Smithsonian Snippets and a Series of Unbelievable Events
- Posted by: chantal
- On: 06/30/2006 15:17:35
- In: Uncategorised
The Technical Connection Adventure
Albertans have no doubt heard about the recent flooding in Washington, D.C. The worst flooding occurred in our immediate area, where the Smithsonian museums, the IRS, and the National Archives are located (and were subsequently closed due to the flooding).
First unbelievable event: The server room in the basement of the Smithsonian Castle was flooded so our team didn't have access to the fibre endpoint (which was Plan A for technical connectivity).
The Smithsonian Castle:
Second unbelievable event: The power was out in all of the Smithsonian buildings. Plan B for connectivity was to connect by wireless tower from the roof of the Smithsonian Castle. The elevator in the Castle was not working, so a team of brave men climbed 25 flights of stairs and ten ladders with a microwave tower in tow. The microwave tower was installed on the roof of the Castle.
However, the wireless connection did not work very well, thus the induction of Plan C.
Third unbelievable event: The Smithsonian engineers came to our rescue and worked with us to develop Plan C. A fibre cable was run from under the Castle to a steam shaft that ended in the middle of a horse paddock. The cable was then run through an asbestos tunnel (which required safety gear), through the steam shaft (which the team had to drill into from above), exiting into the horse paddock. The cable was then run along the gravel road, over the "Smithsonian Folklife Festival Sign" and into our tent.
The resident palomino horse, who we have since named Fibre, decided to feast on the orange-cased fibre, given that it resembled a carrot.
Karen, using her horse whispering skills, chatted with Fibre and asked him not to chew on the fibre cable.
Fourth unbelievable event - Actual success! The fibre worked flawlessly (for the techno-savvy folk, this translates to a clean, 2 Mb/s video-conference). Bystanders were amazed at the functioning, high level of technology. One participant noted: "It's amazing that this is even possible". Likewise, when Karen was interviewed by CKUA in the adjacent radio tent, the talk show host said that it was truly amazing we were even able to connect.
