• COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND (unregistered) in reply to The
    The:
    THIS is the featured comment? This article could not get any stupider.

    it is the only comment which didn't ridicule the author/article, of course it got featured

  • Leo (unregistered)

    It's actually common for embedded programmers (who can't access a filesystem) to drill into a UPS.

  • by (unregistered) in reply to COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    The:
    THIS is the featured comment? This article could not get any stupider.

    it is the only comment which didn't ridicule the author/article, of course it got featured

    Well, I for one think that the title of this article is completely appropriate.

  • CoderDan (unregistered) in reply to anoldhacker
    anoldhacker:
    The Nerve:
    anoldhacker:
    Sorry, TRWTF was letting anyone who would drill into a live UPS touch anything else in the building, ever again, starting RIGHT NOW. I don't care if they got things back online quicker with what they did. They were clearly lucky.

    I'm making a major assumption here in thinking this story is real, but it would seem that the power was cut when he flipped the circuit breaker. That is stupidity on the level of not understanding how cutting power is going to affect regular business operations, but NOT stupidity on the level of a licensed electrician not understanding that he needs to cut off power before starting work. I am not a licensed electrician, and I know that much.

    Yeah, the more I think about it the more trouble I have with this story. Modern servers don't come up when power is applied specifically to protect them from this sort of idiot. If the story was from the mid 90's, then sure.

    Actually, it depends - PC's generally true. Various IBM products... if that rocker switch is on.. you're drawing current..as soon as you plug in.

  • (cs) in reply to DeaDPooL
    DeaDPooL:
    Drill into a UPS? I have trouble believing this. I can buy an electrician turned off power to the server room, but literally drill into a box of electricity? Cmon

    Only guessing, but it is possible that the electrician was drilling into the UPS in order to mount a locking cover over the big red emergency switch. It would be stupid, but at least it would add some logic to the story. The holes would not be very deep, only through the outer case, deep enough to install sheet metal screws. Personally, I would have used crazy glue.

  • (cs)

    OK, time to beat a dead horse deader...

    For those who don't know what a server room is like: it's loud.

    For those who don't know what powering a complete server room all at once is like: it's louder than a normal server room.

    The reason: all the fans are cranking up at the same time, because the system is in "temporary overdrive" (dumbed-down, not completely accurate, I know), which will cause one heck of a power spike.

    You see, most servers (at least the ones I deal with) don't get above a certain percentage of usage during normal operation. Less usage, less hard drives spinning, less CPU activity, etc. Less of all that, less power. Less power....well, you get the idea.

    Once they have all come online, the fans die down, and less power is consumed (it's not just the fans, I know, this is being written for the uninformed).

  • Lurch (unregistered) in reply to THG
    THG:
    We had a big-red-switch in our data-center (at a previous job). It was identical to the big-red switches used at my college that release the magnetic door locks, which we pushed to exit the buildings.

    I was lucky: I saw. I thought. I asked. I did not push.

    When the VP was giving a tour of the datacenter to a prospective customer ... not so lucky.

    (We did not sign that customer.)

    Yeah - we had a manager at work that did the same thing. We SCHEDULED facilities to come in and one at a time put alarmed covers over all six buttons (multiple entrances).

  • BradMKempthorn-Vounier (unregistered) in reply to Mr Brit
    Mr Brit:
    Maybe it's because I'm British and only understand Real English (TM)

    ....

    Meh, an average story made worse by poor copy-writing.

    Caught you. "Meh" is New York-ish, you pretentious poser.

  • Marathon Man (unregistered) in reply to anoldhacker
    anoldhacker:
    Yeah, the more I think about it the more trouble I have with this story. Modern servers don't come up when power is applied specifically to protect them from this sort of idiot. If the story was from the mid 90's, then sure.

    Modern Servers don't? Hmm. That's news to me. Ours are specifically set to power up when they sense power. Of course we use smart-power strips which can stagger this. But it's still a fairly common feature. (In fact in my experience, older servers did NOT come up automatically when power was restored. This is a major hassle when your datacenter is 150 miles away.)

    captcha; dignissim - Trying to count on fingers as a bear breaks them one by one.

    Is it safe?

  • Tom (unregistered) in reply to The

    Shocking.

  • (cs) in reply to The Nerve
    The Nerve:
    Ren:
    Yes, the original story is much, much better written. It should be a featured comment ASAP.

    The copywriting here almost equals the horrible standards of /b/, and that's terrible.

