Many of you may already know about RFC1149 A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers, which details CPIP (aka Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol). For those who don't, the date when RFC1149 was issued should tell you something about its origins: April 1st 1990.
Tonight, while browsing new posts on alt.os.linux.slackware I stumbled upon a link to a site recounting the first (and only, I guess) implementation of CPIP.
The ping was started approximately at 12:15. We decided to do a 7 1/2 minute interval between the ping packets, that would leave a couple of packets unanswered, given ideal situations. Things didn't happen quite that way, though. It happened that the neighbour had a flock of pigeons flying. Our pigeons didn't want to go home at once, they wanted to fly with the other pigeons instead. And who can blame them, when the sun was finally shining after a couple of days?
Just what I needed for a good laugh after the second day of the advanced DB2 class I'm following this week (BTW DB2 is very interesting, if a bit archaic).