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Message Digest Volume 28 : Issue 106 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Thieves in Town of Wallkill make off with Frontier's telephone cable Re: Thieves in Town of Wallkill make off with Frontier's telephone cable Re: Thieves in Town of Wallkill make off with Frontier's telephone cable Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Re: AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking ====== 27 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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, and other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:28:33 -0700 From: Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Message-ID: <nPRFl.24114$c45.7393@nlpi065.nbdc.sbc.com> Tony Toews [MVP] wrote: > Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> wrote: > >>>> Most of it is handled by the Red Cross. >>> This is not true. Or rather it may be true in your jurisdiction or you may have a >>> misleading opinion based on media reports. One thing that the Canadian and US Red >>> Cross are very, very good at is media relations. >>> >>> Amateurs have thier own relationships with the various served agencies one of which >>> is the Red Cross. Most important, though, are the local muncipalities, towns and >>> cities. >>> >> Another agency served by hams is The Salvation Army. Check out the >> Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) at >> http://www.satern.org/ > > Yes. And I have a great deal of respect for the work of the Salvation Army in this > area. > > Also the Mormons are encouraging their folks to get amateur radio licenses. > > Tony > > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > I'm curious why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would > encourage Stakeholders to get ham licenses. Is this an official > policy, or is it something that's up to each Stake? > > Bill Horne > Temporary Moderator I believe it is because they have people all over the world doing their work, many in areas that are in the jungles. I have seen large towers on their Stakes. -- The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:06:15 +1000 From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Message-ID: <pan.2009.04.17.08.06.13.819566@myrealbox.com> On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:11:36 -0400, Scott Dorsey wrote: > Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> wrote: >>I do. But then again, I'm a balding grey-haired 72-year-old "geek." When >>I worked for Bell Labs designing broad-band microwave systems, we used >>return loss rather than SWR, because the numbers made it easier to >>visualize what was happening. We had to keep each individual echo to >>about 70 dB below the signal. This translated to a 35 dB return-loss >>requirement for each component. In SWR terms, that was 1.035. One day, >>we visited a manufacturer of waveguide parts: bends, transitions, etc. >>They were used to SWR's of 1.2, and couldn't believe that we were serious >>about 35 dB retun losses. But that's what it took to transmit 1860 >>multiplexed voice circuits with low intermod noise, and later 3 DS-3's >>using 64QAM modulation with adequate fade margin, over a 30-MHz wide 6 >>GHz channel 3000 miles from coast to coast. > > Yes, but back then, SOME waveguide manufacturers published tuning > procedures which involved banging on waveguide sections with a hammer > until the return loss hit a certain amount. Problem with that is that > once you've bent it you can't easily bend it back.... "This is expensive high-tech equipment, so don't force it - just hit it harder!" :-) -- Regards, David. David Clayton Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have. ***** Moderator's Note ***** This reminds me of one of my father's favorite phrases: "Never use force! Just get a bigger hammer!" Bill Horne Temporary Moderator ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:44:05 -0400 (EDT) From: "Julian Thomas" <jt@jt-mj.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Message-ID: <300.a08601006530e949.106@jt-mj.net> On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:06:15 +1000, David Clayton wrote: >"This is expensive high-tech equipment, so don't force it - just hit it >harder!" :-) Au contraire! [from my signature date file] > > All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts > you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them > together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer. > --IBM maintenance manual, 1925 -- Julian Thomas: jt@jt-mj.net http://jt-mj.net In the beautiful Genesee Valley of Western New York State! -- -- The sad thing about Windows bashing is it's all true. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:18:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <221911.68500.qm@web52705.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:50:24 -0700 Will Roberts <oldbear@arctos.com> wrote: <<> Also, many association members including AT&T and T-Mobile recently > vowed to standardize chargers by 2012 for most cell phones. > Thrown-away chargers generate more than 51,000 tons of waste a year, > according to the association. > Do any vendors sell simple adaptors that just convert from the plug on the output end of an old charger to the jack on a newer phone?>> Nokia sells an adaptor from their 3.5 MM to 2.5 MM chargers. