Southern Brain Trust

Alert
readers and followers of the Berkman Blogging Clique may have noticed
that currently both the Dowbrigade and MIT
Uber-Blogger Philip Greenspun are both in Ecuador, land of flowers
and fun. Contrary to rumors flying around the Internet, we are not part
of a popular plot to overthrow
the inept government of Lucio Guiterrez.  It is just a coincidence,
and any speculation otherwise is just that.

Meanwhile, we are struggling to overcome a moribund bandwidth bottleneck.  Our
friendly Internet speedometer reports that our download rate is trucking
along at a shocking 280 bits per second.  You read that right –
we are currently limited to less than ONE kps, although our ISP claims
to be providing 33.6 kps! We are unable to view any media files at all,
or download music, let alone video, or even meet up with the Dowbrigade
Mom in her favorite online hangout, the Yahoo Bridge Emporium. We cannot
upload any pictures larger than about 10k, as the Berkman server gets
understandably disgusted at our snails pace and times out.

So we hope our readership appreciates the heroic effort and limitless
patience required to keep you all informed of the progress of the Great
Experiment as we wrangle with the local phone company and attempt to
get our line cleaned up. Stay tuned…..