Reading Slashdot From Strange Locations

I'm writing this from Antarctica by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 05:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

But we only get Slashdot part of the day because of the satellite.

Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by Otter · 2004-07-26 06:01 · Score: 4, Funny

But we only get Slashdot part of the day because of the satellite.
You mean all those 503 errors? No, the rest of us get them too.
Say hi to Tux for us!

--
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by KD5YPT · 2004-07-26 06:09 · Score: 3, Informative

It is possible, most satellite that CAN service Antarctica have a very high orbital inclination, but even then the coverage rate would be about 8 hours (assuming the satellite is in geosynchronous orbit, which most communication satellites are).

--
In US, you can easily buy enough major firearms to wipe out your neighbourhood but a few little fireworks are banned.
Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 06:09 · Score: 5, Funny

Yes, it is quite likely that you don't know much about satellites and their orbits.
Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by Wudbaer · 2004-07-26 06:18 · Score: 4, Interesting

Apparently yes. Some years ago a friend of a good friend of mine did an internship on the German South Polar station for about half a year. Apparently they had Internet (my friend IRCed with the guy regularly) but only for a couple of hours apiece because of the satellite.
Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by daeley · 2004-07-26 06:57 · Score: 5, Funny

They use old satelites that are slowly falling out of their orbit.

So when they say their Internet connection is down, they aren't kidding.

--
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by Eowaennor · 2004-07-26 07:40 · Score: 3, Interesting

They use inmarsat, which provides a satellite that is not on a perfect geosync orbit. This gives them REALLY GOOD high speed coverage for a little bit less than 12 hours per day, an d crap the rest of the time. Most of the interference during the transitional time is from the mountains in the distance. The dish they use looks like it points to the horizon, and it just rotates around following the satellite, and you can even tell time by which way the dish is pointing =)
Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by XenonOfArcticus · 2004-07-26 10:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

I can back this up. McMurdo uses a satellite earthstation located at an uninhabited island several miles south of "town" itself, which is on the southern coast of Ross Island:

Black Island

The connection is a T1 that goes from town to Black Island via point-to-point microwave. Part of the T1 is used to carry voice telecom, fax lines, and MPEG-encoded television from the US.

Black Island was chosen because it can see (looking north) over the large bulk of Mt Erebus to make LOS with a geosync bird at the equator. See photo on the page, above. That's the dish in the dome, and you can see how high up the horizon Mt Erebus protrudes. McMurdo is at 77.88 degrees south, so a equatorial sat is still above the horizon.

Pole, at a full 90 degrees south cannot see a real equatorial geosync bird. But, birds that are decaying in orbit become highly variable in the N/S direction, so they appear to wobble up and down on the horizon. When it's up, it's usable. There are no mountains or ground clutter at Pole, so it only has to be up a little bit. Geosync birds do not move in the E/W direction, so the dish only has to track up and down. A previous poster who described the dish spinning around to track the horizon is sniffing skua dung.

I participated in a project to try to establish other lines of communication out of McMurdo via the NASA TDRS sats. I think I'm the sitting guy in this photo.

Black Island is 'uninhabited', but people stay there for various periods of time to keep an eye on troublesome equipment. They brew a lot of beer there, during the down times.

I was present during the season of the construction of the current dome and dish on Black Island (though I was not at BI itself at the time). During a critical period of construction, part of the dome was finished, but it still had gaps in it. A massive storm (Herbie) came up, and shredded the whole dome with 120+Mph winds, spreading debris for miles. A new dome had to be flown in at the last minute, and landed in a heavy cargo plane on the rapidly-melting ice runway. But the new system has worked very well for the last 10 years, and McMurdo has excellent connectivity.

--
-- There is no truth. There is only Perception. To Percieve is to Exist.
Re:I'm writing this from Antarctica by Technician · 2004-07-26 16:37 · Score: 3, Interesting

Yes, it is quite likely that you don't know much about satellites and their orbits.

Umm, Geostationary satellites are positioned over the equator and not reachable from the poles. Any other orbit would cross the equator and would not be in a poar region 100% of the time. What part of the orbits did he not know?

