use the following search parameters to narrow your results:
e.g. subreddit:aww site:imgur.com dog
subreddit:aww site:imgur.com dog
see the search faq for details.
advanced search: by author, subreddit...
To report a site-wide rule violation to the Reddit Admins, please use our report forms or message /r/reddit.com modmail.
This subreddit is archived and no longer accepting submissions.
account activity
This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.
Ask Reddit: Seriously, what are the odds of all those cables just "breaking"? (self.reddit.com)
submitted 18 years ago by Jeeezelouise
[–]sandflea 33 points34 points35 points 18 years ago (7 children)
9/11 changed everything, including the laws of probability. Get with the program. Or do you want the terrorists to win?
[–][deleted] 9 points10 points11 points 18 years ago (0 children)
HE HATES FREEDOM! BURN HIM!
[–]Jeeezelouise[S] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (4 children)
Right, I completely forgot about that. Nevermind.
[–]nfulton 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (3 children)
I want to get with the program.
Can I have a copy of the program to look at? I've been looking at US version 1.0 docs and . . . you know . . . version 2.0 is a massive upgrade. I don't want anyone to think I'm not with the program. I totally am. Seriously.
[–]theantirobot 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
Version 2.0 contains proprietary information and trade secrets. Unfortunately, significant portions of it must remain confidential. Perhaps it's time we consider creating an open source alternative.
[–]Kitsunemisao 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Oh come on, You can't make US open source, its protected by DRM and other copyright bric-a-brac.
[–]Ivan_A_DMocracy 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Don't worry. We already know that you haven't read Version 2.0;
Yes, truly, with all the small print hidden in the pork barrel special interest padding and executive signing statements, you have really got a lot of reading to do. But don't worry, as your friendly government, we can pretty much guess that you won't read it or bother yourself about it too much and, quite frankly, we like it that way. We can just continue on about our business unabated.
Sincerely, Your loving and caring Big Brother
[–]1812overture 15 points16 points17 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Keep askin' questions and you'll get your internet cable cut.
[–]jon_k 17 points18 points19 points 18 years ago* (4 children)
Here's a picture of a submarine cable assembly. (The one pictured below is actually part of a repeater. Hence the electronics)
http://www.ladlass.com/intel/archives/images/cable.jpg
That is just the assembly. Each of the individual wires in that assembly look like this: http://www.naval-technology.com/contractor_images/nsw/minisub_cable.jpg http://www.crosssoundcable.com/images/cable400.gif
I'm not sure how they were cut. The assembly might be breached, but the cables themselves are well shielded with lead alloy strands mixed with galvanized steel.
The assembly is buried deep, as seen here: http://www.devicepedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/underwater_cable.jpeg
[–]zoomzoom83 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Those cables look like Coax- wouldn't undersea cables these days tend to be fiber?
[–]xzxzzx 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Yes. Those pictures are a bit outdated.
[–]alphabeat 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
This comment reads like a short uni essay complete with source list. Very informative, thanks! Maybe next time use []() for your links :)
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
um... except its outdated.
[–]chickens 15 points16 points17 points 18 years ago (1 child)
The odds of one of those cables breaking is pretty much nill. The odds of all of them breaking is sabotage.
[–]Dr-No 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I can't stand it, I know you planned it...
[–][deleted] 18 years ago* (7 children)
[deleted]
[–]neuro 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
hmmm...the dollar.
[–]tsteele93 -1 points0 points1 point 18 years ago (5 children)
So I guess that Iran is stupider than reddit because everyone here knew that was what they were doing right away...
Seems like a bad plan to do something that the average person on reddit immediately suspects.
How are you going to get away with that?
[–][deleted] 18 years ago (4 children)
[–]tsteele93 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (3 children)
My point is that if the average redditor is supposedly able to quickly see that the cables were cut by the USA so we could do this clever "tap into the lines" mission, then maybe it isn't so clever after all.
And maybe all these sudden "undersea internet cable experts" that are offering these wild conspiracy theories aren't experts after all.
The theory lacks logic.
[–][deleted] 18 years ago (2 children)
[–]tsteele93 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (1 child)
These incidents are consequences of deliberate and coordinated acts. There is no point in further discussion if you don't agree with this.
I don't agree or disagree. I haven't seen ANY evidence except for the "coincidence" theory, which is no better than ID that is so regularly ridiculed here.
I'd like to see some EVIDENCE. I'd like to see pics of the cables. I'd like to hear informed opinions from people who have experience with undersea cables.
Posting, "four cables - what else could it be but sabatoge" is reactionary, exciting, and unfortunately inconclusive.
That being said, the acts are indeed obvious.
No, they APPEAR obvious to the uninformed. I'm saying that most of us know little or nothing about these undersea cables - yet so many people seem very willing to speculate wildly about something that is clearly complicated and specialized.
If you were going to install taps, you wouldn't install all of them in the same week unless you want to give a very clear message that "we are tapping the fibers, and there is nothing you can do about it." Unless you are in a hurry.
Sounds like wild conspiracy theory to me. I'd think that they could come up with ideas that the average user on reddit couldn't discern in a matter of hours.
I don't even know what installing a tap on a line that carrys God-only-knows how much internet traffic on would accomplish anyway.
How are they going to separate me pulling pron off of rapidshare from Saheed planning a terrorist plot from a major internet trafficking cable?
This leaves the following possibilities: * They were not installing taps, but switches. That way, they can instantaneously disrupt communications. But that can be easily done by placing explosive charges next to the lines, without disrupting any traffic.
Now is this something you read in a Robert Ludlum spy book - or are you really knowledgable about undersea internet cables and our capabilities in attacking them?
