* * * * *
                                        
                     Technology on the edge of uselessness
                                        
Bunny is having an outpatient procedure at the Cleveland Clinic today, so
here I am, sitting in the waiting room attempting to work.

And not having a very successful time of it.

They obviously have wireless, else I wouldn't be posting this, but the
wireless appears to only let DNS (Domain Name Service) and HTTP (HyperText
Transport Protocol) and nothing else. I can't even ssh out to check email.

There's also a “not quite so invisible” invisible web proxy [1]. I wasn't
surprised at the “please ignore our Terms of Service and just click here to
continue” page on my first web access, but I didn't quite expect this:

> This Page Cannot Be Displayed
> 
> Access to this site has been restricted
> 
> The Internet site you are attempting to visit has been blocked to all
> Cleveland Clinic employees
> 
> **Cleveland Clinic Policy #811** permits access to the Internet only “To
> facilitate access to business related information and in support of
> hospital business.”
> 
> If you are a CCHS employee and you feel that you have received this message
> in error,you may email webfilteradmin@ccf.org, with the URL
> ( http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=1161 ) of the website you are attempting
> to reach.
> 

And the site in question? Dad Hacker [2]? It's a programmer's blog, not a
site about hacking. Oddly enough, I can reach Hacker News [3].

Go figure.

It is perhaps worse that it's almost useful.

I told Smirk last night that I would have my phone on my at the very least,
but I just checked and there's no service at all in the waiting room. I have
to leave the hospital to get a signal, and even then, all I've been able to
get is a busy signal no matter what number I use to call Smirk (cell, home,
business line—no go).

Sigh.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server
[2] http://www.dadhacker.com/
[3] http://news.ycombinator.com/

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

.