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Message Digest 
Volume 28 : Issue 282 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
  Re: Blinkenlights
  Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been...
  Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate
  Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate
  Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate
  Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate
  211 puts help on the line
  Massachusetts' 2-1-1 system
  Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been..
  Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been..
  Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been..
  Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been..


====== 28 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: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:02:42 GMT From: Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Blinkenlights Message-ID: <87pr8rg7mo.fsf@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> Michael Grigoni <michael.grigoni@cybertheque.org> wrote: > For years I had a version of the famous blinkenlights notice.... > [snip] > > Here is the version as displayed by Wikipedia: > > ACHTUNG! > ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS! > DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND > MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, > BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN. > IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN > SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS. > ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN. > > This differs somewhat from my recollection and indeed the Wikipedia > article states that a great many versions existed. Here's what I have on file, source forgotten: ACHTUNG - ALLES LOOKENPEEPERS ----------------------------- Dies Machine is nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mitten-graben. Is easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowen-fusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Is nicht fuer gewerken by das dumm-kopfen. Das rubber necken sightseeren keepen hands in das pockets - relaxen und watch das blinken lights. I'm sure the first instance I saw, at least as far back as sometime in the 60s, did not contain the words "Turisten und Nonteknischen". Wayyyy back, it was a cutsey squibb in Reader's Digest, at a time when it was meaninful to speak of "the computer" at places like MIT. FWIW, - Mike -- Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:07:17 -0500 From: Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been... Message-ID: <QPednbCwIeQJhUnXnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@posted.visi> Michael Grigoni wrote: > In the late '70s and throughout the '80s I had exactly that > (Northwestern Bell, Mpls) and there never was any hint of an objection > or a problem; in fact this is the first that I've heard of any. Something changed, then, because by the early to mid '90s (when I ran a Fidonet BBS in Minneapolis) they would not let me have a mix of flat-rate and measured service lines (obviously the idea of cheaper service for incoming-only lines was attractive). I don't remember if it was still NW Bell at that point, or USWest, or Qwest. Dave
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:42:47 +1100 From: David Clayton <dcstar@NOSPAM.myrealbox.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate Message-ID: <pan.2009.10.13.06.42.44.859064@NOSPAM.myrealbox.com> On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:39:36 +0000, Garrett Wollman wrote: > In article <p06240807c6f8f6b6b501@[10.0.1.4]>, Monty Solomon > <monty@roscom.com> wrote: > >> So, how will these new tools change the way we communicate? Let's start >> with the most obvious: They make our interactions that much faster. > > Huh? > > There is no earthly reason why any of these systems need be any slower > than email[1] -- and email has the advantage that it's much easier to > ignore people whose notion of "urgent" doesn't match up with one's own. > (Some People seem to have the misapprehension that if you have an IM > client open, for example, then you are paying exclusive attention to that > application and have nothing else to do. Which may be true for > twenty-year-old college students -- kids these days! -- but isn't true for > too many people who have actual jobs.) > > -GAWollman > > [1] Last time I looked at the statistics, our email system here at > work delivered 50% of all messages in six seconds or less, and the > vast majority in less than ten minutes. Yep, even though e-mail was designed as a store-and-forward system it still works remarkably quickly when it doesn't have to "store" in any of the components along the chain. When you can click "OK" on a web side on one side of the planet and a response arrives in your Inbox a second or two later, I don't think anyone can complain about the optimum speed of the e-mail protocol. I wonder how well these other "tools" perform when full end-to-end connectivity is not always present? -- 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: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:38:31 -0700 From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate Message-ID: <sp%Am.142471$Y83.71449@newsfe21.iad> Garrett Wollman wrote: > In article <p06240807c6f8f6b6b501@[10.0.1.4]>, > Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote: > > >>So, how will these new tools change the way we communicate? Let's >>start with the most obvious: They make our interactions that much >>faster. > > > Huh? > > There is no earthly reason why any of these systems need be any slower > than email[1] -- and email has the advantage that it's much easier to > ignore people whose notion of "urgent" doesn't match up with one's > own. (Some People seem to have the misapprehension that if you have > an IM client open, for example, then you are paying exclusive > attention to that application and have nothing else to do. Which may > be true for twenty-year-old college students -- kids these days! -- > but isn't true for too many people who have actual jobs.) > > -GAWollman > > [1] Last time I looked at the statistics, our email system here at > work delivered 50% of all messages in six seconds or less, and the > vast majority in less than ten minutes. > If it needs to be quicker than email