When All Other Communications Channels Are Denied
So work has taken me to a place that is seemingly designed to crush all hope. Although I get a cell signal outside the building, it disappears as soon as I step inside. The security guards treat me like a convicted felon wanting to breach their perimeter. My pass doesn’t allow me outside for lunch, so I must make use of a mediocre-quality, overpriced cafeteria that doesn’t take money — I had to purchase a stored-value card in order to eat, meaning that I’m floating one of the largest financial houses in the country a zero-interest loan (with no chance of ever getting my change back at the end on of the week).
Needless to say, the phones are internal-only, and the internet “access” does not allow me to get to work email, work intranet, Gmail, Fleen, or nearly any other site on the planet. But I am allowed, but some weird chance, one means of sending (no receive, alas, but I’ll take what I can get) messages to the outside world:
The website banhammer has somehow allowed Sheldon to slip through its grasp, and at Sheldon there is a link to “Send [a strip] to a friend!”. Thus, I was able send today’s strip to my wife with a postcard message attached, politely informing her that I would most likely be psychotic by the time I got home.
Those of you stuck in similar circumstances (say, in the midst of a civil uprising against a particularly despotic regime) may want to make use of similar techniques to get word to the outside world about the atrocities you witness. Webcomics: Spreadin’ Freedom™.
In the meantime, Monday also featured Pixel!Boobies (SFW, NSFW) at Diesel Sweeties, and Little Dee‘s second book got a wonderful review courtesy of the Washington Post.
Play around with the technology a bit more, man. If Sheldon can slip through, there must be a secret. When I was working at Citibank, we thought the innernets were totally off-limits, except for citbank.com, citigroup.com and the like. Until we realized that the firewall only let through sites that started with “citi” so I set up citi.ryanestrada.com, and suddenly my readership increased to include the world’s largest financial institution.
By Ryan Estrada on 01.15.08 11:09 am
I only get the corporate intranet at my new job, no internet at all, not even in the break room. And the two computers in the break room have no USB ports, only floppy drives. Floppy drives. Let me say that again: Floppy drives.
By Paul Gadzikowski on 01.15.08 9:35 pm
Whippersnappers! In my day we built the entire internet using nothing but a clotheshanger and a hammond organ.
Of course, it didn’t [i]work[/i], but still.
By nic on 01.15.08 11:39 pm
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