[ih] Harasing whistlers (Was: [TUHS] UUCP mis-history?)

[John Day]

Yes, Noel is correct the story comes from the BBN NOC for the ARPANET and them checking out TIP dial up lines.

John


> On Mar 9, 2017, at 10:06, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
> 
>> From: "Steve Johnson"
> 
>> This reminds me of a story from that era. One of the mainframe computers
>> had the ability to place phone calls and a program was run every night
>> to collect data from far-flung teletypes [which had been pre-loaded with
>> data tapes].  ...  On day the operators realized that there were two
>> phone numbers in Nebraska that were getting called every weekday night,
>> and the numbers were very similar.  They suspected one was a wrong
>> number, so they listened in on the calls to see which one was real.  The
>> phone rang in Nebraska at 2am and was answered by a sleepy man ..  The
>> man was heard to say "It's all right, Bertha.  It's just that nut with a
>> whistle again!"
> 
> Interesting: I've heard this same story, but told about TIPs and the ARPANET.
> A computer at BBN was set up to regularly dial all the TIP modem lines, to
> check that they were working. One line was always down, so they listened in,
> and heard some human say "it's just that pevert with the whistle again".
> 
> I wonder which one was the original: anyone know for sure?
> 
> 	Noel
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