4 ms·

I doubt this story has any factual basis whatsoever -- it reads like a tall tale with a moral more than anything else.

by jtheory 12y ago

dredmorbius 12y ago
Dunno. I've heard (and told) a few similar stories that do have a factual basis.
- new299 12y ago
  Do you have them written up anywhere? I'm a total sucker for these kind of stories.
  - dredmorbius 12y ago
    Nothing of quite this scope.
    - jtheory 12y ago
      There are huge disasters that come of software mistakes -- but look at the story of the Therac-25 vs. this kind of story. Factual stories don't normally have punchlines. If however many billions of dollars were actually lost due to a server rebooting at the wrong time, would it actually be possible that it remained a secret, only documented in this one humorous and totally un-sourced account? Also note the exaggerations of the incompetence of the IBM datacenter operators. It's an entertaining read, because it's written to be an entertaining read ("a former gnome of Zurich"?). Maybe there's some kernel of truth in there; maybe not -- but there's no way to tell now (without other, better sources) what that may be.
  - JacobAldridge 12y ago
    If you haven't already, do enjoy The Case of the 500-mile Email (which I believe is factual) http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html
    - new299 12y ago
      That was great thanks! And also introduced me to the units command which seems very handy!
    - dredmorbius 12y ago
      That's a great one. Related are the faster-than-light stock-exchange trading orders of the past few years. Some trades were originating out of Chicago for NY exchanges which, based on release timing of information, would have had to travel faster than light. Truth being that there's early access being offered some traders. http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/3/4798542/whats-faster-than-a-light-speed-trade-inside-the-sketchy-world-of http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/3/4798542/whats-faster-than-... http://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.5966v1.pdf http://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.5966v1.pdf

I doubt this story has any factual basis whatsoever -- it reads like a tall tale with a moral more than anything else.

by jtheory 12y ago

I doubt this story has any factual basis whatsoever -- it reads like a tall tale with a moral more than anything else.

dredmorbius 12y ago

Dunno. I've heard (and told) a few similar stories that do have a factual basis.

new299 12y ago
Do you have them written up anywhere? I'm a total sucker for these kind of stories.
- dredmorbius 12y ago
  Nothing of quite this scope.
  - jtheory 12y ago
    There are huge disasters that come of software mistakes -- but look at the story of the Therac-25 vs. this kind of story. Factual stories don't normally have punchlines. If however many billions of dollars were actually lost due to a server rebooting at the wrong time, would it actually be possible that it remained a secret, only documented in this one humorous and totally un-sourced account? Also note the exaggerations of the incompetence of the IBM datacenter operators. It's an entertaining read, because it's written to be an entertaining read ("a former gnome of Zurich"?). Maybe there's some kernel of truth in there; maybe not -- but there's no way to tell now (without other, better sources) what that may be.
- JacobAldridge 12y ago
  If you haven't already, do enjoy The Case of the 500-mile Email (which I believe is factual) http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html
  - new299 12y ago
    That was great thanks! And also introduced me to the units command which seems very handy!
  - dredmorbius 12y ago
    That's a great one. Related are the faster-than-light stock-exchange trading orders of the past few years. Some trades were originating out of Chicago for NY exchanges which, based on release timing of information, would have had to travel faster than light. Truth being that there's early access being offered some traders. http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/3/4798542/whats-faster-than-a-light-speed-trade-inside-the-sketchy-world-of http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/3/4798542/whats-faster-than-... http://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.5966v1.pdf http://arxiv.org/pdf/1302.5966v1.pdf