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Similar to airplane phone in the late 90's using a calling card. While the asked for a calling card number, the system didn't actually confirm that there was an
by ct0 5y ago
Similar to airplane phone in the late 90's using a calling card. While the asked for a calling card number, the system didn't actually confirm that there was any money on the card itself and just connected to the person you were calling.
- exikyut 5y agoThat actually makes sense, the logic there would be that the on-plane system just captured the card number and an on-the-ground system was responsible for checking and billing. Given that 747s (IIRC) are still using floppy disks (https://google.com/search?q=747+floppy+disks https://google.com/search?q=747+floppy+disks) the chances are the billing was probably done by some equally byzantine process. Yes, I'm saying that, despite the fact that "capture calling card number for later using on-plane PBX, establish satellite call directly to dialed number" and "establish satellite call directly to on-ground PBX, which asks for calling card number and forwards call" both ultimately return TRUE for "but users can trigger our satellite uplink to initiate connections just by picking up the phone!!1"... but the latter approach actually blocks illegitimate use and is thus measurably better, and skips the need for an on-plane PBX too. I can't help but wonder if there was some sort of "capture the number first before initiating the call" initiative early on (which totally makes sense), only for the calling-card billing integration to fall through at some point rendering the whole approach moot. Naturally I'm making a lot of assumptions here, the biggest being that the plane isn't just making a direct-to-ground connection the moment you pick up the phone, with an on-ground system accepting then forgetting the calling card number. That would be even more stupefying but I do doubt that's what was happening.
- jedberg 5y agoI'm amused that you linked to a google search for a floppy disk.
- woleium 5y agoA buddy's son exclaimed "oh, cool, you 3d printed the save icon" on seeing a floppy for the first time.
- killingtime74 5y agoWe old
- copperx 5y agoThat raises the question: are there any proposals for replacing the diskette icon? At what point are we going to make the change?
- astura 5y agoThat's an old joke, not something that your buddy's son actually said. https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/24/16505912/floppy-disk-3d-print-save-joke-meme https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/24/16505912/floppy-disk-3d-...
- Dylan16807 5y agoUnless there was a stealth edit, that's a search for "747 floppy disks" which is nothing but news articles about this specific thing...