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Edwin Forrest

Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806 – December 12, 1872) was a nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849.

Early life
Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Rebecca (née Lauman) and William Forrest. His father, a Scottish merchandise peddler, moved from Dumfriesshire to Trenton, New Jersey in 1791. His mother was a member of an affluent German-American family. A business setback led William to relocate to Philadelphia, where he married Rebecca and was able to secure a position with a local branch of the United States Bank. As boys, Forrest and his brother William joined a local juvenile thespian club and participated in theatrical performances staged in a sparsely decorated woodshed.

At the age of 11, Forrest made his first appearance on the legitimate stage at Philadelphia's South Street Theatre, playing the female role Rosalia de Borgia in the John D. Turnbull melodrama Rudolph: or, The Robbers of Calabria. After Forrest's father died in 1819, he attempted to apprentice with a printer, a cooper, and finally a ship chandler. When attending a lecture in early 1820, he volunteered to participate in an experiment on the effects of nitrous oxide. While under the influence of the gas, he broke into a soliloquy from Shakespeare's Richard III that impressed eminent Philadelphia lawyer John Swift so much that Swift arranged an audition at the Walnut Street Theatre; this led to Forrest's formal stage debut on November 27, 1820, as Young Norval in John Home's Douglas.

Early acting career
The theatres of New York and Philadelphia were already crowded with trained and successful actors, mostly the offspring of well-known British theatrical families or at least with British training. Few American actors were able to make much headway in these theaters, whose managers were highly skeptical of the quality of local talent.

Forrest therefore accepted an offer from Joshua Collins and William Jones, who owned theatres in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Lexington, and were scouting Philadelphia for actors who were willing to face the rigors of performing in the new cities along the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. His tour through a rough country—with the inconveniences of long distances, the necessity of presenting his plays in rude halls, insufficient support, and poor scenery—was not altogether successful, but the discipline to mind and body was felt in all his subsequent career.

In 1824 he travelled from Louisville down to New Orleans, where he had been invited to join the company of the American Theatre, under the management of William Caldwell. There he began to act in a higher quality of production - though usually in roles secondary to Caldwell - and began to attract favorable responses from New Orleans audiences. However, Forrest vied with his employer for the affections of the leading actress of the company, Jane Placide. In a fury of jealousy, he quit the company and spent two months living in the Louisiana wilderness. Later Forrest would claim he spent much of this time in the company of a Choctaw Indian chief named Push-ma-ta-ha, though recent scholarship has come to question much of his account. By 1825 he was back in Philadelphia, and then went north to act with the Pearl Street Theatre in Albany, New York, where he was able to act with, and learn from, such eminent actors as William Conway and Edmund Kean.

New York success

In 1826, he had a great success at the Bowery Theatre in New York City as Othello. The management employed him at a salary far below his worth, and he was at once offered increased payment at another theatre; but he refused to break his word, and carried out the contract to his own detriment. This strict sense of honor was characteristic of him throughout his career.

His New York success was repeated in every city he visited. British writer Thomas Hamilton marveled at, and dissented from, the acclaim that Forrest enjoyed at that time:"He is a coarse and vulgar actor, without grace, without dignity, with little flexibility of feature, and utterly common-place in his conceptions of character. There is certainly some energy about him, but this is sadly given to degenerate into rant. The audience, however, were enraptured. Every increase of voice in the actor was followed by louder thunders from box, pit, and gallery, till it sometimes became matter of serious calculation, how much longer one's tympanum could stand the crash."In 1829 Forrest was featured as Metamora in the play Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags by John Augustus Stone. After a few years of profitable labor, during which he had encouraged native talent by liberal offers for new American plays, he went to Europe for rest and travel and larger observation, and was received with much courtesy by actors and scholars.

He returned to Philadelphia in 1831, and played there and in New York and elsewhere with triumphant success until September 1836, when he sailed for England, this time professionally, and made his first appearance at Drury Lane as Spartacus in The Gladiator in 1836. The play was not a success, although his own role was noted favorably. During a season of ten months he performed in that historic theatre the parts of Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear. His social triumphs were as great as were his professional; he was entertained by William Macready and Charles Kemble, and at the end of the season was complimented by a dinner at the Garrick Club, presided over by Thomas Talfourd.

During this engagement he married, in June 1837, Miss Catherine Norton Sinclair, daughter of John Sinclair, a popular English singer. He returned to Philadelphia in November of the same year and began an engagement. His wife made a deep impression wherever she was presented, and it was argued that domestic happiness would be the fitting crown of his public career. But these predictions were disappointed.

Playwriting contest
Edwin Forrest began a playwriting contest from 1828 to 1847. The only rule the plays had to follow was that the lead Character had to fit Forrest and the plays typically followed American themes. The first play to win the contest was Metamora by John Augustus Stone in 1828. The winner the following year was The Gladiator by Robert Montgomery Bird. Other winning titles include Richard Penn Smith's Caius Marcus; two other plays by Robert Montgomery Bird: Oralloosa and The Broker of Bogota; and Robert T. Conrad's Jack Cade. Forrest was now known as a great Shakespearean actor as well as a supporter of emerging American playwrights. However, though his contest did raise the general reputation of American playwrights, it did little to help get the winners' plays produced elsewhere. Metamora, The Gladiator, and Jack Cade so well suited Forrest's strengths as a performer, showing off his strong voice and well-developed physique, that they remained in Forrest's personal repertory for the rest of his career.

Rivalry with Macready
Forrest visited London a second time in 1845, accompanied by his wife, who was welcomed in the intellectual circles of English and Scottish society. He acted at the Princess's Theatre in London. He met with great success in Virginius and other parts, but when he attempted to personate Macbeth, a character unsuited to his physique and style of acting, the performance was hissed by the audience. Forrest attributed the hissing to the professional jealousy and machinations of Macready, although that artist had been kind and helpful to him when he first came before London audiences.

A few weeks later, when Macready was playing Hamlet in Edinburgh, Forrest stood up in a private box and hissed the English actor. This act evoked reproaches from the British press and destroyed the respect in which he had been held by the public. A letter by Forrest printed in The Times aggravated the offence. The incident was fatal to his popularity in Britain. His jealousy of Macready resulted in the Astor Place riot in May 1849. The public feud had exacerbated rifts in New York City social and political life. An estimated 10,000 people filled the streets outside the theater where Macready was playing Macbeth, fighting running battles with authorities and vainly trying to set fire to the Astor Opera House. Dozens of rioters were killed, and around 250 civilians, policemen and soldiers were injured.

Divorce

In 1850, Forrest and his wife sought divorce, after Forrest's affair with actress Josephine Clifton; he claimed that he had found a love letter to his wife from fellow actor George W. Jamieson. Forrest and Catherine separated in April 1849 and he moved to Philadelphia where he filed for divorce in February 1850, though the Pennsylvania legislature denied his divorce application. Under the advice of Parke Godwin, Catherine hired Charles O'Conor as her lawyer. The divorce became a cause célèbre and the well-known writer Nathaniel Parker Willis was caught in the middle. Willis defended Catherine, who maintained her innocence, in his magazine Home Journal and suggested that Forrest was merely jealous of her intellectual superiority. On June 17, 1850, shortly after Forrest had filed for divorce in the New York Supreme Court, Forrest beat Willis with a gutta-percha whip in New York's Washington Square, shouting "this man is the seducer of my wife". Willis, who was recovering from a rheumatic fever at the time, was unable to fight back. Willis's own wife soon received an anonymous letter suggesting that Willis was, in fact, involved with Forrest's wife. Willis later sued Forrest for assault and, by March 1852, was awarded $2,500 plus court costs. In the divorce case, Charles O'Conor was the counsel for Catherine, the defendant, with John Van Buren representing Edwin. Throughout the Forrest divorce case, which lasted six weeks, several witnesses made additional claims that Catherine Forrest and Nathaniel Parker Willis were having an affair, including a waiter who claimed he had seen the couple "lying on each other". As the press reported, "thousands and thousands of the anxious public" awaited the court's verdict; ultimately, the court sided with Catherine Forrest and Willis's name was cleared. O'Conor won a national reputation by winning the case, and secured a liberal alimony for Catherine. The whole affair hurt Forrest's reputation and soured his temper.

Later stage career
In 1853, he played Macbeth, with a strong cast and fine scenery, at the Broadway Theatre for four weeks—an unprecedented run at that date. He became interested in politics, being spoken of as a candidate for congress. In 1860, he appeared at Niblo's Garden, New York, as Hamlet, and played the most successful engagement of his life. Some news reports at that time said he had been retired from acting for several years, although there are also numerous newspapers accounts of his performances in different cities between 1853 and 1860. Hereditary gout developed itself in a malignant form in 1865, during an engagement at the Holliday Street Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland the sciatic nerve was paralyzed, and he never regained the use of his hand or his steady gait. His California tour in 1866 was a failure. He played his last New York engagement in February 1871, the plays being Richelieu and King Lear. The weather was cold, and the houses empty.

In October 1871, Forrest commenced his last annual tour, starting at the Walnut Theater in his home town of Philadelphia. He passed through Columbus, OH; Cincinnati, OH; New Orleans, LA; Galveston, TX; Nashville, TN; Kansas City, MO; Leavenworth, KS; St. Louis, MO; Pittsburgh, PA; Detroit, MI; Buffalo, NY; and by late February the Opera House in Rochester, NY; February 27 through March 1. From Rochester he traveled on to Boston, MA.

On the night of March 25, 1872, he appeared in Boston, Massachusetts at the Globe Theatre, as Lear, played this part six times, and was announced for Richelieu and Virginius, but on the intervening Sunday he caught cold. He struggled through the role of Richelieu on Monday night, and rare bursts of eloquence lighted the gloom, but he labored piteously against the disease which was fast conquering him. Being offered stimulants, he signed them away, with the words, "If I die, I will still be my royal self." This was his last appearance as an actor. He eventually recovered from the severe attack of pneumonia. The craving for public applause, which was his only happiness, induced him to give readings from Shakespeare in several large cities. The scheme failed, and was abandoned, to his deep mortification.

A stroke of paralysis ended his life suddenly and without pain. His servant found him dead, alone, and apparently asleep, in his home in Philadelphia December 12, 1872. His body was interred in Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Philadelphia. The large sums that he had earned on the stage were judiciously and fortunately invested, and resulted in his amassing a large fortune. He had purchased, about 1850, a site on the banks of the Hudson, on which he erected a castellated structure. This estate, which he named Fonthill, he afterward sold at a large advance for a convent, which later became the College of Mount Saint Vincent. In 1855 he purchased his mansion in Philadelphia, to which he retired after his temporary abandonment of the stage. There he collected the largest dramatic library in the United States. By avoiding New York and by legal evasions he succeeded in escaping the payment of alimony to his wife, but left his estate heavily in her debt.

Philanthropic efforts
His love of the theatre was unbounded, and he is one of the few whose memory survives to this day, for he used his considerable accumulated wealth to support his fellow actors.

This began in 1865, the year of Lincoln's assassination by the actor John Wilkes Booth, a time when the public held those in the acting profession in low regard, if not contempt. He sheltered actors at his Summer home near Philadelphia and, in 1876, four years after his death at the age of 66, his will instructed that there should be formed the Forrest Home for retired actors in Philadelphia, which was to last for over one hundred years before being folded into the much larger Actors Fund facility in Englewood, New Jersey. There his name lives on, in the Edwin Forrest Wing. His will also instructed that a two thousand dollars bequest be provided to Actors' Order of Friendship, whose New York City Lodge was named after him.

In the 1920s, architect Herbert J. Krapp was chosen to design two new theatres, one in New York City and the other in Philadelphia. Both were initially named the Forrest Theatre in honor of Forrest and his contributions to the theatre world. While the Philadelphia location is still called the Forrest Theatre, the building in New York has changed names over the years and is currently known as the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

title: Edwin Forrest


text:
Talk:Phreaking

Stuff that's missing in current version
The article lacks context, in that it doesn't mention that long-distance phone calls used to be darned expensive! In the 1960s a 10-minute direct dial transcontinental phone call, carried by the AT&T monopoly, would cost $20 in 1960s dollars, or in gold terms, half an ounce of gold. The history of phreaking as mentioned in the article doesn't start until after MCI began competing with AT&T Long Lines for long distance service. The article also fails to mention the former numbering system for AT&T telephone credit cards, which consisted of a seven digit phone number, a three digit number corresponding to your calling area (NY was "021") and then a letter which differed according to the last digit of the phone number. The letter codes were widely shared, for example in 1960s 'underground' newspapers, and phreaks would then bill the calls to bogus AT&T credit card numbers. Phreaking, or more properly its subset toll fraud, resulted from 1) the high cost of calls; and 2) public hatred of the Bell monopoly. Another subset of phreaking was the practice of installing unauthorized telephone extensions! Until about 1975 phones were manufactured by AT&T subsidiary Western Electric and were always rented, never sold. If you wanted a second telephone in your home, you had to pay for its installation, as well as several dollars a month for its rental! 1975 was also about the time the RJ-11 modular phone jack was invented -- prior to that telephones were 'installed' by permanently attaching them to the junction box with wires that were screwed into a terminal block. Mbstone (talk) 09:01, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

This article should have a reference to the new book by Phil Lapsley, Exploding the Phone, which covers the early history of phone phreaking, circa 1958-1975. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.79.63.154 (talk) 19:19, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Glaring error
In approximately 1957, a blind seven-year old named Joe Engressia, who as an adult changed his name to "Joybubbles", skilled with perfect pitch, discovered that whistling the fourth E above middle C (a frequency of 2600 Hz) would stop a dialed phone recording. Engressia had stumbled on the tone that would cause a trunk to reset itself, though the eight-year-old didn't realise this at first.

So which was he; seven or eight? The Lilac Pilgrim (talk) 21:14, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Origin of Name?
Not an expert in the field, by any means, but couldn't "phreaking" be a play on "Tweeking"? Not the bad kind of "tweeking" (meth high), like how you "tweek" your radio or "tweek" a windows operating system. Just a thought. --Ιουστινιανός 22:05, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

---

who the hell is insane_phreak? I say get rid of him

Hello All

I'm in the process of tidying up this article as requested - if I have made any glaring errors, please let me know (as I have no previous knowledge on Phreaking). Have done one half tonight - the rest tomorrow (time allowing!).

~ Leftblank 23.30, Wednesday 18th October

For those of you that remember Scavenger's Dialer, Scavenger passed away sadly in a car accident on 6 Feb 2002. Afekz 16:14, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

 * Fuck. That's for real? i been dreaming and playing a lot from Argentina, really nice times. Thanks to this guy. 201.178.55.8 (talk) 04:35, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

The end of MF? Come on, that doesn't really fit here. I <3 you Lucky but this is ridiculous!
 * I thought it was a very good addition to the article

I just read in this article about how you can dial a number by rapidly taping the 'hang-up hook'. So I picked a simple phone number (411), and tried. Freaking cool, it worked! You never know what you'll learn from reading Wikipedia! ike9898 02:21, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)

You're welcome -- although my discussion of this dialing method has vanished from the article. Putting it back in would help explain how the Cap'n Crunch 2600 Hz whistle worked in practice -- it worked the same way as tapping on the switch hook, for example 3 tones in rapid succession would dial a 3, or 10 tones, a zero. I recently taught my kids how to dial a phone using the switch hook (using an old Western Electric phone), and they were very impressed -- except when my 10-YO daughter tried it, she didn't hit the switchhook quite rapidly or evenly enough -- it takes practice -- and we instantly got a return telephone call from the local police department, accusing us of dialing 911 and hanging up, and threatening to break down our door to see if there were any domestic violence victims inside who were being prevented from dialing 911!! What a crazy world this has become. Google 'switch hook dialing.' Mbstone (talk) 09:01, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Possibly apocrypha, but I always remember hearing that blind kids made up a large part of the "cutting edge" of phreaking. Anyone ever remember hearing similar? (First spotted it in the Esquire article linked to from the 'blue box' article, a few years ago...Then heard rumors.)