It made sense to me. A geostationary satellite over the North pole either would not be stationary and be on a polar orbit visiting both the north and south poles (Synchrnous polar orbit) or would simply fall down due to gravity since it wasn't orbiting at all.

Now if you could link to a swarm of satellites with orbits like the GPS system, then there is a chance of 24 hour coverage.

--
The truth shall set you free!

The strangest place was.. by neomac · 2004-07-26 05:47 · Score: 5, Funny

.. in bed with my wife.

But it'll never happen again honey, I promise!

--
Responsibility is the punishment for compentenc

Re:The strangest place was.. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 05:48 · Score: 5, Funny

... while dropping the Cosby kids off at the pool.
Re:The strangest place was.. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 05:50 · Score: 5, Funny

Don't feel embarrassed - we've all been in bed with your wife.
Re:The strangest place was.. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 06:12 · Score: 5, Funny

You're saying she's been /.ed?
Re:The strangest place was.. by pcmills · 2004-07-26 06:51 · Score: 5, Funny

no just port scanned.

--
Ask Slashdot - google for stupid people.

I once posted to Slashdot from by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 05:47 · Score: 3, Funny

a girlfriend's apartment. Probably somewhere most Slashdotters have never posted from...

Re:I once posted to Slashdot from by 0racle · 2004-07-26 06:26 · Score: 4, Funny

You think your any better? Your at your girlfriends apartment and what do you do? There are far better things to do then post to slashdot. Have her make you a sandwich or something.

--
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Re:I once posted to Slashdot from by CodeArtisan · 2004-07-26 06:43 · Score: 5, Funny

I used to read it at my girlfriend's apartment. It was great - until my wife found out.
Re:I once posted to Slashdot from by jhunsake · 2004-07-26 06:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Why don't you just repeat the joke, but in a less-funny way? Oh, you just did...
Re:I once posted to Slashdot from by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 06:48 · Score: 3, Insightful

Maybe we should commend him, as it's a difficult task to make that tired joke even less funny.

strange but I'm sure very common... by infinii · 2004-07-26 05:47 · Score: 3, Funny

the shitter with a wifi connection

Re:strange but I'm sure very common... by iamacat · 2004-07-26 05:55 · Score: 4, Funny

Here I am, right in the pooper,
Birthing another slashdot trooper...
Re:strange but I'm sure very common... by Glog · 2004-07-26 06:26 · Score: 4, Funny

That would explain all the inspired posts on Slashdot...
Re:strange but I'm sure very common... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 06:30 · Score: 3, Funny

What the hell are you talking about? Am I missing a joke or are you saying that sitting on a toilet for too long will give you hemorrhoids? I'm pretty sure it occurs if you put too much strain on your... ass. I don't think merely sitting there will give you hemorrhoids.

I think trying to crap as fast as you can may give you hemorrhoids, though.

The Toilet by Finster · 2004-07-26 05:48 · Score: 5, Funny

Ahh...my office away from my office. The toilet. The only place where one can truely be left alone with Slashdot.

IN INDIA by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 05:49 · Score: 5, Interesting

I read slashdot at an internet terminal at the foot of the Himalayas.

Re:IN INDIA by garethwi · 2004-07-26 05:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Is this the first outsourced slashdot reading on record?

--

Find funky gifts

Strangest place by Dolly_Llama · 2004-07-26 05:49 · Score: 5, Funny

But what's the strangest place you've ever read Slashdot..

In the butt?

--

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan

well that explains it... by natron+2.0 · 2004-07-26 05:49 · Score: 4, Funny

No wonder most of the stories on /. are crap today!

--
[n8.r0n] http://petesweb.spymac.net/

Top of a 100' antennea by skywalker107 · 2004-07-26 05:50 · Score: 5, Interesting

I have browsed /. more than once while tethered to the top of a 100' broadband tower.

--
My new title at the office is "Vice-President of Everything Else"

Re:Funny you should ask by prator · 2004-07-26 05:50 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm in the stall next to you. I'd appreciate a courtesy flush.

