I have seen a thief unzip a backpack on its owner's back, steal what was on top, and take off running.

MPLS is cool. However in an MPLS network, you have 1) P routers (core routers), 2) CPE ("client premise equipment"), and 3) PE routers (that connect the P routers and the CPEs). The CPE doesn't need to be and indeed shouldn't be an MPLS-capable router. In a five-console library a sub-$1000 Cisco 1800 for CPE would be a perfect fit.

Sure, but if you have 1000 of them you'll need at least one competent full-time tech anyway, and I can guarantee that someone experienced (i.e. knowing Cisco) who has 1000 client routers will prefer the 1000 routers to be Cisco. That's not the question, actually.

To get back on topic, he'd prefer $500 Ciscos, or $1000 Ciscos. The $22,000 Ciscos can go route the university campuses they were designed for instead of taking up space and ELECTRICITY in 1-5 console libraries. Say two or even four each, but I doubt there are 250 universities in WV, am I right?

Some guy interviewed linked from the TFA said it was buying Lamborghinis. The comparison is not quite correct. Instead of buying bog-standard five-seater consumer cars, these people bought new 18-wheeler long-haul Kenworth trucks with three seats and paid extra to have two beds in the back of the coach, justifying the choice by saying maybe one day they'd need more luggage space. Maybe they got a good price for what they bought, but it was a little bit overkill for a thousand parents to bring their kids to school.

TFA says 1064 routers.

Article says Cisco 3945, which at least is marketed as a client-side router. If they're supposed to go to Gbps fiber, a case could be made. It would be full of holes, of course.

Incidentally, searching for cisco 3945 on the net gives https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/2146460 which seems to be the reporter behind TFA looking for background.

Instead of, say, keeping the old routers, and buying a Cisco 1800 for less than $1000? There HAS to be a illegal commission somewhere in there... $22 million stupid?

Filmed while driving and texting

They should have called Arthur Weasley! He's quite the expert on regurgitating toilets

Walk and text and you might get eaten by a grue. Or at least by a bear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmhvdtX72eQ

IIRC in the original telnet protocol the list of keys that prompt synchronization with the server is negotiable. Normally that would be carriage return, and going to a full-screen editor would disable local echo, but adding tab to the list when in a shell should be trivial.