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From: bob urz on 3 Apr 2010 10:51
PHONE REPAIR
Longmont,
CO December 12, 2008


A Colorado farm wife called the local phone company to report her telephone
failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions,
when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang.

The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this
psychic dog or senile lady. He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his
test set, and dialed the subscriber's house.

The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the
telephone began to ring.

Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel
chain and collar.

2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.

3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number
was called.

4. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.

5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to
ring.

Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning.
Thought you'd like to know.
From: William R. Walsh on 3 Apr 2010 11:06
Hi!

While it's an amusing story, I'm pretty sure you'll find that its
authenticity is dubious and that substantially the same story has been
passed around in several different settings.

The one I'm familiar with is set in the UK, but all other major
details remain similar.

Can't find it on snopes but I'm pretty sure it's there *somewhere*.

William
From: Dave Plowman (News) on 3 Apr 2010 13:12
In article
<6896bfcd-3d1d-45ef-8c50-73ffa1c514d7(a)q16g2000yqq.googlegroups.com>,
William R. Walsh <wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> While it's an amusing story, I'm pretty sure you'll find that its
> authenticity is dubious and that substantially the same story has been
> passed around in several different settings.

> The one I'm familiar with is set in the UK, but all other major
> details remain similar.

No ground connection on UK phones.

--
*Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat*

Dave Plowman dave(a)davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
From: William Sommerwerck on 3 Apr 2010 13:28
It sounds like a backwards construction from "pissing and moaning".

I've been reading a book on the history of telecommunication. Using the
earth as a return path was abandoned in the late 19th century, because it
allowed all sorts of electrical garbage to get into the telephone signal.


From: Dave Plowman (News) on 3 Apr 2010 13:38
In article <hp7tsl$7pc$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
William Sommerwerck <grizzledgeezer(a)comcast.net> wrote:
> It sounds like a backwards construction from "pissing and moaning".

> I've been reading a book on the history of telecommunication. Using the
> earth as a return path was abandoned in the late 19th century, because it
> allowed all sorts of electrical garbage to get into the telephone signal.

I did wonder. Ground returns were sometimes used much later to provide a
phantom circuit(s) over two ordinary pairs. But poor quality.

--
*A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum

Dave Plowman dave(a)davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
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