"Can't fix stupid"...

[MikeRocor]

(Corollary: "Sometimes, you -can- fix stupid, but it's probably gonna hurt.")

A couple of weeks ago, i took part in a "Google Meet" meeting and I unplugged my (usually unused) USB extension cable to free up a port for the USB webcam (which already has plenty of cable of its own). No problems and I was pleased to see that the webcam was recognized without jumping through any hoops.

Then, a few days ago, I plugged a USB stick into the USB extension cable to drop a couple of PDFs onto it and was only momentarily baffled when the system failed to recognize the stick. So I stood up so I could look closely at the side of the computer (even though I'm using it as a desktop, it's actually a laptop) and very carefully unplugged... the wrong USB device. Seems Linux doesn't like it when you unplug a mounted hard drive.

I cursed for a couple of minutes before plugging the boot drive back in. Because of the unexpected disconnect, the drive now showed up as "sdc" instead of "sdb". I thought maybe I could back up everything from RAM (y'know, my home directory and such) to the newly appeared "sdc1" and I guess I could have made that work if I messed with it long enough. Then I realized I hadn't changed anything important since the last backup of RAM-based directories to persistent media so I just said "fooey_on it" and rebooted.

A quick fsck for issues on the ext4 fs of the external boot drive (no errors found) and back to business-as-usual - just with a slightly increased level of humility. Conveniently, the important files that I was going to copy from my home directory to the USB stick had already been copied to my backup server, so even they were not lost.

So that others might not need to learn this lesson the hard way: When performing a possibly-destructive operation (like unplugging the thing right next your boot drive), double and triple check what you are going to do -before- you do it. And keep your backups current in case you blow it anyway.

Score one bullet as "dodged".

 

[VP9KS]

I wish that I could say that I have NEVER unplugged the wrong cable, but naw that would be a biggggg lie. Anyway, mate, welcome to the "aw S***" club, NYUK NYUK. (that is one stage above oops, so you done graduated) I am reasonable sure that you have heard of "Murphy's law", but have you heard of O'Reilly's law? Simply put "Murphy was an optimist".

Happy Trails,
Paul

P.S. Any Engineer who tells you that they have never made anything FUBAR is lying!!!

 

[KGIII]

Pfft... I've never unplugged the wrong cable!

(That is not even remotely true. Keep in mind, a lot of my computing is done in fairly dark rooms.)

Also, prior to USB-C, I almost always first try to plug it in upside down. I'm not quite sure how that happens, but it seems to happen more often than not. I'd have assumed a 50% chance, but it sure seems like it isn't equally split.

However, that could be observation bias. I may just notice and remember it when I do get it wrong.

 

[Condobloke]

Me?....screw something up? .....Hell Yes !

Multiple times. Some fairly easily fixed, others closer to the 'catastrophic' scale

This page is not big enough/long enough etc to make a list.

Thank the Almighty for timeshift and rescuezilla.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Well, not too much on "Wrong Drive" but rather my boot drive on my laptop when I did not use screws after monkeying around with it a few years ago. Was using 22.04 LTS Ubuntu, and Everything locked up out of nowhere with a YouTube Video on. (Dankpods) and it froze to the point it just said something like "I was Jumping for Gary" Over and over again in a BSOD Fashion! Just funny.. Even have a video of it on the surface. Just abandoned the session as I did not have much on it at the first place.

 

[Condobloke]

It really is simple....these calamities are caused by "inattention" ...taking ones eyes off the task at hand/splitting the available concentration span between a few activities/tasks, etc

Same reason a good majority of car accidents happen.

 

[Condobloke]

Why do we laugh at such catastrophic errors etc ?

It sure beats the hell out of crying.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Why do we laugh at such catastrophic errors etc ?

It sure beats the hell out of crying.

I Actually like when people go error-hunting on game console software (Ex-P-S3 YLOD) just to see what happens! Like for example, on a P S 2, when you load it with a different console disk besides p-s 1 it would show up a format error. Me, when I was 10-12 (About same time as the HDD) thought that message that came up meant I had to wipe everything off and "Format" it... Oh how wrong I was lol.

 

[Condobloke]

oh gawd.....yes, I am laughing...

Is it a character flaw to laugh at other peoples misfortunes ?....LOL

 

[KGIII]

This page is not big enough/long enough etc to make a list.

Our US Army recruiters used to use this as a recruitment slogan:

"We do more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day."

I've long since coopted it to say something like this: "I make more mistakes by breakfast than most people make all day."

Hmm... My tiny memory is telling me that I typed almost exactly that in a thread just the other day. I express the sentiment on a fairly regular basis.

Though, to be fair, I learn from my mistakes.

Along those lines, I sometimes say: "I've hit my thumb with a hammer many times, but I've never done it on purpose."

 

[VP9KS]

Pfft... I've never unplugged the wrong cable!

(That is not even remotely true. Keep in mind, a lot of my computing is done in fairly dark rooms.)

Also, prior to USB-C, I almost always first try to plug it in upside down. I'm not quite sure how that happens, but it seems to happen more often than not. I'd have assumed a 50% chance, but it sure seems like it isn't equally split.

However, that could be observation bias. I may just notice and remember it when I do get it wrong.

Dark rooms, eh. Excuses, excuses. That goes right along with my set of drink coasters which are shaped like DVDs from when I first tried to put Linux on a bootable disk. Eh?

