From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Oct 10 16:30:55 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i9AKUs721541; Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:30:55 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:30:55 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200410102030.i9AKUs721541@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 #480 TELECOM Digest Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:29:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 480 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Anti-Kerry Film Slated to Air on Eve of Election (Monty Solomon) Wireless and Wi-fi Definitions (Bob) B&K Precision Dynascan Corporation 1045 Telephone Tester (Fred Atkinson) FXS to FXO Idea (Alex Wright) Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? (Bob Goudreau) Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? (Lisa Hancock) Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response = T911 (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response = T911 (Rick Merrill) Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response (Lisa Hancock) Re: Wanted: I Will Pay Up To $150 For Used Cell Phone! (Ray Normandeau) Re: Why There's no DNS or Comparable Distributed Naming Service (Devils) Solar Eclipse to Start Thursday, But End on Wednesday! (Lisa Minter) 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: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 14:20:51 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Anti-Kerry film slated to air on eve of election TV PROGRAM By Elizabeth Jensen, Los Angeles Times | October 10, 2004 NEW YORK -- The conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group , whose television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days before the Nov. 2 election to air a film that attacks Senator John F. Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War, network and station executives familiar with the plan said Friday. Sinclair's programming plan, communicated to executives in recent days and coming in the thick of a close and intense presidential race, is highly unusual even in a political season that has been marked by media controversies. Sinclair has told its stations -- many of them in political swing states such as Ohio and Florida -- to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," sources said. The film, funded by Pennsylvania veterans and produced by a veteran and former Washington Times reporter, features former POWs accusing Kerry -- a decorated Navy veteran turned war protester -- of worsening their ordeal by prolonging the war. Sinclair will preempt regular prime-time programming from the networks to show the film, which may be classified as news programming, according to TV executives familiar with the plan. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2004/10/10/anti_kerry_film_slated_to_air_on_eve_of_election/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However they wish to classify it is their business, *however* they should recall the law which requires stations to grant equal time to opposing viewpoints. This is taken so seriously that back when Reagan was running for president most stations would not even play real old Ronald Reagan Hollywood movies during the month or so immediatly before the election, as silly as that may have seemed, since there was always the possibility of the other candidates -- the Democratic challenger -- insisting upon, and having to be given, under the law, equal time. And if there was that possibility, regards Reagan's old Hollywood stuff, what do you think the chances are for it in present time if the stations show a sort of one-sided documentary deliberatly opposing Kerry? PAT] ------------------------------ From: bob_peterson@rediffmail.com (Bob) Subject: Wireless and Wi-fi Definitions Date: 10 Oct 2004 10:44:39 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Do wi-fi and wireless technology mean the same thing? I referred to Google for the answers but almost all the sites explaining these terms use it synonymously and hence adding the confusion? Greetings, Bob ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: B&K Precision Dynascan Corporation 1045 Telephone Product Tester Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 09:20:32 -0400 Yesterday, I got my hands on a B&K Precision Dyanscan Corporation 1045 Telephone Product Tester. I fired it up and most of it is self explanatory, but there are a couple of features on it I can't seem to make work. I've looked on the Web site and am not able to find any documentation or other information on it. Is anyone here familiar with it? Does anyone know URLs where there is information about it? There are two features on it that I cannot make work. One is the 'Dialed Number Display, which always displays a zero. I plugged a telephone into the test jack and punched the touch tone pads, but the display still always shows a zero rather than shows the numbers I dialed. Another feature on it is the Ringer Levels. I pushed them while the phone was plugged into it, but the phone never rang. I assume it is supposed to send ring generator to the phone but I can't be sure. Ringer Levels has tow buttons on it marked Low and Normal. The the left of the low button there Reset is there in black lettering. I got it at a hamfest and the gentleman that sold it was getting rid of a couple of items from his workbench. He told me that as far as he knew it still worked though he hadn't used it in quite a while. Any information about this box would be appreciated. = Fred ------------------------------ From: alexwright321@altavista.com (Alex Wright) Subject: FXS to FXO Idea Date: 10 Oct 2004 01:56:32 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have an idea of a VOIP gateway box. I guess you would call it that. I don't think this device exist yet. You could call from your cell phone or another local number to your VOIP line. It would pickup and give you a fake ring to enter an access code. After the correct access code, you would get get a simulated dial tone or beep. Then you would enter the long distance number you want to call. The voip line would then use three-way calling to call the number you just entered. When your done with the connected call you could punch a special tone sequency to disconnect all connections. This would be a way to make a free long distance call from a cell maybe that you can make free local calls on. Also, when you fist call in and don't enter the special security access code to use the device after so many seconds. The device would trigger the other house phones to ring like normal. Maybe this could be done with a modem and software? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, these devices do exist, and are marketed under various names such as 'Call Extenders' or 'WATS Extenders' ('WATS' = Wide Area Telephone Service, an early form of unlimited long distance calling.) A telephone line going in, and a telephone line going out the other direction, with a control box in the middle, which acts like a gate, requiring a passcode, supplying a bogus dialtone on answer to start with. They've been around for maybe thirty years, and were quite popular when cell phones had not yet been invented, or were quite high-priced, and when long distance calls were so expensive most business places had to have one or more WATS lines. The idea was you could go to a payphone, and for one thin dime be able to call your office (on a local number) then use the company's WATS line. A couple of different factors largely put the 'extender' (and WATS lines) out of business: The cost of long distance calls being so neglible now, and cell phones being so plentiful. No business person needs to go to the trouble of an intermediary (which is what the Call- or WATS-extenders were) in the line. I think you can still find them around, on E-Bay for example, or maybe a reader here has one they feel like parting with. So many features we used to need them for (three way calling, call waiting, other features) not present in the old crossbar system are now available in ESS. I think thats the main reason (plus very inexpensive long distance) you don't see them commonly available any longer. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 00:02:48 -0400 [Please withhold my email address as usual.] 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). Er, no, it's not really that difficult. The caveat you quoted warns of the difficulty of comparing the fatality rates *between* one OECD country and another. But the topic under discussion is nothing of the sort. Rather, it's the comparison of the rate *within* one country (Australia, in this case) over a period of time that encompassed rail privatization. Just a bit further down the page, the report states: "In the period from 1980 to 1999 in Australia, the number of railway accident deaths per 100,000 population each year trended downwards - from 0.4 in 1980 to 0.2 in 1999." Cheers, Bob Goudreau Cary, NC ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Pennsylvania Railroad's Crew Communication System? Date: 9 Oct 2004 21:32:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Bob Goudreau wrote: > 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. I am not an expert on the British situation, and I don't know about safety statistics. However, I have several contacts in England and they consistently and emphatically report that train service quality had signficantly deteriorated under privitization. > Contrary to the popular perception of the uninformed, the US airline > industry did not become more dangerous after airline deregulation in > the late 1970s; the fatality rate per passenger-mile continued (and > still continues) to decline. I am not aware of any accusations that flying under deregulation (or the continuing FAA troubles) is less safe. What there _are_ many complaints is that flying is less convenient, reliabile, and uncomfortable. There are constant newspaper reports of airlines scheduling an impossible number of flights to leave in too small a window at major airports like Chicago O'Hare. The govt keeps pushing them to work out a better arrangement but nothing seems to get done. Before the traffic downturn of 9/11 airlines had to deal with riots at ticket gates from frustrated passengers. > Likewise, blood-covered highways were predicted by some of the more > strident "safety Nazis" when the 55 mph national speed limit was > loosened to 65 mph in the mid-1980s and then rescinded entirely a > decade later (which let states return to setting their own limits, > most of which have reverted to 70 or 75 mph). Yet the US fatality > rate per vehicle-mile traveled has continued the long secular > decline that began in the early part of the 20th century. The fatality rate is only one of several measures of highway danger. There is also an overall accident rate and an injury rate. In New Jersey, the state closely watched a highway where the speed limit went up. The fatality rate actually went down-- but from 1 to 0--obviously statistically insignificant. However, the accident severity (damages) and injuries did go up. There are multiple reasons for the decline in highway fatalities. One is aggressive enforcement of drunk driving which is a major cause. Another is aggressive demand for use of seat belts--lack of which is another major cause. Lastly, cars continue to get safer as more and more cars equipped with airbags and things like anti-lock brakes get on the roads. >> We may end up with govt owned airlines given how so many are bankrupt. > ... But such foreclosed assets are usually auctioned off by the > government, not reconstituted as government-run agencies. There are > successful airlines that would be happy to pick up such assets at > bargain prices, after all. Often the auction sale proceeds of a bankruptcy bring in far less than the book value of the collateral. Another loss the govt is facing is picking up the obligation of airline pension funds. According to Newsweek recently, it is at least $10 million from current problems, and may reach as high as $40 million if other troubled airlines don't clean up their act. Many people point to Southwest Air as the model other airlines should follow to be cost-efficient. I question whether that model would work for others. IMHO, SW does well because it flies in specific niche markets and focuses on low costs. If it grew too big or had to serve more expensive cities, its costs would grow steeply. Indeed, it already ran into labor problems when it introduced service in a new bigger city since the cost of living in that city was higher than its other bases and its employees there understandably needed more money. IMHO, the airline industry will only solve with either big govt subsidies (which I think are forthcoming, perhaps by "forgiven loans" or defaulted ground rents as US Air did in Pgh), or by sharply increased fares and reduced service. Getting a plane up in the air is not cheap no matter how tight an operation is. The psgr railroads suffered partly because airlines, benefiting from government built terminals and traffic control, took traffic away fro the railroads. But no competition* is taking traffic away from the airlines. (*There is some teleconferencing, but face-to-face is still needed to properly conduct business and supervise operations.