18 Jan
2004
18 Jan
'04
6:43 a.m.
Anyone know if this story is true?
http://www.phonehelp.com/p-1-50.htm
(story about bell labs experiment where handset cords are made shorter
and shorter and help desk calls are monitored to find 'knee' in help
call curve to use as optimal length of handset cords)
certainly a little off topic - if there is a better place/list someone can
suggest I'm all ears. (alt.bell-labs.stories? :-)
I'm pretty gullible, so I believed it the first time I read it. I ran
into it again recently at this URL...
-brad
8:21 a.m.
On Sun, Jan 18, 2004 at 12:54:39PM -0500, Bob Lafleur wrote:
They obviously didn't. Looks like you missed the amount of daily phone
cord snippage: 2.5 cm which nicely translates to one inch (ok, so the
correct conversion factor would be 1 inch = 2.54 but 2.5 is correct
enough in this example). Also, using this approximate of 2.5 cm to the
inch, the 140 cm long phone cords turn out to be exactly 56 inch long.
So it looks to me like the original story (not judging wether it was
true or not) used inches and just the current telling of it was
metrified.
The measurements used in the story therefore look credible from the
units point of view. Of course, the whole story itself can still be a
lot of invented bollocks.
Regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison
Anyone know if
this story is true?
Sounds like a bunch of crap to me.
For one, did they use the metric system back in the 50's? Especially in a US
company... 
8:45 a.m.
have not heard of that!
bell labs employees were used to mold the shape of the first handset
though... see:
http://www.smecc.org/robert_nordenswan.htm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brad Parker" <brad(a)heeltoe.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2004 10:43 AM
Subject: Anyone know if this story is true?
Anyone know if this story is true?
http://www.phonehelp.com/p-1-50.htm
(story about bell labs experiment where handset cords are made shorter
and shorter and help desk calls are monitored to find 'knee' in help
call curve to use as optimal length of handset cords)
certainly a little off topic - if there is a better place/list someone can
suggest I'm all ears. (alt.bell-labs.stories? :-)
I'm pretty gullible, so I believed it the first time I read it. I ran
into it again recently at this URL...
-brad
9:17 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Brad Parker
Sent: 18 January 2004 17:44
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Anyone know if this story is true?
Anyone know if this story is true?
http://www.phonehelp.com/p-1-50.htm
Doesn't sound too plausible to me, unless people are that stupid. What am I
saying, I used to do second line phone and field support :)
I'd guess there are elements of truth buried in that tale, though the last
bit about some poor bloke hunched over a phone without complaining doesn't
ring true. (heheh did you see what I did there?)
There's a Dilbert cartoon where he goes down to marketing once a week to
move some guy's cubicle wall in by 2 inches, but by the time Alice asks him
why he can't remember. Hmm.
cheers
--
Adrian/Witchy
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - possibly the UK's biggest online computer museum
www.snakebiteandblack.co.uk - ex-monthly gothic shenanigans :o(
9:35 a.m.
On Sun, 18 Jan 2004, Brad Parker wrote:
Anyone know if this story is true?
http://www.phonehelp.com/p-1-50.htm
(story about bell labs experiment where handset cords are made shorter
and shorter and help desk calls are monitored to find 'knee' in help
call curve to use as optimal length of handset cords)
certainly a little off topic - if there is a better place/list someone can
suggest I'm all ears. (alt.bell-labs.stories? :-)
Try comp.dcom.telecom. A lot of old-timers hang out there that might be
able to confirm or refute this.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
als＠thangorodrim.de -
bob_lafleur＠technologist.com -
brad＠heeltoe.com -
esharpe＠uswest.net -
vcf＠siconic.com -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk