Pidgeon Is Faster Than Internet In Some Places

Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom Thu Sep 10, 5:05 pm ET
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country's leading internet service provider.
Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage... Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 50 miles from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg. Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line. Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times. ...Telkom could not immediately be reached for comment.

Is it time for me to go a little greener and pioneer a new way to blend old and new technology? I write from anywhere I happen to be. Sometimes I can’t always get the internet connection I need to send in reports. I could start a whole new trend and maybe others would follow, it would be very Al Gore of me to try anyway...

At an event on a Long Island Beach:
“Who's the big lady with the laptop and the pigeon cage?”
“Oh, that’s Ms Flynn. She writes for newspapers you know.”
“Is she donating the bird? Is it a sacrifice? She's not going to put on a hibachi and eat it is she?”
“Ms F. can’t always get her wireless internet to transmit her articles from her laptop out here in the wild. She writes things right out here in the field you know. She loves to rough it, a real pioneer. So now she brings one of her Flynn's Flyer’s with her to these events. The pigeons have a little suitcase velcroed to one ankle. Ms F. puts in her memory card and releases the bird. Her office gets the bird in five to eight minutes. She has two birds she likes to use, Paddy and Delilah. I think she brought Delilah today. We’ll know if he gives her Perrier water in her little cup, she’s a Hampton born pidgeon, she only drinks Perrier.”
“You’re kidding me.... and what does Paddy drink?”
“Well, that's the problem. Birds love alcohol and Paddy is a pigeon raised by someone in Ms. Flynn's own family. She just found out that Paddy has a bit of a drinking problem. Paddy got a sip from somebody's screwdriver at the last event and delivered Ms. F.’s card to Al Gore’s house. Fortunately, Al is trying out this green transfer concept and sent a new bird to her office. Then he got Paddy into a new little aviary rehab, The Pickled Pigeon in the Hamptons. It’s very private. Decorated the gayest available decorators. It has a nice park and statue theme, very tasteful, and no cat statues.”
“Yeah, I can see where that would mess with a bird’s brain.”
“Definitely, you don’t want to have the DT’s around images of things that can eat you.”
“So where do you buy these birds?”
“East Hampton store, Feathers Go Farther; Giving You the Bird From Manhattan to Montauk.”