-prator

Deep Underground by Leif_Bloomquist · 2004-07-26 05:51 · Score: 5, Interesting

I've actually read it from 700m below the earth, in a salt/potash mine in Germany.

Re:Deep Underground by cyberwave · 2004-07-26 06:42 · Score: 3, Funny

no you didn't, you lying sack of shit. You're a 12 year old who lives in southern California.
Re:Deep Underground by Leif_Bloomquist · 2004-07-26 08:46 · Score: 3, Interesting

Nope, a robotics engineer. We were working on another teleoperated mining machine like the one in this Slashdot story and part of the project was a high-speed data link underground. We had Internet access in order to send test results back our office, and it meant we could surf duing lunch breaks. :-)

Like... by Dr.+Bent · 2004-07-26 05:51 · Score: 4, Funny

...in the back of a Volkswagen?

Re:Like... by thpdg · 2004-07-26 06:22 · Score: 3, Funny

Sounds like a very uncomfortable place.

--
-Patrick

"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Scotland by AngryScot · 2004-07-26 05:51 · Score: 5, Interesting

in the highlands :) on a 28k modem in a small house(hut) that belonged to one of my friends dad. there was only one power socket so we had to unplug the fridge to charge the laptop :)

--

All spelling mistakes are due to solar flares...honest

the pooper by niko9 · 2004-07-26 05:51 · Score: 3, Funny

I've gotten in the habit of wanting something to read when I do number 2.

One day I coudn't find anything interesting within reach and had already memorized not only the ingridients to my shampoo and conditioner, but the location of their corporate headquarter too. I pulled out a 25ft CAT 5 cable, one end into the switch, and the other end into my thinkpad X22 3Lb laptop.

It was a good poop, and I learned alot that day.

Nick

Re:the pooper by stienman · 2004-07-26 06:00 · Score: 3, Funny

It was a good poop, and I learned alot that day.

I hope you learned that plastic does absorb odors...

-Adam

Highway: Home Server + DNS + SMS + Email Gateway by jlcooke · 2004-07-26 05:52 · Score: 5, Interesting

My cell phone provider (Fido.ca) gives me 150 free email messages a month which I can send out from my basic SMS enabled phone. I format an SMS just right and it'll turn into an email. I send this email to my an aliased email address on my home machine which pipes it into a perl script. I can request weather information, system uptime, etc. And yes, I can download the slashdot XML news page and parse it up, tokenize it into emails 160charactors long and EMAIL it back to my cell phone.

"new SMS to 003436". "CMD S" for slashdot news command. 10 seconds later I get 2-4 SMS messages giving me the slashdot headlines. I've done this from a cottage, a highway coach, toilets in dingy bathrooms.

Svalbard by JimDog · 2004-07-26 05:52 · Score: 3, Interesting

I just returned from a trip to Norway and Svalbard.
Just for fun, I pulled up Slashdot on my Treo 600.
Surprisingly, both Telenor and Norway NetCom had very good GSM/GPRS coverage in and around Longyearbyen (the main city on Svalbard, pop. ~1500). I think this is probably the northernmost GSM service area in the world, at 78 degrees north.

-j

Me!? I'm a -1 troll!!! by Goalie_Ca · 2004-07-26 05:53 · Score: 5, Funny

So naturally I read it in a cave and under bridges.

--

----
Go canucks, habs, and sens!

The summit of Mauna Kea by igable · 2004-07-26 05:54 · Score: 5, Interesting

I read slashdot before starting a shift at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on the 14, 000' summit of Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii.

If I had sumbitted a good story this morning... by fiannaFailMan · 2004-07-26 05:55 · Score: 5, Funny

... and got rejected, I'd be very upset right now.

--
Drill baby drill - on Mars

Hmm. by xmutex · 2004-07-26 05:55 · Score: 4, Funny

Is this like a geek version of the weird places you've had sex?