they can try to reach me via a conventional telephone number. I have texting blocked on my wife's and my wireless family plan. Neither cell phone is on unless we are out of town. Having said that I can understand why some business folks need a cell phone on much of the time. Even with them, though, texting is often instrusive and overused. Email is essential to me in my consulting business. The ability to send attachments is almost as important as the message itself. Those are mostly PDF and Word documents. We use Go To Meeting for sharing desktop applications, which is occasionally invaluable. With email I have long since learned to quickly identify and trash spam. My biggest problem is a close relative who is retired and has nothing better to do than send all the yesteryear and political baloney. ***** Moderator's Note ***** I knew a Systems Analist who had his Mother-In-Law's email address routed to an automatic response robot, which spat back a rotating list of excuses that explained why he couldn't do anything until later. His Mother-in-law sent him more emails after he installed the filter, and the next time he saw her in person, she complimented him on how he was the only one of her relatives who always answered her emails. Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:40:32 -0700 From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate Message-ID: <l_9Bm.34677$tG1.16507@newsfe22.iad> > ***** Moderator's Note ***** > > I knew a Systems Analist who had his Mother-In-Law's email address > routed to an automatic response robot, which spat back a rotating list > of excuses that explained why he couldn't do anything until later. His > Mother-in-law sent him more emails after he installed the filter, and > the next time he saw her in person, she complimented him on how he was > the only one of her relatives who always answered her emails. She will catch up with him in the afterlife. ;-)
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:51:10 +1100 From: David Clayton <dcstar@NOSPAM.myrealbox.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: Why Email No Longer Rules... / And what that means for the way we communicate Message-ID: <pan.2009.10.14.03.51.07.694643@NOSPAM.myrealbox.com> On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:40:32 -0700, Sam Spade wrote: >> ***** Moderator's Note ***** >> >> I knew a Systems Analist who had his Mother-In-Law's email address >> routed to an automatic response robot, which spat back a rotating list >> of excuses that explained why he couldn't do anything until later. His >> Mother-in-law sent him more emails after he installed the filter, and >> the next time he saw her in person, she complimented him on how he was >> the only one of her relatives who always answered her emails. > > She will catch up with him in the afterlife. ;-) Why?, that is only a step or two away from these call centers who are basically staffed by humans only to give an outlet to the disgruntled and confused (most of the time the "problem" isn't resolved, but people feel better because they have talked to someone). If you essentially automate the process of making someone feel like they have communicated, what's the harm in that?...... ;-)) Of course, if the originator of these e-mails always got immediate responses for each one then sooner or later they would twig that it was a machine responding - better to have something only send the responses back during sensible hours of the day...... -- 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: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:16:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: 211 puts help on the line Message-ID: <p06240825c6fa1e696b68@[10.0.1.4]> 211 puts help on the line Tuesday, October 13, 2009 By GEORGE GRAHAM SPRINGFIELD - Need food or shelter? Help with rent or utility bills? Call 2-1-1. Those three numbers, available 24 hours a day, tap into the United Way's Mass 211 help line. The service also provides employment support and support for seniors, those with disabilities, youth and families. Last year, nearly7,000 people within the United Way of Pioneer Valley service area called for help with such things as emergency fuel needs or food, rental assistance and health and social needs, officials say. Statewide, that number is topped only by the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley which received some 16,000 calls. "Certainly the economy is a factor," said Ronald A. Copes, interim president of the United Way of Pioneer Valley and chief executive officer, adding that community leaders are being told about the importance of the help line as a resource. "We are hopeful that word is getting out," Copes said. Statewide, more than 4,300 calls are made each month to the single call center office in Framingham. Gary R. Lever, who manages the service, said a call to 211 is, for some people, like the last straw. ... http://www.masslive.com/chicopeeholyoke/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-23/125541998880620.xml&coll=1
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:16:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Massachusetts' 2-1-1 system Message-ID: <p06240826c6fa1fccbe6e@[10.0.1.4]> What is Massachusetts 2-1-1? 2-1-1 is the national abbreviated dialing code for free access to health and human services Information and Referral. 2-1-1 is an easy-to-remember and universally recognizable number that makes a critical connection between individuals and families seeking services or volunteer opportunities and the appropriate community-based organizations and government agencies. 2-1-1 makes it possible for people to navigate the complex and ever-growing maze of human service agencies and programs. By making services easier to access, 2-1-1 encourages prevention and fosters self-sufficiency. It also is hoped that it will reduce the number of non-emergency calls inappropriately made to 911. ... http://www.mass211.org/Mass211About.html
