The Engineers Dilemma:
Once you get off your butt to go see what the problem is, the problem will mysteriously solve itself for the time being.
Source: Worked in local television News Production. We would regularly call on the engineers for the problem to fucking resolve itself by the time they showed up. Always made me feel real stupid.
Was an on/off service technician/engineer for the last 20 years and can confirm. Many times I’d get a fault call just to arrive, pull out my screw driver and the issue simply resolves itself. It’s as if it knows things are getting serious and it’s afraid to be taken apart.
It definitely has an air of “the misbehaving kids realized the teacher is on the way back to the classroom.”
I worked on air traffic control radios, about a third of the time the entry in the maintenance log was “could not duplicate problem”.
The fun entries were “adjusted relays with screwdriver”. Now, for those who don’t know, relays generally don’t have a screw adjustment, but if you tap on the outside casing, they often unstick.
Good 'ol percussive maintenance.
The true key to percussive maintenance, knowing where to hit and how hard.
I’ve seen people try to replicate good percussive maintenance and fail due to not knowing where and how hard to hit things. Those were expensive mistakes.
I use one of these solutions at work often. Either going to see if I can resolve the issue someone else is having and it magically starts working when I get there, or if not, I cycle things and 99% of the time that fixes it. For the rest…a blunt object might work.
This is always true
In TNG’s Contagion, turning it off and on again was actually the solution.
At the end of Matt Smith’s first season on Doctor Who, the solution was to reboot the universe.
I would watch this…
“Computer, transport the core to the where the other highly irradiated vessels are, and then record a subspace message to a Starfleet radiation containment team. Message follows: ‘Help, there is a core breach. Sincerely, Geordie’”
Hmm, that sounds too formal…
As a starship engineer
I want the leaking core reactor contained
So that nobody dies from radiation poisoning
– Acceptance criteria:
When a properly trained technician
Goes in the engineering bay
With the following equipment: a Geiger counter
He should detect readings on the background level
– See you all at the next sprint planning
“Stardate 12.34-65,
Hi. You around?”
Space pajamas on Star Trek look comfy. I bet they aren’t though.
from what I’ve read, season 1 were itchy and bad, later ones were comfy.
Nice!
I love that you knew that information and shared it.
I love that you loved that information!
It just occurred to me that the reason why they’re always recommending reversing polarities and reconfiguring arrays, is because those are the standard solutions for star tech, just like rebooting is the standard solution for PC tech. This meme is brilliant!
