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Forum: The Classroom
Topic: government surplus
started by: CatKnight

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 19 2001,15:35

some guys here waste a fuck load of money. every day i walk by the surplus bay and everyday there is some expensive shit there. there used to be over 20 SGI monitors (the big-ass ones), 2 SGI servers (15 processors i think), a whole bunch of pc's, and a load of other crap too (a couple flat screen monitors, keyboards, printers, etc). a lot of the stuff has stickers on them that say "NOT Y2K COMPATIBLE. SURPLUS BY DEC. 31 1999" on them (even on keyboards and stuff). it's rediculous. I wish I could take some of that stuff myself, but it probably just gets melted down for scrap plastic or something

Posted by Nikita on Jul. 19 2001,15:40

DUMPSTER DIVING!

pffht probably says "do not remove, property of blahblahblah"

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 19 2001,15:46

well its locked behind a cage

Posted by Nikita on Jul. 19 2001,15:59

pick the goddamn lock! or find someone who can!

Posted by cr0bar on Jul. 19 2001,16:29

Heigh-ho, how the fuck is a monitor not Y2K compliant?

Posted by TheTaxMan on Jul. 19 2001,16:39

I want a flat screen

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Delusions of Grandeur? I am Grand!

Posted by Tattered on Jul. 19 2001,16:47

Has anyone ever found something that really actually screwed up when 2000 came around? I've had a 486 since about 1989.. and it still works fine.. didn't even update bios.. it could change to 2000.. didn't have troubles with double 0.. what this whole thing a hoax? or did someone actually have a problem?

Posted by demonk on Jul. 19 2001,16:51

There were small problems. I heard of a ATM spitting money out. But not much else.

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quote:
Originally posted by RenegadeSnark:
Oregon, n.:
Eighty billion gallons of water with no place to go on Saturday night.

Posted by demonk on Jul. 19 2001,18:19

Ok, I understand not being able to view classified material on unclassified screens, but why the hell can't you view unclassified material on classified screens? That doesn't make any sense.

Oh, and I think I know why the screens, keyboards, printers, mice, etc were classified at non Y2K complient. The people doing the classification don't understand that the real computer is just the tower or desktop part, the thing that everything else plugs into. They probably saw that everything sitting on the desk was the computer, and that if the computer isn't Y2K complient, then everything on the desk must not be. Therefore, the perfectly usable monitor is sitting in the dumpster, while the military has to spend more money on another one that probably costs 4 times more than if they went down to Fry's or any other computer store. Ok, rant mode off now.

Posted by @$$h0l3 on Jul. 19 2001,18:30

quote:
Originally posted by Tattered:
Has anyone ever found something that really actually screwed up when 2000 came around?

The last place I worked for said that out of 70,000 assets owned and/or managed, they had to flash the bios on about 250 compaq servers. That was it.

Posted by incubus on Jul. 19 2001,18:36

This, my friends, is called meeting a budget.

See, a company (especially state-owned) will get, say X million dollars budget for IT a year.

Now say they spend all that the first years budget, and next year they get more, but they dont need to replace the computers that year, do they!

but they do - they become 'legacy' technology, ie, they dont want their budget to go down, so they buy more crao they dont need!

viva capitalism!

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-- incubus
As I chase the leaves like the words I never find ...

Posted by demonk on Jul. 19 2001,18:49

No, viva buracracies(sp?). Capitalism, in theory anyway, is pretty good. Buracracies, in theory and in practic, are very, very, very, very stupid. And only the dumbest of people are allowed to run them. Hmmm... I guess that means the US is a full fledged buracracy now.

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quote:
Originally posted by RenegadeSnark:
Oregon, n.:
Eighty billion gallons of water with no place to go on Saturday night.

Posted by LiNeY on Jul. 19 2001,19:02

CK, why don't you just go and ask someone what was planned with all the stuff, and if it is to go to the junk, whether you could have some free or buy it cheaply? The worst answer you can get is a no, so go for it!

Posted by cr0bar on Jul. 19 2001,19:07

Yeah, and if you do get some of it, I've got dibs. There I said it first.