On one hand, it makes some sense; Schools for the blind were (and are) notoriously constricting places, and prior to mainstreaming, the vast majority of blind kids were sent to them. As one may expect, when you essentially put a bunch of preteen kids into a cage, they begin getting creative.

On the other hand...it almost sounds too good (for me) to be true...

-Penta 00:44, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * It is essentially true but the field was not exclusive to them. A lot of them were bad at it, like a lot of seeing people were good at it.  Now, it is not a question of being good or bad but diligent.  Falcon 02:52, Mar 22, 2004 (UTC)

It's almost completely true actually. A gentleman by the name of Mark Bernay (an alias actually) taught the blind kids mentioned in that Esquire article about phreaking. Mark had learned from someone he bumped into on a loop randomly. He never met this person, but what he told him worked. These blind kids proceeded to teach the well known Cap'n Crunch all about what they had learned, and the rest is history. sam 07:10, Jun 16, 2004 (UTC)

I question the edit made by 202.7.x.x. If anyone agrees, please revert. Falcon 16:29, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I don't see the point in removing the stuff about TAP. That's factually accurate as far as I know.  sam 05:41, Jul 19, 2004 (UTC)

 * Anything else, or can the edit be reverted? Falcon 17:47, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * After reading closely, I'd say revert. That seems to be a generally accepted aspect of phreaking history.  202.7.x.x can always add to this discussion if she/he thinks we're wrong. sam 02:00, Jul 20, 2004 (UTC)

 * :( I wish people would sign their names so we can be angry at them more accurately :P. It's factually accurate, I can add additional sources if required. --Othtim (talk) 02:35, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Joe Engressia is the FIRST Phreaking
Where is he? He was the first!!!

I agree - he has been mentioned of course as the blind whistler with perfect pitch which reports Draper then first used the whistle and Woz says the same thing basically, along with rotten.com bio library on Draper. A link to the History of Phone Phreaking is a required!!! along with Captain Crunch's page already listed. =) thanks

Huge Update
I greatly updated this article, and feel I helped it out tremendously. I re-named the Origins of Phreaking to History of Phreaking, because I felt it was more informative. Sorry to whoever wrote the Origins, Crossbar, and Modern Day Phreaking sections but I basically gutted and re-wrote those sections completely because they were vague, uninformative, and in some cases just plain wrong. No offense. I included a link to the crossbar article in it's involvement for this article, but a lengthy description of crossbar is really not neccessary. I added a lot about the interrelation between computer hacking and phreaking, and also refined the definition quite a bit. If you notice any grammatical errors, feel free to fix. I'd like to see future development of this page, including examples of the spread of phreaking from the US to other countries (UK, Australia?). I feel brevity is optimal compared to choppiness at this point. I don't know how to do that though, so if somebody could do that for me, it'd be appreciated. Also can somebody fix the section "Non-English Wikipedia entries on phreaking." The links aren't displaying properly. I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on the revision, and any ideas for the future of this article.

--BriskWiki 10:57, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * BriskAttivo is love. Thanks Brisk, the article rules now.

 * And I thought this name would be semi-anonymous. :-)
 * --BriskWiki 13:34, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

"nee" (English word) to "née" (French feminine form)
To Radman1: Please look up "nee" and "née" here in the Wikipedia before you change things again. "Nee" (which I used) is an English word referring to a former (or birth) name. You changed it to "née" which is French, not English, and is the feminine form anyway. Engressia is male. When I reverted your edit, you should have checked your facts before changing it again. I see that Fubar Obfusco has just removed the word entirely rather than watch us have an edit war, but it clearly belongs there, as Joybubbles isn't an alias. It's his actual new name. Please respond here or just put "nee" (English word) back in. I'll wait a few days to hear from you.

 * Interesting. The edit was meant to bypass the redirect, not a revert war -- it's now linked as nee, hope this works well for everyone.  —RaD Man (talk) 14:31, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Néeither word is néeded héere. Using the Fréench is an afféectation, and an incorréect one if you use the féeminine. (Né would be correct, but snooty.) Making up a word "nee" and claiming it to be an Éenglish géender-néeutral word is just silly.

 * Moreover, the implication of using né (or any derivative form) is that the name thus marked is a birth name as opposed to a later legal name. (The traditional form refers to a woman's maiden name as opposed to her married name.) Internet handles and noms de crime need not apply.

 * Besides, the sentence reads better without it. --FOo 14:46, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Agreed. Néever again!  —RaD Man (talk) 14:49, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * Fubar Obfusco explained exactly why it should say "nee," but since he didn't read Engressia's article, he thought he was explaining why we don't need it. We need the "nee" here because this individual was born as "Joe Engressia" and legally changed his name to "Joybubbles." It's not a "handle" or "nom de crime"--it's a legal name and we're showing that "Joe Engressia" was his birth name, which is precisely what "nee" is for. Gary D Robson 17:35, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * You misunderstand me. "Nee" is an absurd made-up word. Use the perfectly good English word born: "Joybubbles (born Joseph Engressia)". --FOo 6 July 2005 03:07 (UTC)

 * "Nee" is a perfectly good English word. Pick up a dictionary, read a newspaper, or (ahem) check out Wikipedia. Née and né are French words, but nee has been in common English use for a long time. Gary D Robson 6 July 2005 22:09 (UTC)

Both "nee" and "née" are perfectly acceptable in English as 19th century borrowings from the French, however they refer exclusively to women who have had their name changed by marriage. "Nee" is simply an anglicised version of "née" and therefore both are necessarily feminine; the term only refers to name change due to marriage. If "nee" is an absurd made-up word, then so is any word of non-Anglo-Saxon origin that is in current use, language develops and changes, and dictionaries reflect that with revisions--XxBartolínxx 23:11, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Major Overhaul: Part Deux
There were some MAJOR factual errors that I fixed. Strom Carlson and I are going to try and beef up this article a bit and correct the mistakes. Black Ratchet 17:07, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

Yay for Strom and BR! I love you both!

Captain Crunch
John Draper aka Captain Crunch is hardly mentioned in this article and when he is (about 2/3's of the way down) it is with NO context at all. Maybe some of the info. about him from his page should be moved here to give context to why he is an important figure in the phreaking world.

Freak vs. FREQuency
I changed the comment about FREQuency being a "more plausible" origin for the term "phreak". That's not really very plausible, but I did leave it in as an alternate explanation. I was an active phone phreak and knew many other phone phreaks, and the term "phreak" was simply a cute way to spell "freak". We were a bunch of freaks, freaking around with the phone system. That's where "phreak" came from, not FREQuency. For example, the black box, loopback numbers, and social engineering were all part of phone phreaking even though they had nothing to do with audio frequencies. Indeed, one could be a phone phreak and never deal with audio frequencies at all.

Michael Geary 08:36, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

It's hard to describe how it was in the 1960s. Behavior that today would be considered normal, or protected, was at best frowned upon and at worst felonious. Freaks were people (men) who wore their hair long -- most Americans viewed that as offensive! See, e.g. 'Almost Cut My Hair', the song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Mbstone (talk) 09:01, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Mbstone (talk) 09:01, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Popularity
In the late 1990s phreaking and computer hacking saw enormous growth as hobbies and a subculture with the growing popularity of the Internet. Is this for real? I would argue that it died out in the early/mid 1990s as telcos added tighter barriers and adopted digital circuits, while the proliferation of the Internet and VoiP gave phreakers better things to do. Maybe [b]hacking[/b] increased, but hacking != phreaking. -71.49.161.98 17:00, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Blueboxing was still possible out of the US right until *at least* late 90's, via home country directs to obscure third-world countries (Gautemala springs to mind for some reason). I do fully agree with the massive reduction in opportunity. Circa around 1994-1995, from my country, full international routing (C5 KP2) was available via at least two countries, limited outbound from at least three, all without routing codes. Direct inbound (C5 KP1) we could hit about another 4 or 5. Within a few years, the opportunities massively diminished.--Afekz 16:14, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Phreaking went out of fashion when, and because, competitive long distance carriers such as MCI lowered the cost of long-distance calls by maybe 90%. Of course, curious technical people then turned their attention to computer hacking. One amalgam of computer hacking and phone phreaking that became popular in the 1970s was hacking into services such as Telenet and Tymnet, which were 110-300 baud dial-up services that enabled someone with an acoustically coupled modem to access mainframe computers owned by banks,government agencies, and corporations. This is the method depicted in the brilliant 1980 movie WarGames. Believe it or not, from the emergence of the first acoustically coupled modems in the early 1970s until the advent of the 300-baud Hayes Smartmodem circa 1980, all modems had to be acoustically coupled because the AT&T monopoly did not allow non-AT&T equipment to be electrically attached to its network. That was then illegal.

