And now, after everyone thinks a ship did it (three cables in three days? really? what are the odds...), comes this story via AFP.
Ships did not cause Internet cable damage
Agence France-Presse Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:57 EST
CAIRO - Damage to undersea Internet cables in the Mediterranean that hit business across the Middle East and South Asia was not caused by ships, Egypt's communications ministry said on Sunday, ruling out earlier reports.
The transport ministry added that footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged.
'The ministry's maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no ships sailed the area,' a statement said.
'The area is also marked on maps as a no-go zone and it is therefore ruled out that the damage to the cables was caused by ships,' the statement added.
Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to Internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia.
A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said.
Earlier reports said that the damage had been caused by ships that had been diverted off their usual route because of bad weather.
Egypt's communication and information technology ministry said it would report its findings to the owners of the two damaged Mediterranean cables, FLAG Telecom and SEA-ME-WE4.
A repair ship was expected to begin work to fix the two Mediterranean cables on Tuesday.
Well, hopefully you are. Because if you don't, who will? You think you'll be okay by just sitting around and waiting for someone else? You won't. You've been doing that for years already. And what has that gotten you? Nothing. Time to change.
See Ensign Oates' frank adult death struggle with the spine-chilling giant electric penguin...!
Oates looks up in horror, a shadow crosses him. Reverse shot of model penguin (quite small, about a foot) which lights up and looks electric. The penguin is close to the camera in the foreground and appears huge. Oates looks around desperately then starts to undress. Shot of penguin throwing tentacle. Half-nude Oates struggles with it. Intercut a lot of phoney reverses. Oates by now clad only in posing briefs sees a stone. He picks up the stone, then camera zooms into above-naval shot; he removes his briefs, puts the stone in the briefs, twirls it like a sling, and releases stone. The penguin is hit on beak, and falls over backwards.
Residents of a village in central Russia are trying to solve the mystery of a lake that disappeared overnight.
Russia's NTV channel showed a huge, muddy basin where the lake once was, in the village of Bolotnikovo.
"It looks like somebody has pulled the plug out of a gigantic bath," said the TV's correspondent, next to a deep debris-filled hole.
Local officials in Nizhny Novgorod region say the lake was probably sucked into an underground cave.
The name of the village - which lies about 250 km (155 miles) east of Moscow - roughly translates as "boggy".
No Water
The discovery was made by local fishermen when they arrived at the lake early in the morning.
"I looked and there was no water. I thought: Oh my God, what's going on?" one of them told the TV.
Rescuers were called out to search the uncovered lake bed to see if anybody could have been sucked under, but it is thought no-one was on the lake when the waters vanished.
"It's very dangerous. If somebody is caught by such a calamity, the chances of survival are practically nil," fireman Dmitry Zaitsev said, pointing out that lakeside trees appeared to have been dragged down with the water.
The lake's disappearance may have been caused by subsidence allowing the water to drain into a cave system or underground river, local official Dmitry Klyuev said.
According to Mr Klyuev, several houses were swallowed up in similar circumstances 70 years ago.
'Dark mystery'
But more supernatural explanations were circulating among the villagers, including the influence of dark forces.
Village youngsters said the lake had appeared during the reign of the feared Tsar Ivan the Terrible and had been "shrouded in dark mystery" ever since.
"We used to go swimming there, but we were rather afraid of its depth, and there were various rumours. For instance people said there used to be a church there underwater," one girl told the TV.
But one elderly villager sitting outside her house had another kind of force in mind.
"I thought the Americans had got here," she said, laughing.
I seem to recall that the traditional nomenclature of ringworlds is that the edges feature really big walls. Think of a cross-section of a ringworld like this:
[ * ]
With the brackets being the ring structure and the asterix being the central star. Because the ringworld spins, there's a centrifugal (or is it centripetal? IANAP) force keeping all the air/ocean/etc in. Like spinning a bucket full of water around.
No. No we're not (well, that's how I see it.. I can only hope). However I think most aussies are so apathetic that they simply wouldn't care even if they knew. It's a shame.
The law, proposed by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, is intended to clamp down on a wide range of public order offenses. [...]
The broad drafting of the law so as to criminalize the activities of citizen journalists unrelated to the perpetrators of violent acts is no accident [...]
The government has also proposed a certification system for Web sites, blog hosters, mobile-phone operators and Internet service providers, identifying them as government-approved sources of information if they adhere to certain rules. [...]
"We don't care about the brutal, criminal act. We care that any possibility of truth be told, is silenced." - Nicolas Sarkozy
Exactly the same thing happened to Madman's website when they had an online AU$10 DVDs for 10 Hours sale to celebrate their tenth anniversary. The website was completely inaccessible for those 10 hours, and led to a lot of irate anime fanboys.;)
I'd like to see Hilary Rosen contact the current head of the RIAA, Mitch Bainwol, and talk some sense into him. Unfortunately, he's republican, so I doubt that'd ever work.;-)
Slashdot Mirror
That's how to get Mars colonization going: Declare independence and you'll be invaded in no time!
Yes, but why did apple not have the demo phones connected to a secure, and dedicated, wifi network? Not doing that just seemed silly.
The Prompt Global Strike, a prototype that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour, was also launched the same day.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7106714.ece
Have they found that yet?
If I could mod you +1 The God Damn Truth, I would.
Sifnt Mozilla Hypersparrow. .....
Or Watercamel.
Or Turbocrab.
Or
200 billion tonnes of iridium and iron? Where's my shovel, I gotta mine this baby before someone else does! *eyes turn to dollar signs*
Am I the only one that read that comment and heard Professor Frink saying it?
