Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ucsd!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hplabsz!taylor
From: mclek@dcatla.UUCP (Larry E. Kollar)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: Urban legends
Message-ID: <1907@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM>
Date: 19 Apr 88 21:35:25 GMT
Sender: taylor@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM
Organization: DCA Inc., Alpharetta, GA
Lines: 14
Approved: taylor@hplabs

I remember hearing another disk-related story in college, about 9 years ago:

  CDC wanted to dramatize how stable their new computer was, so they set up
  a complete mainframe installation, disk drives and all, in the back of an
  18-wheeler.  The portable power supply came up, then the mainframe was
  fired up.  Everything worked just fine.  The 18-wheeler pulled out of the
  parking lot, and as the driver turned, the gyroscopic effects of the
  rapidly spinning disk drives flipped the trailer on its side, destroying
  about $500,000 worth of equipment.

The story was told to me as true, but it sure sounds like an urban legend.

Can anyone confirm (or kill) it?

Larry Kollar