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From: tim@unisoft.UUCP (Tim Bessie)
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Re: Computer Horror Stories (Emergency Stop)
Message-ID: <32@unisoft.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Mar-86 13:05:36 EST
Article-I.D.: unisoft.32
Posted: Fri Mar 14 13:05:36 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Mar-86 21:18:30 EST
References: <1060@loral.UUCP> <2155@watdcsu.UUCP> <2282@phri.UUCP> <1267@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: tim@unisoft.UUCP (Tim Bessie)
Organization: UniSoft Systems; Berkeley, CA
Lines: 31
Keywords: Fiberglass

A fellow I worked with once told me a horror story that happened when he
was working as an operator at MIT.

     The system they were using had recently been converted to using a new
type of coated fiberglass disk, to replace the old, heavy metal-platter
kind.  No problem there.  Well, the system they had this 'Emergency Stop'
plug on it that you would pull when an emergency occurred (they assumed
it was for, say, a flood in the machine room).  One late evening, a couple
of the operators were sitting around being bored, and decided to see what
would happen when they pulled 'Emergency Stop.'  Immediately after pulling
it, they heard a strange sound in the disk cabinet.  Looking over, they
saw an arm emerge from the side of the cabinet, on either side of a platter,
and CLAMP down on the platter.  Apparently, this wasn't made for use with
fiberglass platters.
     They were picking splinters out of the walls for days.

						- Tim

PS. Can anyone tell me what kind of system this was?  I don't remember.

-- 
---

	Life is like an onion; you keep peeling off the layers,
	and sometimes you weep.
				- Carl Sandburg
	---------------------------------------------------------------

---> Tim Bessie ----- {ucbvax,dual}!unisoft!tim
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