    Agreed.

    Second that.

  • BradMKempthorn-Vounier (unregistered) in reply to The Nerve
    The Nerve:
    Hear a Blog - We are currently narrating this post.

    I can imagine the narrator reading this story, [snip], and shouting "WHAT THE F***?!?!?"

    FTFY.

    At least, that was my reaction.

  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    Drilling in an unwise location, incompetence in fixing the problem...

    This is what happens when BP is hired as an electrical contractor.

  • praesent (unregistered) in reply to Tom
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.
  • (cs) in reply to praesent
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

  • BenHead (unregistered) in reply to Hasteur
    Hasteur:
    And this is why ISO-9000 procedures are put in place. The fact that the electrician got into the office building, into the server room, and was doing electrical work that could have caused an inturruption of service during business hours without letting the IT department know shows that the business is set for failure soon.

    We have 3 levels of security to get to the server room. A key-swipe that most people in the office have to get into a sensative area of the building, a entry log sheet next to the server room, and a different key swipe (requiring a different key). The people who hold the 2nd key swipe cards are very hesitant to let anybody in the server room, and for good reason.

    Well we have a numeric code required to unlock the door! The door that's left open all the time or it gets too hot in there! Even though we have TWO air conditioners on a cart in the room! So there!

    (Yes, all that's true. No, it wouldn't be that way if senior management listened to IT ever.)

  • wtf (unregistered) in reply to Anguirel
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

  • Larry (unregistered) in reply to JamesQMurphy
    JamesQMurphy:
    The Nerve:
    Ren:
    Yes, the original story is much, much better written. It should be a featured comment ASAP.

    The copywriting here almost equals the horrible standards of /b/, and that's terrible.

    Agreed.

    Second that.

    To bad this is not a democracy. It is a dicktatorship.

  • The Nerve (unregistered) in reply to Hasteur
    Hasteur:
    And this is why ISO-9000 procedures are put in place. The fact that the electrician got into the office building, into the server room, and was doing electrical work that could have caused an inturruption of service during business hours without letting the IT department know shows that the business is set for failure soon.

    We have 3 levels of security to get to the server room. A key-swipe that most people in the office have to get into a sensative area of the building, a entry log sheet next to the server room, and a different key swipe (requiring a different key). The people who hold the 2nd key swipe cards are very hesitant to let anybody in the server room, and for good reason.

    TRWTF is ISO-9000

  • (cs) in reply to wtf
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

  • swschrad (unregistered)

    the guy who hired the electrician has to feed the bear.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to The Nerve
    The Nerve:
    Really confused about the units...how does "above the two metre level" (6.6 feet) translated to 15 feet? And why would an Englishman mix the two?

    If his shoes where above 6.6 feet, the roof can't possibly be 15 feet? Okay.

  • Ken B. (unregistered) in reply to The Nerve
    The Nerve:
    I'm making a major assumption here in thinking this story is real, but it would seem that the power was cut when he flipped the circuit breaker. That is stupidity on the level of not understanding how cutting power is going to affect regular business operations, but NOT stupidity on the level of a licensed electrician not understanding that he needs to cut off power before starting work. I am not a licensed electrician, and I know that much.
    Back in the 1980's, our office was in a building with other offices on the same floor. There was a set of circuit breakers in the hallway, which contained breakers for all the offices. One day, the power in different parts of the office started going off and on, taking the computers (no UPSes in the office back then) with it.

    Turns out, one of the other offices was having some electrical work done, and the electrician went to the panel and just started flipping breakers off and on until he found the one he was looking for.

  • COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND (unregistered) in reply to frits
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

  • Wolfraider (unregistered)

    The electrician was probably screwing a plate over the big red button, which happened to be mounted on the UPS. He probably had a nut driver on the drill and was using it as a battery powered screw driver and not as a drill. He probably hit the big red button in the process of mounting the plate. Makes perfect sense to me.

  • Ozz (unregistered) in reply to jonsjava
    jonsjava:
    For those who don't know what a server room is like: it's loud.
    And for those who have never experienced it, there is a surreal reverse "woosh" as everything spins down simultaneously, followed by a ghostly, gut-wrenching silence...
  • (cs) in reply to COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

  • DeaDPooL (unregistered) in reply to Rick
    Rick:
    DeaDPooL:
    Drill into a UPS? I have trouble believing this. I can buy an electrician turned off power to the server room, but literally drill into a box of electricity? Cmon

    Only guessing, but it is possible that the electrician was drilling into the UPS in order to mount a locking cover over the big red emergency switch. It would be stupid, but at least it would add some logic to the story. The holes would not be very deep, only through the outer case, deep enough to install sheet metal screws. Personally, I would have used crazy glue.

