WV Communication Channels

[Jjason]

I'm willing to be a contact, but I'm not sure how useful I'd be - I'm going to be away from a computer and out and about for a large portion of Friday through Sunday. Despite that, if anybody wants my cell number, just PM me.
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WHO IS SAINT FENLINE?

"We remain convinced that this is the best defensive posture to adopt in order to minimize casualties when the Great Old Ones return from beyond the stars to eat our brains." - from The Concrete Jungle by Charles Stross

[HPhack]

This is just terrifying. We're hoping they might be able to get cellphone calls out of the wilderness in the Quiet Zone? I mean, it's one thing go camping in the woods. It is another thing entirely to be led into the back country by a cultist, someone that I still haven't been convinced doesn't already have blood on his hands.

I'm sorry, I'm just wound up tonight. I'm gnawed by the fear that something horrible is happening or will happen, something that's going to make me feel guilty for not being more aggressive at making you folks act more sensible.

You couldn't get me anywhere near those mountains this weekend.
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"Perhaps a longer stick is in order." - Unknown Quantity

[Transtar]

Hey I just said "in the OFF chance you can get cell reception", I can add my number if anyone has sprint, but I would recommend someone goto their local wal-mart or costco and get a calling card, none of the contacts are going to be local to WV and I don't even want to think about how much a payphone would charge for long distance.

As for while everyone is gone, I would suggest everyone be extra careful. While the WV seems like a likely target, it could just as easily be used as a diversion. This goes double for you howard, they still might be after original sentrys and while Art is still causing trouble, he's probably in a corner of a bunker designed to withstand armageddon. But new sentrys should be on their toes too, if word of this feast got out they know BA and the clan of cats will be preoccupied with other things, so we need to be on our toes on this end too.

And Howard, this is going to be a stressful time, thigs will happen that are out of your control. You cannot worry about it, you can offer advise, you can pray, but as events are in motion remember worrying is as productive as chewing bubblegum to solve an algebra problem

Having an insominac moment, I'm going to think about other plans of attack for communication, will post if I think of anything.
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[Transtar]

Well that was took no time. Right Now NetZero has a free voicemail service setup, I signed up one Providence Sentry for an account. If you are staying behind, PM me and I will tell you how to access the mailbox.

For those Sentrys going I signed up to have a local WV number: (304) 460- twelve-Zero-Three. (hiding from phone aggregators)

I figured this way we will be able to 1) save the voicemail files and 2) this is available 24hrs a day and possibly the most reliable. This is not meant to be an emergency contact, but rather a mass communication channel to record the events of the trip. This is the best thing I could come up with in my mind, any other suggestions are welcome!

EDIT: also this could be a communication channel for those who are less digitally inclined as well. (Did the edict cover phone communication?)
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[Obtusitivity]

Fucking awesome plan Transtar.

At the very least, this should be more effective than notebooks and voice recorders. If anything happens, the voicemails will be safe, and we can hand those over to the authorities should anyone turn up missing.

excellent.

i'm still really concerned that we don't have a solution that doesn't require a phone..

there aren't any phones in the forest...

[Dav Flamerock]

Brilliant plan Transtar. This could be very useful, as I could get it onto my computer should we need to.

However, we should definitely employ this, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't still have people keeping journals or recording dictations about what the hell is going on. If anyone has a video camera/picture camera/dictophone (Voice recorder) they should try to document this as much as possible.

[Noyb]

Great job setting up the voice mailbox, Transtar.

Time is running out. Do we have short-range communications in place for the people in WV? Do the on-site researchers have contact info for some of those who aren't going?

I'm damn worried right now. Be safe, and we damn well better bseeingu again after this weekend.
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"Some humans would do almost anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere with a sign on it saying ‘End of the World Switch, Please Do Not Touch’ the paint wouldn’t have time to dry." - Terry Pratchett

[Sapagoo]

[HPhack]

Wow, that actually makes me feel a bit better. So potentially they might be able to walkie talkie with someone who'd also have some kind of pipe to the outside world?
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"Perhaps a longer stick is in order." - Unknown Quantity

[Dav Flamerock]

I do believe that's the plan. They will use the walkie-talkies to transfer info to the Sentry who's transmitting outside via the recording service.

[Konamouse]

I've added my cell to the queue, never can have too many folks back home on call.
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'squeek'

[WolfHawk]

I don't see how or where to add a number to the queue.
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Having abandoned my search for the truth I am now looking for a good fantasy.

I think I am therefore I am I think.

[Dav Flamerock]

PM Sid.

[Sidtheduck]

So basically it goes down like this. I was calling the cell phones of the investigatory sentries until they entered the NRQZ. At that time, Biff called my cell phone from the pay phone at the General Store in Cass (since cell reception was done for). However, he said it ate up about 37 minutes of his 75 minute prepaid phone card (BASTARDS! It's MADNESS!).

So I was chatting with some people about this and someone sent me an invite to GrandCentral (recently purchased by Google and undergoing beta testing so it's all free). GrandCentral allows you to register a phone number anywhere in the country (in this case, I set it up for a number near Buckhannon, WV) which is a local call (I hope) from Cass (and the closest I could get geographically to Cass). If a sentry calls that number, it will auto-forward to whatever number you added to the GrandCentral setup (in my case, my cell number). However, you can add up to 6 phones that it will auto-forward to.

So I thought "Hey, in addition to Transtar's voicemail service, if the sentries need eyes and ears to connect them to the internets this would work great!". Then I thought "Wait, what if I have to mow the lawn or go #2 or am in any other way indisposed when they should happen to call in a time of dire need?" That's when I thought that I could add 5 additional sentries' phone numbers so the investigators are bound to reach one of us at any given time!

Basically, it's set us as a mini "Sentry Tech Support" where the phone rings for all 6 at the same time and whomever is jonesin' for that sales call the most, picks up the call and gets to talk to the Field Sentries. The setup allows recording of calls and conference / "party line" calling if needed.

Hopefully it comes in handy, but regardless, this GrandCentral thingy is pretty sweet and it's great learning about all the nifty features (you should totally check it out if you haven't already). The 6 queue slots have been filled and the Sentries are manning the phones to provide whatever support we can. We'll let you know if anything comes up!
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If MUDs had reality altering powers we'd be tits deep in elves by now.
~Exu

[Noyb]

Very nice work, Sid. Helps to easy my fears greatly. As you can tell, I'm having trouble sleeping tonight.
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"Some humans would do almost anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere with a sign on it saying ‘End of the World Switch, Please Do Not Touch’ the paint wouldn’t have time to dry." - Terry Pratchett