Mbstone (talk) 09:01, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

That first sentence seems like it should read: "In the late 1990s downloading poorly written textfiles about phreaking and hacking and misunderstanding them saw enormous growth as hobbies and a subculture with the growing popularity of the internet." I know that's all POV, but the sentence definitely isn't accurate as to what was going on. I'm sure search engine results from the time period showed massive numbers of H/P/V/A/C/W/* websites... 170.206.224.54 (talk) 07:54, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

newbie comment
i always new the alt.2600 news group was about phreaking but now know the significance of the 2600. Thanks for the article!

another n00b comment/question
has the introduction of fiber optic cables as the primary phone line changed phreaking? If so, how, and should it be mentioned in the article? -- talk to me    crimes against humanity

 * Most of the changes in phreaking have been caused by the digital switchover; digital phreaking would not really be affected by fiber optics, as optic cables themselves are generally run between switching offices. If one were to forge digital signals, they should survive the digital->fiber->digital crossover just fine.  In terms of phreaking optic lines themselves, it is tremendously difficult to "bug" or alter them, and new encryption techniques rely on the wavelength of the light itself as a "signature" showing no tampering of the line occurred.  Rainman420 23:59, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Inventor of the telephone
"One could argue that the inception of the telephone by Antonio Meucci could be the origin of phreak-like experimentation." This is presented as fact, but the identity of the inventor of the telephone is disputed. If no-one responds within 24 hours, I'll update the article to reflect this. --Dazzla 03:03, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

small change
Added 'Alan from Canada' under the "History of phreaking" topic. Alan was doing the same things in Canada that Group Bell was doing in the USA, minus the recordings. Quite a famous person in the Canadian underground scene. --othtim 05:13, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

The blotto box
I think it's widely assumed that the infamous hoax "the blotto box" would be impossible at any level... Telephone lines contain fuses to prevent surges (such as lightening strikes) from traveling very far. I think it's safe to change the wording to reflect it's impossibility. Rainman420 00:01, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

phishing is not appropriate here
Derivitive term is completely inaccurate. "Phishing" has nothing to do with phone phreaking. They are two completely seperate activities. I dispute the accuracy of this article.

minor cleanup
The fifth paragraph in the "History of Phreaking" page is still quite a chore to read. Maybe it should be split into shorter sentances? I split it up a bit already. I think that 12 commas in one sentance is too many, heh. :)

I cleaned up the previous stuff about the N2 in Wawina. If someone has more to add, please feel free to fill it in. Obviously, the cutover has't occured yet, but everything posted is factual. I'll update it again after the cutover to describe the new sounds.

The cutover occured. The portion about Wawina is now factual.

--Othtim 20:56, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

MF is not dead, yet
Contrary to popular belief, MF signaling with 2600 Hz control is not yet gone. One last place exists in Livengood, Alaska. The page has been edited to reflect this.

If you had read the article, you would have noticed it talked about the "continental" United States.

Eh, I take that back. MF it is. KP + 7 digits + ST. Sorry.

--Othtim 06:39, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Livengood is sure dead now. 68.163.67.106 (talk) 22:53, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

phreaking today
okay, so for some reason today i have decided to learn up on phreaking. the last time i've wondered what phreaking is must have been 10 years ago on CompuServe public chat forums where people publicly solicited info on phreaking. my main source of info today was one of the greatest sites of all time: textfiles.com (of course, most are horribly outdated by a decade and a half!)

There is a section of the end of multi frequency. I want to know: is this it for phreaking? Or is there any more future for phreaking?

I am royally confused and would appreciate more clarity. You know, I make (anonymous via proxy, like this one) edits of math articles, and non-mathematicians always say they cannot easily understand what the mathematicians are talking about. Now I finally understand what they are saying :). --63.226.57.47 11:19, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Overlap with 2600 Hz article
There is way too much overlap between this and the 2600 Hz article. I would suggest that the 2600 Hz article be deleted and merged into this one (or the 2600 section in this article reduced to a sentence or two) Cornlad 19:59, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Other phreaking techiques
This article seems only to deal with blue boxing. What about other exploits still being used (red boxing, beige boxing) and others that no longer work (green boxing)? Alpha Omicron 19:00, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Aw shucks, they took out red boxing? Red boxing facilitated the practice of toll fraud by imitating the inline signaling tones used by pay phones. The original pay phones seen in old black-and-white movies had slots for nickels, dimes, and quarters (US 5c/10c/25c coins). You completed a long distance call by dialing the operator. The operator told you how much money to deposit into the pay phone, and she could tell how much you deposited by the sound of a bell (it was the Bell System). One bell was used for nickels and dimes (one ding for a nickel, two dings for a dime) and another, lower pitched bell signified the deposit of a quarter. Later pay phone models used electronic beeping noises to denote the denomination of coins, so what you would do is hold the speaker of your 'red box' tone oscillator up to the receiver, and play as many beeps as you needed to complete the call, one beep being worth a nickel. Perhaps the adoption of the beeps and deprecation of the bells was a countermeasure to prevent people from carrying bells around with them; one countermeasure to the red box was the redesign of pay phones so that the microphone would cut off until the call was completed, thereby preventing the telephone network from hearing the red box tones.

Only red, black and blue boxes were in common use. The black box, in case someone has deleted this reference also, was a method of tricking the telephone network into thinking the call had not yet been answered and that the destination telephone was still ringing (telephone subscribers were not billed until the recipient lifted the telephone receiver). A phone call made using a black box on the receiving end was free, but every few seconds conversations would be interrupted by the ring signal!

Mbstone (talk) 09:01, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

So was I red boxing pay phones back in '68 and '69? They used dings for dimes and dongs for quarters, as you mentioned. As a sixteen-year-old, I tape recorded a bunch of dongs and played them back for the operator on request. Under the phone's small "table" was a connection box. I used alligator clips from that to my portable Sony cassette player's output line (and clips also to record the dongs). I found it frightening telling the operator to keep the change, but for some reason they often got a chuckle out of that. Something I tried only once, but got caught was even easier. It's not mentioned here. Just alligator clip your "found" phone to any outside connection box you may find. (Because phones were un-ownable, in those days they were often abandoned when moving, etc, then found by others.) Doug B--68.127.87.34 (talk) 17:06, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Captain Bizzaro aka John Marshall
I'm thinking of getting rid of the Captain Bizzaro/John Marshall link in the "famous phreaks" section. I've never heard of a phreak by that name. Also the link goes to the Wiki for John Marshall, who was some justice in yesteryears. Anybody know anything about him? I-baLL 16:35, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

I-Ball, you'd probably know Bizzaro better by the name, "Captain B." Go search oldskoolphreak for his filez, there are some on natas' site. Yeah, he's not really "famous" at all, except maybe in his own mind.

-tim

Ah, coolness. Thanks, good to see you on here! I-baLL 06:35, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

What about phreaking in 90's and C5 signaling ?
I think it would be more precise to talk about what happened in late 80's and 90's, what was C5 phreaking on international 800 , and why not give away some .wav sample on blueboxing calls... What was the bbs phreaking scene, who was scavenger, give away some software dialers example on pc,amiga, atari etc..

