So the plant lost its main power bus today.
Tribal lore says the main plant switching box is so old and decrepit that it isn't to be touched, ever. It does in fact look awful...Corroded as hell, with about 30 years worth of failed rust inhibitor all over it (the geniuses that built this place located it in the worst of the acid atmosphere.
But, you know, the plant is down. So the boss calls down from on high, and says, "Remember to leave that disconnect panel alone".
We trace the problem directly to that panel.
I have the guys suit up, and we ever-so-carefully take the panel faces off...And it's a blown fuse. What's more, there's nothing wrong with the disconnect boxes. Nothing. These guys have been living in fear for at least 8 years, and there's nothing at all wrong with it. It isn't new, but everything inside is perfectly functional.
So now the plant has power, my boss is happy (success outweighs obedience, here), and we learned something.
And all of you bastards need to learn something, too. You know those guys in the basement? The crude, misanthropic bastards who walk around in Dickey shirts with tools stuffed in their pockets? The ones who keep everything running?
Leave us alone. It's our basement, not yours. You just take care of whatever it is you Eloi deal with, and you leave us Morlocks to handle things down here. Leave us be, and the lights stay on, and water comes out of the tap when you want it. Fuck with our game, and we'll come up at night and eat you.
Or Kill Me.
I love it when know how defeats fear.
I like the parallel how the people who use the device, but don't understand it, eventually come to fetishize and worship the device as some sort of holy magical relic that must not be defiled.
But the people who understand it simply see another fuse box.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on February 08, 2011, 05:15:26 PM
I like the parallel how the people who use the device, but don't understand it, eventually come to fetishize and worship the device as some sort of holy magical relic that must not be defiled.
But the people who understand it simply see another fuse box.
Eloi/Morlocks.
Likewise, we don't understand their fascination with building castles out of paperwork
1.
1 We understand paperwork that's useful (maintenance tracking, parts requistions, etc). We just don't understand all the ISO weirdness. If the forms are in the computer, why do I have to print them out, scan them, and store them in the computer (not kidding)?
ISO is efficient Roger, you want to be efficient don't you?
I seriously wonder if anybody really thinks ISO 9000 is worth anything, or if they all just do it because its expected of them by business partners.
Quote from: Requia ☣ on February 08, 2011, 05:43:42 PM
ISO is efficient Roger, you want to be efficient don't you?
I seriously wonder if anybody really thinks ISO 9000 is worth anything, or if they all just do it because its expected of them by business partners.
Just one more thing to blame the Dutch for.
Bastards.
I like this.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 08, 2011, 05:18:47 PM
Likewise, we don't understand their fascination with building castles out of paperwork1.
1 We understand paperwork that's useful (maintenance tracking, parts requistions, etc). We just don't understand all the ISO weirdness. If the forms are in the computer, why do I have to print them out, scan them, and store them in the computer (not kidding)?
This shit drives me insane. I swear this office kills at least 5 trees a day... and we still have to have 2 paper copies and a computer backup!!
I like this one, definitely.
I like this, and I wish more of Them would leave those of Us the fuck along and let Us do Our job so The Shit Gets Done.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 08, 2011, 05:18:47 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on February 08, 2011, 05:15:26 PM
I like the parallel how the people who use the device, but don't understand it, eventually come to fetishize and worship the device as some sort of holy magical relic that must not be defiled.
But the people who understand it simply see another fuse box.
Eloi/Morlocks.
Likewise, we don't understand their fascination with building castles out of paperwork1.
1 We understand paperwork that's useful (maintenance tracking, parts requistions, etc). We just don't understand all the ISO weirdness. If the forms are in the computer, why do I have to print them out, scan them, and store them in the computer (not kidding)?
RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: Canis latrans eques on February 09, 2011, 01:56:21 AM
I like this, and I wish more of Them would leave those of Us the fuck along and let Us do Our job so The Shit Gets Done.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 08, 2011, 05:18:47 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD on February 08, 2011, 05:15:26 PM
I like the parallel how the people who use the device, but don't understand it, eventually come to fetishize and worship the device as some sort of holy magical relic that must not be defiled.
