Train Wreck Takes Internet Off Track

If you're on the East Coast of the U.S., or really even anywhere the Internet snakes its way through (which is just about everywhere), you could be experiencing a service slow down, the inability to get to certain sites, or even a complete loss of access (in which case, you won't be reading this). Yesterday's train wreck in Baltimore has apparently knocked off or disrupted Internet and data service to WorldCom customers up and down the Eastern seaboard and, due to the nature of the Internet, the outage seems to be acting like a clogged artery for the rest of us. As far North as Toronto, Webmasters Fredi and Mike are seeing a slowdown and it's even affected news posting from here in San Francisco (yeah, right George, or maybe you just woke up late). According to the Washington Post , derailed tankers on the 60-car train sent clouds of smoke into the air causing the evacuation of a Baltimore Orioles baseball game, along with damaging the legacy UUNet network that runs through the tunnel in which the train derailed. Both the ball game and the area's Internet service have been rescheduled.