We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002) • Hacker News Board

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#11

Post by anamexis » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 12:53 AM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #9

anamexis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few more: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12778904 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21578606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16384158 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16285093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12997568 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3802458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=123489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2701063…

The reason people share links from the past isn't some passive aggressive "UGH reposts amirite?!" like what you appear to be doing -- it's because past discussion on a fun read has lots of fun morsels of comments, and it's fun to revisit them alongside today's discussion. HN doesn't have a rule that there should only be one canonical submission for every individual link or topic. That you thought your comment would c…

I am well aware of HN policy regarding reposts. I just found it amusing that this one has so many.

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#12

Post by akeruu » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 12:58 AM UTC

anamexis wrote: post #4

cbhl wrote: post #2

Previously: 2018: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18675375 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9338708

A few more: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12778904 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21578606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16384158 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16285093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12997568 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3802458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=123489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2701063…

Yes, this story gets posted a lot, and many of us might know it, but at the same time, I like to think about the ones that didn't. They will learn something new today. XKCD said it better than I could: https://xkcd.com/1053/

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#13

Post by savrajsingh » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:06 AM UTC

anamexis wrote: post #4

cbhl wrote: post #2

Previously: 2018: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18675375 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9338708

A few more: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12778904 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21578606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16384158 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16285093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12997568 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3802458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=123489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2701063…

Obvious feature request for HN: page that lists most reposted stories / links. :)

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#14

Post by xook » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:12 AM UTC

Truly this is a worldly gem. Thank you for submitting this. :)

It's easy to forget that, even though transmissions still travel at near lightspeed, it still takes more than an instant to reach its destination, even digitally. I should keep this in mind, I think.

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#15

Post by keithnz » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:16 AM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #9

anamexis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few more: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12778904 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21578606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16384158 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16285093 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12997568 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3802458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=123489 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385068 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2701063…

The reason people share links from the past isn't some passive aggressive "UGH reposts amirite?!" like what you appear to be doing -- it's because past discussion on a fun read has lots of fun morsels of comments, and it's fun to revisit them alongside today's discussion. HN doesn't have a rule that there should only be one canonical submission for every individual link or topic. That you thought your comment would c…

its pretty common for previous threads to be posted in the current thread

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#16

Post by microcolonel » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:17 AM UTC

davidkuhta wrote: post #8

Hat tip to @nfriedly from back in 2011: FYI units on OS X doesn't recognize millilightseconds, but you can do this: You have: 3 lightyears / 365 / 24 / 60 / 60 / 1000 You want: miles * 559.21802 / 0.0017882113

GNU Units is spectacular.

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#17

Post by ryanmarsh » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:21 AM UTC

Love this story.

I'm certain it will continue to be reposted to this website until ceases operations or the heat death of the universe whichever comes first.

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#18

Post by rlayton2 » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

xwdv wrote: post #7

IMO even though this has been posted a bunch of times it’s important to repost these sort of campfire ghost stories so future developers can think more creatively about strange errors.

It should be recommended reading for new IT support staff. While you get unhelpful "its not working" requests all the time, when the user does give you information on the working / not working scenarios, you should always consider them, even if it doesn't make any sense.

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#19

Post by abeppu » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

The ending of this makes it sound super clean. 3 ms * speed of light => ~560 miles. "It all makes sense!"

But ... isn't the speed of light through fiber actually like 2/3 of the speed of light in a vacuum? And that fiber isn't going to be laid out in a straight line exactly to the destination. So I think really there must have been a fair bit of uncertainty around that ~3ms to abort a connection.

Re: We can't send email more than 500 miles (2002)

#20

Post by baby » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 1:33 AM UTC

abeppu wrote: post #19

The ending of this makes it sound super clean. 3 ms * speed of light => ~560 miles. "It all makes sense!" But ... isn't the speed of light through fiber actually like 2/3 of the speed of light in a vacuum? And that fiber isn't going to be laid out in a straight line exactly to the destination. So I think really there must have been a fair bit of uncertainty around that ~3ms to abort a connection.

And the time it takes to get to that fiber. It’s a fictive piece probably?