I am a member of SABR (The Society for American Baseball Research). We have a list server where members can post messages to ask questions or make announcements. A fellow name Dave Smith runs an outstanding web site called Retrosheet.org. There you can find data for many baseball games dating back to the 50's and 60's. The Retrosheet site has been down for about 5 days now. Dave posted a messaged to the SABR list explaining the blackout:
Since the Retrosheet server went down last Thursday, I have received several very nice messages of concern. I am writing now to bring you up to date as well as I can.
Last Thursday we had a large tree removed adjacent to our driveway (white pine, about 80 feet tall). During the process, two branches were dropped across the power line and phone line/DSLcables leading to the house. Power was not lost, at least partly because the power line is braided with a steel support cable. The other line carries our two phone lines and the DSL. Amazingly, the one phone line never went out, but the other one and the DSL did.
Since that time, I have had many (I believe the total is now 7) conversations with my long distance provider, the company that owns the wires and the ISP for the server. As of this moment (around 8:30 PM on Monday night, June 13), there is still no resolution. After two more hours on the phone this afternoon, I believe (I really hope this is
true) that two separate technicians will visit tomorrow to repair the phone and DSL. Of course as we all know, waiting for that to happen is one of the least joyous events of modern American living. Assuming they are telling the truth, we will hopefully have the server restored sometime on Tuesday. I will make the appropriate announcement as soon as it happens.
Dave Smith