Was this a foreshock of the coming Metcalfean Big One

I'm having trouble perceiving what the big deal is in all this. It's not like this sort of thing hasn't happened before. An event those who were present and sentient in late 1965 may remember was when a smallish failure on the power grid in southeastern Canada caused a cascading collapse that took out power throughout the northeastern US. Those who, like me, can remember their telephone number being extended from 3 digits to 4 will find nothing new in dire predictions of the large scale collapse of a communications network. It wasn't just predicted, it happened - repeatedly. The telephone network did not sprout from scratch as a multiply-redundant mesh with backup everything. It grew into one, with plenty of 'events' along the way to propel that process forward. These events happen, and they will happen on the Internet. They are not apocalypses; life goes on, perhaps with some minor readjustments in incomes. The Internet can be put back together when it breaks. Certainly on NANOG it is worth lively discussion of how to minimize and recover from such events, but I see little of that in this thread. Of course, now I'm guilty too, so I'll shut up and go back to lurking. -- Dick St.Peters, Gatekeeper, Pearly Gateway, Ballston Spa, NY stpeters@NetHeaven.com Owner, NetHeaven 518-885-1295/800-910-6671 Internet for Albany/Saratoga, Glens Falls, North Creek, & Lake Placid First Internet service based in the 518 area code