Posted by Spydir on Jul. 19 2001,19:12

Do what LiNeY says, get as much as you can (try for ALL), then sell some of the shit to local computer joints, start a webpage selling it for damned cheap, make hella money, shutdown the webpage for no reason (claim "failed dot com"), and give me the money.

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Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >
Spydir Web - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >

Posted by smartsnake on Jul. 19 2001,19:27

Well until a few months ago about 90\% of the comps in our school ran on Windows 3.1 and when y2k hit they all said it was 1994. My school sucks.

Posted by DuSTman on Jul. 19 2001,21:28

The "cost" of the y2k preparations got way out of proportion.

I mean, imagine you run a department at a school or something, you've been fighting to get more funding and new equipment for years, and then suddenly you have the "millennium bug", and you can get any old equipment you want replaced simply by classifying it as non-compliant..

I'm beginning to think that the majority of stuff retired due to the "milennium bug" was actually perfectly fine.

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 20 2001,02:09

I CANT take any of the stuff. It's all government property! I don't know where they send surplus stuff but it does go somewhere. I have asked numerous times. Besides the security guard checks my trunk randomly about once a week. But if I do end up getting anything, cr0bar will be first on my list. If I can stuff that entire SGI server in my car you'll be the first to know hehe

Posted by PersonGuy on Jul. 20 2001,02:24

quote:
Originally posted by Tattered:
Has anyone ever found something that really actually screwed up when 2000 came around?did someone actually have a problem?

My website said the year was 19100.

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"Put the cheese on my bum." -Tom Green
-< PersonGuy >

Posted by damien_s_lucifer on Jul. 20 2001,03:34

They surplus things like that because they got newer, cooler stuff. Also, computers take a LOT of abuse in the office - people spill coffee in them, bang on the keyboards, rub their hands all over the monitors, etc.

On the other hand, I buried our last '486 today. It never got replaced because we had better things to spend our budget on, like flat panel monitors for everybody

Posted by Sithiee on Jul. 20 2001,04:21

CK, we have that same problem. like 8 years ago the library (of congress) had a shitload of extra money in the budget, so they bought all the awesome photo stuff, but then they put it in storage. this guy in my office, he found out there were 3 rodenstock camera bodies in storage, and he was telling me about it, like he had just said he found a diamond mine in the basement, and i was like "ok" and he says "theyre 5900 each". however, unlike your pathetic ass, he got 2 of them out by the end of the day, and the third out by the next day. he didnt moan and bitch about the security guards.

(sorry, i felt like being an ass. if the navy ever needs anything scanned, you all should come to the loc's digital scan center, the bush administration did. hell yea me)

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quote:
Originally posted by Dark Knight Bob:
does anyone not notcie that sithee isnt actually talking out of his ass like a lot of people here

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 20 2001,05:57

quote:
Originally posted by cr0bar:
Heigh-ho, how the fuck is a monitor not Y2K compliant?

I have no idea! Oh and also, they have to classify monitors and printers as either unclassified or classified, and if it is classified then you can't use it to view/print anything except classified documents! I guess they figure it would be possible for someone to read what has been printed by examining the laser ink cartridge or text burned into a monitor or something.

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 22 2001,11:06

hey bitch the surplus locker is LOCKED plus I have to have an escort in the building plus they search my trunk fairly frequently so there's no way to get my hands on those goodies without doing it legally.

Posted by Spydir on Jul. 22 2001,15:15

Quit being a pussy and ask your damned boss.

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Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >
Spydir Web - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 22 2001,15:21

quote:
Originally posted by CatKnight:
I have asked numerous times.

Posted by Spydir on Jul. 22 2001,15:34

Asking is pussy shit. DEMAND. Pussy.

"Look, you got a bunch of stuff in there that's going to be destroyed. I can use some of it. Let me have some." No question marks. All periods.

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Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >
Spydir Web - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 22 2001,15:48

lol

well i don't know if its going to be destroyed it might get sent back to SUN or sold at an auction or something.

Posted by Spydir on Jul. 22 2001,16:41

Quit bitching and do it, pussy!!!!!

No wait, keep bitching. I enjoy calling you a pussy. PUSSY!!