I just would like to have some affirmation from other phreaks before giving up some stuffs about this on wikipedia

I just felt obliged to add some information about international blueboxing and both software for Atarai ST/STE which I myself wrote "back in the days", and some bluebox plans that I created together with a German friend of mine, you'll find all of the above here:

Sampling of an international boxed call, bluebox plans and software for Atari ST/STE Bluebox as well as some known PC blueboxing programs from back in the days. —Preceding unsigned comment added by ZaphodB-SE (talk • contribs) 07:33, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

Yes what about the program called whitebox from australia .. that used CCITT5 (R2) tones to make calls that was similar to blue box — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phreaker007 (talk • contribs) 06:46, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Exploration of the telephone network
I feel this article needs to be more in-depth as to how phone phreaking is, in fact exploration of the telephone network, and although some boxes, despite being effective in today's network, is hardly relevant presently in the world of phreaking.

Not Famous
The "George Hoffman" and "John Swanson" people in the "famous phreaks" section are going. I'm removing them right now.

--Othtim 07:01, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

International Perspective
What? The notability of the subject is disputed? *cough* We'll have to fix that... :S

Anyways, in other news - I don't feel this article accurately reflects an international perspective. Does anyone have suggestions for making this article more correct from an international perspective? Right now it's very biased towards how phreaking evolved in North America.

--Othtim 07:00, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Modern-day Phreaking
I think something about modern-day phreaking should be added. It'd really make the article much more informal. I also really can't tell you how many times I've been asked that question :P

--ThoughtPhreaker 04:57, 8 Febuary 2007 (UTC)

 * I suggest that the "End of MF" section be removed, or at the very least, placed somewhere else. It's place at the end of the article causes confusion. Having the "End of MF" at the end of the phreaking article ends the article with a death. Really, the last line is, "On June 15th, around 1:40am, Eastern Daylight Time, any new incoming calls were unreachable." Makes it sound like phone phreaking died at the end of this article. Also, it's not really internationally relevant. Hell, it's not even relevant to most american phone phreaks, save a few. I think it should be cut, possibly put in a different article (like 2600hz?).

 * Also, I noticed that some new info about diverters and such was added. Awesome!

 * --Othtim 10:57, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Merge
I recommend merging the info at Evan Doorbell into this article. He's a notable phreak, and has even been mentioned here on the phreaking article for a long time. He definitely provided a ton of primary source material, and I see his recordings being used elsewhere in research of that era. Despite the autobiographical information that he's been providing at phonetrips.com, I just don't think that there's enough third-party reliable sources to justify a full bio at this time. --Elonka 22:48, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Won't make sense as this article is about phreaking and not phreakers specifically. So I think it'll be a bad idea to merge a biography with an article that, as of present, does not contain any biographical information. I-baLL 14:52, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

The article on Evan Doorbell is a biographical article on the person and not necessarily about phreaking. The article should stay as it is not merged into another one. Dmine45 17:15, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

This article is informational, yet I do not believe that it conveys the current nature of phreaking. The final tone seems to suggest that it is dead, as it states that toll fraud and MF have died. It appears to contradict itself in that it does not state that the subculture is dead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.164.135.63 (talk) 04:40, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Famous phone phreaks
I reverted Tqbf's changes to the Famous Phone Phreaks section, since at least in my opinion, any well-noted phreak within the scene deserves mention there. If anybody feels differently, feel free to revert.

 * It's a good idea to sign your name after your edit. You can do this with four tildes at the end of your comment.--Othtim (talk) 04:01, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

In defense of Quinn's place in this article
William Quinn (dec0der) is a notable phone phreak. Perhaps not notable enough to have his own article, but definately notable enough to be featured in the addendum of the phreaking page. Here is some information surrounding his case and indictment:

 * http://seclists.org/isn/2004/Jul/0053.html
 * http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/July04/quinnindictmentpr.pdf
 * http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E0DA1E3BF930A25754C0A9629C8B63

His case was covered in the New York Times and Computer World magazine, among others. He (Quinn) is also very well known for being the host of Default Radio, which remains as one of the most popular phone phreaking Podcasts ever, along with Radio Freek America.

He also submitted a number of articles to well known publications such as 2600 (Verizon's Call Intercept, Winter 2004). He also wrote a number of electronic articles that were distributed via the normal channels (such as oldskoolphreak.com). These articles primarily focused on exchange scanning and manipulation of Verizon SASS and DATUs and are widely recognized within the community. --Othtim (talk) 04:19, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

In defense of Lucky225's place in this article
Lucky225 (Jered Morgan) is notable enough to have a footnote in this article. First off, he has his own stub article on wikipedia.

Lucky also has a few media publications of his own.
 * http://www.securityfocus.com/news/9061 - Kevin Poulson and Lucky225 for a SecurityFocus article
 * http://216.247.229.195/issue/2004/sepoct/columns/lucky225.asp Lucky's article for VON Magazine

Lucky also was a co-host of Default Radio, which again (like dec0der) marks him as a rockstar of the phreak underground. He's also had talks at DEFCON 11 and DEFCON 12, as well as H2K2. He's discovered many Caller-ID related exploits, and he's been publishing articles in 2600 (and many other smaller electronic magazines) since 1999. --Othtim (talk) 04:33, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

"dialed phone recording"
Joe Engressia (...) discovered that whistling (...) a frequency of 2600 Hz would stop a dialed phone recording What's that, a "phone recording"? --Jerome Potts (talk) 04:03, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Static?
The article says that the switchover from the last N2 to T1 led to gradually increasing "static" over a period of five or more days. This is not what I'd have naively expected - could someone explain why this happened? 70.15.114.2 (talk) 22:01, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

2-1-1
Apparently 2-1-1 only works in a few places in the U.S. where it is implemented by nonprofits and trapped by the phone company. Given that anarchist assistance beat FEMA to New Orleans by a few days, I find myself wondering if any phone phreaks have put their minds to the question of redirecting unimplemented 2-1-1's in case of emergency (or desperate need for amusement ;) ). 70.15.114.2 (talk) 22:16, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Phreaking Boxes
I created the Template and I think it should go at the end of the article. eg

Notability issues with Carter, Lucky225, Carlson
The following were removed due to not being notable:
 * Brad Carter: RBCP - RedBoxChiliPepper
 * Lucky225 Jered Morgan
 * Strom Carlson

Notable phreaks would include others like Erik Bloodaxe. The three listed above do not have independent articles written about them. The criteria of having given Defcon talks is not enough to be notable. Defcon has notoriously low criteria for acceptance. In contrast, many of the other phreaks listed as famous in this article have had multiple independent books written about them. For example, mainstream journalists John Markoff and Katie Hafner have written about Justin Petersen and Kevin Mitnick. -- Sidfilter (talk) 04:49, 9 September 2008 (UTC) sidfilter

RedBoxChiliPepper is notable. He wrote a lot of humorous TXT files and promoted phreaking. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.174.108.127 (talk) 20:36, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

What is going on in this article?
This article does not actually explain what phreaking is, nor does it actually explain what these people do/have done. Its like a essay without an opening paragraph. 174.114.87.236 (talk) 19:49, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Switch hook and tone dialer
This was introduced to me in the 1980's as 'tapping' and was known as that throughout the UK and Australia as far as I am aware. During many phone conversations with phreaks in the US I found that tapping was also the common term for it. Perhaps this should be added, but I am not inclined to do so myself as I cbf'd making an account due to wikidramu and admin banathons that occur here. Just thought I'd drop in a tip off. <3 121.217.137.98 (talk) 23:06, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

UK Phreaking
Would this be the right place to describe non-US phone phreaking? I believe that during the late 60s and early 70s the London telephone system could be phreaked by dialing GUL 06 followed by the first two digits of the number you required (usuallu the area or international access code) ... wait for a click and then finish dialing. This was a strowger system not a tone-based system. It was a mechanism for operators on one exchange to route calls via another if their local system developed a trunk fault. The Post Office would put a printer on this circuit and sometimes call the dialed number to see if they could find the culprits ... who usually called from telephone boxes (ie pay phones in the street). Other UK methods dating from strowger days include hop-dialing ... chaining local access codes to dial long distance (would give very poor lines) and, as Subscriber Trunk Dialing was being rolled out, using a local access code to reach an STD exchange, get new dial tone, and dialing out again. Anyone have sources for such things? Delverie (talk) 13:18, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