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:26:30 -0700 From: Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <o91Gl.5659$Lr6.1149@flpi143.ffdc.sbc.com> Joseph Singer wrote: > Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:50:24 -0700 Will Roberts <oldbear@arctos.com> wrote: > > <<> Also, many association members including AT&T and T-Mobile recently >> vowed to standardize chargers by 2012 for most cell phones. >> Thrown-away chargers generate more than 51,000 tons of waste a year, >> according to the association. >> > > Do any vendors sell simple adaptors that just convert from the plug on > the output end of an old charger to the jack on a newer phone?>> > > Nokia sells an adaptor from their 3.5 MM to 2.5 MM chargers. I have seen adapters at CVS, the have packages with 6 or 7 adapters in them. -- The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:15:01 +1000 From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <pan.2009.04.17.22.15.00.487434@myrealbox.com> On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:33:21 -0400, Steven Lichter wrote: > Joseph Singer wrote: >> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:50:24 -0700 Will Roberts <oldbear@arctos.com> wrote: ....... >> Do any vendors sell simple adaptors that just convert from the plug on >> the output end of an old charger to the jack on a newer phone?>> >> >> Nokia sells an adaptor from their 3.5 MM to 2.5 MM chargers. > > I have seen adapters at CVS, the have packages with 6 or 7 adapters in > them. Isn't there a new standard that all mobile phones will have a single power pack/connector across all manufacturers? I recall reading that last year sometime. -- Regards, David. David Clayton Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:26:53 -0700 From: Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <2f8Gl.27245$yr3.6785@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com> David Clayton wrote: > On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:33:21 -0400, Steven Lichter wrote: > >> Joseph Singer wrote: >>> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:50:24 -0700 Will Roberts <oldbear@arctos.com> wrote: > ....... >>> Do any vendors sell simple adaptors that just convert from the plug on >>> the output end of an old charger to the jack on a newer phone?>> >>> >>> Nokia sells an adaptor from their 3.5 MM to 2.5 MM chargers. >> I have seen adapters at CVS, the have packages with 6 or 7 adapters in >> them. > > Isn't there a new standard that all mobile phones will have a single power > pack/connector across all manufacturers? I recall reading that last year > sometime. > I believe that new standard will be the mini USB, that will not help older units, that is why there are adapters, much like we have had for years for Video and Audio, and power connections on those items. I guess you could get a USB supply and then by an adapter for your units, that way you would only need one A/C and DC supply or cable. -- The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Apr 2009 14:30:25 -0400 From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Message-ID: <gsahs1$qml$1@panix2.panix.com> Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote: >You're both right: > >1. 3270's used RG-62 for the connections to their controllers. > >2. Inter-building comms, however, may have been done with Ethernet, > and 10Base2 Ethernet used RG-58, as Michael mentioned. Anybody that would use Cheapernet between buildings deserves the resulting disaster. It was lousy enough within buildings. I _have_ seen people do short runs between buildings using regular thick Ethernet and that was horrible enough. >BTW, I studied ArcNet while getting my CNE in 1995: I don't remember >if the 3270's used ArcNet, or what the length limits were, but ArcNet >also used RG-62 cable. No, the 3270 standard predates Arcnet by a long shot. One of the reasons that Arcnet used the RG/62 was to allow it to use existing legacy cabling. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:51:09 -0400 From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Message-ID: <MPG.2452ee06b995e9009899d6@reader.motzarella.org> In article <gsahs1$qml$1@panix2.panix.com>, kludge@panix.com says... > > Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote: > >You're both right: > > > >1. 3270's used RG-62 for the connections to their controllers. > > > >2. Inter-building comms, however, may have been done with Ethernet, > > and 10Base2 Ethernet used RG-58, as Michael mentioned. > > Anybody that would use Cheapernet between buildings deserves the resulting > disaster. It was lousy enough within buildings. I _have_ seen people do > short runs between buildings using regular thick Ethernet and that was > horrible enough. > > >BTW, I studied ArcNet while getting my CNE in 1995: I don't remember > >if the 3270's used ArcNet, or what the length limits were, but ArcNet > >also used RG-62 cable. > > No, the 3270 standard predates Arcnet by a long shot. One of the reasons > that Arcnet used the RG/62 was to allow it to use existing legacy cabling. > --scott I recall at one job we had 10-Base-2 thin-net coax everywhere in the building. One day the boss and I are doing some database work and all of a sudden the net connection for the major part of the bulding goes dark. We pulled all sorts of coax out trying to find the problem until I finally noted the broken T connection. The boss was sitting near it and must have accidentally kicked it. Spent the next couple weeks wiring the building for CAT-5. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:19:31 -0400 From: Steve Stone <spfleck@citlink.