Hickeys

The ASR-33 *does* have switches -- *lots* of them, in the keyboard, and various cam-operated ones. But -- they are all purely mechanical/electrical switches. No logic chips or transistors. (Unless perhaps you have the RS-232 interface in place of the current=loop one, or have one with a built-in acoustic modem. :-)

And the ADM-3a had plain TTL except for the RAM chips, so somewhat more immune than CMOS logic. But if you have one sitting disconnected, I don't think that EMP is likely to hurt an ADM-3a. Same for the acoustic modem in some ASR-33 TTYs.

:-)

What are the odds that the aliens would have nannites tailored for the human race? :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

Well ... most aircraft these days are metal skinned, thus shielded.

And EMP tends to do things like accumulate over long power line runs, so what would be a fairly small pulse for say a mile of wire becomes really nasty spikes for long power-distribution cables.

O.K. In contrast, I had a Frame Relay net feed and about once every couple of years, a nearby lighting strike would zap more pairs in the buried cable (in lead sheathing, but punched through by the high voltage spikes. I always kept a spare frame relay modem on hand, and the original went back to the maker for repair or replacement. I got the original back before the next strike.

And, sometimes after that, I also had to pull out the carbon/spark gap protectors, blow off any frayed dust and reinstall to get noise out of the voice phone line.

About the time that the buried cable was replaced with newer cable (vinyl around metal shielding, and dielectric grease in the wires) and a forgotten stub going off several miles to another nearby city was removed, I switched from Frame Relay to T1, and the modem was split into two sets of electronics -- one where the old modem had been, and the other a phone company owned set of electronics on the side of the house at the service entrance. Since then, no lightning damage has been observed. (Otherwise, I might be tempted by the FIOS (Fiber Optics) service which they keep pushing. :-)

The phones themselves were (and still are) old Ma Bell sets, which just keep working.

Enjoy, DoN.

EMP takes out a region - e.g. Dallas Texas or New York.

Lighting is normally limited to a local Transformer yard and the customers tied to it. Often just a single house. Depends on strike spot.

Martin Degree in Physics, Mathematics and 20+ active EE.

Newp, just "contacts".

When they see our cute and primitive writing tools, they'll make them specially for us. Remember, THEY are the advanced race. ;)

IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!

I remember that episode,'To Serve Man'. LOL! One Step Beyond, right? Watched it religiously, along with Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and all the Star Treks. I'm seriously hoping we meet much more neutral and friendly aliens, and that they're waiting for us to outgrow the warlike stage (which we've been in for far too long) before they contact us.

That and "The Sentinel" (alien beacon) were combined into "2001".

--jsw

The close race to the moon really happened but we didn't know since the Soviets wouldn't admit failure.

Chief Designer Korolev didn't use a few large rocket engines because the only man who could provide them had put Korolev in the Gulag.

--jsw

On Earth the land predators have their eyes in front for depth perception when they pounce, and the prey more on the sides to keep watch all around.

No problem for them, if it's the same species that left Obama and Hillary on the Earth.

It's an Interociter!

I can see it now. They come in at night and sniff around the west and notice the 'normal' smell is Slow cookers making smoke.

So they create fake smoke thinking it will hide them in the wilds.

Come out and check out Area 51. Wolf pack jumps them and they are gone. Those left head to the latest safe boat they know!

Mart>> >>

Is it copper all the way to the C.O.? Most places are fiber, until the last mile. It is a mile from my network interface, to the point where it transitions into fiber. It's the same with the Internet and CATV, via 'Fiber Enhanced Cable TV'. Instead of the old 7/8" supertrunk system that was used from the '70s & '80s, it is a bundle of fiber optic cables.

A supertrunk is just that. A long coaxial cable with amplifiers, but no bridging amplifiers, or drops. It is often run alongside conventional distribution to improve the signal quality at the extreme ends of a CATV system

The movies in Clarke's 200x series were the only ones never understood by a single person outside of Clarke himself, including the director. Did you read about Kubrick's letter to him about 2010? ROTFLMAO!

If they were, we probably wouldn't be alive.

What about 3-legged aliens with eyes on stalks? Or those with gripping hands?

Authors Niven and Pournelle.

Wouldn't that be cool? They leave that inane pair and take the rest of us into intergalactic space. They'd cure our painful ailments, too!

I specified land predators. Marine invertebrates are -very- different.

IIRC, the Monolith was a stargate to its creators' realm, 150 light years away which is why the habitable space they created for Bowman had Louis XVI furniture from 150 years in our past. After evolving to the next stage he returned immediately because they no longer needed stargates to travel.