this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
46 points (97.9% liked)

Technology

41255 readers
424 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
remington@beehaw.org
alyaza@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org
gyrfalcon@beehaw.org
rs5th@beehaw.org
coldredlight@beehaw.org
SemioticStandard@beehaw.org
46
Engineer caused data loss by cleaning PCs with welding tools (www.theregister.com)
submitted 9 hours ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
4 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Wilson" who once worked as the boss of a welding shop attached to an engineering consultancy.

Wilson set the scene by telling us this story came from the early 1980s, when AutoCAD was replacing drawing boards.

"We had a new structural engineer who those of us in the shop quickly identified as an idiot with a degree," Wilson wrote.

One day, said idiot decided that the computers used to run AutoCAD needed to be cleaned and that the welding shop was the place to do the job.

top 4 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 25 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Last Wilson heard, he was employed by a large US-based aircraft company.

Uh oh. Does it begin with B?

[–] hanke@feddit.nu 11 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

And rhyme with sewing?

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 5 points 5 hours ago

Bewing!

[–] mrnobody@reddthat.com 9 points 9 hours ago

That's hilarious. Definitely worked with a few like that!