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Thieves in Town of Wallkill make off with Frontier's telephone cable Message-ID: <gsakoc$45p$1@news.motzarella.org> This is about the fourth report of cable theft in my area over the past 2 months.. ------------ http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200904178/NEWS/90417034 Posted: April 17, 2009 - 2:00 AM TOWN OF WALLKILL — About 200 homes and businesses in Scotchtown lost phone service for much of Thursday after thieves stole five sections of telephone cable off the utility poles on Scotchtown-Collabar Road, between Cross and Foster roads. The thefts happened about 1 a.m., and affected customers in the 692 and 695 exchanges, according to Frontier. About 800 feet of cable had to be replaced. State police are investigating the thefts. The Frontier Reward Program is offering a $2,500 reward for credible information that leads to the arrest and conviction of people involved in recent phone-cable vandalism incidents. Frontier asks that anyone who saw something that may be related to the thefts call the company security line at 800-590-6605. Calls will be handled confidentially, and anonymous information will be accepted. People with information can also call state police at 344-5300. Heather Yakin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:58:01 GMT From: Stephen <stephen_hope@xyzworld.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Thieves in Town of Wallkill make off with Frontier's telephone cable Message-ID: <1arhu41m90mdk9juk199of14o6c5cf3e7n@4ax.com> On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:53:49 -0400 (EDT), Steve Stone <spfleck@citlink.net> wrote: > This is about the fourth report of cable theft in my area over the past > 2 months.. > >------------ > Another good reason to put them underground? -- Regards stephen_hope@xyzworld.com - replace xyz with ntl ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:19:41 +1000 From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Thieves in Town of Wallkill make off with Frontier's telephone cable Message-ID: <pan.2009.04.17.22.19.39.617863@myrealbox.com> On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:53:49 -0400, Steve Stone wrote: > This is about the fourth report of cable theft in my area over the past > 2 months.. > ------------ > > Posted: April 17, 2009 - 2:00 AM > > TOWN OF WALLKILL — About 200 homes and businesses in Scotchtown lost > phone service for much of Thursday after thieves stole five sections of > telephone cable off the utility poles on Scotchtown-Collabar Road, > between Cross and Foster roads. ........ This is OT, but a year or two ago when the world price of copper was astronomical we had a spate of railway signalling and power cable thefts that disrupted services. I also read (in other countries) of various manhole covers being stolen for scrap - now that would really be a pain, in all senses of the word!.... -- Regards, David. David Clayton Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:20:19 +0200 From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <siegman-E00E6B.21194917042009@news.stanford.edu> In article <9031d280-4e0b-4373-b442-20de4f15e78b@f18g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > > A great deal of communications, electronics, and information > processing technology came out of the war. It's a shame it took a war > to do so. (Many corporations and colleges published books about their > wartime contributions. They make for interesting reading. Some stuff > came to fruition immediately, but other ideas took years to be > perfected or to be cheap enough for widespread everyday use. Touch > Tone, for example.) > Technical advances in RF and microwave technology, detectors, signal processing, and electronics generally made at the MIT "Rad Lab", Harvard RLE, Bell Labs, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Sperry, and many other places during WW II (much of this building in substantial part on earlier innovations made at Stanford by F. E. Terman and students of his including the Varian brothers and Hewlett and Packard, and the unsung Prof. of Physics W. W. Hansen in the 1930s) all led to the development of the microwave maser within the first post-war decade, and then the laser laser than five years later -- not to mention a dozen or so Nobel Prizes for physicists who participated in these wartime developments, then took their new knowledge and toys home with them and applied them to basic scientific experiments. Some details of this are in an overview of the history of the laser at http://www.stanford.edu/~siegman/cleo_plenary.pdf Updated versions of this will be showing up all over the place during the 50th anniversary celebration of the laser next year: http://www.laserfest.org/ http://www.aps.org/publications/capitolhillquarterly/200901/laserfest.cfm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:22:45 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <6516d15b-e179-4d0a-9bf0-f8fa14ec3986@a7g2000yqk.googlegroups.com> On Apr 17, 3:54 pm, AES <sieg...@stanford.edu> wrote: > Technical advances in RF and microwave technology, detectors, signal > processing, and electronics generally made at the MIT "Rad Lab", Harvard > RLE, Bell Labs, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Sperry, and many other places > during WW II . . . During WW II Bell Labs not only produced military communication facilities, but also advanced targeting control electronics. One of the volumes of the Bell Labs history is devoted to military products. Over the years the Bell System, like many other corporations, was taken to task for its defense systems work, including its management of Sandia Labs, a nuclear weapons facility. Stockholder proposals sought to force the company out of that business. (AT&T gave up mgmt of Sandia in 1993 according to Wiki.) One of the above mentioned organizations wrote a book about their efforts, and part of their efforts included weapons research, including incendiaries, better known as firebombs, which caused more