RE: [announce-all] NAC Maintenance this weekend (fwd)
On Fri, 10 December 1999, Alex Rubenstein wrote:
Something interesting for all you operational folks... got this from a customer.
I've seen some amazing disasters, but I think your customer passed along an urban legend. 38 people taken to a hospital, 8 cars destroyed, coverage by television in five states; and I can't find any published reports in the newswire databases. Unless my math is very wrong, I don't understand how a 300 amp surge could damage that much stuff.
and I can't find any published reports in the newswire databases.
Perhaps someone should compile a list of how many hours NANOG readers spend searching for news reports of this event. Perhaps this was some sort of denial of service attack (get your competitors to spend their time searching for non-existent news reports). Perhaps after we compute the dollar value of the damage that was done by this bogus report, someone can call the Feds... (Ok, Ok, so I spent a few minutes with AltaVista, too ...) -tjs
On Fri, Dec 10, 1999 at 02:57:06PM -0600, Tim Salo babbled:
and I can't find any published reports in the newswire databases.
Perhaps someone should compile a list of how many hours NANOG readers spend searching for news reports of this event.
Perhaps this was some sort of denial of service attack (get your competitors to spend their time searching for non-existent news reports).
Perhaps after we compute the dollar value of the damage that was done by this bogus report, someone can call the Feds...
ok, dean... -r -- echo "send pgp key" | mail ravi@cow.org If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and drycleaners depressed?
Well, I forwarded it to a few friends who really should know better, so if you call the feds, don't forget I confessed early. The news people would jump on a story like this sharks on chum. Look at how much is made of a streetflood during a Y2K test. Actual damage/bodily injury from computer failures would be the cause of a whole series of articles on "how safe is your workplace?" and "how much does your IT department REALLY know about Y2K?" Stranger things have happened. I have seen a few emails about all optical switchgear moving 100s of Gb/s around april 1st a few years back. Now I get product literature from vendors selling it. Deepak Jain AiNET On Fri, 10 Dec 1999, Tim Salo wrote:
and I can't find any published reports in the newswire databases.
Perhaps someone should compile a list of how many hours NANOG readers spend searching for news reports of this event.
Perhaps this was some sort of denial of service attack (get your competitors to spend their time searching for non-existent news reports).
Perhaps after we compute the dollar value of the damage that was done by this bogus report, someone can call the Feds...
(Ok, Ok, so I spent a few minutes with AltaVista, too ...)
-tjs
On Fri, 10 Dec 1999, Deepak Jain wrote:
Well, I forwarded it to a few friends who really should know better, so if you call the feds, don't forget I confessed early.
The news people would jump on a story like this sharks on chum. Look at how much is made of a streetflood during a Y2K test. Actual damage/bodily injury from computer failures would be the cause of a whole series of articles on "how safe is your workplace?" and "how much does your IT department REALLY know about Y2K?"
Stranger things have happened. I have seen a few emails about all optical switchgear moving 100s of Gb/s around april 1st a few years back. Now I get product literature from vendors selling it.
Yes, but given much of the gear available I am thinking the venders would be better off sending their brag sheets *on* April 1st. --- As folks might have suspected, not much survives except roaches, and they don't carry large enough packets fast enough... --About the Internet and nuclear war.
Unnamed Administration sources reported that Sean Donelan said:
Unless my math is very wrong, I don't understand how a 300 amp surge could damage that much stuff.
More to the point, transformers seldom blow up, much less fall on cars. [exception: Sunday night at 9pm, FOX...] -- A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
David Lesher wrote:
More to the point, transformers seldom blow up, much less fall on cars. [exception: Sunday night at 9pm, FOX...
The last time a transformer blew near my house, all that happened is that some of the neighbors lost power for a while. I think someone forgot the smiley at the end of the message. -- North Shore Technologies Corporation - Steven J. Sobol, President & Head Geek 815 Superior Avenue #610, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, USA Phone +1 888.480.4NET sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net http://NorthShoreTechnologies.net Owned and loved by the dogs of Jaymist Chinese Shar-Pei, Montville, Ohio :) Alcohol and calculus don't mix.. Never drink and derive.
[ On Saturday, December 11, 1999 at 03:02:07 (-0500), Steve Sobol wrote: ]
Subject: Re: [announce-all] NAC Maintenance this weekend (fwd)
The last time a transformer blew near my house, all that happened is that some of the neighbors lost power for a while.
Well..... The last time a transformer as big as the one I assume the story was talking about blew in a warehouse here in Toronto, the entire corner of the building was knocked out. I don't remember the details, but that one's definitely in the records -- check the Toronto Star or Toronto Sun over the past five years or so (my memory of the timing of recent events is about as fuzzy as a bank of fog). I've also heard a story second hand (from someone at the site) of a backup generator (or buffer generator) that failed (it was three-phase, something about one phase not switching over I think) which similarly blew the side of a building out when it failed. This was back in the early 80's or maybe even late 70's, and I believe it was a mainframe datacentre (or factory powerplant), also somewhere in Ontario. We had an ordinary 4Kv single-phase house transformer blow up after being struck by lightning on our farm in the 70's too, but I guess that's a different scale of surge..... :-) -- Greg A. Woods +1 416 218-0098 VE3TCP <gwoods@acm.org> <robohack!woods> Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>
On Sat, 11 Dec 1999, Greg A. Woods wrote:
I've also heard a story second hand (from someone at the site) of a backup generator (or buffer generator) that failed (it was three-phase, something about one phase not switching over I think) which similarly blew the side of a building out when it failed. This was back in the early 80's or maybe even late 70's, and I believe it was a mainframe datacentre (or factory powerplant), also somewhere in Ontario.
I've heard a story about a generating plant in South/Central Utah or Northern Arizona which somehow someone succeeded in screwing up the wiring in such a way that when they went to put a generator online, the phase detectors thought everything was in sync and then when they put the generator on line they discovered that it was, in fact, not wired correctly (one of the phases reversed or something). The resulting "torque reversal" caused the majority of the generator to promptly exit the building and they found pieces/parts not a trivial distance away. I heard this enough times from enough different sources (many of which I trust as reliable) that I consider this factual. Of course, I DIDN'T see it myself (thank god.). If this did, in fact occur, the instantaneous potential between the generator and the line could very well cause a transformer to fail, especially if a breaker failed to open. (not trying to add any credibility to the original story). - Forrest W. Christian (forrestc@imach.com) KD7EHZ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- iMach, Ltd., P.O. Box 5749, Helena, MT 59604 http://www.imach.com Solutions for your high-tech problems. (406)-442-6648 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Greg A. Woods" wrote:
[ On Saturday, December 11, 1999 at 03:02:07 (-0500), Steve Sobol wrote: ]
Subject: Re: [announce-all] NAC Maintenance this weekend (fwd)
The last time a transformer blew near my house, all that happened is that some of the neighbors lost power for a while.
Well..... The last time a transformer as big as the one I assume the story was talking about blew in a warehouse here in Toronto, the entire corner of the building was knocked out.
Ok, that's still nowhere near what was described. :)
participants (9)
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Christopher E. Brown -
David Lesher -
Deepak Jain -
Forrest W. Christian -
Ravi Pina -
Sean Donelan -
Steve Sobol -
Tim Salo -
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