ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area geico syndrome

WE only have one poisonous snake in England -- the adder -- and you don't see a lot of them around. Harmless grass snakes are more plentiful, and I remember hearing of a telephone exchange some years ago where these slippery customers had made their way into the distribution racks from the cable bays below. Can't remember where it was exactly.

By the way, is that gecko above friends with the Budweiser frogs?

Not sure about the Bud frogs ;-)

I recall hearing from a telco employee that a few of his jobs for "static on the line" were the result of a cockroach finding its way into a telephone jack or protector (the older indoor equipment...)

I have seen a nest of mice that all got zapped behind a meter socket. Also seen where squirels chewed up power lines and blew themselves up.

Caper

Oh yes! Cockroaches aren't that common here, but I've seen plenty of outdoor junction boxes full of spiders, woodlice, and other assorted bugs.

I wonder why all these beasties always seem to gravitate toward electrical equipment - breaker panels, switches, J-boxes, meters, telephone equipment and on and on and on...?

The only thing I can figger out is that they must like the heat, although I would think that my snake-in-the-switch would have been barbequed sitting out there in our hot Texas sun.

Mike (mamills)

The creepy-crawlies really seem attracted to electrical gear. Not sure if it is the warmth, the EM fields, or what. I once worked at a TV shop where we occasionally had to use a leaf blower to blow the roaches out of a customer's TV or VCR before we brought it into the shop. We tried to repair those right on the sidewalk outside, if at all possible.

Apparently the term "bug" for a computer glitch has a real live bug behind it. A moth that got trapped between a set of relay contacts in an early computer was the "Mother of all Computer Bugs":
http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/tek1/first_computer_bug.htm

popped open an ancient 8" x 12" wire trough in a feed mill once, and a perfectly preserved possum skeleton was laying in there, with his teeth still imbedded in the insulation of a 250 MCM. he must have been very hungry!...

ron

Hi Ron; I'll ask you the same question posed to me by Ed; How do you reckon ol' possum managed to get into the wire trough?

Mike (mamills)

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 08-26-2002).]

mamills, damn good question!.. ...maybe he was born there and raised on the fine nutritional qualities of insulation?

actually, since the building had block walls, and there were open spaces between some sections of the trough, where they had knocked holes through the block. for the wires to go through, (gotta love those sledge hammer guys), there were several places he might have gotten into the trough. along with rats, pigeons, etc.... this place was an old feed mill.
ron

[This message has been edited by gramps (edited 08-27-2002).]