From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Oct 9 22:45:23 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9A2jNI13374; Sat, 9 Oct 2004 22:45:23 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 22:45:23 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410100245.i9A2jNI13374@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 #479 TELECOM Digest Sat, 9 Oct 2004 22:45:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 479 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Solar Eclipse to Start Thursday, End Wednesday! (Lisa Minter) Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response (Al Gillis) Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? (David Clayton) Re: Vonage Upgrades Local Unlimited Calling Plan to Premium (Dave Close) Re: VOIP Home Connection (Rick Merrill) Re: Multipled Pairs: (was: VOIP Home Connection) (Tony P.) 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Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lisa Minter Subject: Solar Eclipse to Start Thursday, End Wednesday! Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 18:07:25 EDT Today, Joe Rao, tells us about an unusual event: A partial solar eclipse will take place next week, oddly ending the day before it begins. The eclipse will be visible, weather permitting, from northeastern portions of Asia, including all of Japan, northeastern Mongolia and China, and much of Siberia. Since these regions are located to the west of the International Date Line, the eclipse will take place Thursday, Oct. 14. To the east of the Date Line, however, the calendar date is Oct. 13. And it will be those lucky skywatchers who live in the western half of Alaska that will be able to see the final moments of the eclipse, when it reaches a spectacular peak just as the Sun sets beyond the west-southwest horizon late Wednesday afternoon. The eclipse will start on Oct. 14, but it will end on the *previous* day! It is the second partial solar eclipse of 2004. In the first one, on April 19, the lower-third of Africa saw the new Moon partially eclipse the Sun. What will happen? The dark shadow cone of the Moon is known as the umbra, and it is what can create the grand spectacle of a total eclipse. But this time, the umbra will completely miss the Earth, passing less than 140 miles (220 kilometers) above the North Pole and out into space. Meanwhile, the Moon's outer shadow (known as the penumbra), from where the Moon will appear to partially eclipse the Sun, will slice into a part of the Northern Hemisphere. Partial solar eclipses are usually shunned by professional astronomers because they lack the drama and beauty of a total solar eclipse. Yet the setup affords many people the opportunity to view firsthand the dark disk of the Moon crossing in front of the Sun. A partial eclipse, whether or not it leads to totality or annularity, offers a wonderful opportunity to experience the magic of astronomy," writes Philip Harrington in Eclipse!(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997). The details: The point of greatest eclipse lies near the town of Kenai (southwest of Anchorage). There, 92.7 percent of the Sun's diameter will be eclipsed at local sunset. Other Alaskan towns, including Kotzebue (91.2 percent), Nome (91.4 percent)and Bethel (92.4 percent) will also see the Sun disappear beyond the horizon while still deep into the eclipse. Because such a large fraction of the Sun will be covered by the Moon for these locations, an eerie 'counterfeit twilight' may appear to fall over the landscape just prior to sunset. Those living across the eastern half of Alaska (except the Southeast Coast) will see eclipse's opening stages up until local sunset. This eclipse will not be visible from virtually any part of Canada (save for a fleeting glimpse for that part of the Yukon Territory immediately bordering Alaska) or any part of the 48 contiguous United States. But for those living in Hawaii, the Moon will appear to obscure about half of the Sun's disk on Wednesday afternoon. The Moon's passage across the Sun will result in a large bite on the Sun's right-hand side, making for a most unusual looking tropical sunset! ** Be very, very careful ** about the precautions for eclipse viewing. ** Never ** look at even a tiny bit of the Sun's disc unless you are using a proper filtration device, such as #14 welder's glass or aluminized Mylar plastic to protect your eyes. Eclipse glasses from reputable astronomy-product dealers are also safe. And there are other safe methods for indirectly viewing an eclipse. The upcoming eclipse will be visible, weather permitting, from northeastern portions of Asia, including all of Japan, northeastern Mongolia and China, and much of Siberia. Since these regions are located to the west of the International Date Line, it is already Thursday when the eclipse begins. There is more in store later this month. A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible from most of the Americas and Western Europe on Oct. 27. The next solar eclipse will be an unusual "hybrid" eclipse -- annular, part total -- on April 8, 2005 chiefly over the Pacific Ocean. However, those living across portions of the southern and eastern U.S. will be able to see a partial solar eclipse. Local viewing circumstances: The table below provides local viewing circumstances of the eclipse for ten cities and has been calculated by astronomer Fred Espenak of the NASA Space Flight Center. For China, Japan and Korea, this is a late-morning to midday event occurring on Oct. 14. For Anchorage and Honolulu, however, this is a late-afternoon/early evening event on October 13. In addition, sunset will intervene at these two locations, so the end of the eclipse will not be visible because it will occur after the Sun has set. Magnitude refers to the percentage of the Sun's diameter that will be obscured at maximum eclipse. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Channel 12 Westchester, New York. ------------------------------ From: Al Gillis Subject: Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response = T911 Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 18:03:30 -0700 Rick Merrill wrote in message news:telecom23.478.4@telecom-digest.org: > Wesrock@aol.com wrote: >> --- From The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for October > 8, 2004 >> Dispatch error leads police astray >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is unfortunate, but not unusual, >> since it would appear the bank branch was on the *bank's* telephone >> system (sort of like a foreign exchange on the bank's centrex) instead >> of on the *Albertson's* phone system. Of course there is no guarentee >> that the Albertson's phone system was not part of some phone system at >> Albertson's headquarters instead of based out of that local store as >> well. So this should be a good lesson to the telecom adminstrators in >> our readership. Make certain all *critical* phones at locations other >> than your main, directory-listed business location are correctly >> listed in 911 databases, etc. PAT] > Maybe what is needed is a T911 - TEST 911 - that would permit on-site > verification that the location is correct! - RM Well, I test my E-911 accuracy about once a year. I've got about 12 buildings at different street addresses all dialing their 911 calls through set of one main