From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Nov 6 21:24:41 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iA72Ofi14239; Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:24:41 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:24:41 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200411070224.iA72Ofi14239@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 #534 TELECOM Digest Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:24:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 534 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson HELP: Vonage Problem After Installation (Iluv) Microsoft in the Telephony Middle Again (Lisa Minter) Movie Studios to Sue Internet File Traders (Lisa Minter) File-Sharing Network Thrives Beneath the Radar (Lisa Minter) "We're From the Government"; NSA Recs Securing Mac OS X (Danny Burstein) Idaho Settles Modest Court Case Against fax.com (Danny Burstein) Looking For Billing Systems Information (Sam) List of All Handphone From Major Manufacturers (Anonymous Netter) Re: New Electronic Check Law Sinks 'Float' (Joseph) Re: Prepaid Questions [was Re: How to Make Right Call] (John Levine) Re: Prepaid Questions [was Re: How to Make Right Call] (Joseph) Re: Coffeyville Junior College and Channel 4 (Tony P.) Last Laugh! Much Excitement Around Here Today (TELECOM Digest Editor) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: luvtopost@yahoo.com (Iluv) Subject: Help: Vonage Problem After Installation Date: 6 Nov 2004 09:05:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hey guys, I just got the Vonage service. They sent me a box with the Linksys Router. The installation was pretty simple. Now, I have one big problem. I used an RJ-11 to connect from the Linksys Phone Line port to a phone line port on the wall of my bedroom. The other phones in my bedrooms and kitchen (which all have a phone wall jack) will ring only once when I try to dial my new number from my personal cell phone to test the incoming calls as if someone from outside calling to my house. Incoming calls will only ring once and then dead silence. Outgoing doesn't seem to be a problem as I can call my friends. Any ideas on what to do? I've already set it to tone (not pulse) as Vonage mentioned in the brochure. Basically, all I want to do is use my phones throughout the house for incoming and outgoing calls. Please assist. Thanks. PS: I have only one phone number(line). [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Whatever you do, *** get that Vonage adapter box disconnected from the telephone line immediatly ***. NEVER hook a Vonage adapter box into a phone outlet _until all phone lines are disconnected at the demarc or the main terminal where they come into your house_. That will probably fry the Vonage box totally, and if it has not yet, I would be quite surprised. The reason your phone rings one time then goes dead is due to this problem. Stop right now and make sure Vonage and your telephone line do NOT see or come in contact with each other. They obviously are somewhere in your house. Make sure there is _NO_ short on the line. Try it first only between the Vonage adapter box and a phone plugged in there. Having the Vonage phone on touch tone instead of rotary is important, but for a different reason (Vonage does not recognize pulse dialing). Your main thing right now is get that thing disconnected from the wall box until you make sure the wall boxes are all working and *disconnected everywhere* from any Bell lines, eitehr alive or (in theory) 'dead'. Then let us know how it works. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Microsoft in the Telephony Middle Again Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 15:18:06 EST What's the idea behind Microsoft's new Live Communications Server client 'Istanbul' at the recent 'Voice on the Net' show? An IP-based, enterprise software end point that knows which of your friends and colleagues are available at any given time, and on which devices. This upgrade of the Windows Messenger instant messaging client also improves its voice and video delivery and offers APIs to vendors that want to add their endpoints, conferencing bridges, media servers and application servers. It also allows a geographically dispersed work force to all huddle over the same Microsoft Office documents and applications as they speak into microphones or IP phones or as they chat into boxes. This sounds familiar to anyone who's kept up with the IP PBX market. In terms of its goals, Microsoft is offering what all the major PBX vendors have come out with over the past 18 months. All have worked presence and instant messaging into their VOIP (voice-over-IP) and hybrid phone systems, for anyone who wants to buy the extra server. They all let you scale from chat to voice to video. What I haven't seen these vendors do, of course, is imbed the IM interface so that it can be launched from within applications. But this appears, to me, to be a relatively small advantage. Within Avaya, Nortel, Mitel or Alcatel systems, for example, document and app sharing is a matter of a few more clicks. And insofar as their systems are SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), these voice switches should also be able to communicate with the world of Windows XP users, whether using enterprise Windows Messenger or consumer MSN Messenger. The Instanbul and LCS announcements also sound somewhat familiar to anyone with sufficient Windows and telecom memory. Since Harry Newton first coined (or borrowed) the name "computer telephony" and promoted an industry in which standard computers could direct the making and taking of phone calls, Windows has wanted a big piece of that action. Many open-system PBXs were built to run on Windows NT 4. Many still run on Windows 2003. Windows drivers were