[fa.telecom] TELECOM Digest V2 #79

TELECOM@Usc-Eclb (06/29/82)

TELECOM AM Digest       Tuesday, 29 June 1982      Volume 2 : Issue 79

Today's Topics:
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Date: 24 Jun 1982 2134-PDT
From: Richard Furuta <Furuta at WASHINGTON>
Subject: Belle in Science

For those of you who've been following the fortunes of Belle, Bell
Labs' chess playing computer, there is an article in the most recent
issue of Science magazine describing its seizure (and subsequent
release).  (For those of you who haven't been following the story,
Belle was seized by the Customs department when Kenneth Thompson of
Bell Labs tried to take it to Moscow for a chess demonstration).
Thompson's quotes on this matter have been quite colorful.  This
article contains the classic paragraph:
	"The Soviets, at first, would not accept the fact that Belle
was not coming to their chess meeting.  'They kept saying that if we
could just find the right person and slip him a bottle of vodka we
could get the computer,' Thompson remarks.  'Then they said that if I
could get the computer out of the country they would send a plane to
pick it up and fly it to Moscow.  They couldn't understand that this
couldn't be done.'  Finally, the Russians went with Thompson to the
American Embassy in Moscow and suggested that Belle might be shipped
in a diplomatic pouch.  This idea, too, met with a less than
enthusiastic reception."

The citation is Science (Vol. 216, Number 4553), 25 June 1982, page
1392.

Incidentally, the next article in the magazine discusses controversy
about the future of Bell Laboratories as it might be affected by the
recent consent decree or by H.R. 5818.

			--Rick

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Date:     24 Jun 82 17:00:24 EDT  (Thu)
From:     Steve Bellovin <smb.unc@UDel-Relay>
Subject:  Resale of WATS lines
To:       telecom at unc

What do folks on this list think of the viability of reselling WATS
lines?  A new company has started up locally (Heins Call Saver,
919-549-8247) that's doing just that; they're promising 20-50% savings
on out-of-state calls.

Now -- I'm a bit suspicious of that, because that's how Hart-Line was
implemented.  (They charged $65 plus $65/mo. for an unlimited number
of 15-minute calls; Heins is charging $15 ($25 for businesses) plus
$6/mo.  plus per-call fees, with a $3 credit if your monthly bill is
less than $50.) They're also promising a busy rate of less than .3% --
is that attainable economically?

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Date:     28 Jun 82 13:28:28-EDT (Mon)
From:     Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@BRL>
Subject:  coin & non-coin place names

I've seen 2 situations in Delaware County, Pa., where the prefix found
on pay phones has different place name from those on surrounding
residence & business phones.  (area code 215)

pay phone		residence & business 		where
prefix			phone prefix

494 Chester		485 Marcus Hook		Marcus Hook, Linwood, Boothwyn
461 Glenolden		583,586 Sharon Hill	Sharon Hill, Darby

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End of TELECOM Digest
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