Hilarious!
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Norton" <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 10:04 AM
Subject: [OM] Re: Nathan's PAD 26/10/2008: my kingdom
>
> >At least until the cat decides to go and sit on the
>>keyboard. The laptop gets very unstable by then ;-)
>
>
>
> Years ago, I worked software technical support. These were the days before
> the x386 processor and most PCs were less than stable in a high RF or
> static
> environment. We provided scheduling/billing software systems to radio
> stations.
>
> One day, I got a phone call and was told that the computer just went nuts
> and there was gibberish typed on the screen. Another day she called and
> the
> printer started printing reports all on its own. Later on, she calls back
> and the computer has more gibberish typed on the screen. On it goes for
> three weeks.
>
> This was, of course, a classic example of RF Interference wrecking havoc
> with the computer. I had seen this happen dozens of times and the
> symptoms
> were nearly identical. Within the industry, we just call it "RF".
>
> We tried everything to recreate the problem, to no avail. I had the
> station
> engineer do various things, had him check grounding and shielding, etc.
> We
> even took the station off the air! (He insisted that they didn't actually
> broadcast from that location, but from five miles away--which was
> technically correct, but a TV station did broadcast from a tower not 600
> feet away).
>
> I was absolutely insistant that it was RF Interference, and the chief
> Engineer was equally insistant that it wasn't.
>
> This went every day, at various times of day, for almost three weeks.
>
> Then one day I get the call. "Ken, you are absolutely correct. It was
> RF.
> RF the cat!" The radio station had this stray cat that the DJs had fed
> and
> it never left. It became the station cat. They named it "RF".
>
> Well, it was wintertime in Michigan and the cat sought out a warm spot to
> sleep. The perfect location was on top of the computer monitor. It was
> actually quite hilarious as the cat would get statically charged and the
> hair would poof out like a sea urchin. (I saw this happen with a
> Himalayan
> one time and that cat became the size of a rather large dog!)
>
> The lady running the computer had a horseshoe shaped desk where her
> computer
> was on one side, the typewriter and telephone were on the other. The
> telephone would ring, she'd turn around and answer it. It would be an
> agency phoning in an order, so she'd load up the order form in the
> typewriter and work away. A minute later, the computer behind her started
> beeping, printing or doing something else. RF the cat would wake up,
> stretch, jump down off the monitor ONTO THE KEYBOARD and then onto the
> floor, exiting the room before she was aware of what had happened.
>
> It is amazing how you can be 100%, yet 100% wrong.
>
> AG
>
>
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