written for the telephony boards from Dialogic (now part of Intel) and NMS and Brooktrout that performed the actual call singling and media functions in the PC-based PBX platforms. TAPI, Microsoft's Telephony API, provided the middleware between the telephony hardware and the applications. Using TAPI, application developers could let users dial contacts with a click or forward an incoming call to voice mail. The nearest I ever came to death by PowerPoint was a 9-hour marathon session in one room on Microsoft's campus one December day in 1998, where nine successive product managers told me what the latest version of TAPI, the TAPI server, and its integrations with Active Directory and SQL Server would do for telephony. Someone who also worked for Harry once explained to me that the idea behind Windows middleware was to fit all the devices like printers, scanners and modems; to all the applications and just stand in the middle of the money stream with a big net. By planting its IM and presence platform in the middle of an enterprise communications network and offering APIs to others' legacy or IP PBXes, gateways and media servers, as well as its own VOIP clients in "Istanbul," I can see Microsoft continuing in this tradition. In doing so, it will be offering its partners a huge user base in the form of users of its dominant desktop. Several companies have already jumped on this invitation: At VON, Radvision announced that it would integrate its multipoint audio/video conference unit and gatekeeper with LCS. Broadsoft announced its intention to integrate its advanced call-feature server and GUI.com Jasomi networks its PeerPoint session border controller for endpoint-to-endpoint control over encryption, call logging, and firewall transversal. While Microsoft lines up its partners for VOIP, it was equally clear at VON that the IP PBX vendors themselves; who have worked in their own presence; and IM integrations are largely defecting from Windows, or at least giving customers that option. Wendy Bohling, presenting for Avaya at the IP "PBX shoot-out" presentation at VON, listed the reasons behind Avaya's offering Communications Manager in Linux as being the desire to minimize virus threats, freedom from worry about constant patches, and the convenience of one user image. Nortel will offer its Business Communications Manager in Linux, Cisco its Call Manager, and 3Com its NBX. It will be interesting to see if and how Microsoft succeeds in pressing its desktop advantage. Istanbul clients will perform as soft phones within the enterprise, probably even wirelessly on Windows-running handhelds. Add a gateway to the system and they'll call anywhere. But they don't now have the wide range of features of PBX phones. And telecom and IT managers obviously show reluctance to bet the office phone system on Windows. Indeed, Anoop Gupta, announcing Istanbul, said that Microsoft does not make PBXes. So at this point, the question is this: If the IP PBXes have found their own presence/IM solutions, how does LCS earn its keep? Perhaps enterprises get it for secure IM and presence, and use it and its soft-phone capability in parallel with an existing legacy gateway'ed PBX. Perhaps they get it to make use of already purchased XP licenses, to be used as soft extensions at home and abroad. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Ziff-Davis Publishing. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Movie Studios to Sue Internet File Traders Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 15:43:05 EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Taking a cue from the music industry, film studios and the Motion Picture Association of America said on Thursday that they were readying the first lawsuits against people suspected of illegally distributing movies over the Internet. The civil suits will seek to stop trading and damages of up to $30,000 per film, the MPAA said, adding that damages could reach $150,000 if the infringement was deemed willful. Record companies have led the way with such lawsuits, targeting major traders of song files who use Kazaa and other programs to swap songs on the Web. The movie trade group, representing Hollywood's major studios, plans to launch its own legal challenges beginning Nov. 16. Studios have been slow to release DVD-quality films on the Internet because of the twin piracy and technological shortcomings -- it takes hours to download even a film at lower quality levels, while it takes minutes or seconds to download a song. Improving technology is cutting the gap, though. "That distinction is rapidly vanishing, so we are taking these actions to try and prevent this illegal activity from becoming mainstream," the MPAA said in a statement, adding that future technologies could allow movie downloads in as few as six seconds. MPAA President and Chief Executive Dan Glickman said at a news conference that the music industry has had an impact on music piracy with its lawsuits. That campaign has had a mixed reception from consumers and some in the industry, who have urged movie and music makers to develop easy-to-use technology for buying or renting content that would be a viable alternative to illegal downloads. Apple Computer Inc's iTunes is often heralded as an example of legal song buying that works. "The industry should be thinking of new ways to deploy the new technology rather than suing the consumer," said Mediaport Entertainment Inc. Chief Executive Helen Seltzer, which makes kiosks, or automatic teller machines, to buy and download music. "We find that if students are given an easy way to download, they will do it and pay for it happily," she said. An MPAA attorney said studios would launch fewer lawsuits than the record industry, which has pursued more than 5,000 people to date. Studios would also use "John Doe" lawsuits