 * This is definitely the proper article for such an addition. I had no idea there was such capabilities and misdesigns in the UK phone system.  What is "GUL 06"?  Is that a special signal, or something that anyone could dial?  —EncMstr (talk) 16:06, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

GUL 06 was the start of a number on the London Gulliver exchange. Sorry, I didn't make that clear. (London numbers at the time were a three letter exchange code, usually from a name like Mayfair or Langham, followed by a four digit number.) A basic seven digit urban phone number that anyone could dial in fact. So to dial through to 765 4321 you would dial 485 0676 ... wait for click ... 54321. I think this would only work within the London (then 01) director area although you could dial to anywhere on the automatic network. International dialling was limited at the time but I did see someone dial New York (automatic weather report) just to prove it worked. Delverie (talk) 10:19, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Alaska
“The last 2600 controlled trunk in the continental United States was operated by the independent Northern Telephone Company with an N2 Carrier system serving Wawina, MN until June 15th, 2006 when it was replaced by T1 carrier[14]. The last 2600 controlled trunks in North America were located in Livengood, AK and survived a further 5 years, being finally retired in March, 2011.” How is Alaska not “continental United States”? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gidoca (talk • contribs) 21:54, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

 * I think it should be contiguous United States, not continental United States, but the redirect from the latter suggests that this is commonly confused term. Indeed, the next older version, before the redirect indicates that Alaskans and "Lower-48ers" had divergent use of the terms.  —EncMstr (talk) 22:25, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

 * Ah, yes, that makes sense. I changed it now to read "contiguous". --Gidoca (talk) 11:03, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Merger proposal (Phone hacking)

 * The following is a closed discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was not merged--KTo288 (talk) 18:29, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Phreaking and Phone hacking are ostensibly the same thing. Difference being, phreaking tends to focus more on the origin, use of tone dialing; whereas modern day phreaking would be more similar to hacking .. or phone-hacking.David Condrey (talk) 21:00, 22 July 2014 (UTC)
 * I completely disagree. The Phone Hacking article is about a spying concept, using telephone technology to steal information.  Phreaking was the manipulation of telephone call routing through means other than prescribed by the telephone company and their equipment design.  There was no malicious intent to receive data or information other than that necessary (codes and jargon) necessary to place further phone calls.  Essentially the content of the call was far less important than the ability to make the connection. Trackinfo (talk) 22:57, 22 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Don't Merge. As Trackinfo has remarked, there's an obvious difference. Phreakers were concerned with the system itself, while phone hackers are principally concerned with the data that's stored on the system. RomanSpa (talk) 07:10, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Don't Merge. Indeed, they are different subjects; they are, however, related. Does it make sense to merge both of them into Telephone network? (Currently a stub).  Also I think that Phishing is large enough to be its own article and should be summarized in Phishing with a  .Softtest123 (talk) 06:06, 26 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Don't Merge. Phone hacking is against customers, Phreaking is against vendors. I added distinction hatnotes.

 * Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 04:24, 20 August 2014 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Garbled
The person who wrote "To report that a phone call was long distance meant an elevated importance universally accepted as, the calling party is paying by the minute to speak to the called party; transact business quickly." might have known what they meant, but I don't! 86.155.0.191 (talk) 16:37, 2 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Feel free to rewrite. Back in the day, the phrase "its long distance." meant "This is important enough this person is paying a lot of money, by the minute, to talk to you now!  No time to screw around."  Convey that in a better sentence. Trackinfo (talk) 17:52, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Phreaking. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20120314023659/http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol43-1964/bstj-vol43-issue05.html to http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/bstj/vol43-1964/bstj-vol43-issue05.html

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Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 05:58, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

2600 Hertz
2600 Hertz is given a subsection under History and it's own section (the only one other than history). I recommend combining them, but since it's a somewhat significant change and there's a chance it is the way it is for a reason, I wanted to suggest it here instead of unilaterally changing it as my first edit on the topic. TheMikeBest (talk) 14:17, 28 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't see an issue, 2600 does not stand out as a formatting issue. It is the logical second of the steps in the development of phreaking, hook switch, 2600 Hz (or single frequency), then multiple frequency.  The prose following the subsection is not written in such an elemental fashion, perhaps that might be better explained, but the subheaders are fairly appropriate. Trackinfo (talk) 14:41, 28 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I agree that it belongs under history, but I'm not sure it needs its own subsection. I think that subsection can, and should, be added to the first entry under history. The big issue I see with that is that the article would then have only one section (History) with several subsections. What I propose, and was admittedly vague about when I brought it up, is removing the History section and make all of its subsections their own sections, merging the "2600 Hz" section into "2600 hertz" section. The problem, as I see it, is that it breaks up the article unnecessarily and makes people jump around the page. Rather than divide up the article chronologically, why not divide it by topic? This is mostly what's done anyway, and the sections can be put into (more or less) chronological order. TheMikeBest (talk) 14:42, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * For alternate phrasing and explanations of the topic, it may be worth looking at the old 2600 hertz article from before it was redirected to this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2600_hertz&diff=454428326&oldid=452696725 TheMikeBest (talk) 14:44, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I like the 2600 Hz article. I do not see why it was merged and see no discussion to cause it to be merged.  Maybe I am looking in the wrong place, but I suspect it was a unilateral change made by somebody. Trackinfo (talk) 19:01, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I agree, and I think that while the technical uses of the 2600 Hz frequency are pretty much dead, it's historical and cultural significance is enough to justify having its own article. TheMikeBest (talk) 21:47, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Unless someone can express a reason to NOT establish that article--I don't currently see other people talking here--I say we should reestablish it. Trackinfo (talk) 21:57, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I think we should go ahead and do it. TheMikeBest (talk) 00:59, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

✅ Trackinfo (talk) 01:44, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I added the main article template to the Phreaking subsection. Should we move some or all of the text from Phreaking as well? TheMikeBest (talk) 19:23, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

This died in early two-thousands
The last non-SS7 trunks were upgraded in the early two-thousands. A guy who goes by "The Goatroper" A.K.A. "NoTone" knows a lot of about the last non-digital tech and networks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.196.91.6 (talk) 22:45, 25 April 2017 (UTC)

Pagl
Bshjwnwbwhuwiwkwjn 2409:4063:6E97:7AE0:6DC5:9A92:E6:CB15 (talk) 13:25, 12 December 2021 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Phreaking


text:
Flex machine

The Flex Computer System was developed by Michael Foster and Ian Currie of Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) in Malvern, England, during the late 1970s and 1980s. It used a tagged storage scheme to implement a capability architecture, and was designed for the safe and efficient implementation of strongly typed procedures.

The hardware was custom and microprogrammable, with an operating system, (modular) compiler, editor, garbage collector and filing system all written in ALGOL 68RS.

There were (at least) two incarnations of Flex, implemented using hardware with writable microcode. The first was supplied by Logica to an RSRE design, and the second used an ICL PERQ. The microcode alone was responsible for storage allocation, deallocation and garbage collection. This immediately precluded a whole class of errors arising from the misuse (deliberate or accidental) of pointers.

A notable feature of Flex was the tagged, write-once filestore. This allowed arbitrary code and data structures to be written and retrieved transparently, without recourse to external encodings. Data could thus be passed safely from program to program.

In a similar way, remote capabilities allowed data and procedures on other machines to be accessed over a network connection, again without the application program being involved in external encodings of data, parameters or result values.

The whole scheme allowed abstract data types to be safely implemented, as data items and the procedures permitted to access them could be bound together, and the resulting capability passed freely around. The capability would grant access to the procedures, but could not be used in any way to obtain access to the data.

Another notable feature of Flex was the notion of shaky pointers, more recently often called weak references, which points to blocks of memory that could be freed at the next garbage collection. This is used for example for cached disc blocks or a list of spare procedure work-spaces.

