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Conference 7.286::digital

Title:	The Digital way of working

Moderator:	QUARK::LIONELON

Created:	Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5321
Total number of notes:	139771

1109.0. "What is LKP 595?" by BABBLE::MEAGHER () Fri May 18 1990 17:00

In the Sunday, May 13 New York Times Book Review section I read the following
paragraph in a review of the book "Living at the End of Time" by John Hanson
Mitchell. (Mitchell is a latter-day Thoreauvian.)

"Against the woods where he lives looms Building LKP 595, a sprawling,
environmentally sensitive structure erected by Digital Equipment Corporation.
Mr. Mitchell is seduced by the shape, as if it were calling him inside. And
near the end of his year in the woods, he does go inside, feels the hum of
computer space. Just beyond the plate glass window of LKP 595 he sees the wood
lot that he inhabits, the place that torments and teases him, the realm beyond
the portal."

What and where is LKP 595?

Vicki Meagher

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1109.1	I think there is no such site code yet	CADSYS::RICHARDSON		`Fri May 18 1990 18:18`	6
	I don't think there is a site with that code, at least not yet (my internal phone book is one version out of date, I think). It would have to be a BIG site to have 595 buildings, anyhow. So my guess would be that the author made it up. What town and state does he live in, anyhow? You can probably figure it out from that, if he is writing about a real DEC building at all.
1109.2	sounds like a license plate to me	SMOOT::ROTH	Don't avoid it- do it NOW!	`Sat May 19 1990 01:12`	0
1109.3	Fact or fiction?	MILKWY::MORRISON	Bob M. FXO-1/28 228-5357	`Sun May 20 1990 16:49`	3
	Is this book said to be factual? If so, I agree with the previous reply; let's figure out where this took (is taking?) place and see if there any DEC facilities that meet this description. The site code is obviously fictional.
1109.4		KOBAL::DICKSON		`Mon May 21 1990 00:19`	2
	But LKP differs from LKG in only one position, and LKG is on route 495, which differs from 595 by only one digit.
1109.5	Must be LKG	BABBLE::MEAGHER		`Mon May 21 1990 09:11`	13
	>> But LKP differs from LKG in only one position, and LKG is on route 495, >> which differs from 595 by only one digit. Okay. The building must be LKG. I had read in some local (Mass.) paper that the writer lived in the woods in the Littleton area. He must have changed the name of the building in the book (which is non-fiction, by the way). I just wonder why the building is described as "environmentally sensitive." And it's not that different from its sibling buildings in the area (the other Littleton plants). Vicki Meagher
1109.6	He's done it before	DDIF::FRIDAY	Subdundant paradistiguator	`Mon May 21 1990 14:29`	7
	In a previous book about the Littleton area the author "adjusted" all the names of the people mentioned to avoid any possible legal ramifications. But anyone who's lived in the town for a while and becomes even remotely familiar with town events and history has no trouble recognizing the actual characters. LKP 595 is quite consistent with how he "adjusts" names.
1109.7	Enquiring minds etc.	ROUTES::REITER	I'm the NRA	`Wed May 23 1990 10:16`	2
	None of this explains why my radar detector goes bonkers every time I pass that facility, no matter what time of day (or night).
1109.8		COVERT::COVERT	John R. Covert	`Wed May 23 1990 13:36`	1
	Satellite earth station.
1109.9	No, yet another door	SMAUG::GARROD	An Englishman's mind works best when it is almost too late	`Wed May 23 1990 14:10`	7
	Re .8 I don't think so. I think it is the employee entrance door. My radar detector starts to go off as I come off the ramp. It goes critical as I get right up to the employee entrance door. Dave
1109.10		ALOSWS::KOZAKIEWICZ	Shoes for industry	`Wed May 23 1990 16:47`	6
	With the instant-on radar most of the State Troopers use these days, my detector is more useful for finding shopping centers than speed traps... Al
1109.11		MIPSBX::thomas	The Code Warrior	`Wed May 23 1990 21:38`	2
	The employee entrance door has a sensor which automaticly open the door. It's probably not sonic so it might radar driven.
1109.12	When wearing my stealth hat, I bump into the door	COVERT::COVERT	John R. Covert	`Thu May 24 1990 13:35`	3
	Yep, Dave Garrod is right; I was wrong. The door is definitely radar driven. /john
1109.13		MILKWY::MORRISON	Bob M. FXO-1/28 228-5357	`Sun Jul 01 1990 15:09`	2
	Back to the original subject: Assuming LKG is the one, did John Mitchell actually live in the woods adjoining it?
1109.14	He lived somewhere in Littleton	BABBLE::MEAGHER		`Fri Aug 10 1990 18:18`	12
	>>> Back to the original subject: Assuming LKG is the one, did John Mitchell >>> actually live in the woods adjoining it? According to the article I read some time ago and have mostly forgotten, he lived in a small cabin somewhere in Littleton. I believe he took baths and ate some meals with his ex-wife and children in a larger house in Littleton, so he didn't exactly live in a state of nature. (Of course, Thoreau didn't, either.) I was just wondering why he hyped the building. The blurb I read about it made it seem a lot more exotic than LKG. Vicki Meagher