Re: Wired News on Backhoe Troubles
Participants in the North American Network Operators Group email discussion list -- the primary shop talk forum for telecom and ISP engineers -- have been bandying about ideas for a new T-shirt.
The backhoe is the usual suspect. And this week the U.S. government is launching its Y2K awareness campaign. Texas network facilities are still drying out. None of which I really want to think about at the moment (my brain is fried on appletalk and who cares about CLNS). But does anyone have predictions for next year's Rodent Of the Year? A couple of years ago it was a wayward Stanford rat which blacked out a bit of the net in San Francisco. Although some conspiricy theoriests claim the rat was made a scapegoat. The rat did get a T-Shirt. I think this year's winner was a hungry gopher which gnawed through some fiber optic in New Mexico. Do sharks still like to chew on trans-oceanic cables? LessonsLearned: Did you know standby generator makers have a universal key for the maintenance hatches on your generator sitting outside your building. All 'authorized' service people all over the country have it. How many folks knew there was a black market for generator starting batteries? How many folks have ever gone outside to their generator and found the battery gone? When was the last time you checked? How many folks have tamper switches on their generator panels? How many folks just picked up the phone to have their facilities people install some? -- Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO Affiliation given for identification not representation
At 02:45 AM 10/20/98 -0500, Sean Donelan wrote: [SNIP - even more scary stuff]
[....] How many folks have ever gone outside to their generator and found the battery gone? When was the last time you checked? [...]
Sean, you scare me. A lot.
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
TTFN, patrick I Am Not An Isp www.ianai.net "Think of it as evolution in action." - Niven & Pournelle
On Tue, Oct 20, 1998 at 01:14:01AM -0700, I Am Not An Isp wrote:
At 02:45 AM 10/20/98 -0500, Sean Donelan wrote: [SNIP - even more scary stuff]
[....] How many folks have ever gone outside to their generator and found the battery gone? When was the last time you checked? [...]
Sean, you scare me. A lot.
Keys don't steal batteries... people steal batteries. Cheers, -- jr 'and reporters sure don't do it...' a -- Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com Member of the Technical Staff Buy copies of The New Hackers Dictionary. The Suncoast Freenet Give them to all your friends. Tampa Bay, Florida http://www.ccil.org/jargon/ +1 813 790 7592
Now, here's an innovative use for a backhoe. Amazing what NANOG participants do with their farming machinery after hours. http://oblivion.net/news/980905al.html Alabaster, AL -- Alan Cost could have just suspended his son's driving privileges after the boy got his third speeding ticket and stayed out way too late. Instead, he suspended his son's pickup truck -- in a tree. There's a sign in the vehicle's window: ``This is what happens when a teen-ager does not mind.'' And in smaller letters it says: ``May be for sale.'' Cost used a backhoe to hoist the back end of 16-year-old Stephen's 1986 Chevrolet pickup truck several feet in the air, and used a chain to suspend it from a tree in front of their house along one of the Birmingham suburb's busiest roads. That was on Aug. 29 and it'll stay there, where all of Stephen's friends can see it, for another week or so. ``I hate being that rough on my boy, but if he ain't going to listen to me, I have no other choice,'' Cost said. The three tickets all came within three months after Stephen got his driver's license. After the second ticket, Cost chained the truck to a tree in the back yard for about a month and a half.
At 02:45 AM 10/20/98 -0500, Sean Donelan wrote:
LessonsLearned: Did you know standby generator makers have a universal key for the maintenance hatches on your generator sitting outside your building. All 'authorized' service people all over the country have it. How many folks knew there was a black market for generator starting batteries? How many folks have ever gone outside to their generator and found the battery gone? When was the last time you checked? How many folks have tamper switches on their generator panels? How many folks just picked up the phone to have their facilities people install some?
You're evil ... I love it! ___________________________________________________ Roeland M.J. Meyer, ISOC (InterNIC RM993) e-mail: <mailto:rmeyer@mhsc.com>rmeyer@mhsc.com Internet phone: hawk.mhsc.com Personal web pages: <http://www.mhsc.com/~rmeyer>www.mhsc.com/~rmeyer Company web-site: <http://www.mhsc.com/>www.mhsc.com/ ___________________________________________ I bet the human brain is a kludge. -- Marvin Minsky
Unnamed Administration sources reported that Sean Donelan said:
LessonsLearned: Did you know standby generator makers have a universal key for the maintenance hatches on your generator sitting outside your building. All 'authorized' service people all over the country have it. How many folks knew there was a black market for generator starting batteries? ..........
In many places, the generator is inside a 8' chainlink fence -- sometimes with razor ribbon on top. But tamper switches ARE a good idea, if there is someone to respond. A PIR-triggered floodlight would not hurt, either. (Not to mention flashlights on hand for when the generator won't start...or access to drive a car w/high-beams up to it.) BTW, this is one reason why old hands have regular generator tests. Not "oh, I suppose we should.." but "Every Thursday at 2pm, for 30 minutes...." We always knew it was Thursday when the Army next door cranked up. -- 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
[ On Tue, October 20, 1998 at 09:29:47 (-0400), David Lesher wrote: ]
Subject: Re: Wired News on Backhoe Troubles
Unnamed Administration sources reported that Sean Donelan said:
LessonsLearned: Did you know standby generator makers have a universal key for the maintenance hatches on your generator sitting outside your building. All 'authorized' service people all over the country have it. How many folks knew there was a black market for generator starting batteries? ..........
In many places, the generator is inside a 8' chainlink fence -- sometimes with razor ribbon on top.
Even if it's in a locked room it won't be doing you any good if the contacts or cables have corroded, or it's gone dead. Do you have alarms on the voltage level and do you regularly perform the normal maintenance required by such systems? Are your alarms actually tested and working?
BTW, this is one reason why old hands have regular generator tests. Not "oh, I suppose we should.." but "Every Thursday at 2pm, for 30 minutes...." We always knew it was Thursday when the Army next door cranked up.
Even monthly tests wouldn't hurt -- just don't do it until after payroll runs the cheques! ;-) -- 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>
participants (7)
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Adam Rothschild -
David Lesher -
I Am Not An Isp -
Jay R. Ashworth -
Roeland M.J. Meyer -
Sean Donelan -
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