    If mount a locking cover is what "and decided to do an end-run past change-control to 'fix' it" meant then ok, that phrase is nonsense to me and didn't imply the "install a cover" that I'm reading from other comments.

    Even if only drilling a tiny bit, it still seems like drilling into 10 car batteries and then being shocked by what happens next.

  • wtf (unregistered) in reply to DeaDPooL
    DeaDPooL:
    Even if only drilling a tiny bit, it still seems like drilling into 10 car batteries and then being shocked by what happens next.

    Which is exactly what you'd expect...

  • yawn...... (unregistered)

    YASMUS (Yet Another Stupid Made Up Story)

    This site is a waste of time.

  • boing boing (unregistered) in reply to frits
    frits:
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

    Ohm My. Watt has overloaded the comments circuit. In a parallel universe, we'd have trouble getting in phase with this serious series of pundrities. I'll wave goodbye now.

  • Anonymous (unregistered)
    Darth Electrician:
    I have drilled into your power supply. Pray I don't drill any further.
    You're going to do this for every single article, aren't you?
  • whining crybaby (unregistered) in reply to yawn......
    yawn......:
    YASMUS (Yet Another Stupid Made Up Story)

    This site is a waste of time.

    Yeah. I want my money back.

  • (cs) in reply to DrJDX
    DrJDX:
    Hint, in case you haven't figured it out by now:
    1. Click "Uninterruptable Power Supply"
    2. if (TDWTF.Article.Author.name == "Remy Porter") { view_source(); }

    I was thoroughly disappointed that the magic clickable unicorn words weren't "Lady Gaga".

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    Drilling in an unwise location, incompetence in fixing the problem...

    This is what happens when BP is hired as an electrical contractor.

    They managed to get rid of the vast majority of that oil without lifting a damn finger. Convinced the sea-life to eat it. That's pretty damn amazing in my book, I'd hire BP.

  • The Bytemaster (unregistered) in reply to boing boing
    boing boing:
    frits:
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

    Ohm My. Watt has overloaded the comments circuit. In a parallel universe, we'd have trouble getting in phase with this serious series of pundrities. I'll wave goodbye now.

    Oh watt horror have you conducted upon us? I can see it as a bad Ohm-an. I would advise to not invert or alternate current, but what does it meter. So let me be direct: Resistance is futile.

    I know that currently I am getting some static for this post, but have the capacitance for criticism.

  • wtf (unregistered) in reply to boing boing
    boing boing:
    frits:
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

    Ohm My. Watt has overloaded the comments circuit. In a parallel universe, we'd have trouble getting in phase with this serious series of pundrities. I'll wave goodbye now.

    Enough of this conduct. I'm going ohm. (If you all keep this up, someone's going to have to call a copper.)

  • Anon (unregistered)

    Most small servers and many PCs have a BIOS setting that determines whether, after a power interruption, they will remain off or automatically return to their previous state (power back up if they were running when power was lost).

  • The Nerve (unregistered) in reply to boing boing
    boing boing:
    frits:
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

    Ohm My. Watt has overloaded the comments circuit. In a parallel universe, we'd have trouble getting in phase with this serious series of pundrities. I'll wave goodbye now.

    Dear Everyone,

    In case you can’t tell, this is a grown-up place. The fact that you insist on making ridiculous puns clearly shows that you’re too young and too stupid to be using electricity.

    Go away and grow up.

    Sincerely, Bert Glanstron

  • dtfhg (unregistered) in reply to Hasteur
    Hasteur:
    We have 3 levels of security to get to the server room. A key-swipe that most people in the office have to get into a sensative area of the building, a entry log sheet next to the server room, and a different key swipe (requiring a different key). The people who hold the 2nd key swipe cards are very hesitant to let anybody in the server room, and for good reason.
    Pretty much exactly same as my old place First - A general RFID swipe that any employee had. 2 - The same swipe card, but only people who were on the list, cards would work.

    If someone needed to be there that didn't have the card (i.e a contractor) they had to be on a pre approval list. Even so, they were still put in a log book containing their name, what company, reason for there visit, checkin time, checkout time, and then a signature from the person who let them in.

