02-03-15 07:33 TOM WALKER wrote to ED VANCE about Re: Time Zones Was: Older   
      
    TW> @MSGID: <54D1554B.1256.windowsb@capcity2.synchro.net>   
    EV> TW> Several years later I got a job with the Phone company and   
    EV> TW> hepled double the size of their Switch Room.   
    EV> TW> Being junior man I spent a lot of time crawling up on the cable   
    EV> TW> trays lacing down the cables with waxed cord.   
      
    EV>A friend let me visit him at the Exchange where he worked, so I can   
    EV>understand what You went through.   
   -snip-   
    TW> That brings back memories of my time laying up in the cable   
    TW> tray in the switch room.   
    TW> The clicking after while started to sound musical   
   Howdy! Tom,   
      
   Yes, the rhythm pattern of those old Step By Step Ratchet Relays was   
   something that either You liked or it would drive You crazy(ier?).   
      
   The Teletype Machines I was around in the Navy had a musical pattern   
   too, didn't they?   
   Or didn't they use 'em on on the Sub that You were stationed on?   
      
   The Exchange where I visited my friend had Crossbar equipment in it.   
      
   I only got to come in the door to see my friend, I didn't get to see   
   the Crossbar switches while I was there.   
      
   Now that the Telephone Company uses ESS (Electronic Switching System)   
   computers I would guess there wouldn't be any noise hardly at all.   
      
   Later my friend got transferred to the Main Exchange downtown and he   
   took care of the Large Battery Cells and the Generator, and also the   
   Generators at other Exchanges.   
      
   He was given a GRID Computer that he could use to dial up the Generator   
   Room at the exchanges to see what was happening before he had to drive   
   across town to fix the trouble.   
      
   Later they gave him a Notebook computer and offered to sell the GRID pc   
   to him, so he bought it from Ma Bell, and got the assortment of Books   
   for the GRID too.   
   Sounds like he got a good deal.   
      
   When he got the notebook he asked them where the Manuals for it were?   
   and they told him, "They are in the computer".   
      
   He asked them: "What am I suppose to do when the thing doesn't work?   
   I can't read whats on the computer if it isn't working!".   
      
   I know Ma Bell was glad when he retired.   
   73   
      
   ... Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.   
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