The case of the 500-mile email

http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html?

by muriithi • 18 years ago

43 7 18 years ago

TheTarquin• 18 years ago

That's hilarious! One thinks of a lot of possible hangups with email (delivery delays, spam filter false alarms, etc.) but rarely maximum range.

benn• 18 years ago

My units doesnt have millilightseconds. :(

dreish• 18 years ago

If it's because you're on a Mac, I recommend http://www.finkproject.org/ -- but I hear MacPorts is good too: http://www.macports.org/

Either one gets you a modern GNU Units.

tel• 18 years ago

or you can do 3 milliseconds * c

BrandonM2• 18 years ago

It's a great story, but I'm not sure that I'm buying it. The conclusion is what bothers me; he says the timeout was three milliseconds and proceeds to convert 3 millilightseconds to 558.85 miles. So what's the problem? The packets have to go there and back in 3 milliseconds. This means that the 558.85 miles is for the round trip, meaning that any places more than, say, 250 miles away should have had issues. For me, this destroys the premise of the whole article, since it contradicts things he said throughout.

The idea, though, that something like this could feasibly happen is certainly true, and made for interesting reading.

PStamatiou• 18 years ago

http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail-faq.html

BrandonM2• 18 years ago

Ahh, I stand corrected. Thanks for the link.

The case of the 500-mile email

Related Stories