VA hospital's IT snafu blamed on cat's keyboard surfing
www.theregister.com
US govt confirms outage, leaves feline in a quantum state of uncertainty

A four-hour system interruption in September at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri has been attributed to a cat jumping on a technician’s keyboard.

  • Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.worldEnglish
    111·
    11 months ago

    I err on the side of “this is bullshit” but… have you met cats?

    My cute little booger has gotten it down to a science that she can even get into my keyboard tray when I have my desk in standing mode. Leap up, grab on my belt, and leap into the tray so fast that I don’t even realize why my hands feel fuzzy. And if I am sitting? That is easy mode.

    Which leaves a little ball of fur with four paws, a nose, and a tail, finding ways to get the best possible shortcuts. And mashing even more as you gently try to pull her out and she has decided your enter key is the best thing to hold on to and rip off.

    And if you work from home… or just around cats in general? You are either locking them out every time you do any work or you are just rolling with it.

    Similarly, if they are using a fancy management interface (or are just sickos who are obsessed with emacs shortcuts): I have genuinely been shocked by how easy it was to update a config and reboot a server.

    Like I said, I think this is a bullshit excuse. But, depending on setup, it is very possible. And is mostly solvable the same way you prevent your own fuck ups.

    • Terrasque@infosec.pubEnglish
      5·
      11 months ago

      I taught my cats not to go on the keyboard. Took a while, but now two of them are very carefully stepping around it, and the third kinda does, but easily forgets when she gets excited.

      Just consistently moving their paws off the keyboard when they try and go there, use “bad” voice, and putting them on floor if they continue. And “a while” was almost a year.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        11 months ago

        I love cats and would like to have one but I don’t because I also like to not have my things moved around or messed with at the whim of a bored animal.

        I wish there was a way to have cat friends rather than pets, so they could come visit and I could let them in for a bit if it’s a good time and then they go off and do their cat things elsewhere.