PBX trunks (it's a Nortel 81c with numerous Carrier Remotes as well as some OPX locations). I used to call a pal of mine at the PSAP a day or so ahead of these tests just to warn them we'd be doing it. When she retired I couldn't find anyone else at the PSAP who seemed to care, so now we just start calling. On the first couple of calls each year we have to explain what we're doing -- after that it's just call, confirm that they have the correct street address on their screen and then say "Thank you!". Al [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: City of Independence seems to take it as a serious matter. Maybe that is because the PSAP for sheriff and police are in the same room (although on different phones as the 911 lines. Whenever they get an order to adjust their data base for same, they *always* follow up with a letter send *exactly to the address specified* asking 'is this correct? is this the address to which we are expected to respond?' Someone has to sign, date and return the letter to the PSAP agency, *then* it gets taken off of pending status in the data base. Later, in case of an emergency, although they do not get the full compliment of details they get with 911. a caller ID unit gives them something to go by. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 08:49:35 +1000 Bob Goudreau contributed the following: > [Please withhold my email address as usual.] > Lisa Hancock wrote: >> David Clayton wrote: >>> Of course, I won't mention that a lot of these things seemed to have >>> happened since the state privatised the train system about 10 years ago. >> There are elements in the U.S. in think privitizing Amtrak will be >> more efficient. They ignore the many experiences of the above in the >> United Kingdom and other countries... > Actually, it is the persistent critics of such privatizations that > tend to conveniently ignore what actually happened. For example, > neither Britain nor Australia has seen a decline in rail safety since > privatization of various elements of their railway systems, contrary > to the statist party line. See > http://www.cts.cv.imperial.ac.uk/documents/publications/iccts00410.pdf > and http://www.atsb.gov.au/rail/pdf/fatalities_international.pdf, for > instance. And to quote a paragraph from the ATSB document: "The ATSB is currently unable to present rail fatality data from the OECD countries in terms of a rate that enables comparisons while taking account of the different levels of rail activity in each country. This is because reliable and internationally consistent activity data for rail transport in the OECD countries are not currently available." So in reality it's difficult to currently prove the argument one way or the other (at least in Australia). Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience. ------------------------------ From: dave@compata.com (Dave Close) Subject: Re: Vonage Upgrades Local Unlimited Calling Plan to Premium Date: 9 Oct 2004 13:51:47 -0700 Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California markrobt@comcast.net (Mark Roberts) writes: > On your PCS, you should be able to dial them as 10 digits. On both > SPCS and ATTWS, I am routinely able to dial all calls without the '1'. I know, but I /can/ dial them as 11 digits. Doing so makes the dialing plan common with all my other lines. > I never thought I would advocate this, but the time may have come > simply to require *all* calls to be dialed with 10 digits, thus > dispensing with the '1'. IMHO, that isn't thinking sufficiently far ahead. While most NANP telcos treat the leading 1 as a number format indicator (an area code follows), and some treat it as a toll indicator, it is also the international country code for North America. The trend toward making all NANP calls "local" is only a preview of the day when all calls, to any country in the world, will also be "local". When that day arrives, it will make no more sense to dial 011 before a country code that it does now to dial 1 before the area code. We should simply dial all calls with their full international number, country code + area code + local number. It may be convenient for those of us in the NANP to just continue to dial the 1 now in preparation for that day. Eliminating the 1 now only to have to reinstate it later would only be confusing. Of course, dialing calls with the full number would have some conflicts with special numbers. 411 would go to Switzerland, for example. (And 911 would go to India. Perhaps by then it will, if we outsource the call centers.) Maybe we should begin an effort to transition special numbers to *+ or #+. If the FCC can mandate the obsolescence of all analog television receivers, then why not also obsolete pulse dialing? Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "You can't go to Windows Update dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 and get a patch for stupidity." dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu -- Kevin Mitnick ------------------------------ From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: VOIP Home Connection Organization: Comcast Online Date: Sat, 09 Oct 2004 21:19:13 GMT ... unless the VoIP adapter manufacturers wise up > and start making their boxes power a normal complement of phones in a > home (at least 5 REN), there's going to be a market for add-on ringing > current boosters ... What is the REN of a DVG 1120M ? "They" "don't know." I think it is 3. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Multipled Pairs: (was: VOIP Home Connection) Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 09 Oct 2004 21:39:43 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just to elaborate a little on what > Mr. Bonomi said, *no one*, in a residence setting in those days had > two telephone lines in their homes. Extensions, yes, *additional > lines*, no. In fact, during World War II, Bell went around and asked > their subscribers to give up their extensions (voluntary, did not > require it) in order that people who did not have any phone service at > all could have an instrument, and service to go with it. Western > Electric had been nationalized for the duration as part of the War > Effort in 1942, through sometime in early 1946. No more manufacturing > for Bell! Being that Bell never manufactured a thing that part is hard to believe. When you consider that Western Electric was a captive manufacturing arm, then everything makes sense. Duing the war years Western Electric did lots of manufacturing of things like communications systems and radar systems. But the biggest detriment to residential service was the need for copper. Munitions manufacture used up lots of copper. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well what I meant to say was (in a longer form) the US Government took over Western Electric for its own needs during World War II, and used its output production totally and exclusively for the war effort. Its one 'customer' -- Bell -- was shut out of any production output. Bell was unable to obtain *any* phones or other telephone parts for the next 3.5 years. Everyone *knows* that Bell did not manufacture anything on its own; that about 99.9 percent of its 'products' came from Western Electric, but thanks for making the correction. 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'. 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