Drifting in a vacuum
04/09/07 12:21 Filed in: Out of left
field
I had an early start today. 4:00 am, which for me
means a 2:00 am alarm. Such is the price for living a
respectable distance from work.
The reason or the early start was a complete shutdown of all IT systems/servers while contractors did a bit of pre-installation work for a new UPS for our data-centre. Power was being turned off to the building.
I work in IT. I wouldn't call myself a professional, merely a pleb. But as I was sitting there in the dark, waiting for the power to come back on, I realised just how utterly useless computers are without it. Not completely I guess... a boat anchor comes to mind. However, there was nothing for me to do except wait. And wait. I wonder if it's something like an astronaut drifting in a vacuum just out of reach of the shuttle. Nothing he can do, but drift.
In this world today the developed nation runs completely on electricity, we can exist without power for a day, perhaps two. It's an annoyance if it's out for a few hours, almost a disaster if out for a few days. What would happen if the power goes out for longer? perhaps completely? How would we drift I wonder?
The reason or the early start was a complete shutdown of all IT systems/servers while contractors did a bit of pre-installation work for a new UPS for our data-centre. Power was being turned off to the building.
I work in IT. I wouldn't call myself a professional, merely a pleb. But as I was sitting there in the dark, waiting for the power to come back on, I realised just how utterly useless computers are without it. Not completely I guess... a boat anchor comes to mind. However, there was nothing for me to do except wait. And wait. I wonder if it's something like an astronaut drifting in a vacuum just out of reach of the shuttle. Nothing he can do, but drift.
In this world today the developed nation runs completely on electricity, we can exist without power for a day, perhaps two. It's an annoyance if it's out for a few hours, almost a disaster if out for a few days. What would happen if the power goes out for longer? perhaps completely? How would we drift I wonder?
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