that allow them to pursue file traders without knowing the traders' identities. Chris Ruhland, a former studio lawyer now at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, forecast the movie makers would win their days in court. "The law is very clear that unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material is illegal," he said. Reuters/VNU *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters/VNU News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: File-Sharing Network Thrives Beneath the Radar Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 15:43:04 EST LONDON (Reuters) - A file-sharing program called BitTorrent has become a behemoth, devouring more than a third of the Internet's bandwidth, and Hollywood's copyright cops are taking notice. For those who know where to look, there's a wealth of content, both legal -- such as hip-hop from the Beastie Boys and video game promos -- and illicit, including a wide range of TV shows, computer games and movies. Average users are taking advantage of the software's ability to cheaply spread files around the Internet. For example, when comedian Jon Stewart made an incendiary appearance on CNN's political talk show "Crossfire," thousands used BitTorrent to share the much-discussed video segment. Even as lawsuits from music companies have driven people away from peer-to-peer programs like KaZaa, BitTorrent has thus far avoided the ire of groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America. But as BitTorrent's popularity grows, the service could become a target for copyright lawsuits. According to British Web analysis firm CacheLogic, BitTorrent accounts for an astounding 35 percent of all the traffic on the Internet -- more than all other peer-to-peer programs combined -- and dwarfs mainstream traffic like Web pages. "I don't think Hollywood is willing to let it slide, but whether they're able to (stop it) is another matter," Bram Cohen, the programer who created BitTorrent, told Reuters. John Malcolm, director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said that his group is well aware of the vast amounts of copyrighted material being traded via BitTorrent. "It's a very efficient delivery system for large files, and it's being used and abused by a hell of a lot of people," he told Reuters. "We're studying our options, as we do with all new technologies which are abused by people to engage in theft." FOR GOOD OR EVIL BitTorrent, which is available for free on http://bittorrent.com, can be used to distribute legitimate content and to enable copyright infringement on a massive scale. The key is to understand how the software works. Let's say you want to download a copy of this week's episode of "Desperate Housewives." Rather than downloading the actual digital file that contains the show, instead you would download a small file called a "torrent" onto your computer. When you open that file on your computer, BitTorrent searches for other users that have downloaded the same "torrent." BitTorrent's "file-swarming" software breaks the original digital file into fragments, then those fragments are shared between all of the users that have downloaded the "torrent." Then the software stitches together those fragments into a single file that a users can view on their PC. Sites like Slovenia-based Suprnova ( http://www.suprnova.org ) offer up thousands of different torrents without storing the shows themselves. Suprnova is a treasure trove of movies, television shows, and pirated games and software. Funded by advertising, it is run by a teen-age programer who goes only by the name Sloncek, who did not respond to an e-mailed interview request. Enabling users to share copyrighted material illicitly may put Suprnova and its users on shaky legal ground. "They're doing something flagrantly illegal, but getting away with it because they're offshore," said Cohen. He is not eager to get into a battle about how his creation is used. "To me, it's all bits," he said. But Cohen has warned that BitTorrent is ill-suited to illegal activities, a view echoed by John Malcolm of MPAA. "People who use these systems and think they're anonymous are mistaken," Malcolm said. Asked if he thought sites like Suprnova were illegal, he said: "That's still an issue we're studying, that reasonable minds can disagree on," he said. GOING LEGIT Meanwhile, BitTorrent is rapidly emerging as the preferred means of distributing large amounts of legitimate content such as versions of the free computer operating system Linux, and these benign uses may give it some legal protection. "Almost any software that makes it easy to swap copyrighted files is ripe for a crackdown. BitTorrent's turn at bat will definitely happen," said Harvard University associate law professor Jonathan Zittrain. "At least under U.S. law, it's a bit more difficult to find the makers liable as long as the software is capable of being used for innocent uses, which I think (BitTorrent) surely is." Among the best legitimate sites for movies and music: -- Legal Torrents (http://www.legaltorrents.com/), which includes a wide selection of electronic music. It also has the Wired Magazine Creative Commons CD, which has songs from artists like the Beastie Boys who agreed to release some of their songs under a more permissive copyright that allows free distribution and remixing. -- Torrentocracy (http://torrentocracy.com/torrents/) has videos of the U.S. presidential debates and other political materials. -- File Soup (http://www.filesoup.com) offers open-source software and freeware, music from artists whose labels don't belong to the Recording Industry Association of America trade group, and programs from public television stations like PBS or the BBC. -- Etree (http://bt.etree.org) is for devotees of "trade-friendly" bands like Phish and the Dead, who encourage fans to share live recordings, usually in the form of large files that have been minimally compressed to maintain sound quality. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: "We're From the Government..."; NSA Recs on Securing Mac OS X Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 20:16:15 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Yes, that NSA: Title: How to Securely Install and Use Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X Version 10.3.x Operating System (Panther) 109 pages; PDF http://www.nsa.gov/snac/os/applemac/osx_client_final_v.1.pdf ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Idaho Settles Modest Court Case Against fax.com Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 21:47:07 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC "Fax.com, believed to be the largest volume "fax-spammer" in the United States, has been permanently enjoined from doing business in Idaho," Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced today. During a news conference in Boise, Wasden said that his office has obtained a consent judgment against the California-based company. "'The Idaho Consumer Protection Act and the Idaho Telephone Solicitations Act prohibit sending unsolicited faxes, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. 'The laws are clear and do not contain exceptions. This is not a situation where you have to tell the sender to stop. Anytime you receive an unsolicited ad by fax, the sender has violated the law.' [ snip ] "The agreement also subjects Fax.com to liquidated damages of up to $5,000 for each unsolicited fax it sends into Idaho in the future. [ snippety snip, rest at: http://www2.state.id.us/ag/newsrel/2004/nr_nov052004.htm ] ______________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: 9mo9vlp02@sneakemail.com (Sam) Subject: Looking For Billing Systems Information Date: 5 Nov 2004 17:25:28 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I thought I posted this but it's not shown up yet. I cannot seem to find good billing systems information. All my searches produce a lot of vendor sites and resumes. How do you all find info on billing? I've been asked to add customizations to our billing system & I'd like to understand billing systems in general. Stuff like: Side by side comparisons of system features - Amdocs, Portal, LHS, etc ... What are recommended practices/ rules of thumb on how many cycles to have? How many dummy accounts should be run to verify bill correctness, or should you not use dummy accounts, preferring to use real accounts in a 'no-print, no-effect, dummy mode". How to inject information for dummy accunts? Into the switch somehow? fake files that look like they come from the switch? direct SQL inserts into the database? For those telecoms that can set prices what are good strategies for double -- triple -- quadruple checking the input? What's the preferred method of integrating fraud detection? At the database level? Integrated at the switch? Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: nospamlah-googlenews@yahoo.com (Anonymous Netter) Subject: List of All Handphones From Major Manufacturers Date: 5 Nov 2004 18:11:41 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi everyone, I am trying to compile a product comparison list for all currently available handphones (cellphones) especially for GSM models. Ideally the list should have the following : a) small colour icon of the phone b) phone model c) summary of key features such as : > frequency bands > support for GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, etc > support MMS, Java, etc Does anyone have such a list that they are willing to share, or do the manufacturers release such a list? The closest I have come across is Nokia website but it lists only a) & b). TIA. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: New Electronic Check Law Sinks 'Float' Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 18:59:20 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:12:49 -0700, DevilsPGD wrote: > And sometimes I park, in handicapped spaces, > While handicapped people, make handicapped faces! Was this supposed to be humourous? I found it quite repulsive that you would deny someone with a handicap a space that was reserved for them. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I didn't think it was very funny either. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 6 Nov 2004 03:41:27 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Prepaid Questions [was Re: How to Make Right Call On Cell] Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > This discussion has been most interesting. Unfortunately, no one but > Verizon seems to provide prepaid service in 59801, Missoula, Montana, > that works for somone who wants to actually spend some time on the > 'phone, on long distance. If you use your phone more than a few minutes a month, service with a normal monthly plan is much cheaper. In Missoula, I see that Western Wireless (that's Cellular One) for $30 offers 400 daytime, 3500 night and weekend minutes, or for $40, 1200 daytime, unlimited night/weekend. That's a good price, even compared to plans available in big cities. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Alltel has a 'pre-paid monthly' plan called 'Smart Pay', which is *much cheaper* than their 'pay by the call' prepaid plan. It still has to be paid monthly in advance, on a deposit account type system where your credit balance is debited for the calls you make, but unlike the fifty cents at a time method, the monthy 'Smart Pay' system grabs $30-$35 from your account on the first day of each month, then you get to call day or night at a rate more typical of a regular plan. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Prepaid Questions [was Re: How to Make Right Call On Cell] Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 18:56:33 -0800 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 23:46:33 GMT, tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) wrote: > One big difference I have noticed is that some of the plans expire > your minutes if you don't use them, and others keep accumulating > unused minutes as long as you keep the phone active (if I went with > one of those, I'd probably eventually wind up with several years worth > of un-used minutes - maybe they should come up with a program for > donating unused minutes to charities :-). If you want a cheap alternative to regular mobile service you'll have to play the game of expiration dates or adding money to accounts. All of the traditional prepaids will roll over any amount you have in your account provided you put more money in prior to any expiration date. I personally don't see where continuing to bank minutes is a bad thing. You'll have those minutes to use if you need them. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Coffeyville Junior College and Channel 4. Organization: ATCC Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 23:57:04 -0500 In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to nmclain@annsgarden.com: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But did you know that back in the days > when FCC was actually issuing 'licenses' for Citizen Band radio > operation, *all* those licenses began with 'K' regardless of where > they were located? What do they have now, for people who bother to > tell them about a CB radio? I think it is first and last initials > and one's zip code. In other words I would be 'PT67301' I think. PAT] Indeed -- I recall those days. I had KOR-8812. Of course now I'm KD1S having joined the ranks of amateur radio operators. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 19:43:31 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Last Laugh! Much Excitement Around Here Today As I was working on this issue of the Digest earlier Saturday afternoon, all of a sudden I heard a loud popping noise, and all the lights went out (except for the computers and the Vonage phone, which are on battery backup.) I still powered everything down, and looked in my own fuse box, then called up the electric plant (KGE/Westar) to report the lights were out. I heard a siren from a fire truck nearby, and decided to go look and see what was up. The lights were out at nearby houses as well. Outside I could smell the remains of some thick, acrid smoke in the air, about a block away so I walked up that way to see what it was about. It turns out a power transformer had blown out on the corner of Second Street and Walnut, about a block from my house, taking with it a fuse in the line at the next transformer down the street, where a couple of older teenage guys live with the girl friend of one of them. Neither of those guys is terribly bright -- if you will pardon me for saying so -- but they had called the Fire Department because they thought their house was on fire (very loud, popping noise, tons of thick black smoke everywhere); it wasn't -- nothing wrong with their house at all, but I can't say I blame them for being a little bit concerned at first. These kids are obviously used to being blamed for whatever goes wrong in town; by now a police car had come past, the officer was chatting with the two firemen still standing around looking at electric poles in the area, and the KGE guys in their truck with the yellow spinning light on top had just pulled up also. The cop and the firemen all drove away, totally uninterested, leaving the KGE guys there to do what they had to do. The girl friend, who seems to do the talking for these guys told me "I was ironing Chester's (her boy friend) clothes; he has a new job working at Walmart on the midnight shift. I have to get his clothes ready for him to go to work. He had the television set turned on, and his friend Bobby was looking in the refrigerator for something for them to eat. Bobby had just opened the refrigerator when we heard that awful explosion and our house all filled up with black smoke. Do you think we were using too much electricity having my iron plugged in at the same time the television was going and the refrigerator door was open.?" I told her I did not think that caused the problem. "When we called the Fire Department we thought his house was on fire and then when the police car showed up just now we figured Bobby would get blamed for making all the lights go out all over the neighborhood." (Apparently the KGE guys were walking down the alley at this point trying to detirmine if any other transformers/fuses were out.) The two guys and their girl friend are all sitting the front porch all this time, having evacutated when the explosion occurred and the smoke was so thick earlier. I asked Bobby how he was getting along with his new computer and he said "I got an account from Yahoo but I don't know how to use it, can you come by in a day or so and show me what to do to get on line? and put my picture there for girls to see also?" I told him I would. Bobby has been by here a few times to 'check his email' (before getting his own computer and Yahoo account), and invariably he wanted to 'pick up girls' and see their pictures. I told him whatever you guys do, do not send out such 'hot pictures' of yourselves and your girl friend that you cause the circuits to blow out again like you did today! He responded sort of indignantly, "I told you me and Chester had nothing to do with all the lights all over the neighborhood going out this afternoon!" Well, just another day in the life. 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. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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