Subject: The future of networking [some headers deleted] From: "Tansin A. Darcos & Company" <0005066432@mcimail.com> Subject: The Internet at house level To: somewhere [This refers to the idea of "ToasterNet", where all the household appliances may one day be networked together. -spaf] Since the IETF I've been mulling over the idea of multi-stage access for things like thermostats and cat food dispensers. ... Telephone: Ring! Ring! Clerk: Hello, networks are us. Man: Help, I need the SNMP management code for an American Standard! Clerk: American Standard what? Router, bridge, brouter, lan? Man: Look, I need to shut down my toilet! It's leaking all over the place and I need the computer code to tell my house to stop it! Clerk: Why don't you just turn the water off? Man: I'm in Los Angeles, my house is in Phoenix! My house sent me a page telling me to read my E-Mail. The E-Mail message said there's water on the bathroom floor. I pinged the sink and the tub, and both of them say they are off, but when I tried to telnet to the toilet, it said all connections were in use! This brings new meaning to the term, "Dropping packets all over the floor."