--

jack's bicycle is music to my ears

The tally so far... by HarveyBirdman · 2004-07-26 05:55 · Score: 5, Funny

"On the toilet" : 1,624,115
"In Soviet Russia" : 890,560
"While commuting" : 5,109
"While stuffing face with food" : 4,483
"While watching pr0n" : 1,294
"While having sex (solo)" : 1,154
"Inside Michael Moore's colon" : 27
"Inside George Bush's head" : 25
"Hiding in the rafters at the Democratic convention... my God, the gas! The gas and hot air and bullshit are suffocating me! : 1
"While having sex (with partner)" : 0

--
--- Ban humanity.

Re:The tally so far... by punkin · 2004-07-26 07:01 · Score: 5, Funny

"Inside George Bush's head" : 25

Damn, the echoes must be terrible.

Driving on the highway.. by JayPee · 2004-07-26 05:56 · Score: 4, Funny

..piss drunk, traveling 90MPH+ (friend was driving) using a Sprint PCS connection with my iBook, ranting about how "fucking amazing" technology was.

booze + wireless = endless ranting about "amazing" stuff.

1100 feet from the man by Sowbug · 2004-07-26 05:58 · Score: 4, Interesting

August 2001, the middle of the desert in Nevada, while setting up my Burning Man art project. I was furious at myself for making a last-minute untested change to the firmware that killed the visuals, and now I had to reprogram 27 EEPROMs hanging 10 feet in the air by climbing a ladder and plugging a ribbon cable into each one and holding my laptop perfectly steady for 90 seconds while the flash programmer ran. It was a miserable way to spend an hour, and I was convinced I'd wasted five months of effort.

About halfway through I remembered that 802.11b was blanketing the area and wondered whether I had a signal. Although it was over a thousand feet from the camp areas, the conditions were perfect. So I checked e-mail and Slashdot; odd how a geek finds comfort when he's far from home.

I can top this by mfh · 2004-07-26 05:59 · Score: 4, Funny

I stowed away on Cassini and am posting from inside a crate of pudding. Not sure why they packed that...

You can find out exactly where I am here.

--
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.

Can't tell where.... by mseeger · 2004-07-26 05:59 · Score: 5, Funny

But what's the strangest place you've ever read Slashdot from

Can't tell where it was, but the speed was 150 mph ;-).

Regards, Martin

Re:Can't tell where.... by TeknoHog · 2004-07-26 06:44 · Score: 4, Insightful

Note to moderators: this has something to do with Heisenberg...

--
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.

For those who don't get the reference by FuckMeter · 2004-07-26 06:04 · Score: 5, Informative

For those who don't get the reference, and why it's funny... There used to be a TV game show in the US called "The Newlywed Game." It featured recently married couples and the idea was to see how well they really knew each other. The host would ask the men a question, and in order to get points, the women would have to guess how their husband answered. (And vice versa, women would get a question and the husbands would try to predict their wives' answers.)

Some of the questions were tame, e.g. "Ladies, what is your favorite type of seafood?" If a guy's wife answered "Shrimp" but he had predicted "Flounder" they didn't get a point. You get the idea.

Well, on one episode, the question for the ladies was: "What's the strangest place you've ever made whoopee?" (This was back in the '70s, you couldn't say "made love" or "had sex" on TV, so they would say "whoopee.") They were going for answers like "the kitchen table," or "the movie theater."

They got to one woman and she answers, "In the butt."

Hilarity ensued.

--
Rate Naked People at FuckMeter! (Not Safe For Work)

Re:For those who don't get the reference by joemc79 · 2004-07-26 07:16 · Score: 5, Funny

Rate Naked People at FuckMeter! (Not Safe For Work)

You know, it's a good thing you put that "not safe for work" discalimer on your sig. Otherwise, I'd have no idea that rating people at FuckMeter.com would be at all objectionable. Thanks for the warning.

Russia, Nepal, Dutch Harbor by Nept · 2004-07-26 06:04 · Score: 3, Interesting

I was in Russia on vacation this year, and read slashdot whilst in Irkusk (city in Siberia near Lake Baikal).