destruction and killed more people than the atomic bombs did. Napalm got a nasty reputation during the Vietnam War, but it was developed and used during WW II among various fire weapons. Fire weapons burned with an extremely hot flame, were difficult to extinguish with water, and were designed to stick to surfaces to enhance their destructiveness. Anyway, the book described how they developed the most effective incendiary for use in Japan. Research included testing for the most destructive burn against building materials typically used in Japan. In other words, they didn't want just a fire bomb, but one that would be as destructive as possible in the target area. The book proudly described the effort. I found it somewhat disconcerting--I realized weapons research was a vital task--but still firebombs were pretty nasty weapons and they were making them even worse. In the immediate years following WW II most people did not object to such things. (Many American political and military leaders did not like using firebombs but saw no alternative, it was after all, them or us. The Axis powers certainly freely used them.) ***** Moderator's Note ***** In the PBS series on the Civil War, General Sherman was quoted as saying that he had an army which could kill, butcher, dress, cook, and eat a hog without breaking step. Although his campaign was theoretically not aimed at civilians, in reality the civilians _were_ Sherman's targets: he set out to destroy the South's Command & Control structure, which was the plantation system and the elites who depended on it. Wars are never fought by gentlemen's rules, with one exception: gentlemen never divulge how many rules they break in order to win. It is only now, almost seventy years later, that World War II veterans are divulging how both sides engaged in torture, murder, and cruelty on a global scale, each knowing that it is the victor which judges the vanquished. In like manner, the veterans of Korea will tell their tales, and those stories will also confirm that war is hell, with the only hope of salvation being to kill more of the enemy than it can stand, and thereby to win the right to say you did it in God's name. The stories of Vietnam will take longer, not because there is a shortage of records or memories, but because there is an excess of them. Rusty Calley was no different than any other effective field leader, with the exception that he failed to confiscate the cameras and film that carried the images of My Lai to a liberal press that was eager to splash blood across the TV screans of America in order to sell soap to bored suburban housewives. (The question of whether Calley's actions were more or less justified and/or honorable than Sherman's, than Roosevelt's, than Truman's, or than the television networks', is left as an exercise for the reader). In time, the truth about all wars comes out, and that truth is a searing and frightening look into the darkest reaches of the human soul. That men are vain, violent creatures who are willing to take on themselves the powers of God - the priviege of saying who lives or dies, on a whim - is never in doubt. That the weakest parts of our nature are those we call upon when the strongest are needed is also never in doubt. What is in doubt is whether the species can mature fast enough to avoid destroying itself during a temper tantrum over some line on a map, some line in a religious tome, or some line in the sand. Bill Horne Temporary Moderator ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:35:27 GMT From: "Tony Toews \[MVP\]" <ttoews@telusplanet.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Message-ID: <jl7iu45vhaaleahtmslbga0jp5uhrebcf7@4ax.com> "Tony Toews \[MVP\]" <ttoews@telusplanet.net> wrote: >Also the Mormons are encouraging their folks to get amateur radio licenses. > >***** Moderator's Note ***** > > I'm curious why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would > encourage Stakeholders to get ham licenses. Is this an official > policy, or is it something that's up to each Stake? As far as I know this is part of the personal preparedness responsibility each family is supposed to have. "We encourage members world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. " http://www.providentliving.org/channel/1,11677,1706-1,00.html Something which is a good idea anyhow. FEMA advocates a three day supply of food and water. However a mid level FEMA manager who was on site at Katrina stated that 10 days would be much more prudent. Especially, as was the case with Katrina, evacuees from the directly hit area descended on relatives in areas which were also affected with lengthy power failures. So 10 days food for 4 peopler doesn't last that long when you have 10 people in your household. His name and location of talk will not be disclosed. <smile> Tony -- Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can read the entire thread of messages. Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:09:42 -0400 (EDT) From: "Julian Thomas" <jt@jt-mj.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service Message-ID: <300.389109005628e949.098@jt-mj.net> On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:42:47 +0000 (UTC), ranck@vt.edu wrote: > Now, >3270s used RG58 coax that is 50ohm instead of the RG56 75ohm for cable, >but it looked very similar and would probably work OK for a short jumper. It did. I had access to a LOT of RG58 junk from IBM (where I once worked) and a short length did indeed do very well as a TV jumper. -- Julian Thomas: jt@jt-mj.net http://jt-mj.net In the beautiful Genesee Valley of Western New York State! -- -- Cannot find REALITY.SYS. Universe halted. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:34:25 -0400 (EDT) From: "Julian Thomas" <jt@jt-mj.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <300.20480100212ee949.104@jt-mj.net> On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:24:38 -0700 (PDT), hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >In those days it was tech progress to "miniaturize" telephone >components small enough so they all fit into a single set. Prior to >the 300 set of 1938, telephones required a separate ringer box and >condenser/network. Indeed, I think in those days handset models cost >more than candlestick models. No one could've imagined that a land- >line phone (forget about mobile phones) could be as tiny as today's >cellphones. The WE 200 series dial sets (with a separate ringer box); either deskset had a small base and a cradle with a full off-hook actuator (candlestick were similar), as opposed to the 300 series, which were squarish with a cradle with two button actuators and integrated ringer. Check out: http://www.porticus.org/bell/telephones-technical-handsets.html -- Julian Thomas: jt@jt-mj.net http://jt-mj.net In the beautiful Genesee Valley of Western New York State! -- -- Error #33: (A)bort this mess (R)etry last mistake (S)kip to new mess-up. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:01:11 GMT From: "Tony Toews \[MVP\]" <ttoews@telusplanet.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose Message-ID: <kqciu4pqf0r4nj7nuan8h3f905gc69f75m@4ax.com> Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> wrote: >Overwriting a file many times, the standard way to >obliterate data, doesn't work. Somewhere an outfit is offering to ship you a hard drive with an erased file which was wiped once. If you can retrieve the data then you win a prize of some sort. When I read that page the contest had been running for a year with no winners. Regretfully I'm unable to find that page now. So convenional wisdom might be very wrong. Tony ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:36:29 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking Message-ID: <b9f28261-460a-4180-b365-f9a4f3fc51dc@f19g2000yqo.googlegroups.com> On Apr 16, 3:47 pm, hanco...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > Privacy be damned: when my kid was underage, I wanted to know where he > was, and who he was with, every second he was out of my sight. I respectfully must disagree. Certainly, as a parent you want to do everything possible to protect your children (not only as kids, but forever). But the reality is that you can't, even with new technologies. Very seriously--how far are you willing to go with technology? Put GPS in the car? Secretly wiretap their phone calls? Secret cameras in their rooms? Summing it up, my feeling is that when there's a social problem, the problem itself needs to be fixed, not use technology to build walls around it. That is, if kids are facing danger, let's eliminate those dangers, not simply track our kids. Indeed, kids will turn their phones off, let the batteries run down, or simply lose them, eliminating the tracking ability. Back in the 1960s the crime rate skyrocketed. For the decades the only solution was to put more locks on our doors, not deal with the crime issue itself. New York City had terrible crime by the 1970s, but managed to beat it back and is much healthier today as a result. This is not to say I'm against cell phones for kids--they are an added convenience and safety measure. But if parents can't trust their kids to be truthful and resort to tracking devices, drug tests, room searches, IMHO there is a deeper problem and technology is only a Band- Aid, not the real solution. > We can look back to the halcyon days of yesteryear all we want > (nostalgia for a simpler, more understandable time made a lot of money > for the producers of "Happy Days" and similar TV shows), but we have > to _live_ in the present. Children growing up in the Twenty-First > century are so over-stimulated that they are literally numb, and are > practically incapable of applying any common-sense to social > situations. The Perfect People(TM) they see on TV all get to do > whatever they want, so those who watch them do it too. I recognize times have changed, but times have always been changing. When "The Greatest Generation" were kids they horrified their parents by rejecting many Old World traditions the parents brought over with them. During WW II social moral values took a break for the duration. Moralists were outraged at the frank anti-VD measures the Army took, but those measures were necessary. None the less, the "Greatest Generation" managed to get through the Depression, win the war, and create the enormous economic boom of the 1950s. Then the Baby Boomers horrified their parents. We thought the country would come to end in the 1960s from the riots, counter culture, etc., but things worked out all right. IMHO, a great many kids today are better grounded and "together" than their Baby Boomer parents were as kids. High schools and colleges had plenty of temptations when the Boomers were there in the 60s and 70s. There are kids today who screw up and fall to the dark side, but there were Boomers who did so and Greatest who did so, too. In WW II and the 1950s much of that stuff was kept carefully hidden from public view, it was taboo to speak of it, while today it's fashionable to share your troubles with the world on Leno. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition 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. The Telecom Digest is currently being moderated by Bill Horne while Pat Townson recovers from a stroke. 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