i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again; you’re not a network engineer unless you’ve moved a ceiling tile to trace a cable and had a small netgear switch fall on your head
@wendynather @fuzzface Does it count if it was a reel-to-reel magtape?
@nazgul @wendynather Does it specifically have to be a netgear?
@wendynather @fuzzface @SecureOwl or personally own one of those suction cup floor tile puller thingies.
@mattblaze @wendynather @fuzzface @SecureOwl
We once had to pull up floor tiles the entire length of the lab at NTT Musashino and had the bright idea of sitting on a rolling chair and pulling up each tile with the suction cup puller as we moved along. Was easy going. Super efficient. Next day could barely walk as my hamstrings were screaming.
@mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl We all used to hold that up to our ear like a telephone receiver
@wendynather @mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl You can buy one of these from Harbor Freight for $8.99. I especially enjoyed this review:
@20002ist @wendynather @mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl In one place I worked in Bell Labs, the under-floor space had two levels. I pulled a tile over the deeper section—and found that it was filled with water… Fortunately, there were no cable joins or thick yellow Ethernet cable vampire taps in that area, so no harm was done.
@SteveBellovin @20002ist @wendynather @mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl
considering how close to NJ it was, guess we should be glad they didn't find jimmy hoffa down there... whoever decided a 2 level subfloor was a good idea never cleaned under a large appliance. ;)
@paul_ipv6 @20002ist @wendynather @mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl It was in NJ—Bell Labs Murray Hill.
I never learned the origin of the two levels. My guess is that the deeper section was built first, and when the machine room was expanded it was perceived that there was no need for such depth, perhaps because they no longer had those giant IBM bus and tag cables.
@SteveBellovin @paul_ipv6 @20002ist @wendynather @mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl
back in the early 70's at National Steel and Shipbuilding inSan Diego I had my floor tile popped right into the ceiling when for some reason never found out the main 440VAC feed to the machine room shorted out explosively taking down my 3031 and the 370-168 I was on call as a trainee system programmer/senior operator for emegencies should have seen my log that morning...
@SteveBellovin @paul_ipv6 @20002ist @wendynather @mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl
was leaping 440V cables with plenty of arcs b4 I got to the emergency power cut on the wall and took down all power to our machine room.. good thing they wired that place like the navy with emergency cutoffs easy to find just like on a navy ship..(most of their ship contracts were for the USN) soon left for my first actual(no ops) Sysprog position on a dos/vs1 conversion for Bell and Howell in lincolnwood ,Ill
@hotelzululima @SteveBellovin @20002ist @wendynather @mattblaze @fuzzface @SecureOwl
i'm a big fan of obvious cutoffs. big red buttons.
nothing like having water spraying right in your face as you try to use a flashlight and find out where the water cutoff is hidden and what kind of bizarre wrench you need to use to do so... ;)
@paul_ipv6 @hotelzululima @SteveBellovin @20002ist @wendynather @fuzzface @SecureOwl Anyone who doesn’t understand that is invited to damage a sprinkler head for an instructive experience.
@mattblaze @paul_ipv6 @hotelzululima @SteveBellovin @wendynather @fuzzface @SecureOwl
My anecdotal impression is that every year in the US alone there’s a non-trivial number of instances in which a hotel guest hooks a hanger onto an in-room ceiling sprinkler head.
Some people are impressively stupid.
@20002ist @mattblaze @paul_ipv6 @hotelzululima @SteveBellovin @wendynather @SecureOwl I’d like to make it clear that I was not there when the flood happened at Disclave.
@wendynather @fuzzface @SecureOwl Or pretend to be able to climb walls with it.
@mattblaze @wendynather @fuzzface @SecureOwl my kindergartner *does* climb the wall with it.
It sticks to the sliding glass door really well - plenty strong to hold 30 lbs…
@mattblaze @wendynather @fuzzface @SecureOwl Hmm, there's own, then there's "own". I am decidedly a developer, so I guess "own" doesn't count.