OT: Books and such

[Fyron]

frightlever said:
I had a friend who could use the internet in the early 90s without a computer or modem just by whistling down the phoneline. Is it like that?

Uhh... yeah...

[Randallw]

I saw that in a documentary once. Before the internet proto-hackers could get free long distance phone calls by ringing up the exchange and then play a toy whistle down the line to get connected.

[frightlever]

He was in that documentary. Honest.

[Fyron]

Randallw said:
Before the internet proto-hackers could get free long distance phone calls by ringing up the exchange and then play a toy whistle down the line to get connected.

There is a world of difference between mimicking a ringtone signal and "using the Internet by whistling."

[Randallw]

granted. It's so impossible, unless you're the Terminatrix, that I thought it was pretty obvious frightlever had gotten his context wrong.