 

[VP9KS]

Well, not too much on "Wrong Drive" but rather my boot drive on my laptop when I did not use screws after monkeying around with it a few years ago. Was using 22.04 LTS Ubuntu, and Everything locked up out of nowhere with a YouTube Video on. (Dankpods) and it froze to the point it just said something like "I was Jumping for Gary" Over and over again in a BSOD Fashion! Just funny.. Even have a video of it on the surface. Just abandoned the session as I did not have much on it at the first place.

So, you had a screw loose, eh? Not many people would admit that!

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

So, you had a screw loose, eh?

Quite a few.. lol

 

[VP9KS]

Our US Army recruiters used to use this as a recruitment slogan:

"We do more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day."

I've long since coopted it to say something like this: "I make more mistakes by breakfast than most people make all day."

Hmm... My tiny memory is telling me that I typed almost exactly that in a thread just the other day. I express the sentiment on a fairly regular basis.

Though, to be fair, I learn from my mistakes.

Along those lines, I sometimes say: "I've hit my thumb with a hammer many times, but I've never done it on purpose."

I can relate. When we bought our current home, we did a great deal of renovating before moving in. We completely stripped the Kitchen, den, family room, and both bathrooms down to the bare studs, and started over. I pulled the electrical permit and did all the wiring myself. I was stapling some 14-3 Romex between 2 studs that were too close together to use my 16 oz curved claw hammer "normally" so I used the side of the head (genius move, eh?). Got that sucker really moving too! I hit my left thumb 4 times before I could stop the hammer from moving. Brought me to my knees, don't ya know. I used a pair of pliers to hold the staple from then on. Lesson learned!

 

[KGIII]

Dark rooms, eh. Excuses, excuses. That goes right along with my set of drink coasters which are shaped like DVDs from when I first tried to put Linux on a bootable disk. Eh?

Did you run out of those old AOL CDs?

 

[KGIII]

Brought me to my knees, don't ya know.

To help pay for school, I did a whole host of varied jobs. As I had a schedule to work around (including classes in the summer), it meant I did what I could.

I was doing some framing in the dead of winter. The project was out on the Cape. (I lived in Boston or Cambridge at the time.)

The winds came ripping in off the ocean. which was actually a marginal improvement. Those winds were warmer than the winds that came from the north. Still, it was a hot and balmy ~10° F. Being a young and fit man, I had a 32 oz Estwing framing hammer - with the waffle face.

We'd just finished our coffee and started the day when I hit my thumb with the full force of said young and fit man. It might have been slightly slowed down as it glanced off the head of the nail.

I swore so much that it'd make a sailor blush and danced a jig that'd make you think I'd just invented breakdancing.

I needed the money, and we were a scab job. There was no choice but to tough it out.

I didn't want the bad news, so I kept that glove on all day long. I didn't take it off until I was home. It was all split. The nail was ruined down to the quick. It looked like I'd had it in a press. To this day, the bone in that thumb is thinner than it should be.

 

[Condobloke]

geez....reading that ^^^^^^....made me flinch and frown. Been there done that.

Only the hammer was different, mine was a Plumb. I didnt touch the piano for weeks after that.

 

[VP9KS]

I didnt touch the piano for weeks after that.

I can believe that, mate. When I was working for Verbatim, back in the 90's I was working on one of the robots which certified 3.5 inch floppy disks. The drives formatted both sides at the same time at 4 times normal speed. With 18 drives in 6 stages, the robot was busy!

It gave a fault that the product (disk) from one of the drives did not make it to the outfeed conveyor. I opened the cover, and saw that the disk was hanging over the edge of the conveyor. Keep in mind that the cover had a safety switch on it that stopped, OR WAS SUPPOSED TO STOP, the robot from moving while the cover was open. Normally I would have used a long screw driver to move the disk onto the conveyor, but my roll around box was 3 machines away, and I got lazy.

I reached my left hand in and knocked the disk onto the conveyor. Immediately, the robot moved down across my left index finger tip like a guillotine, taking off about 3/8 of an inch. When I pulled out my hand the tip was hanging on by a bit of skin, and there was blood everywhere. This was in a class 1 clean room too!

Being an EMT at the time, I calmly wrapped it up and went to the ER and got it sewed back on. It took a while to get the feeling back to the finger tip, and it is narrower than my right index finger, but it works fine.

Again, lesson learned. There was an investigation, and even the manufacturer's engineering rep could not explain why it moved, but I never really trusted that robot after that (can you say Christine?). That was one of the small robots, had it been one of the big ones, it might have taken my hand.

 

[Condobloke]

oh mate....I got shivers up and down my spine reading that !

bloody ouch !!

 

[APTI]

I wish that I could say that I have NEVER unplugged the wrong cable, but naw that would be a biggggg lie. Anyway, mate, welcome to the "aw S***" club, NYUK NYUK. (that is one stage above oops, so you done graduated) I am reasonable sure that you have heard of "Murphy's law", but have you heard of O'Reilly's law? Simply put "Murphy was an optimist".

Happy Trails,
Paul

P.S. Any Engineer who tells you that they have never made anything FUBAR is lying!!!

wow, you are the first person I have seen that knew O'Reilly's law which I knew as O'Briens law. glad I am not strange since somebody else knows it.