Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jarthur!spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu!spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu!daveg From: daveg@near.caltech.edu (Dave Gillespie) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: A funny thing happened on the way to Utah... Message-ID: Date: 27 Feb 90 08:48:54 GMT Sender: news@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu Organization: California Institute of Technology Lines: 30 I just had an interesting experience on the Internet. Can anyone explain the following story? I'd been talking on and off with a person at mua.usu.edu in Utah using the "talk" command. I was on csvax.caltech.edu, a 4.2BSD machine. Each time I got the "connection requested by xxx@mua.usu.edu" message I typed the talk command to reply. So far, so good. At eight minutes to midnight I get another talk request, and respond as usual. He says hi, I say hi, he says "what do you need", and I say "what do YOU need?". Presently it develops that this is some totally different person who has never heard of me or my machine! Looking back at the Talk_Daemon message I had copy/pasted I see he is at alcor.usc.edu, which is a few miles away here in Southern California. I ask, "are you sure you weren't trying to talk to me?" He responds, "no, I wasn't talking to anyone; I was just sitting here telnetting to Utah." Oh. Sure enough, he was connected to mua.usu.edu. My friend in Utah has logged off now, but I presume he tried to talk to me and somehow his network software used this other guy's address instead of its own address. Or did the Internet link between Utah and California bundle us together somehow? Ideas, anyone? -- Dave -- Dave Gillespie 256-80 Caltech Pasadena CA USA 91125 daveg@csvax.caltech.edu, ...!cit-vax!daveg