    One time one of the regular contractors was on vacation so there was another one that took his place, well for some reason he wasn't on the preapproval list. He had to wait in the building for about 2-3 hours before he was allowed in so security could do the necessary background checks.

  • Darth Remy (unregistered)

    I have written an article poorly...pray I don't write it any poorer.

  • EngleBart (unregistered) in reply to Rick
    Rick:
    DeaDPooL:
    Drill into a UPS? I have trouble believing this. I can buy an electrician turned off power to the server room, but literally drill into a box of electricity? Cmon

    Only guessing, but it is possible that the electrician was drilling into the UPS in order to mount a locking cover over the big red emergency switch. It would be stupid, but at least it would add some logic to the story. The holes would not be very deep, only through the outer case, deep enough to install sheet metal screws. Personally, I would have used crazy glue.

    I do not think I would want metal shavings inside of any electrical component. Crazy Glue is a good solution, but an arc welder might work better to eliminate the shavings. (Assuming a metal cover and metal UPS case)

  • (cs) in reply to wtf
    wtf:
    boing boing:
    frits:
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

    Ohm My. Watt has overloaded the comments circuit. In a parallel universe, we'd have trouble getting in phase with this serious series of pundrities. I'll wave goodbye now.

    Enough of this conduct. I'm going ohm. (If you all keep this up, someone's going to have to call a copper.)

    Stop flip-flopping. JK.

  • Dan (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    Drilling in an unwise location, incompetence in fixing the problem...

    This is what happens when BP is hired as an electrical contractor.

    Especially since BP is an oil company, not an electrical company.

  • (cs) in reply to frits
    frits:
    wtf:
    boing boing:
    frits:
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

    Ohm My. Watt has overloaded the comments circuit. In a parallel universe, we'd have trouble getting in phase with this serious series of pundrities. I'll wave goodbye now.

    Enough of this conduct. I'm going ohm. (If you all keep this up, someone's going to have to call a copper.)

    Stop flip-flopping. JK.

    Oh relax. We're just trying to put a positive spin on things.

  • Dan (unregistered) in reply to EngleBart
    EngleBart:
    I do not think I would want metal shavings inside of any electrical component. Crazy Glue is a good solution, but an arc welder might work better to eliminate the shavings. (Assuming a metal cover and metal UPS case)

    I don't think a UPS is made of cast-iron. An arc welder would likely just melt the whole thing down.

    If the box is not too crowded, shavings from drilling small mounting holes in the side (he'd better have the cover off to make sure of where he's drilling) would not be too hard to clean out.

  • Drew (unregistered)
    About a thousand users were about to discover that the only IT asset they could access were their desktop computers.
    Once upon a time, that was enough. You spoiled kids don't know how good you have it.
  • (cs) in reply to Zylon
    Zylon:
    frits:
    wtf:
    boing boing:
    frits:
    COHERENCE_NOT_FOUND:
    frits:
    wtf:
    Anguirel:
    praesent:
    Tom:
    Shocking.
    Revolting, even.

    I got a charge out of this.

    You guys are just going to pile on, aren't you? Wire you unable to resist these terrible puns? You all should be grounded.

    (I'm going to ignore this thread. I'll just sit here listening to Ampere van Beethoven)

    You go ahead and do that, Sparky.

    this is electrifying.

    zing!

    I'm too amped to have the capacity to resist commenting. Although the frequency of my posts is starting to Hertz.

    Ohm My. Watt has overloaded the comments circuit. In a parallel universe, we'd have trouble getting in phase with this serious series of pundrities. I'll wave goodbye now.

    Enough of this conduct. I'm going ohm. (If you all keep this up, someone's going to have to call a copper.)

    Stop flip-flopping. JK.

    Oh relax. We're just trying to put a positive spin on things.

    Sorry. When I get all charged up, my energy flows from the negative.

  • Stupidly powerful (unregistered) in reply to by
    by:
    No. I have no idea why this story was edited the way it was. The original is much better written, and actually makes sense! If I were Simon, I would be livid at such a bastardization of my work.

    Simon is quite used to bastardization. I wouldn't worry about it.

  • enim (unregistered) in reply to highphilosopher
    highphilosopher:
    I'm not sure this story is plausible. I am thinking that no one with the mental capacity to run a drill would be listening to Lady Gaga.
    I am thinking that no one who would be listening to Lady Gaga would have the mental capacity to run a drill.

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