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:23:16 -0400 From: T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been.. Message-ID: <MPG.253f002290771d77989ba9@news.eternal-september.org> In article <5iv2d59i8es4bjr0gvlhu3e6f10oanl7u7@4ax.com>, rng@richbonnie.com says... > In the middle 1970's, I lived in southern New Hampshire, 20 miles > north of Boston. One night, while watching TV Channel 2 from Boston > of the air, the picture got strong interference. When the > interference cleared, I was watching channel 2 from New York City, > 200 miles away. The New York signal completely overrode the Boston > signal. This lasted a couple of hours. I never saw the phenomenon > again. A nicely charged E layer no doubt. We're entering solar max again which means that the layers are going to get a good dose of charge. ***** Moderator's Note ***** I hear this sunspot cycle is turning out to be a dud. That's really too bad, since high sunspot numbers mean lots of unusual radio propagation, which makes ham operators happy. Of course, it also affects commercial, police, fire, and other public safety users in certain bands, such as the 30 to 50 MHz band in the U.S., so there are lots of non-ham users who'd just as soon do without sunspots entirely. Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:52:31 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been.. Message-ID: <1a947660-d352-425f-be24-6f05871de40d@j4g2000yqa.googlegroups.com> On Oct 9, 2:03 am, David Clayton <dcs...@NOSPAM.myrealbox.com> wrote: > These days the cost of storing data is trivial compared to even just a few > years ago. In theory location registration data & call record data could > be stored indefinitely - either on-line or in archives (somewhere). Yes, the cost of storage is down relative to just a few years ago. But there is still a cost to the hardware, power consumption, security, a/c, and floor space. It still adds up. Further, these days we store a lot more information about a transaction as compared to the past since we have the room for it. We also have cross references and indexing which take up space and CPU cycles, not merely plain raw sequential files. > It has since emerged that the base station antenna pattern of the GSM > tower used in the court evidence could well have registered his phone > at the location he said he was in - because of the characteristics of > the radiation pattern that still has some functionality in the > opposite direction that the main gain area is - but the court just got > a simplistic technical explanation of how these things work. Bummer. I often originate cell phone calls from the exact same static physical location. Yet on the bill three different tower locations (towns) are shown for the various calls. That is, the same location is handle by at least three different towers in different towns, and probably more. On the road, I once made a call and it was shown as carried by a tower in a town 30 miles away. What troubles me is that skilled scammers will forge someone's supposedly secure computer account ID so they get blamed for a computer crime.
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:05:47 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been.. Message-ID: <eea6f5a1-f204-4fc6-ac93-df27f204b26d@a21g2000yqc.googlegroups.com> On Oct 10, 3:05 pm, bon...@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > Well, if you mean the 1950's or so, that may have been correct. > ANYTHING with 'Centrex'-type capabilities could generate SMDR-type > records for every call, incoming or outgoing.  If a switch can do it > for Centrex service, it can do it for all users as well.  And, > historically, _did_.  And still does. Only a small minority of > land-line phone service is 'flat rate' based, even today -- business > service is all 'metered'.  and to 'audit' such a bill for accuracy, > you have to show when, and _to_where_, each and every call was made. The cost of a local call in my area has been and remains one message unit--7c. Back in the days when all they had were line meters, 7c was equivalent to 70c, and for a busy business, that added up. But back then businesses had to accept the meter value (per line available in Centrex, but still a meter). Suburban calls had multiple units, again, only the meter value. I believe for special audits they could add a special register tracking device, but this was not the norm. Today, 7c isn't that much. Companies freely allow guests to make local calls and even provide phones in reception areas for that purpose; in the old days there would be a pay phone. I find it hard to imagine a company auditing a bunch of 7c calls to extract out the time and to whom called. They already know from either Centrex or modern PBX records calls from a given extension. (In the old days a PBX operator could log local calls if mgmt so desired.) The phone bills I have seen still only list message units, not itemized local calls. > There is an entire industry out there based on doing this kind of > double- checking, for the purpose of keeping the telco 'honest' in > their charges. > > Doing this for 'local' calling is as important for a business with a > large local customer base as it is for one with a national base. If one employee made 1,000 local calls a month, at $0.07 that would come out to $70.00, which doesn't seem to be worth the expense of an audit. Penny smart dollar foolish.
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:45:17 -0700 (PDT) From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu Subject: Re: NYPD knows who you've been talking to. And where you've been.. Message-ID: <969ae3b0-bc22-4751-ae5e-b8db264dc7ae@a21g2000yqc.googlegroups.com> On Oct 12, 10:41 am, Wesr...@aol.com wrote: > I have never lived anywhere that 1FR and 1FB service were not > available and made up the vast number of customers.  1MR and 1MB on > the same premises as flat rate service were usually forbidden to > prevent the obvious temptation to use the message rate service for > incoming calls only and use the flat rate service for outgoing calls. > Exceptions could be authorized in some cases where that potential did > not exist. I have one line as flat rate, which I use as my outgoing line, and one line as message rate, which I use as my incoming line.
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 Bill Horne. 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 moderated by Bill Horne. Contact information: Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 781-784-7287 bill at horne dot net Subscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom Unsubscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Copyright (C) 2009 TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
End of The Telecom digest (12 messages)

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