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Whether or not privately owned businesses are more or less safe than government owned facilities is usually detirmined by *which* government entity operates the facility or *which* private enterprise owns it. Some people make the incorrect assumption that *all* government is by nature good, and *all* business is by nature bad. But let's consider Chicago as an example of 'good government': The city took over public housing (Chicago Housing Atrocity) in 1941 after several social workers insisted people needed decent *short term* housing to live in. Today, 2004 and for the past several years, the CHA has been under federal government 'receivership' because the corruption and political chicanary were so deep rooted no one could clear it out. Some residents of CHA have lived in public housing for *years*, and the crime rate on CHA property is astronomical. In 1945, political reformers said the transit system had to be taken over the same way instead of the several independent companies we had running our various busses and trains. From five cent fares, on-time busses and trains and street cars which had snow plows attached to the front of them in winter weather to clean the streets we evolved to the present system in place today, a chronically cash-starved, very corrupt system where all sorts of political hacks who can find no place else to work get jobs - The Chicago Transit Atrocity. (what are your job qualifications to work here? Well, my father is a friend of our local councilman.) Oh, and don't forget the degree of filth and decay the rapid transit stations and the level of crime. Our parks, always a place of beauty and relative safety, changed where the 'safe' part was concerned when the Chicago Park District Police Force was taken over by the Chicago Police in the 1940's. And I do not have to tell you how bad the public school system in Chicago has become. So a few years ago, when Mayor Daley got a chip on his shoulder and tried to 'municipalize' Edison electric facilities, people responded, "that's just great! The same bunch of politicans and crooks who run the transit system (CTA), the public housing system (CHA), the public schools, the parks, etc are now going to be taking over the nuclear power plant as well" ... Daley sat there with a straight look on his face (while the rest of us snickered) and said "But this time its going to be different". The Tribune said "yeah sure, it will be different this time (snicker)" and a couple of the **LARGE** companies and industries in Chicago said point blank "the day the city takes over Edison is the day we split town, period.". The Chicago Tribune said succinctly, "the very idea of city of Chicago taking over the nuke station for our power scares the beejeezus out of us." Maybe an honest and diligent government can run some of those things, but until I see an honest and diligent government I will stick with privitazation, thank you. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response = T911 Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 03:19:09 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications > Maybe what is needed is a T911 - TEST 911 - that would permit on-site > verification that the location is correct! - RM Most E911 administrators will let you make a "real" call at a quiet time of the day provided you first call the center on their 7-digit number and set up a "test" call. ------------------------------ From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response = T911 Organization: Comcast Online Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 12:32:19 GMT Al Gillis wrote: > 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. Dont' try that in Massachusetts: MA law requires that the police pay a visit to ANY 911 or E911 call no matter what! They can be mighty "testy" about it. - RM > 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: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: 911 Address Display Delays Police Response Date: 9 Oct 2004 20:37:18 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [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. Yes, this is an increasing problem with more sophisticated telephone systems. Telephone administrators may be far, far away setting these things up and not even thinking about local needs. Also, sometimes outward lines are from a special battery of numbers. > 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] When our mgmt company went to a Centrex, I checked our office and pool phone to ensure they registered the right address on 911. They did and 911 was very helpful in checking. Of course, when we had a community president who felt the pool phone was being abused she had it taken out to save money. A great example of _literally_ 'penny smart dollar foolish'. Fortunately we had no emergencies while the phone was out. This president was proud of her no-fee-increase budget, but then she was thrown out of office by a community angry over deferred and neglected maintenance. The pool phone was restored. But at first it was in locked cabinet which would be bad if there was an emergency. Now it is open. The issue is kind of moot now since so many people have cell phones, but at least we have a phone. We used to get a lot of requests for a pay phone but Bell told us we wouldn't have enough use to pay for it and have to make up the difference. ------------------------------ From: rayta@msn.com (Ray Normandeau) Subject: Re: Wanted: I Will Pay You Up To $150 For Your Used Cell Phone! Date: 9 Oct 2004 23:23:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com c.huckaby@gmail.com (Charles) wrote in message news:: > I desperately need working, late model USED CELL PHONES! > I will pay shipping and up to $150 per cell phone depending on make > and model! > Details: http://www.cell2cash.com > Thanks. Too bad they don't have my SPCS phones listed. They are the original TouchPoints. I have three with chargers and batteries. Took out of service in August. Pix at http://nyc.smugmug.com/gallery/191830 a few other things there also. Good Email there. NYC delivery or PICK UP only. I am not a dealer. MSN addy no good. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Why There's no DNS or Comparable Distributed Naming Service Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 01:51:34 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Ariel.Burbaickij@web.de wrote: > Could someone explain to me why there is no such service as DNS/whois > towards it in SS7 network? After all, we have exactly same concerns > here (distributed and independent administration of different subsets > of address space, mapping must be often provided between pointcodes > (numerical address) and its current owner), so why it was decided not > to do it this way but instead some arcane lists are distributed by ITU > exclusively? The internet didn't start out with DNS either -- Or BGP even, everybody distributed routing tables and changes manually. As neat as DNS on phones would be, it would be extremely difficult to implement at this stage, and with LNP becoming a reality in the US (and possibly elsewhere as time goes on) it's less important (from an end user point of view.) -- This signature was randomly selected ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Solar Eclipse to Start Thursday, End Wednesday! Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 18:07:25 EDT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This message was intended to go out Saturday, and it did in the Digest, but it got very badly mangled up by premature release on Usenet, so it is being re-released today. PAT] 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. ------------------------------ 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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