From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 21660 invoked from network); 12 Jul 2020 02:24:17 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 12 Jul 2020 02:24:17 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 4DC3294FC8; Sun, 12 Jul 2020 12:24:15 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2E45794ECE; Sun, 12 Jul 2020 12:23:01 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 235FA94EBC; Sun, 12 Jul 2020 12:22:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.cs.dartmouth.edu (mail.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.100]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 648FD94585 for ; Sun, 12 Jul 2020 12:22:58 +1000 (AEST) Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (tahoe.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.20]) by mail.cs.dartmouth.edu (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTPS id 06C2MtqA860568 (version=TLSv1.3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Sat, 11 Jul 2020 22:22:56 -0400 Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.14.3) with ESMTP id 06C2MtAS140033 for ; Sat, 11 Jul 2020 22:22:55 -0400 Received: (from doug@localhost) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id 06C2MtdJ140032 for tuhs@tuhs.org; Sat, 11 Jul 2020 22:22:55 -0400 From: Doug McIlroy Message-Id: <202007120222.06C2MtdJ140032@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2020 22:22:55 -0400 To: tuhs@tuhs.org User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [TUHS] BTL pranks [was AT&T Research] X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > Did the non-Unix people also pull pranks like the watertower? One of my favorites was by John Kelly, a Texas original, who refused the department-head perk of a rug so he could stamp his cigarettes out on the vinyl floor. John came from Visual and Acoustics Research, where digital signal processing pressed the frontiers of computing. Among his publications was the completely synthetic recording of "Daisy, Daisy" released circa 1963. Kelly electrified the computer center with a blockbuster prank a year or two before that. As was typical of many machine rooms, a loudspeaker hooked to the low-order bit of the accumulator played gentle white noise in the background. The noise would turn into a shriek when the computer got into a tight loop, calling the operators to put the program out of its misery. Out of the blue one day, the loudspeaker called for help more articulately: "Help, I'm caught in a loop. Help, I'm caught in a loop. ..." it intoned in a slow Texas drawl. News of the talking computer spread instantly and folks croweded into the machine room to marvel before the operators freed the poor prisoner. Doug