I vaguely remember writing about this before but I just saw a reference to it and it’s such a great story that it should be repeated every few years. Trey Harris tells a funny and instructive tale about how even the seemingly impossible can happen in our industry.
Harris was a system administrator at an unnamed university who took care of the campus email system. One day the Statistics Department called up and said that their email was broken. They couldn’t send an email further than 500 miles. Well, actually, a little bit further but effectively 500 miles. Harris’ reaction was the same as yours or mine would have been: Cripes! Another luser with no understanding of tech or email.
Except that when Harris went to the department and checked things out, it turned out to be true. An email to a site less than 500 miles, no problem; greater than 500 miles, the send failed. If you know anything at all but how email works, you know this should be impossible. It couldn’t possibly be true and yet it was.
I won’t ruin the story by telling you the answer; you’ll have to read Harris’ story for that but, believe me, it’s definitely worthwhile. It’s also a good lesson. Sometimes the seemingly impossible can be true and when you figure out why, it’s a great lesson and a great source of barroom tales. You might even get someone to buy you a round.