COMFLEX, a packet switching network capable of transmitting data at magnetic-disc speed, was developed alongside Flex. It made feasible the use of remote file-stores, remote capabilities, and remote procedure calls.

title: Flex machine


text:
Nontraditional student

A nontraditional student is a term originating in North America, that refers to a category of students at colleges and universities. The term usually involves age and social characteristics. Nontraditional students are contrasted with traditional students.

The NCES estimated that 73% of all undergraduates in 1999–2000 have a nontraditional characteristic. This remained consistent the following years: 72% in 2003–2004, 72% for 2007–2008, and 74% for 2011–2012.

Definition and history
It is uncertain exactly how or when the term “nontraditional student” was first incorporated into educational language. However, it is thought that K. Patricia Cross is responsible for the phrase becoming the accepted and appropriate term to describe adult students. Scholars disagree on the exact definition of nontraditional. Modern defining characteristics usually include social traits and age, with most studies agreeing that undergraduates age 25 or older are classified as nontraditional.

In the United States, gender was a defining characteristic of nontraditional students, with women particularly older women being viewed as unusual. But gender is no longer a defining characteristic of nontraditional students in the United States.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) categorized anyone who satisfies at least one of the following as a nontraditional student:
 * Delays enrollment (does not enter postsecondary education in the same calendar year that high school ended)
 * Attends part-time for at least part of the academic year
 * Works full-time (35 hours or more per week) while enrolled
 * Is considered financially independent for purposes of determining eligibility for financial aid
 * Has dependents other than a spouse (usually children, but may also be caregivers of sick or elderly family members)
 * Does not have a high school diploma (completed high school with a GED or other high school completion certificate or did not finish high school)

Demographics
Regarding the 2011-2012 demographics distribution of nontraditional undergraduate students in the United States, the following were identified by the National Center for Education Statistics:
 * 49% dependent and 51% independent
 * 28% has dependent(s) and 72% has no dependent
 * 15% single with dependent and 85% single with no dependent
 * 91% high school graduate and 9% high school equivalency
 * 66% delayed postsecondary enrollment less than one year and 34% delayed postsecondary enrollment one year or more
 * 57% fulltime student and 43% part-time student
 * 26% worked full time, 36% worked part time, and 38% did not work.

In 1999–2000, the most common nontraditional characteristics included financial independence (51 percent), part-time attendance (48 percent), and delayed enrollment (46 percent).

The NCES divides tertiary educational institutions into three categories: public, private-non-profit, and private-for-profit (PFP). With regard to the age demographic of students enrolled in these institutions, the NCES uses three age categories: under 25, between 25 and 34, and 35 and older. According to its most recent publication, in a section called The Condition of Education 2013,"most nontraditional students are enrolled in PFP’s. In fact, for the fall enrollment in 2011, in four-year PFP institutions 71% full-time and 78% part-time students were at least 25 years old or older. In two-year PFP institutions, 52% full-time and 61% part-time students were also included in this 'nontraditional' category."

Special characteristics
Nontraditional students frequently have different characteristics than traditional students, experience different barriers, and have different instructional and campus support needs than traditional students.

While many institutions offer programs for nontraditional students and services in response to their specific needs, it is frequently observed that traditional higher education programs and policies are geared toward, and the outcome of, the previous era when traditional students were the main market for higher education. Institutional barriers most frequently identified in research include difficulty obtaining financial support, negative attitudes toward adult learners, a general lack of resources at times and places suitable to adult learners, and recognition of prior learning and academic credentials. The nontraditional student designation has also to a lesser extent been used to refer to socially, economically or educationally disadvantaged students.

Situational barriers most frequently experienced by adult nontraditional students typically include managing multiple conflicting responsibilities in addition to their studies (e.g., life and work responsibilities and roles), financial problems and limited financial aid options for nontraditional students, lack of adequate and affordable childcare services, and lack of support from others.

Attitudinal barriers most frequently identified in research include low self-esteem and negative attitudes about being an adult learner.

Barriers related to academic skills most frequently discussed in the literature include a lack of knowledge and experience in literacy, numeracy, and computer-related skills, accessing and understanding information, critical and reflective thinking, essay writing, and writing examinations and tests.

An Australian study conducted in 2017 sampled 442 (316 female, 126 male) first year undergraduate psychology students at a major publicly funded university. Data was drawn from an online mental health survey to measure student resilience. Resilience can be defined as the ‘personal qualities that enable one to thrive in the face of adversity’ (Connor and Davidson, 2003: 76). The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10; Campbell-Sills and Stein, 2007) was adopted as a measure of resilience. Out of the total 442 respondents, 25.6% identified themselves as ‘non-traditional’ students (n = 113). Those who identified themselves as ‘non-traditional’ were significantly different from those who considered themselves as ‘traditional’ on a number of demographic measures. They were more likely to be male, older, hold a previous degree, study part-time, be an international student, speak a language other than English, have longer gap year, have more children, be reliant on government financial aid, work longer hours and admit to university via methods alternative to the standard pathway (i.e. Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). The most common reason that students used to identify themselves as ‘non-traditional’ was age (58.4%, n = 66). Other reasons included cultural background (43.4%, n = 50), admission pathway (42.5%, n = 48), geographical origin (30.1%, n = 34), being employed (25.7%, n = 29), household income (20.4%, n = 23), being a parent (18.6%, n = 21) and mode of study (14.2%, n = 16). Seventeen students nominated other reasons (15.9%, n = 17), including richer life experience and reason for study (e.g. for self-improvement rather than occupational reasons). The major finding from this study is that those who perceived themselves to be ‘non-traditional’, particularly in terms of age, roles as a parent and role as an employee, have reported higher resilience.

Resources
U.S. News & World Report, known for education ranking, published a guide to help nontraditional students navigate topics such as the application process, selecting the best fit college, and financial aid.

title: Nontraditional student


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Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic

The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (Transcaucasian SFSR or TSFSR), also known as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, or simply Transcaucasia, was a republic of the Soviet Union that existed from 1922 to 1936.

The TSFSR comprised Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, traditionally known as the "Transcaucasian Republics" as they were separated from Russia by the Caucasus Mountains. The TSFSR was one of the four republics to sign the Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics establishing the Soviet Union in 1922. The TSFSR was created ostensibly to consolidate the economic situation and Bolshevik control over the region. The TSFSR was dissolved upon the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution and its constituent republics were elevated individually to republics of the Soviet Union.

History
The roots of a Transcaucasian condominium state trace back to the dissolution of the Russian Empire in 1918, following the October Revolution, when the provinces of the Caucasus seceded and formed their own state called the Transcaucasian Federation. Competing ethno-national interests and confrontation with the Ottoman Empire in World War I led to the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Federation only two months later, in April 1918.

The three successor states—the First Republic of Armenia, the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Democratic Republic of Georgia—lasted until the end of the Russian Civil War that was being fought across the mountains, when they were invaded by the Red Army and sovietized. Following the proposal by Vladimir Lenin the three now Soviet Republics, the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian SSRs, were united into the Federative Union of Socialist Soviet Republics of Transcaucasia on 12 March 1922. On 13 December that year, the First All-Caucasian Congress of Soviets transformed this federation of states into a unified federal state and renamed it into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, though keeping formally the autonomy of its constituent republics. The congress also adopted the constitution, appointed the Central Executive Committee (the highest legislative body between congressional sessions), and the Council of People's Commissars (the government). Mamia Orakhelashvili, a Georgian Bolshevik leader, became the first chairman of the Transcaucasian SFSR's Council of People's Commissars. Tbilisi was the capital of the republic.

The republic became a founding member of the Soviet Union on 30 December along with the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Byelorussian SSR. In December 1936, the Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved and divided again among the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs.

Autonomous republics within the TSFSR

After the Red Army invasion of Georgia, Abkhazia (an autonomous province within the Democratic Republic of Georgia) was declared a Soviet Republic. In March 1922, the Abkhaz Revolutionary committee renamed the region the SSR of Abkhazia. Despite the declaration of this new Soviet Republic, its relations with Georgia and Russia had yet to be formally settled. On December 16, 1921, Abkhazia signed a treaty of alliance with the Georgian SSR codifying its status as a treaty republic (Russian: договорная республика). This agreement allowed the formation of an Abkhazia military while also establishing a political and financial union between the two Soviet republics. Thus, through Georgia, Abkhazia joined the TSFSR and was initially on an equal footing with the other republics of the federation. On February 19, 1931, Abkhazia's republican status was downgraded to that of an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.