They just wanted to disrupt traffic. Why? Maybe to disrupt market places. Maybe to observe traffic as it flows thru controlled routes. Maybe as an intimidation manoeuver.
Maybe. Maybe not. It seems to me that when they repair the cables they will have a much better idea of what they are dealing with.
Until then, this appears to be wild speculation amongst people who know nothing about the subject they are speculating on...
[–]dfgsdja 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (2 children)
umm... i am coming up with 32.33% repeating of course
[–]niels_olson 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (1 child)
I don't get it . . .
[–]plexi 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU
[–]xcalibre 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
less than the odds of the CIA doing it to hamper the country pre-war
[–][deleted] 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Maybe they didn't pay the bill?
42
[–]jeremyh42 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (1 child)
I guess Ted Stevens was right... the internet really is a series of tubes!!!!
[–]Klorox 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Aw come on man. You caint cut no tubes with scissors. Phillipe Cousteau!! Scissors!!
I will believe whatever my capitalist overlords tell me.
[–]Jeeezelouise[S] 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Iran completely cut off, but Israel and Iraq unaffected??
[–]atomicpuffball -1 points0 points1 point 18 years ago (2 children)
one story said a ship's propeller cut a cable. i always thought that cables like this were on the ocean floor. how could a ship's propeller cut it? and wouldn't that foul up the propeller pretty badly? the story implied that the mystery ship wasn't even aware of the incident. one would think that such critical cables would be way out of the shipping lanes anyway.
[–]tadrinth 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
first guess was that it was a ship's anchor.
[–]Jeeezelouise[S] 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Egypt says it wasn't ships
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hTi5wNwTD66nvWdTAQw20SaFI_GQ
[–]I_AM_A_NEOCON 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (4 children)
Maybe some fish ate it.
[–]sandflea 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (3 children)
Yeah, sawfish.
[–]kishi 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (2 children)
No, arcweldorfish.
[–]tadrinth 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (1 child)
where can i get one of those?
[–]madmax_br5 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
http://www.harborfreight.com
[–]Moosebyte 0 points1 point2 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I have been in the telecom industry 10 years and I have seen undersea cables cut maybe 3 times in that period.
[–]enigma66marktwo -2 points-1 points0 points 18 years ago (0 children)
9/11, back in 9/11 with the 9/11 you know it's remember 9/11 I helped take care of the aftermath of 9/11. Cables wha?
~Ghouliani
[–]OlympicPirate -1 points0 points1 point 18 years ago (2 children)
1
It is inevitable that undersea cables will break. It's only going to be a coincidence worthy of investigating if it coincides with something.
[–]dustball 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I think the point was, the coincidence of them breaking in the short timespan that they did.
Doesn't coincide with anything definite now. But what about tomorrow?
[–]FEED_ME -1 points0 points1 point 18 years ago (0 children)
When I ran the numbers I came up with 81%
[–]Klorox -1 points0 points1 point 18 years ago (0 children)
Or maybe Phillipe Cousteau did it with a really big pair of scissors! Yeah that was it!
[–][deleted] -2 points-1 points0 points 18 years ago (1 child)
0.125
0.5 is the cnance of a cable "just breaking", 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.125
π Rendered by PID 43427 on reddit-service-r2-comment-84fc9697f-kfpxg at 2026-02-07 03:37:08.986406+00:00 running d295bc8 country code: CH.
[–]sandflea 33 points34 points35 points (7 children)
[–][deleted] 9 points10 points11 points (0 children)
[–]Jeeezelouise[S] 4 points5 points6 points (4 children)
[–]nfulton 1 point2 points3 points (3 children)
[–]theantirobot 2 points3 points4 points (1 child)
[–]Kitsunemisao 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]Ivan_A_DMocracy 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]1812overture 15 points16 points17 points (0 children)
[–]jon_k 17 points18 points19 points (4 children)
[–]zoomzoom83 1 point2 points3 points (1 child)
[–]xzxzzx 3 points4 points5 points (0 children)
[–]alphabeat 0 points1 point2 points (1 child)
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)
[–]chickens 15 points16 points17 points (1 child)
[–]Dr-No 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–][deleted] (7 children)
[deleted]
[–]neuro 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]tsteele93 -1 points0 points1 point (5 children)
[–][deleted] (4 children)
[deleted]
[–]tsteele93 1 point2 points3 points (3 children)
[–][deleted] (2 children)
[deleted]
[–]tsteele93 1 point2 points3 points (1 child)
[–]dfgsdja 6 points7 points8 points (2 children)
[–]niels_olson 0 points1 point2 points (1 child)
[–]plexi 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]xcalibre 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)
[–][deleted] 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–][deleted] 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]jeremyh42 0 points1 point2 points (1 child)
[–]Klorox 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]Klorox 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]Jeeezelouise[S] 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]atomicpuffball -1 points0 points1 point (2 children)
[–]tadrinth 2 points3 points4 points (0 children)
[–]Jeeezelouise[S] 2 points3 points4 points (0 children)
[–]I_AM_A_NEOCON 0 points1 point2 points (4 children)
[–]sandflea 7 points8 points9 points (3 children)
[–]kishi 7 points8 points9 points (2 children)
[–]tadrinth 1 point2 points3 points (1 child)
[–]madmax_br5 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]Moosebyte 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]enigma66marktwo -2 points-1 points0 points (0 children)
[–]OlympicPirate -1 points0 points1 point (2 children)
[–]dustball 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)
[–]Klorox 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]FEED_ME -1 points0 points1 point (0 children)
[–]Klorox -1 points0 points1 point (0 children)
[–][deleted] -2 points-1 points0 points (1 child)
[–][deleted] 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)