But the people who understand it simply see another fuse box.
Eloi/Morlocks.
Likewise, we don't understand their fascination with building castles out of paperwork1.
1 We understand paperwork that's useful (maintenance tracking, parts requistions, etc). We just don't understand all the ISO weirdness. If the forms are in the computer, why do I have to print them out, scan them, and store them in the computer (not kidding)?
RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BROOKLYN RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dad, while showing me how to do basic upkeep on a diesel tractor engine: "If we take off this cover, behind the impellor for the water pump, can see the pin that connects it to the other dingus [sic] in the engine. It's a pain to get this pin back into place, so you give it more grease whenever you're opening up the thing, you never remove it."
Richter: "Gotcha, leave it in."
Dad: "Most of the time. Let's take a look at it." ::yanks it clean out:: "No rust or dings on it, good. Here, you put it back."
Richter: ::sigh:: "Ok, pass me that screwdriver..."
Quote from: Richter on February 09, 2011, 05:07:48 PM
Dad, while showing me how to do basic upkeep on a diesel tractor engine: "If we take off this cover, behind the impellor for the water pump, can see the pin that connects it to the other dingus [sic] in the engine. It's a pain to get this pin back into place, so you give it more grease whenever you're opening up the thing, you never remove it."
Richter: "Gotcha, leave it in."
Dad: "Most of the time. Let's take a look at it." ::yanks it clean out:: "No rust or dings on it, good. Here, you put it back."
Richter: ::sigh:: "Ok, pass me that screwdriver..."
:lulz:
I think the better lesson here is: just because someone says there are angels on the roof and demons in the basement, dun' make it true.
If common sense says push the big, red button, go 'head and let 'er rip.
Open the box and see what's inside.
Think for yourself, schmuck.
...heh. I wonder if the "sacred box of Doom" looks so awful because it's not treated like the tool it is but instead like some magical but curmugeonly orifice. Instead of a simple mechanism through which you can bring power to the plant.
And yeah, the guys who usually bring us down to earth about such things are the ones who work with their hands, think with their heads, and keep superstition down to a minimum.
Quote from: Jenne on February 10, 2011, 05:03:02 PM
And yeah, the guys who usually bring us down to earth about such things are the ones who work with their hands, think with their heads, and keep superstition down to a minimum.
Nicely put.
oh I am familiar this. Not only with mechanical engineering, the exact same thing happens in software engineering. Some ancient whizkid that built the first generation, some old library, he did a pretty good job at it too, and built it real quickly, and it worked. Except, of course, he built it his way. Whizkid leaves for some more serious IT job.
Next generation of developers don't know shit from shit and break it, or perhaps it just stopped working just like mechanical devices need maintenance. The current crew can't manage to ducttape-fix it after weeks of pain and sweat, so the mythical now-guru whizkid gets hired for a short-term premium expensive job. He knows his code, so the fix is easy. From this, the boss concludes that the guru is a magical genius, and nobody is supposed to touch it anymore.
(No wonder he left for a better assignment, which was probably a good decision).
I arrive when half of the nitwit developers are recycled, and what's left is this big heap of gunk that nobody is supposed to touch, because it'll break, even though a solid refactoring would save everybody many hours and headaches. By the time we get a green light to replace the code, the rest of the base is already grown all skewed in order to deal with the idiosyncracies of the magical bit.
I suppose it is possible, and I haven't the experience to rule it out entirely, but I've personally never seen such a situation turn out right again. The way of things, I suppose.
I used to work with a guy who said that when he started with IBM in the 60s the unofficial motto was: "Don't sweat it if you can't be part of the solution -- there's plenty of money to be made being part of the problem."
