > Technology Editor / IPR Wire > http://iprwire.net ------------------------------ From: David O. Rodriguez Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 11:38:56 -0500 Subject: New Jersey Labor Board Page for NorVergence Employees This may now be old news, but the following link is a page that was set up by the New Jersey Labor and Workforce Development Department exclusively for (former) NorVergence employees. http://www.state.nj.us/labor/press/2004/0707NorvRapidResponse.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 14:53:35 -0500 From: jmayson@nyx.net Subject: Problem With Recycled Cell-Phone Numbers Organization: Nyx Net, The Spirit of the Night http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article838263.ece A 16-year-old Hokksund girl has received text messages meant for Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and is constantly being called by journalists. She says she has been tempted to pretend to be the PM's secretary, but so far has just fielded the calls with a smile, newspaper Drammens Tidende reports. John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Interesting Origins Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 10:05:50 +0300 Organization: Elisa Internet customer Lisa Minter wrote: > Thus, it was quite > literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." An expression I've always liked even better -- because very very few people have ever heard it before -- is 'as cold as Blue Flujin'. It comes from a Herman Melville novel called _White Jacket_, and refers to a far-away (i.e., mythical) place where it is so cold that even _fire_ freezes! Cheers, Henry ------------------------------ From: adamsjac@telcordia.com (Jack Adams) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Interesting Origins - Ship High In Transit Date: 29 Jul 2004 11:58:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Yet another interesting origin of a phrase, this time as reported in Harry Newton's Telecommunication Dictionary: Edited for brevity ... In the 16th and 17th centuries, most things were shipped by boat. Among the products so shipped was dried manure (tightly bailed) as commercial manufactured fertilizers weren't yet invented. Shipping it dry reduced its weight yet produced another problem. Once the bails of manure got wet, the fermentation process started with the byproduct of methane gas (highly flammable). Several accidents occurred as the result of bails of manure being stowed low in the hold of the ship and getting wet due to water in the low part of the ship. These accidents usually occurred when a crewman decended into the hold with a lantern ... ka BOOM! Investigations soon revealed that these manure bail should be kept out of the water, or on the upper or higher decks. The labeling used on the bails was Ship High In Transit, which became S.H.I.T., which became .... Lisa Minter wrote in message news:: > A few thousand years agom as incredible as it sounds, men and women > took baths only twice a year (May and October)! Women kept their hair > covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and > wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They > couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf > of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The > heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig." > Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig" because someone > appears to be or is powerful and wealthy. > In more recent years, common entertainment included playing > cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards > but only applicable to the "Ace of Spades." To avoid paying the tax, > people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require > 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they > weren't "playing with a full deck." > In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters > carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It > was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to > prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method > devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on > four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 > cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the > cannon. There was only one problem ... how to prevent the bottom layer > from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a > metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations. > However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly > rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass > Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and > much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature > dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the > iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite > literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." (All > this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you.) ------------------------------ From: Bill Turlock Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Interesting Origins Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 14:19:57 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Lisa Minter wrote: > A few thousand years agom as incredible as it sounds, men and women > took baths only twice a year (May and October)! Women kept their hair > covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and > wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They > couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf > of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The > heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig." > Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig" because someone > appears to be or is powerful and wealthy. > In more recent years, common entertainment included playing > cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards > but only applicable to the "Ace of Spades." To avoid paying the tax, > people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require > 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they > weren't "playing with a full deck." > In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters > carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It > was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to > prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method > devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on > four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 > cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the > cannon. There was only one problem ... how to prevent the bottom layer > from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a > metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations. > However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly > rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass > Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and > much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature > dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the > iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite > literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." (All > this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you.) http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well I found this rather incredible and hard to believe but some plumbers in speaking about the process of inserting air pressure into old, clogged up lime encrusted hot water pipes to make them a little more useable refer to the process of blasting air pressure into the pipes as 'giving a blow job' (!! ?) PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. 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