🚀 go-pugleaf

        I'm not sure this counts, because it happened quite recently,
but I recently repaired a hard disk with my bare hands.  Does this
qualify as unusual?  Just over a month ago, the hard disk on my Amiga stopped
working.  It wouldn't read at all, and I wasn't going to risk writing.
        After taking everything apart and testing voltages, etc, I
finally noticed the drive wasn't whining when the power was first applied.
Although the drive is usually otherwise quiet, it sounds like it's trying to
take off when spinning up.
        Naturally, I checked the power at the drive again, but it was just
fine.  Then I remembered a discussion on UseNet regarding a problem with
hard drives where the lubrication builds up and freezes the drive head
in place.
        Being a programmer who had gone too long since my last backup,
I couldn't afford to loose the data on the drive, and I also couldn't
afford to wait for the drive to be repaired.
        Out of shear desperation, I pulled the hard drive completely
out of its mounting, placed it on its side in the palm of my left hand,
and, after a few minutes to make peace with the universe, firmly struck
the other side of the drive with the heel of my right hand.
        I then reconnected the drive, turned on the power, and almost
screamed for joy when I heard the drive spinning up, the only time
I've ever been glad to hear that whine!

        While it's been interesting watching the personal computer industry
evolve over the last 15 years, there are a few problems with being an
"old timer."  I lost every chance I had at a job a few years back because
the employer thought that I was lying to him.  I claimed extensive experience
with DBase II, but limited MS-Dos experience.  I tried to explain that
I used DBase II under CP/M, but he refused to believe that there where
"Personal Computers" before IBM missapropriated the term.  He honestly
thought that DBase II had been created for the IBM PC.  Oh well, I doubt
I would have enjoyed working for someone that closed minded anyway.

t
Eric J. Schwertfeger, UNLV  man...@arrakis.nevada.edu