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<p>Yes, there certainly was something about keeping those beasts
behind glass doors where they could be properly worshiped and
given due sacrifice by adoring acolytes. Of course it was "Don't
touch"; they cost millions of dollars buy and millions more to
operate.<br>
</p>
<p>But, believe me, after you've cleaned enough tape drive excrement
so as to become a dark magnetic gooey mess, only to have them
vomit tape all over the place again, decollated enough paper to
look like a speckled hen while liberally being seasoned with ink
from unruly six part forms, suffered through crashed disks and
endured processors that seized up whenever anybody sneezed or the
temperature went up by a tenth of a degree, it wouldn't hold much
of a thrill at all.<br>
</p>
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<p>I hated it when call rotation came to me and I wore the pager
that evening. I swear between 20 to 50% of the time, my phone
would ring at 2:00 in the morning and I would spend hours with
somebody from Colorado on the KLINIK line. Zzz....<br>
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<p>For me, not only is the miracle that Dave can resurrect these
monsters decades after they were in service, but that somehow he
appears to enjoy doing it. Maybe it's due in part that he
doesn't have a couple hundred livid angry users making the phone
glow red.<br>
</p>
<p>I'm very thankful to program them again. But I've had my fill
of the machine room.</p>
<p>Not that I won't float over there the next time I happen to be
in that neighborhood. Some of the memories <i>were</i>
wonderful. Some.<br>
</p>
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cite="mid:alpine.DEB.2.20.2004230751050.11745@thrifty.misernet.net">
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<p>On 4/23/20 7:52 AM, Fred wrote:</p>
I say this every time this comes up, but when I visited, every
other word out of my mouth was simply "Wow.". I've had accounts
(been a user) on many of the machines in the collection throughout
my life, but never actually was *up close* to one where I could
touch it without getting my hand smacked. ;)
<br>
<br>
Fred
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<hr width="100%" size="2">On Wed, 22 Apr 2020, Gregg Levine
wrote:
<br>
<br>
And we are neighbors. I am in Astoria Queens. Dave has an
amazing
<br>
collection of machines, everything imaginable.
<br>
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