Kathmandu, Nepal at an internet cafe. I wouldn't consider it terribly strange or remote though.

in Dutch Harbor, a southernmost island on the alaskan aleutian chain (unalaska) on a rather slow dial-up.

--
"Teachers leave us kids alone ..." - Roger Waters, Pink Floyd

Don't know how I pulled it off... by MoeMoe · 2004-07-26 06:05 · Score: 4, Interesting

This was a year or two back when I had an old Palm IIIc and a Nokia 8290...

I was in the Bahamas and they didn't have any internet access... I could use my cell phone though I had to dial a special extension to reach into the USA... I rigged the IR port on my IIIc to use the IR port on my phone as a modem and dial out.... I checked my email, took a peek at Slashdot (or what I could see from it) and logged off...

2 weeks later, a bill for $78.00 for overseas calls and internet usage... It was worth it for the koolness factor :p

--
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...

I once read Slashdot from.. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 06:06 · Score: 3, Funny

..Belgium! Get this! Belgium!

Re:I once read Slashdot from.. by andrew_0812 · 2004-07-26 07:16 · Score: 3, Funny

This vulgar use of profanity is outrageous! I am deeply offended.

Underground in a coal mine by axler · 2004-07-26 06:07 · Score: 5, Interesting

I've done work as an underground network administrator for an energy company that has a huge fiber optic network underground. There was about 1200 feet of earth above me, and about 6 miles between me and the elevator out...

I dont read slashdot by golan · 2004-07-26 06:08 · Score: 5, Funny

you insensitive clod!!!

Re:The nudey Bar by tesmako · 2004-07-26 06:15 · Score: 4, Funny

Extremely clever, who would have thought that one could use nerdiness to repel women? Will have to try that some day.

On a 386 laptop... by yeremein · 2004-07-26 06:29 · Score: 4, Interesting

... dialed into my ISP with Qmodem 4.5, over the 2400-baud internal modem, using lynx.

Stravinsky Fountains, Paris by cvd6262 · 2004-07-26 06:37 · Score: 5, Interesting

Between the fountains and the Pompidou center is a great wifi spot. I posted using my Zaurus regularly while I was in Paris for four months.

I even met the guy who's point it is. He's on the third floor to the right of the police station. I asked him if it bothered him that I was on his wifi and he said, "Pas de tout" ("Not at all").

PS - Go easy on him, turn off images while browsing.

--

I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.

Translation: by jayhawk88 · 2004-07-26 06:44 · Score: 3, Funny

"Please tell us the biggest lie you can think of."

From a Van Halen concert by nolife · 2004-07-26 06:46 · Score: 5, Funny

Sorry but I think Sammy Hagar sucks...

Luckily my box seats were free and I had my Blackberry with me.

--
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.

It's full of light... by sdjunky · 2004-07-26 06:52 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm posting this from that mythical place we have all heard of. Outside.

I don't know how much longer my body can take the bombardment of these intense rays of heat and light. Man was not designed to undergo such a harsh and cruel environment. The people around me walk with no regard for their fate. Not knowing that little by little this intense heat is killing them just as it is me.

It is for the better of those in my local D&D group that I am undergoing this experiment. I know, one day, that my dice will be saved in remembrance of this great and perilous journey.

What strange species is this? It has long hair and smells nice. And it's skin even has color.

I# los#ng signa########## [end of line]

New logo by rumblin'rabbit · 2004-07-26 06:59 · Score: 5, Funny

News for turds. Stuff that splatters.

The strangest place of all... by teamhasnoi · 2004-07-26 07:13 · Score: 4, Funny

I'd say the oddest, and least likely place for anyone to be reading /. would be the Slashdot offices, considering how many dupes are posted...

:o

Hello. by xYoni69x · 2004-07-26 07:27 · Score: 4, Funny

To anyone who might be reading this: I am stuck inside my toaster, please send help.

--
void*x=(*((void*(*)())&(x=(void*)0xfdeb58)))();

Re:Funny you should ask by TroyFoley · 2004-07-26 07:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

News while taking a shit has got to be as old as newspapers. The advent of cheap, daily newspapers definitely popularized it.

