Apparently, if you uncover the right manhole and bring a pair of wire cutters, you can CUT OFF INTERNET AND PHONE IN MY ENTIRE COUNTY FOR A WHOLE DAY.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12106301?source=most_emailed

Redundancy is for nerds, apparently.

The universe is fundamentally benign, because you have no idea by what scant margin everything in the world keeps working.

I am endlessly amused (or depressed, depending on inverse proportion to alcohol consumption) when people go off on something like solar flares frying the internet, terrorists causing a flood with Hoover damn, or cell phones frying your brain, compared to all the trivial and unstoppable ways to bring civilization to a crashing halt that simply never happen because no one is trying.

Wow.

Not to make light of it but the kid who turned to his mom and said "I'm alone" b/c he couldn't text his friends before school is hilarious.

That was the topic of the episode of West Wing I watched last night. One cow in the midwest gets mad cow and the beef industry takes 20 years to recover, food prices leap astronomically, economy melts down. Aaron Sorkin's point, it is when the things we take for granted stop working that the real crisis happen.

someone brought to my attention that this was SouthPark episode... :eek:

That was the topic of the episode of West Wing I watched last night. One cow in the midwest gets mad cow and the beef industry takes 20 years to recover, food prices leap astronomically, economy melts down. Aaron Sorkin's point, it is when the things we take for granted stop working that the real crisis happen.


I have that entire series in my library, and it never fails to amaze me the manner in which they used that show to enlighten people (or try to, if folks were willing to pay attention) to the multitude of things that go on in day to day life and the ways that government does, or does not, deal with them.

One of my all time favorite shows.

It's alot easier than you think. you don't even need co-axial cutters. all you need is a hammer. 3 lb hand sledge works best.

I know a spot in a very sparcley populated area where all you need is a pair of hooks and said hammer and you could Fubar the kent to Canada line. thats one that handles alot of the banking traffic between Vancouver and Seattle,Portland,San Fran, LA.
Pretty big deal really. would take them hours to figure where the damage was.

Bah, that's what TDR's are for :)

Like Mani said all you need is a TDR or hell a good multimeter along with knowledge of breakpoints and you can find it pretty quick.

There are even better options than the ole TDR, which is basically an Oscilliscope, that are handheld and can be set up in 2 mins or less.

Yes an Optical timed domain reflectometer will get you a close point. still takes time to get techs and a fusion splicer there then sober up a lineman enough to chase your slack etc.....never said it was'nt fixable but man would it fubar it for awhile. why you use a 2# sledge no visible damage. youd have to get close then re-shoot with otdr to get a clearer reading.

First rule of fighting a war...cut the enemies communications.

No, no. First rule of fighting a war is to have already won it before you begin.

Napoleon once said that to fight a war without knowing its outcome is to put your army in the hands of Fortuna - and she does not always favour the brave.

Haha, great quote. cocky lil bastard was really pretty smart.

Ironically, I always thought he was smarter than Voltaire.