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Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >
Spydir Web - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 22 2001,16:43

no you're the pussy, pussy!

(this is reminding me of the underwear gnomes episode of SP)

This message has been edited by CatKnight on July 23, 2001 at 11:43 AM

Posted by ic0n0 on Jul. 22 2001,22:39

step one: find surplus computer parts
step two: ....
step three: have tons of new old shit

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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur

Posted by YouGunnaStopMe? on Jul. 22 2001,23:10

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Tattered:
Has anyone ever found something that really actually screwed up when 2000 came around?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My 386, that was running Win 3.11, failed quite horribly. Bios was fucked, Win crashed, and the computer no longer boots. heh, it is only a 386 SX 25 anyways.

Posted by Dark Knight Bob on Jul. 22 2001,23:27

probably died of age mate. mabye you blew a bit of dust off the board that was keeping the thing going.

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Is it just me or does WWF look 10 times more entertaining when playing the benny hill music in the background.

Posted by Spydir on Jul. 23 2001,01:08

I got this old packard bell 486 that won't boot anymore... not cuz of y2k, but because the cmos battery died... atleast, I think. I can't find the damned thing on the board.

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Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >
Spydir Web - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >

Posted by miNus on Jul. 23 2001,01:11

A lot of old 486's have one of those three AA in series CMOS batteries. They look ghett0. I fixed this lady's computer one time by making a new, equally ghett0 one. (Warning: Do NOT try to solder batteries... it's a bad thing (TM))

Posted by Spydir on Jul. 23 2001,01:23

No offense, but what the fucking hell kind of idiot are you?!?!

To learn whether anything is flamable, you should get a large, heavy duty metal trash can. Put in layers of dry, grass like material (hay's good), paper, woodchips, extra. In between layers, place a individual sample of your item in question. Poor a good amount of gas in the can (enough to get it going and keep it going, to much and you'll blow the can up). Light dat shun of a bitch uh!

This is great with D size batteries, if you put a few on the walls of the can between layers. That's why you need a strong can though, it might blow a hole in it.

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Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >
Spydir Web - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >

Posted by Non on Jul. 23 2001,01:45

Where do you work CK? i mean if you need an escort it must have lots of classified stuff...
Hmmmm...
I know you are out in DC... The Pentagon?

Posted by miNus on Jul. 23 2001,01:52

Umm... right Spydir. Am I alive to post this? I have both hands too, let me assure you. I soldered the batteries together with little strips of metal. But instead of regular soldering where you heat up both items to be soldered, I just heated up the metal strip and let the solder kind of stick the battery to the strip. Really, I'm not a retard and I'm guessing it's pretty hard to blow up a battery with an electronics soldering iron anyway.

And what kind of flammability test is dumping gasoline on something and lighting it? "Oh look, I dumped gasoline on a rock underneat a pile of hay and it's burning!? No waaaay!"

Posted by CatKnight on Jul. 23 2001,03:43

search the forums i believe i have posted where i work before

Posted by Spydir on Jul. 23 2001,04:55

You didn't get the point to my post...

Testing flamability of batteries is not a sense of "it burns", but a sense of it blowing up. Have you ever put a battery in a fire? No? Well I have, and I can tell you they blow up. Don't believe me? Try it yourself.

Also, I wasn't attacking you. I'd figure you'd get that from the way i joke with CK... Don't tell me you're taking all this crap seriously, because it kinna sounds like it.

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Net Syndrome - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/ >
Spydir Web - < http://www.netsyndrome.net/spydirweb/ >

Posted by grunt on Jul. 28 2001,01:01

quote:
Originally posted by Spydir:
Don't tell me you're taking all this crap seriously, because it kinna sounds like it.
[/B]

soooo... we should never take you seriously?

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"The Wartoad is the fiercest fighting creature on the face of the earth. He knows no other mm than 7.62. He knows no other caliber than 308, and no other machine gun than the M-240 Bravo. Wartoads, HOOAH"

Posted by Non on Jul. 28 2001,01:09

NOOOooo! Grunt don't press Submit, NOOOOOooo.
too late...

This message has been edited by Non on July 28, 2001 at 08:11 PM