Slashdot is a news service.

That's pretty much all there is to it.

--
After I have received the wisdom of good teaching, I will untiringly teach all people. - The Teachings of Buddha

Re:Cell Phone Friendly Version by darkith · 2004-07-26 07:29 · Score: 4, Informative

Try:

http://slashdot.org/palm/

Be Careful by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · 2004-07-26 07:36 · Score: 5, Funny

Especially if her port is in promiscuous mode, you never know what worms may have gotten through. Pay close attention and see if any Trojans which may use that port.

Re:Be Careful by Anonymous Coward · 2004-07-26 09:01 · Score: 5, Funny

You can finger her box to see if anyone is logged in.

I have by 2names · 2004-07-26 07:40 · Score: 4, Interesting

read /. from the inside of the cab of a 360 ton mining truck on my iPaq 4150.

Top that.

--
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."

In a fire? by SmurfButcher+Bob · 2004-07-26 09:01 · Score: 5, Interesting

My favorite was being stuck in a burning commercial warehouse. We were positioned with a two-and-a-half to protect a rather large fire-load (huge pile of pallets and several tons of lumber), while the fire rocked on the opposite side of the structure. We had a trench cut in the roof about 40 meters farther in, with the wood behind us. Our job was to wait, and make sure the fire didn't cross that trench cut... and also tell the attack crew to run like hell if it got behind them.

So, we drag our line to where we need to be, mostly blind. We've got a thermal imager with us, so we can see what's going on, but most of the time is spent staring at... nothing, just smoke wafting in our faces, along with faint glow from the imager display.

After about 10 minutes of this I'm bored out of my skull, and I realized I'd stuffed my IPaq in my shirt pocket before putting on my gear. The ambient smoke only allowed you to see about 4 feet, but the temperature was tolerable... so I whipped it out, and... detected an open wifi, lmao. So, slashdot is hard enough to read on an IPaq, but throw in wearing full gear with an SCBA in a medium smoke condition, it was probably one of the stranger places I've read slashdot. Had fun, though, I managed to get AIM up and send off a few lines to the wife.

And no, trying to read it with a thermal imager doesn't work :)

--

help me i've cloned myself and can't remember which one I am

ok, I'll try by _damnit_ · 2004-07-26 09:30 · Score: 5, Funny

In a strip bar. There's always at least one lady who doesn't do it for you. So I pulled out my... G1000 pda phone and surfed over to see what the poll on /. was. BTW the dancer was not happy that I'd still given her a dollar but completely ignored her. Oh well.

--

_damnit_

It's my job to freeze you. -- Logan's Run

Re:I'm using 28k dial-up... now that's remote! by TClevenger · 2004-07-26 10:21 · Score: 3, Interesting

I used to read Slashdot from my laptop on board Metrolink (Southern California's commuter rail), using a Nextel i1000 phone and their old-school packet data (9,600 bps tops.)

The best part? Using jigdo to assemble Debian ISO's at about 750 characters per second over the same connection. Where we worked the bandwidth Nazis were 'making examples' out of some people for downloading large files, so I actually assembled the ISO's of all of the CD's for Debian Woody for the Alpha, and Debian Potato for the i386, mostly over slow connections. Needless to say, it slowed down my Slashdot browsing significantly.

BTW, when you have a slow connection that drops frequently, jigdo is a lifesaver. I would download for the 1.5 hour train ride each direction at 9,600 bps, then go home and resume downloading over my 26,400 bps dialup connection. Only when I was working late did I dare connect to download through the WAN, and then only for a few minutes a day.

Off the coast of Africa by Gunark · 2004-07-26 17:15 · Score: 3, Interesting

I spent two weeks over Christmas reading Slashdot from the rooftop of a building on Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands off the western coast of Morocco. It was one of the few nearby places I could get a reliable wireless signal.

Really nice to be looking out at a moonlit volcano while reading inane Slashdot comments :)

Slashdot Mirror

Reading Slashdot From Strange Locations

77 of 1,006 comments (clear)