Is there a picnic basket in this node? 16 Sep 2011 09:44 | by Nick Farrell
in Rome | Filed in Internet
Internet attacked by bears -
Techies in Idaho have been scratching their heads trying to work out why the
state has the slowest networks in the Land of the Free.
Pando Network released the findings of a nationwide study on internet speeds.
It found Idaho has the slowest networks, while Rhode Island, New Jersey and
Massachusetts are at the top of the pack.
The New York Times took it upon itself to find out why Idaho's internet was
the slowest and came out with the surprising result that it was all due to
bears.
Now many of you would probably think that slow internet times are probably
due to the fact that only 1,567,582 live in Idaho and telephone companies
can't be bothered investing in cable. It is known as the Potato State because
that is its major crop and several of its politicians have been root
vegetables.
But according to the Times, another problem is that the internet depends on
line-of-site towers to get over the more mountainous regions. This is where
the bears come in.
Bears like the internet towers because they are ideal for scratching that
part of their backs that they can't normally itch.
Your average bear will rub against a tower and cause it to lose line of site
connections. Barry Ramsay told the Times that when it happened work crews had
to ride up in snowmobiles to discover the problem.
He pointed out that these are the kind of problems city folk probably don't
have in an urban area because there is a bear shortage.
To be honest, while we have had some 'shotgun peppered' fiber runs in our rural TN town (mostly in one spot, due to dove hunters), after comparing notes with a lady that works for Mediacom I think it is preferable to having to have security escorts for their crews in some rough urban areas because gangs will shoot up plant then wait for the crews to show up so they can rob them.
Everyone has issues as which are as diverse as the areas we deploy in.
We had a cow break down a door to a remote microwave site once... now we are the proud owners of a generator backed electric fence at that site... Rural physical plant issues are almost always entertaining.
Not quite. The point of the electric fence is to discourage
moooving through it, but you do not want to kill (or
seriously injure) your livestock. That, however does not
always work as expected. Cows are really dumb creatures.
And while an electric fence may discourage them, I have
seen the extra special ones just lounge against the electric
fence for a long time (I presume until the brain notices that
something does not feel right, so perhaps they should
consider, but only consider, being somewhere else).
On a good day the cow goes (or does not go) where you
want it. On a bad day you repair the electric fence.
Nah, they are high frequency and high voltage, but very low current. It's uncomfortable and may cause local burning similar to a TENS unit turned up too high.
And if they turn up the voltage on the fence high enough, dinner could be
cooked by the time the crew gets there!
montana experience says:
cows have rather thick skin, sheep come with insulation, and bison will
go through anything that gets in their way including 3 x 6" diameter
corner posts and 4 strands of barbed and 2 hot wires.
horses on the other hand are pansies.
livestock always ends up on the other side of the fence...
And if they turn up the voltage on the fence high enough, dinner could be
cooked by the time the crew gets there!
montana experience says:
cows have rather thick skin, sheep come with insulation, and bison will
go through anything that gets in their way including 3 x 6" diameter
corner posts and 4 strands of barbed and 2 hot wires.
horses on the other hand are pansies.
livestock always ends up on the other side of the fence...
In Illinois:
Cows actually train to electric fence (hot wire) fairly well. They don't like being shocked too much. Once they get used to the fence, you can shut it off and they'll stay in for weeks because they won't even attempt it. That said, sometimes you get a cow that just really wants to be difficult and will go through anything. That cow is suddenly turned into hamburger.
Pigs also train to electric fence well. As tough as their hide is, it shocks well.
Sheep are difficult. Other than when they are recently sheared, they have a natural protection across 95% of their body. Unless it hits them in the head or lower leg, they aren't going to feel it. Even when sheared, they are a very stubborn animal. I've seen them standing facing a fence, swaying forward and backward, almost like they're trying to time the shock pulse. Then they go on through and tear up the wire and posts in the process. I've seen 4 strands of wire spaced about 10 inches apart and they won't stay in.
Horses are okay, but you have to tie things to the wire so they can see it. They're too dumb to remember where it is, apparently.
There is a big range of fence boxes. Some have a long pulse that isn't too "hot". If you hold one of these, they make your hand and arm muscles clench up but they don't hurt too much. The other end of the range have a short "hot" pulse that will jump a good distance and will burn through green weeds. These hurt.
On the other hand, I've been told that during a power outage cattle can
sometimes "smell" that the electricity is gone... all their noses start
sniffing after one in the pasture starts... and make a run for it...
Probably is an old wives tale...
Yeah, Sheep or Goat proof fence? Good luck. Here they just let them roam
and the sheep herders follow them... until they bring them out of the
mountains for the winter.
One more problem: Many of these rural mountain "small" WISP towers (such as
Idaho from this article), do not have electricity. Winter access is via
snow machine, snow-shoe, or helicopter, -- and power is obtained via solar
panels and batteries. They are often placed on forest service or BLM land,
or other private property leases without facilities.
When the company I used to work for years ago was focused more on residential services including dial-up, we had a customer who constantly complained about problems getting or staying connected to our dial-up service. When one of our techs was on the phone discussing the problem, he heard this steady ticking noise. When asked what that noise was, the customer told him it was interference from his electric fence for his cows. Long story short, the electric fence was causing all the noise on the phone line messing up his connection. Now the funny part is he found turning the fence off would improve his connectivity, but he said whenever he did that his cows would escape! So, there might be some truth to that.
This has nothing to do with the horse's ability to see or remember where the fence it. It has to do with the value (both financial and emotional) the owner places on the animal, and the ensuing costs if it breaks the fence. Horses can get hurt quite easily, vet bills can run into hundreds or thousands of dollars quite quickly. Most horse owners will spend far more than the replacement cost of the animal in vet bills and husbandry to heal it when it gets injured, because the animal has a "member of the household" status in their lives and can't easily be replaced by a similar animal. So they flag wire fences to help the horse avoid getting hurt. Then there's liability. In many states, if a horse gets out on the road and gets hit, the horse owner is liable for the damages to the car and occupants. If someone in the car is injured or killed (likely if the horse is hit head-on and comes thru the windshield) the liability costs can be significant, run into millions of dollars. For this reason, many equestrian insurance policies require that electric fencing be flagged.
Other livestock aren't as likely to cause fatal injuries to car occupants if they are hit, because the animal's body is lower to the road, less likely to come over the hood.
while we still lived on the farm, two vallies away was gordon, who ran a
dairy farm, milked, and delivered around coos and curry counties twice a
week. he told of deciding to go down to the big city, san francisco.
so he put good clothes on and packed a suitcase and headed south (a long
day drive). he said that when he got to san francisco, he was amazed
that people were walking around in farm coveralls like those he left at
home.
all the country boy engineers here make me think of gordon's story.
That's interesting to know. It's also interesting to note that other animals, with the possible exception of sheep, will not run through an electric fence once they know that it is there. Sheep do it intentionally.