This has probably been going on ever since those in power started ignoring the advice of the subject-matter experts they hired. While Pharaoh couldn't understand that doubling the size of the base would more than double the time and expense of the project, I'm guessing that the slave and quarry industries did not lobby against the construction of the pyramids.
Quote from: Captain Utopia on February 14, 2011, 03:09:30 PM
This has probably been going on ever since those in power started ignoring the advice of the subject-matter experts they hired. While Pharaoh couldn't understand that doubling the size of the base would more than double the time and expense of the project, I'm guessing that the slave and quarry industries did not lobby against the construction of the pyramids.
This.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 08, 2011, 04:53:47 PM
So the plant lost its main power bus today.
Tribal lore says the main plant switching box is so old and decrepit that it isn't to be touched, ever. It does in fact look awful...Corroded as hell, with about 30 years worth of failed rust inhibitor all over it (the geniuses that built this place located it in the worst of the acid atmosphere.
But, you know, the plant is down. So the boss calls down from on high, and says, "Remember to leave that disconnect panel alone".
We trace the problem directly to that panel.
I have the guys suit up, and we ever-so-carefully take the panel faces off...And it's a blown fuse. What's more, there's nothing wrong with the disconnect boxes. Nothing. These guys have been living in fear for at least 8 years, and there's nothing at all wrong with it. It isn't new, but everything inside is perfectly functional.
So now the plant has power, my boss is happy (success outweighs obedience, here), and we learned something.
And all of you bastards need to learn something, too. You know those guys in the basement? The crude, misanthropic bastards who walk around in Dickey shirts with tools stuffed in their pockets? The ones who keep everything running?
Leave us alone. It's our basement, not yours. You just take care of whatever it is you Eloi deal with, and you leave us Morlocks to handle things down here. Leave us be, and the lights stay on, and water comes out of the tap when you want it. Fuck with our game, and we'll come up at night and eat you.
Or Kill Me.
Bump in reference to the events of today.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 19, 2011, 06:39:53 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 08, 2011, 04:53:47 PM
So the plant lost its main power bus today.
Tribal lore says the main plant switching box is so old and decrepit that it isn't to be touched, ever. It does in fact look awful...Corroded as hell, with about 30 years worth of failed rust inhibitor all over it (the geniuses that built this place located it in the worst of the acid atmosphere.
But, you know, the plant is down. So the boss calls down from on high, and says, "Remember to leave that disconnect panel alone".
We trace the problem directly to that panel.
I have the guys suit up, and we ever-so-carefully take the panel faces off...And it's a blown fuse. What's more, there's nothing wrong with the disconnect boxes. Nothing. These guys have been living in fear for at least 8 years, and there's nothing at all wrong with it. It isn't new, but everything inside is perfectly functional.
So now the plant has power, my boss is happy (success outweighs obedience, here), and we learned something.
And all of you bastards need to learn something, too. You know those guys in the basement? The crude, misanthropic bastards who walk around in Dickey shirts with tools stuffed in their pockets? The ones who keep everything running?
Leave us alone. It's our basement, not yours. You just take care of whatever it is you Eloi deal with, and you leave us Morlocks to handle things down here. Leave us be, and the lights stay on, and water comes out of the tap when you want it. Fuck with our game, and we'll come up at night and eat you.
Or Kill Me.
Bump in reference to the events of today.
But... but...
LEAVE OPEN BAR ALONE!
\
(http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/entries/icons/original/000/000/016/leave-britney-alone-02.jpg?1229112660)
Well, no...I was talking about the wretched Eloi that infest our main office building. They are full of amazing advice that has precisely nothing to do with the actual, physical problems at hand.
I will eat them all, one fine day.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 19, 2011, 11:11:42 PM
Well, no...I was talking about the wretched Eloi that infest our main office building. They are full of amazing advice that has precisely nothing to do with the actual, physical problems at hand.
I will eat them all, one fine day.
Oh, those types.
Yeah.
Crunchy in milk!