# BART foul-up traced to botched computer upgrade



## CHamilton (Nov 22, 2013)

BART foul-up traced to botched computer upgrade



> BART engineers are trying to determine why a regular, nothing-special system update managed to crash the transit district's computers on Friday, slowing late-night train traffic to a crawl and shutting down morning commuter service for hours.
> "This was a normal update to the system that we do all the time," said BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost. "We didn't even realize there was a problem until around midnight, when the central computer shut down."
> The loss of computer systems forced the trains to run largely under manual control, causing delays of more than 90 minutes for late-night riders. BART stations didn't reopen until after 7 a.m. for the morning commute, forcing riders into cars and buses and jamming Bay Area roadways.


"To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer."

Paul R. Ehrlich


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## Andrew (Nov 22, 2013)

Could this have been a hack?


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## Fan Railer (Nov 23, 2013)

Andrew said:


> Could this have been a hack?


Could have been Santa Claus on his PMS for all we know at the moment..... =_=


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## leemell (Nov 23, 2013)

CHamilton said:


> BART foul-up traced to botched computer upgrade
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had a sticker of this quote on my attache case in the late sixties when I was a full time programmer.


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## fredevad (Nov 23, 2013)

leemell said:


> I had a sticker of this quote on my attache case in the late sixties when I was a full time programmer.


Ah yes, back when real bugs fouled them up!

Anyway, re: "jamming Bay area roadways" (and this is easy for me to say since I wasn't in it), it's nice to be reminded of the benefits of commuter rail.


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## leemell (Nov 23, 2013)

That was a little earlier, September 9, 1945. Moth caught in a relay on the Harvard Mark II computer by Adm.(when she retired) Grace Hopper, then a Mathematical Officer, USN.


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## me_little_me (Nov 23, 2013)

leemell said:


> That was a little earlier, September 9, 1945. Moth caught in a relay on the Harvard Mark II computer by Adm.(when she retired) Grace Hopper, then a Mathematical Officer, USN.


The incident about the bug occurred in 1947, not 1945 and but the term had been used before. She merely popularized it.

Edison to Puskas, November 13, 1878, Edison papers, Edison National Laboratory, U.S. National Park Service, West Orange, N.J., cited in Thomas P. Hughes, _American Genesis: A History of the American Genius for Invention,_ Penguin Books, 1989, ISBN 0-14-009741-4, on page 75.

Alexander Magoun AND Paul Israel (August 23, 2013). "Did You Know? Edison Coined the Term “Bug”". _IEEE: The Institute_. Retrieved August 27, 2013.


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## leemell (Nov 23, 2013)

This is what she said to me in the late after a lecture at JPL in the late '80s She mentioned when she recalled the story that she was not present when the bug was actually found. When she was involved with testing the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard in 1947 – not 1945 when the machine malfunctioned, my mistake . She said that upon investigation the operators found a moth stuck in a relay and using tweezers, the moth was removed and taped to the computer log with the explanatory text about the first actual bug found.


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## MrFSS (Nov 24, 2013)

Someone gave me this "computer bug" about 15 years ago. I thought it was a nice attempt to capture the market. He made them and sold to electronic stores as a promotional item.


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## Bob Dylan (Nov 24, 2013)

Sounds like this was Before it's Time Tom! This would make a Terrific Gift for the Hi-Tech Geeks that are Friends, Family or Associates!


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