Whoa! You've stumbled upon an old page that was unlinked somewhere near the end of May, 2011! Okay, I won't tell if you won't.
Every now and again you run across stuff that's just too good to ignore, and I'd like to share a couple of those with you here.
The first is Alice's Usenet Flame. This was old when I snagged the posting way back in the dark ages of 1995, back when the Internet was a simpler place indeed. Er, I wouldn't expect that many, if any, of the links contained within the page actually exist anymore. What your browser does with them is a crapshoot. If you get lost, please, don't forget to come back!
The next is far more serious, not to mention fascinating. The Switching Engineering Report dates from 1957. From Bell Labs, this study of what became known as the North American Numbering Plan indicates the kind of long-range planning that was very uncharacteristic of the times. It's worth noting that the plan has held up rather well! I picked this up on comp.dcom.telecom so long ago I've forgotten. Makes for interesting reading! Well, I thought so anyway.