A high energy electromagnetic field will do just fine. Works on earth... it will work in space.

You just need a fusion reactor. At the moment- we don't have one. Or some other high capacity, small size, energy source not yet envisioned.

NASA, while not saying it, is probably waiting on an energy technology.

Where is element 115 when you need it? Someone call Bob Lazar!!!

In 2001.

At that time there were a lot of installations with broadcast equipment installed, and switches were really high end, or used at the top of star topologies to segregate traffic.

Since your asking questions... take about 4 24 port hubs, configure a network with all ports populated, and test whether a hub connected to itself is the same thing as a loop across 4 hubs in a running LAN environment.

Then get back to me :)

Netgear has an R7000 model which works fine with OpenWRT. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the following: But I think ASUS has one too.

Seems like a major failure on Lynksys/Belkin's part. But neither of those companies really impress me.Sure I used WRT54Gs in multiple applications and have a few laying around. But it's not like those things were actually *great*. They were good enough and hung around far too long for my taste.

Everything changes- and it's always somebodies fault :)

No... there were a number of hubs involved, unswitched (not bridges), the loop was created when one hub in that group, was patched into another hub.

Since there was no bridging, and no spanning tree, feel free to extrapolate.

I more or less agree with your assessment (but I'll eventually disagree ha ha!). My formal education was in music performance. However my hobbies were (and are) computer science, amateur radio, physics and theology. Yes I'm an autodidact. But have studied at two major universities.

In the realm of critical thinking... a deep theoretical understanding is priceless. Because theory is flexible. But more important in my mind is an understanding of the RFCs behind how all this stuff works. Know them, and you can really troubleshoot. Know them, and you get to be the "pro from Dover" when no other tech can solve a problem.

With a mass of knowledge- comes the possibility of thinking critically. This is of course assuming the person in question has a mind big enough to form quality theories of their own. The problem isn't always education... it's also quality of the brain. And the larger a field grows, the lower the mean IQ of it's members.

To illustrate:

I once watched a recent computer science graduate (A Truly Dubious and Short Lived IT Director) introduce a recursive loop into an Ethernet network, on an unswitched segment, which resulted in (you guessed it) significant portions of an 18 building WAN/LAN system to simply go offline. Explaining to this person why things didn't work was useless. They thought they were an expert (because of the degree). Sadly, all of the information they spouted about the problem was completely correct- except the application of that information.

You can't really teach people how to apply information, if they cannot build working models which closely match reality. Sure.. anyone can come up with an idea and call it a theory. But can you come up with a theory that works?

So in a sense, I fall back once again to the idea that the talent pool is diluted. At the same time, the equipment is becoming more and more appliance packaged.

My solution? I'm looking around for something different to do for the next 30 years. If I can get up to speed fast enough, I'll participate in AMSAT. I'll go back to performing music. Maybe even get a physics degree.

But I'll be free to be excellent.

I think I agree with you. My first IT related job was transcribing sheet music into basic music code back in 1984.

Since that time I've seen the intellectual capacity of IT workers drop consistently- while their arrogance has increased. It's a function of the field expanding so fast... in order to man departments you have to compromise on quality by hiring for specialties. Also there's the problem of industry certifications. They are not at face value bad... but those with real skills know that the certification is more or less a learning permit- while management considers it a qualification.

In my day (I'm a year or two from 50) people made their way in IT based on ability. That was the catalyst for the entire industry. It is what built silicon valley and the economic ripples it created.

The way I see it, we've gone from recruiting people who loved computers and played with them on their own, to hiring people who shop for a career in their educational choices. That's a path to mediocrity. Always has been- always will be.

What makes you think I actually think I need a gun in Canada?

I'm not conservative by any stretch of the imagination... However...

Everyone should be armed. Assuming you're not a felon, a weapon should be in every single citizen's possession. Period. No loopholes.

Gun safety should be taught in public school, along with the inferred rights and responsibilities involved.

The reason? So that normal citizens like you and me can defend ourselves on the way to the Canadian border. Because when these idiot libs and cons start really shooting at each other... the Klondike might be our only hope.

As long as they stay out of the Amateur microwave bands... they can have all they want (self interest).

However, this release of spectrum is not nearly enough to mitigate the problems found in urban areas. The bands need to be widened a lot more.

How about on expanding your comments as to why?

I'd be interested in why you made that choice.