[2174] in Central_America
New quotes for Wed Jan 31
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Wed Jan 31 01:46:58 1990
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 90 01:46:32 EST
From: root@CHARON.MIT.EDU (Initializer.SysDaemon)
To: ca-mtg@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU
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afridi (Khurram K Afridi):
{From system: This user's .plan file is not world readable}
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bjaspan (Barr3y Jaspan):
Happiness is..
1 -> make saber
load -I../../.././include fcc_close.c fcc_destry.c fcc_eseq.c fcc_gennew.c fcc_getnam.c fcc_gprin.c fcc_init.c fcc_nseq.c fcc_read.c fcc_reslv.c fcc_retrv.c fcc_sseq.c fcc_store.c fcc_skip.c fcc_ops.c fcc_write.c fcc_sflags.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_close.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_destry.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_eseq.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_gennew.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_getnam.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_gprin.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_init.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_nseq.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_read.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_reslv.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_retrv.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_sseq.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_store.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_skip.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_ops.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_write.c
Loading: -I../../.././include fcc_sflags.c
2 ->
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celine (Who Drugged Thumper?):
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jeb (Joseph E Bondaryk):
{From system: This user's .plan file is not world readable}
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jik (Jonathan I. Kamens):
Apocryphal consulting story:
User calls stating that monitor has just gone blank, and is told by
consultant to check behind the machine to make sure the monitor cable
hasn't come loose. "I can't see anything back there. We just had a
power failure and it's too dark to see anything in my office."
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mar (Mark A. Rosenstein):
Jesting costs money.
- Feeble Spanish Proverb
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needle (Joseph):
One hen.
Two ducks.
Three squawking geese.
Four Limerick oysters.
Five corpulent porpoises.
Six pairs of John Barrister's tweezers.
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array.
Eight brass monkeys from the secret, sacred, ancient crypts of Egypt.
Nine sympathetic, apathetic, diabetic old men on rollerskates, with a
proclivity for procrastination and sloth.
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rlcarr (Rich Carreiro):
In the mid-60s, a beta copy of a FORTRAN compiler that was tested at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) Laboratory for
Computer Science contained a debilitationg bug. A program submitted
without an "END" statement at the back of the card deck caused the
program to become destructive. As one evaluator described it, "It
erase core memory; it erased the master memory; it erased the master
tape; it erased everything." And since students were notoriously
forgetful, the memory loss and retrieval scenario was replayed constantly.
The evaluators advised the vendor. Then the program was released
for sale. Imagine the evaluators' shock when they ran the program and
the bug was still there. And in the documentation, under "Special
Features" was a note that read something like this: "If by change you
ever want to erase core memory and the master tape, merely submit a
program without an END card." Two footnotes followed:
Note 1: Empirical evidence has shown that it is more efficient to
use a shorter program than a longer one.
Note 2: It is our usual policy to charge for utility programs
(i.e., programs that do things (like erase tapes)). However, this
feature is provided free of charge.
[from _Systems in Organizations: Bugs and Features_ by M. Lynne Marcus]
As for my comments - can anyone verify the truth of this anecdote?
And if true, which company was it that did this? Whatever company it
was has some serious testicular fortitude to pull a retcon like that.
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scberk (Scott C Berk):
{From system: This user's .plan file is not world readable}
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sytung (Shuyuan Tung):
Last logged out on Tue Jan 30 16:00:34 EST 1990 from W20-575-112
--- End of Central America ---
