Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!umd5!brl-adm!cmcl2!phri!roy
From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,sci.astro,comp.dcom.modems,comp.misc,rec.ham-radio
Subject: Re: N.B.S. Time Service
Message-ID: <3348@phri.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jun 88 00:03:29 GMT
References: <455@trane.UUCP> <4691@watcgl.waterloo.edu> <585@otto.COM> <3335@phri.UUCP> <20041@beta.UUCP> <2799@calmasd.GE.COM>
Reply-To: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)
Lines: 24
Xref: utzoo sci.electronics:3087 sci.astro:2216 comp.dcom.modems:1968 comp.misc:2576 rec.ham-radio:5065

I wrote:
> If I call Colorado from New York and get a land line, I'm going over
> maybe 3-4000 miles of path 

which caused jnp@calmasd.GE.COM (John Pantone) to flame me:
> 3-4000 miles! WHAT?  [...]  NYC to Boulder is 2000+ miles. [...]
> Will we ever start teaching geography again in this country?

	Not only was I using round numbers, but it is indeed possible that
the length of a terrestrial phone circuit from NYC to Boulder is 4000
miles.  Calls get routed in strange ways sometimes if the direct trunks are
overloaded.  NYC->LA->Boulder might very well be 4000 miles as the electron
flows.

	Jeeze!  I posted what I thought was a reasonably informed answer to
somebody's question.  The result is that I've been roasted for using the
wrong units by mistake, taken to task for saying that geosynchronous orbit
was 23,000 miles instead of 22,400, and now I get accused of not knowing my
geography.  This net sure is a rough place; they don't let you get away
with anything!
-- 
Roy Smith, System Administrator
Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers}!phri!roy -or- phri!roy@uunet.uu.net