# This is why I love being a techie **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 4, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911 "2001-12-04T22:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rutabegger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rutabegger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rutabegger)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911/1 "2001-12-04T22:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > In 1990, David Waitzman wrote RFC 1149, a tongue-in-cheek standard for using pigeons to transfer information using the Internet Protocol (IP). On Saturday, a group of Linux enthusiasts in Bergen, Norway, succeeded in exchanging some data using the Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol (CPIP). > > The group transmitted a “ping” command, among the most basic operations of the Internet, in which one computer sends a signal to another, which in turn signals that it is attached to the network. In the experiment, packets of network data were printed on paper then attached to pigeons’ legs. Upon their arrival at the destination, the data was transferred to the computer using optical character recognition software. > > The Bergen Linux Users Group had some assistance from the Vesta Brevdueforening carrier pigeon club and Alan Cox, a programmer at Linux leader Red Hat and top deputy of Linux founder Linus Torvalds. > > The pigeon protocol didn’t mean the fastest of networks, though. Taking an hour and 42 minutes to transfer a 64-byte packet of information makes the pigeon network about 5 trillion times slower than today’s cutting-edge 40 gigabit-per-second optical fiber networks. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911/2 "2001-12-05T14:35:21Z")
Yeah, it’s doable, but it’ll never get off the ground commercially. I mean, there’s just _no_ protection against packet loss and predation. You’d have to put so much redundancy into the upper-level protocols that you’d lose all the advantages of CPIP’s free-space propagation… ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911/3 "2001-12-05T15:33:23Z")
Don’t underestimate the problems of dropped “packets”, particularly those that land on car windshields. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911/4 "2001-12-05T15:40:58Z")
Anf of course it’s impossible to send a plate of prawns over pigeons. ---
**Author:** ![Fredge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Fredge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fredge)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911/5 "2001-12-05T18:17:32Z")
Here’s an implentation of [RFC 1149](http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/) with pictures included. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911/6 "2001-12-05T18:43:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*Yeah, it’s doable, but it’ll never get off the ground commercially. \*\* ROFLMAO!!! I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but it was darn funny! ---
**Author:** ![Fredge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Fredge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fredge)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-why-i-love-being-a-techie/96911/7 "2001-12-05T19:08:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dire Wolf \* > \*\*Don’t underestimate the problems of dropped “packets”, particularly those that land on car windshields. \*\* That’s not a ‘problem’. That’s the audit trail!