[crackmonkey] Outage info

[Nick Moffitt]

	For those of you not on zork.net, here's the /etc/motd file
from there.  The last two entries are about the outage.


                              oooo                                      .   
                              `888                                    .o8   
  oooooooo  .ooooo.  oooo d8b  888  oooo      ooo. .oo.    .ooooo.  .o888oo 
 d'""7d8P  d88' `88b `888""8P  888 .8P'       `888P"Y88b  d88' `88b   888   
   .d8P'   888   888  888      888888.         888   888  888ooo888   888   
 .d8P'  .P 888   888  888      888 `88b.  .o.  888   888  888    .o   888 . 
d8888888P  `Y8bod8P' d888b    o888o o888o Y8P o888o o888o `Y8bod8P'   "888" 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMDEX, here I come.  Ready the stretcher for my return.  (nick)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, the fact that it's in Las Vegas."
	(schoen's friend jhigham, in response to a query for cynical
	comments about COMDEX and/or Las Vegas)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That which does not kill me only makes me stronger." -Don Marti, on Las Vegas
"Ceci n'est pas une crack-pipe." -Nick Moffitt, on COMDEX
"Rick Moen is here." -Phil Hughes, at the Linux Journal awards ceremony
"This is like the special olympics of gambling." -Don Marti, on the
	token-and-coupon game of video poker at the Holy Cow
	(nick)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Stop killing yourself.  You're too beautiful." -RMS to spinster
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"VA Research, Inc., the global leader in Linux systems and Linux systems
research, is proud to announce their support for the Die Linuxbierwanderung,
the Bavarian Linux Beer Hike..." - Chris DiBona, on BusinessWire   (schoen)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Well, the power went out for four hours this morning.  Fortunately it
was localized to the Peninsula.  I found some clockwork radios at The Sharper
Image on Market St. and listened to the radio reports.  KQED was still
faithfully broadcasting the senate hearings, and KALW was down.  KPFA was out
of range, so I was stuck with AM radio.

	Supposedly it was a power station in San Mateo, and the related
substations shut off for safety reasons.  The BART tunnel was pitch black, and
the station attendants were wandering around with weak flashlights.  I made a
call to SuSE, and supposedly Bodo was still at home.  The TransBay Bus was
packed, and I culdn't even get into the ferry building, so I came back to the
coffeenet, where Richard was making coffee with an acetylene torch.

	I think I'm going to telecommute today, since BART is going to be a
gnarled mess for a while.  Gah.  

	Oh yes, and Zork.Net wasn't affected, since it's housed in Oakland.
	(nick)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Nick Moffitt <nick at suse.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 15:31:32 -0800
To: Christine Hillmer <christine at suse.com>

On Tue, Dec 08, 1998 at 01:35:44PM -0800, Christine Hillmer wrote:
> 	Where did BART spit you up, anyway? I was imagining you under
> the bay, listening to the tunnel walls sweat and groan.

	Actually, I was fortunate enough to be awakened by the outage,
which was at roughly 8:15 according to all the stopped clocks on
Market St.  My stereo has battery power for the clock and control
mechanisms ONLY.  It can't play music or sound without wall current.
I was frightened that it was a SNAFU with the transfer of the
electrical bill, but soon saw that the whole building was out.  

	By the time I heard the helicopters hovering over the Harrison
St on-ramps, I realized that it was bigger than that.  "It's all over
the city!" the desk attendant informed me.  By the time I reached a
newsstand on Annie and Market, I found out that it was all over the
peninsula.  

	Staring doubtfully at the BART tunnel, I chatted with passerby
about phone switches, electrical subsystems, and my surreal
experiences in server rooms that have multiple UPS's.  It was some
time before I was informed that the telephones in the BART tunnel were
available, so I braved it down the stairs.  That's when I called you.
(nick)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 
 * Progress (n.): The process through which Usenet has evolved from
   smart people in front of dumb terminals to dumb people in front of
   smart terminals.  -- obs at burnout.demon.co.uk (obscurity)
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