That reminds me of a friend who used to work at a site that reconditioned and tested Nike missiles (Look it up on YouTube if you don't know what a Nike is.). One day, a missile showed up for testing. They dutifully hooked the cables up to the electronics, and started the test sequence. My friend noticed that the missile under test looked a bit different than the ones that they usually tested. So, he called the test engineer over, who promptly went totally berserk and started ripping multi-thousand dollar cables out, overturning test machines, and generally wreaking havoc in the test lab. It seems that the test was only a few moments away from having the electronics package do a launch sequence, and some intelligent fool had forgotten to remove the solid rocket engine from the missile under test!
BOFH: Power corrupts, uninterrupted power corrupts absolutely
"THE POWER'S OUT!" the Boss shouts, blundering into Mission Control like a robotic vacuum in super-random turbo mode. "THE TRANSFORMER DOWN THE ROAD HAS EXPLO... hey, why are your lights still on?" "They're on the UPS. Aaaaaaaaaaaand... wait for it..." I say, after a slight flicker; "... on the generator, too." "Why is your …
COMMENTS
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Friday 4th September 2015 17:26 GMT Sgt_Oddball
Re: Electricity - Pah!
Been far too long since my last trip to Beverley... I shall have to make the effort now. Though, it does sound somewhat like the Angel Inn in Leeds city center. They've still got a few gas lights around, wooden benches and stone floors. Upstairs though is like a true gentleman's club with fine leather sofas, open fires and fine paintings. Still best place to get 2 in with change from a fiver.
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Friday 4th September 2015 18:41 GMT Small Furry Animal
Re: Electricity - Pah!
@AC, +1 for bringing back the memories.
My friends and I frequently visited the place in the 70's. We once smuggled my sister in and she managed to buy a round .* It helped that she smoked cigars and was as tall as me.
* Nellies was men-only, as was that place just off Silver Street in Hull. Can't remember the name atm. Must be old-age or the beer - take your pick
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Saturday 5th September 2015 19:12 GMT Sarah Balfour
Re: Electricity - Pah!
The best selection of real ales, ciders, perries, and stouts I've ever come across is to be found at the Sheffield Tap, conveniently located opposite platform 1 at the station. It's reputed to have the largest selection of home-brewed real ales and ciders in the country.
You've just got to remember not to get so obliterated that you miss your train… I quit drinking over 20 years ago, haven't touched a single drop since.
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Friday 4th September 2015 14:52 GMT Julian I-Do-Stuff
Of course we had it tough...
Designing special purpose UPS to support nuclear reactor mainframe peripherals. Spec said "up to 5 minutes of power"... Hmmm, we thought, if all the power goes off in a nuclear power station - including the primary UPS & backup generators - the fan will be very brown very quickly so we gave them power for 3 hours to sort it out. Mind you, the mainframe was probably long dead by then, but it was unlikely to be *our* fault. Arses properly covered. PS The mainframe also had a battery... for starting.
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Friday 4th September 2015 17:07 GMT TeeCee
Re: Of course we had it tough...
Surely, in the event of a total power loss in a nuclear power station, the mainframes are waaaaay down the list of things to worry about.
Just imagine if they'd had a decent UPS at Fukushima:
"Look on the bright side lads. Yes the backup gennies are stuffed, the cooling system's dead and the core's about to go critical, but the computers are still running!"
<SLAP>
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Friday 4th September 2015 16:11 GMT Anonymous Coward
And that's why I keep a stashed UPS that runs on car batteries...
...because I forget the lights on my own car running, and use those to jump-start it.
...And my desktop takes 20 solid minutes to cold reboot, and I hate that. 50Ah should keep that desktop happy for... 6 hours, even on old batteries.
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Friday 4th September 2015 16:11 GMT John 104
Strangely Appropriate
We had an unseasonably powerful storm here (Seattle) last week. Sure enough the power took a dip and our UPS took over. And immediately fell on its face due to 7 of the 40 batteries having high resistance. Into bypass mode it went and a call to the supplier to come out and re-wire the remaining units to get us back to filtered power.
Of course, the drop wasn't enough to trip the ATS and fire the generator. Just a sensitive Eaton and a brace of the cheapest that could be found.
Unfortunately for the on call engineer, there are no pubs within walking distance...
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Friday 4th September 2015 21:48 GMT Paul Crawford
Re: Strangely Appropriate
You never know if a UPS/backup generator/etc system will work until the mains goes off. But no one will take the risk of pulling the big red leaver[1] at the master distribution panel just to find out...
[1] We really did have one of those, with a telescoping handle for a 400A 3-phase switch for our lab. There were also a few big switches for long-gone stuff with simple but intriguing labels such as "magnet" that always made me want to power the circuit up just to see what would happen. Alas, common sense meant I resisted the temptation to "do an Igor".
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Saturday 5th September 2015 23:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
UPS
They're a bit like having a guard dog that is high-maintenance, sleeps through a fraction of the burglaries, makes a huge mess once a week, and every once in a long while eats one of the children.
I've been evacuated from the workplace several times BECAUSE OF the smoldering UPS.
Not to mention the other times they've malfunctioned, shutting down the server without notice.
Supposed cure, which it often isn't, that is often much worse than the disease.
I hate them.