The Adjar ASSR was established on July 16, 1921, within the Georgian SSR as a consequence of the Treaty of Kars. The treaty marking the end of the Caucasus Campaign in World War I provided for the division of the former Batum Oblast of the Kutais Governorate of the Russian Empire between Georgia and Turkey. According to the agreement the northern half with significant Georgian Muslim population would become part of the Soviet Georgia but granted autonomy.

Another autonomous republic was established in July 1920 in Nakhchivan, an area bordering Armenia, Turkey and Iran, which was claimed by Armenians and Azerbaijanis. After the occupation of the region by the Red Army, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was declared with "close ties" to the Azerbaijani SSR. The Treaty of Moscow and the Treaty of Kars established the Nakhchivan region as an autonomous republic under the protection of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan.

Stamps and postal history
Before 1923, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan each issued their own postage stamps. The Transcaucasian Federation began issuing its own stamps on September 15, 1923, and superseded the separate republics' issues on October 1.

The first issues consisted of some of the stamps of Russia and Armenia overprinted with a star containing the five-letter acronym of the Federation inside the points. Massive inflation having set in, this was followed by an issue of the Federation's own designs, four values of a view of oil fields, and four with a montage of Soviet symbols over mountains and oil derricks, values ranging from 40,000 to 500,000 roubles. The 40,000 roubles and 75,000 roubles were then surcharged to 700,000 roubles. On October 24, the stamps were re-issued with values from 1 to 18 gold kopecks. Starting in 1924, the Federation used stamps of the Soviet Union.

Most of the stamps of the Federation are not especially rare today, with 1998 prices in the US$1–2 range, although the overprints on Armenian stamps range up to US$200. As might be expected from a short period of usage, used stamps are less common than unused and covers are not often seen.


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Lawrence Barrett

Lawrence Patrick Barrett (April 4, 1838 – March 20, 1891) was an American stage actor.

Barrett began his career in 1853 in Detroit and made his first New York appearance in 1856. Barrett enlisted for the American Civil War in 1862, but resigned in 1863. He later managed the California Theatre in San Francisco from 1868 to 1870 alongside John McCullough. Barrett performed a variety of roles, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth. He was especially known for his portrayal of Cardinal Richelieu in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's drama.

Barrett acted in London on multiple occasions and produced and starred in several plays. He frequently collaborated with fellow stage actor Edwin Booth, touring together and achieving immense success. Barrett's health began to decline in 1890, and he died in 1891 during a performance of Richelieu.

Barrett married Mary Frederika Mayer in 1859, and was the grandfather of actress Edith Barrett. His acting style was described as versatile and expressive, but some critics questioned his stage personations.

Biography
A native of Paterson, New Jersey, Barrett was born in 1838 to Mary Agnes (née Read) Barrett and tailor Thomas Barrett, Irish immigrants who had settled in Paterson. He was raised in Detroit, and made his first stage appearance there in 1853 as Murad in The French Spy. In December 1856 he made his first New York appearance at the Chambers Street theatre as Sir Thomas Clifford in The Hunchback.

In 1858 he was in the repertory company at the Boston Museum. In 1862 enlisted for the American Civil War, and was appointed a captain in Company B of the 28th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment; he served until resigning in 1863. From 1868 to 1870, with John McCullough, he managed the California Theatre, San Francisco, where he frequently toured the interior towns with McCullough and casts from the theater.

Among his many and varied parts may be mentioned Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Shylock, Richard III, Wolsey, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, Richelieu, David Garrick, Hernani, Alfred Evelyn, Lanciotto in George Henry Boker's (1823–1890) Francesca da Rimini, and Janies Harebell in The Man o' Airlie.

Barrett acted in London in 1867, 1882, 1883 and 1884, his "Cardinal Richelieu" portrayal in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's drama being considered his best part. In 1889, he produced the first performance of The Duchess of Padua, retitling it Guido Ferranti and taking on the title role. In 1869 Barrett partnered with actor John McCullough in the creation of San Francisco's California Theater, leaving his management position within two years, although he became a frequent actor on tour of the West throughout the 1870s and 80s. He was particularly successful in Kansas City, Missouri, where he performed for a week in December 1870 in the inaugural season of the Coates Opera House; he returned 11 times. In 1889, he produced William Young's play Ganelon, with himself in the title role. The expensive production set in the Middle Ages had a successful run. William S. Hart, who was initially hired to play one of the roles, recalled," The performances were given, and they were highly creditable too!"

He was managed for many years by Robert E. Stevens, the father of actress Emily Stevens and theater director Robert Stevens. In addition to his acting, Barrett also wrote a life of Edwin Forrest in the American Actors Series (Boston, 1881). Of the actor, Barrett said his personality was too strong to allow his characters to show through: "He was in all things marked and distinctive. His obtrusive personality often destroyed the harmony of the portrait he was painting."

Barrett frequently worked with fellow stage actor Edwin Booth; he played Othello to Booth's Iago and Cassius to his Brutus in Julius Caesar. He wrote a sketch of his colleague for Edwin Booth and his Contemporaries (Boston, 1886). Shortly after, Barrett contacted Booth and suggested that the two tour together beginning in 1887 season. They worked together for the next several years and were immensely successful, both in popularity and in financial returns. As Booth reflected on Barrett's leadership and management, he wrote: "Well, why should I not do good work, after all Barrett has done for me... Good work, eh? Well, I'll give him the best that's in me, he deserves it."

On April 3, 1889, the two were performing in Othello but Booth's voice did not work when he attempted to deliver Iago's first lines. Barrett asked the curtain to be lowered and called for doctors before telling the audience there would be no performance that night. He was reported as saying, "We fear that this is the beginning of the end. The world may have heard for the last time the voice of the greatest actor who speaks the English language." Newspapers reported that Booth was dying, though he survived the incident.

Barrett began showing serious health problems in 1890. That year, after organizing performances starring Booth and Polish actress Helena Modjeska, he traveled to a spa in Germany before rejoining them in the fall. Due to a glandular problem, however, his face was swollen and his voice was weak. Finally, in March 1891, during a performance of Richelieu at the Broadway Theatre, Barrett whispered to Booth that he could not go on. He finished the scene before being replaced by his understudy. He died three days later. A few years after his death, author Eugene Field criticized the condition of his grave in Massachusetts, writing: "The neglect with which Barrett's memory has been treated... is one of the most shameful blots upon the theatrical profession."

Personal life
Barrett married Mary F. Mayer in Boston on September 4, 1859, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. He was the grandfather of stage and screen actress Edith Barrett, the first wife of Vincent Price.

Barrett was a longtime friend of Miss Matoaca Gay; he encouraged her studies of Shakespeare, and even gave readings at Miss Gay's study groups.

Barrett was a close friend of George Armstrong Custer and hosted him whenever the cavalry officer visited New York. According to author Stephen Ambrose, Barrett nearly talked Custer into abandoning his career in the military for one as an actor. In 1872, just four years before Custer and his entire command would be wiped out by a gathering of Plains tribes at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Barrett accompanied Custer on a whirlwind buffalo hunt across the Great Plains. At one point the pair reportedly killed a number of the rapidly disappearing animals from the top of a moving train in Kansas.

Acting style
One critic noted Barrett had "a well knit form and face capable of expressing sorrow, by the merest movement of a muscle; joy by the kindling of the eye; or rage, by the transport of the entire body". Another critic disagreed, however, writing: "Mr. Barrett is generally looked upon as being a brainy man, an earnest man, an ambitious man, and a studious man. He writes well, talks well, and manages well, but in the judgment of the metropolitan connoisseurs he does not play well. His culture and cleverness appear, they say, in everything he does except in his stage personations."

Quotation
"An actor is a sculptor who carves in snow."

title: Lawrence Barrett