Two things of interest

[docwebster]

High speed internet service.. through electrical wires?

annnnnd..

one of the single most disturbing items I've ever seen on eBay.

Comments

[otherbill.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of the wallet made of foreskin: "If you rub it, it turns into a briefcase!"

[docwebster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but the problem with that is, twenty seconds later it goes back to being a wallet and goes right to sleep.

[dethinwntr.livejournal.com]

Kangaroom Scrotum...

OMG!! that's sick and wrong

[midnightmadness.livejournal.com]

That Kangaroo scrotum pouch is more common than you think. If you want truly off the wall and weird shit, you should join my community darksideofebay Your eyes will be opened in no time at all... ;-)

[docwebster.livejournal.com]

That's where I saw it. ;)

[jarlsberg71.livejournal.com]

I'm all for highspeed internet, but with my DSL line, I can still get my 1/2 T connection when the power's out. What, doesn't everyone have a 15KW generator in their backyard? I bought it cheap from the Y2K scandls in Janaury 2000...

fun with uptime

[http://users.livejournal.com/_duncan/]

When the storms of 1995 hit in northern San Luis Obispo county I enjoyed that my connection to PunkNet stayed up and that all but one of the other network providers in the area simply failed to answer.

At the time I was running off a bank of Trojan golf cart batteries which would hold the PC, monitor, stereo and answering machine up for about a 24 hour DAY in the event of power failure.

[yobadself.livejournal.com]

That's wrong on more than fifty levels.

[greyman.livejournal.com]

Although that particular utility may not have found any interference issues, plenty of other folks around the world have!

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/

FEMA is also quite concerned:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/12/08/1/?nc=1

Basically, not only does Broadband over Power Lines cause significant interference to services up to 80 MHz (all AM, shortwave, and lower VHF such as low television channels, including amateur radio, CB, and many legacy mobile communications systems in older services) but the normal operations *of* those HF and VHF services can cause interference back into the BPL. A 100W HF transmitter operated a few hundred feet from a BPL line can cause noise leading to many dropped packets.

The only argument they ever had which was interesting was that it would be cheaper to deploy broadband to rural communities using BPL than cable or DSL, and this is belied by the fact that BPL requires repeater stations every so often. BPL will be deployed to the cities first in direct competition to existing adequate services.

During wide-spread emergencies such as Hurricane Isabel, there was widespread telephone outages. HF and VHF communications was used to a great extent to coordinate resources such as shelters, kitchens, and medical assistance. Although the BPL might very well be down in the directly affected area, noise from BPL would prevent reception of HF and VHF communcations in areas which retained power... the places where help is coming *from*. In addition, practice training such as drills would not be possible during times when BPL was still functional.

John Trindle KG4RZH, certified Amateur Radio Emergency Service communicator.

[javagoth.livejournal.com]

*opens her mouth to say something - stops - tries again - walks away shaking her head & muttering*:

"I can't deal with something like this before coffee..."

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on - it's just a little signal modulation!

[javagoth.livejournal.com]

If only it were that innocent...

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

The kangroo scrotum coin purse has been around for years and years... that's normal weird Aussie tourist stuff. :)

[femakita.livejournal.com]

Ooh! I have one of those. dmmaus sent it to me.