| Title: | -={ H A C K E R S }=- |
| Notice: | Write locked - see NOTED::HACKERS |
| Moderator: | DIEHRD::MORRIS |
| Created: | Thu Feb 20 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Aug 03 1992 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 680 |
| Total number of notes: | 5456 |
From: [email protected] (Lester Buck) Newsgroups: net.rumor Subject: Re: Computer Horror Stories Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 14-Mar-86 23:56:57 EST Organization: Information Brokerage Network, Houston, TX Lines: 23 This is a story I heard on the Spring '84 DECUS Magic Session tape. A consultant got a desparate call from a large company which develops dog food. "Help. Our dogs are getting fat." he is told. It turns out they run a large kennel with automatic feeding stations run by a Vax and the Vax was regularly crashing for reasons DEC couldn't figure out. Sure enough, he showed up the first time just in the middle of a crash. Pandemonium reigned as technicians ran around trying to reboot the system and the dogs were going wild because whenever the system crashed, all the food servers dumped the food. Since they had had a PDP-11 recently with no problems, and they upgraded the power to handle the Vax, he started looking around at the power system. Sure enough, the cable went through one smart dog's cage. It had a broken sheath, so some simple Pavlovian conditioning had taught this dog that whenever he relieved himself on that one spot, he was fed. They replaced the cable and everything has worked fine since. I'm not sure I believe this, but it makes for a hilarious story on tape. A. Lester Buck ihnp4!shell!graffiti!buck
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 219.1 | Shocking story :-) | NETMAN::CALLAHAN | Tue Mar 25 1986 16:25 | 4 | |
Must have been one mighty hungry dog to disregard the other "thrills"
he'd get from pi**ing on a bare power line!
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| 219.2 | 43384::MACKAY | Kit Kye | Fri Jul 04 1986 07:14 | 1 | |
Perhaps it learnt to do it in bursts or just drip! | |||||
| 219.3 | Along the same lines | WKRP::LENNIG | Dave, SWS, @CYO Cincinnati | Sun Jan 04 1987 01:37 | 39 |
Path: decwrl!ucbvax!GREEN.RUTGERS.EDU!GERSHO
Subject: An Interesting Call (Foo Bar)
Posted: 25 Aug 86 19:59:25 GMT
Organization: The ARPA Internet
AN UNUSUAL TELEPHONE SERVICE CALL
This story was related by Pat Routledge of Winnepeg, ONT about an unusual
telephone service call he handled while living in England.
It is common practice in England to signal a telephone subscriber by
signaling with 90 volts across one side of the two wire circuit and ground
(earth in England). When the subscriber answers the phone, it switches to
the two wire circuit for the conversation. This method allows two parties
on the same line to be signalled without disturbing each other.
This particular subscriber, an elderly lady with several pets called to
say that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called and that on
the few occasions when it did manage to ring her dog always barked first.
Torn between curiosity to see this psychic dog and a realization that
standard service techniques might not suffice in this case, Pat proceeded
to the scene. Climbing a nearby telephone pole and hooking in his test
set, he dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring. He tried
again. The dog barked loudly, followed by a ringing telephone. Climbing
down from the pole, Pat found:
a. Dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron
chain and collar
b. Dog was receiving 90 volts of signalling current
c. After several jolts, the dog was urinating on ground and barking
d. Wet ground now conducted and phone rang.
Which goes to prove that some grounding problems can be passed on.
This annecdote excerpted from Syn-Aud-Con Newsletter, Vol4, No 3, April 1977.
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