Agence France-Presse
Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:57 EST
CAIRO - Damage to undersea Internet cables in the Mediterranean that hit business across the Middle East and South Asia was not caused by ships, Egypt's communications ministry said on Sunday, ruling out earlier reports.
The transport ministry added that footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged.
'The ministry's maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no ships sailed the area,' a statement said.
'The area is also marked on maps as a no-go zone and it is therefore ruled out that the damage to the cables was caused by ships,' the statement added.
Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to Internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia.
A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said.
Earlier reports said that the damage had been caused by ships that had been diverted off their usual route because of bad weather.
Egypt's communication and information technology ministry said it would report its findings to the owners of the two damaged Mediterranean cables, FLAG Telecom and SEA-ME-WE4.
A repair ship was expected to begin work to fix the two Mediterranean cables on Tuesday.
Who is going to rein back those idiots?
Well, hopefully you are. Because if you don't, who will? You think you'll be okay by just sitting around and waiting for someone else? You won't. You've been doing that for years already. And what has that gotten you? Nothing. Time to change.
You have no idea how much I want one of these things. They often run to about AU$700 on ebay.
Dan, of Dans Data, found one for AU$40. Lucky bastard!
I hope they were. Giant electric penguins.
See Ensign Oates' frank adult death struggle with the spine-chilling giant electric penguin...!
Oates looks up in horror, a shadow crosses him. Reverse shot of model penguin (quite small, about a foot) which lights up and looks electric. The penguin is close to the camera in the foreground and appears huge. Oates looks around desperately then starts to undress. Shot of penguin throwing tentacle. Half-nude Oates struggles with it. Intercut a lot of phoney reverses. Oates by now clad only in posing briefs sees a stone. He picks up the stone, then camera zooms into above-naval shot; he removes his briefs, puts the stone in the briefs, twirls it like a sling, and releases stone. The penguin is hit on beak, and falls over backwards.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4566355.stm
BBC News
Fri, 20 May 2005 00:50 EDT
Residents of a village in central Russia are trying to solve the mystery of a lake that disappeared overnight.
Russia's NTV channel showed a huge, muddy basin where the lake once was, in the village of Bolotnikovo.
"It looks like somebody has pulled the plug out of a gigantic bath," said the TV's correspondent, next to a deep debris-filled hole.
Local officials in Nizhny Novgorod region say the lake was probably sucked into an underground cave.
The name of the village - which lies about 250 km (155 miles) east of Moscow - roughly translates as "boggy".
No Water
The discovery was made by local fishermen when they arrived at the lake early in the morning.
"I looked and there was no water. I thought: Oh my God, what's going on?" one of them told the TV.
Rescuers were called out to search the uncovered lake bed to see if anybody could have been sucked under, but it is thought no-one was on the lake when the waters vanished.
"It's very dangerous. If somebody is caught by such a calamity, the chances of survival are practically nil," fireman Dmitry Zaitsev said, pointing out that lakeside trees appeared to have been dragged down with the water.
The lake's disappearance may have been caused by subsidence allowing the water to drain into a cave system or underground river, local official Dmitry Klyuev said.
According to Mr Klyuev, several houses were swallowed up in similar circumstances 70 years ago.
'Dark mystery'
But more supernatural explanations were circulating among the villagers, including the influence of dark forces.
Village youngsters said the lake had appeared during the reign of the feared Tsar Ivan the Terrible and had been "shrouded in dark mystery" ever since.
"We used to go swimming there, but we were rather afraid of its depth, and there were various rumours. For instance people said there used to be a church there underwater," one girl told the TV.
But one elderly villager sitting outside her house had another kind of force in mind.
"I thought the Americans had got here," she said, laughing.
I seem to recall that the traditional nomenclature of ringworlds is that the edges feature really big walls. Think of a cross-section of a ringworld like this:
[ * ]
With the brackets being the ring structure and the asterix being the central star. Because the ringworld spins, there's a centrifugal (or is it centripetal? IANAP) force keeping all the air/ocean/etc in. Like spinning a bucket full of water around.
No. No we're not (well, that's how I see it.. I can only hope). However I think most aussies are so apathetic that they simply wouldn't care even if they knew. It's a shame.
http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/
"We don't care about the brutal, criminal act. We care that any possibility of truth be told, is silenced." - Nicolas Sarkozy
Tells a lot about Sarkozy, doesn't it?
http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/
Yup. I still use a Garmin GPSMap76 which is pretty much exactly the same design albeit much newer :). So again keys-top screen-bottom isn't new at all.
Exactly the same thing happened to Madman's website when they had an online AU$10 DVDs for 10 Hours sale to celebrate their tenth anniversary. The website was completely inaccessible for those 10 hours, and led to a lot of irate anime fanboys. ;)
Or they sent some (now illegal in the US) Gambling Balls down the tubes to clear the clutter.
With Google leading the way in Bubble 2.0, it's more of a Gooble. Or a Gubble...
You just slashdotted my country.
I'd like to see Hilary Rosen contact the current head of the RIAA, Mitch Bainwol, and talk some sense into him. Unfortunately, he's republican, so I doubt that'd ever work. ;-)
So all of you who don't own a DVD-player which can play PAL DVDs, I recommend you get a DVD-player which can play PAL DVDs. :-)
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_ page/0,5936,16628269%255E1702,00.html
This one has some differing details, ie 30kV as compared to 40kV.
I want to hitch up with the civilization that is using that thing as a ride outta this dump! :)