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I have a favorite Utah story that is I think appropriate here. Many years ago as a young and green consultant I was sent to Salt Lake to help with some ASP.NET/
by danielodievich 3y ago
I have a favorite Utah story that is I think appropriate here. Many years ago as a young and green consultant I was sent to Salt Lake to help with some ASP.NET/C# app with Utah Department of Liquor. I was told to look for the tallest building in SLC and the warehouse did not disappoint, it was huge (well, SLC is really flat and squat too). They showed me the warehouse full of really fancy robotic stuff (all made in Utah, and they were correct to be proud of it). We got to work looking over the code of the app, and along the way they learn that I am originally from USSR/Russia. "Oh" the devs say, "do you want to see our Russia module"? I am of course intrigued, and discover that during the process of organization of 2002 SLC winter Olympics (Mitt Romney's baby/rise to prominence), there was a huge diplomatic incident. The rules of State of UT at the time limit the number of bottles sold to any one in a given transaction, and the Russian delegation was refusing to come to Utah because they would not be allowed to buy as much liquor (likely vodka) as they wanted to. This got escalated to the highest levels of State department, and the intrepid UT legislature found a way! They [very quickly] passed the law that any person with Russian citizenship could buy whatever the heck they want in any amount. Now it was up to the poor saps in the UT Dept. of Liquor to implement it. But you couldn't just rely on people showing passport! No, the software team feverishly coded up the "Russian Module" that implemented passport number validation, making sure that if you did show a red passport with double-headed eagle, its number was valid. There was serious collaboration on the numbering schemes and maybe even some proto API validation to the Russian Federation servers. Yeah, legit module. Used for 2 weeks, and then decommissioned as the law sunset very rapidly.
So, where there is a will, there is a way. And a VPN.
- cpursley 3y agoFunny story if true. But honestly, the whole "Russian vodka bears blyat" stuff is disrespectful (and wrong). Because Russians actually prefer whiskey & brandy!! Also, Russia is not even in the top 15 countries in terms of alcohol consumption. Ukraine is higher, Finland is higher, Ireland is higher. But the worst offender: Russian vodka is not made of potatoes!! They use grains. It's actually the Polish who use potatoes.
- baybal2 3y ago[dead]
- LastTrain 3y agoAlso, there is absolutely nothing “flat” about Salt Lake City.
- cobaltoxide 3y agoIt's surrounded by mountains, but the urban part of the city is indeed very flat.
- woodruffw 3y agoMaybe a decade ago, but there are now over a dozen buildings over 300 feet in downtown SLC[1]. I was there last week; it's not a "big" city by any means, but it's also certainly not flat by any means. Compare this to Buffalo, which is bigger, older, and still has fewer buildings over 300 feet[2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Salt_Lake_City https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_S... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Buffalo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_B...
- cobaltoxide 3y agoI googled to try to find some reference to this alleged law, but found nothing.
- lolinder 3y agoThe only result I found was this thread.
- mrkstu 3y agoThis seems to be referring to it[0]: “During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (UDABC) relaxed enforcement of Utah's alcohol laws. This led to the passing of less restrictive laws effected in May 2003. This came after complaints, particularly after an incident in which an International Olympic Committee official complained.” [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Utah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Utah
- akiselev 3y agoI've been an avid Hacker News reader for over a decade and this is by far the funnest/funniest/most fun anecdote I've read. That includes all of the comments on the HN highlights page [1]. My nationality has nothing to do with it ;) [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights https://news.ycombinator.com/highlights