Talk:1439: Rack Unit

Bzzzzz 108.162.250.202 04:52, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Bzz ZZ zz bz?! (What did you say about my mother?!) 108.162.216.26 19:09, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Bzz, zzz bzzz bz. Bzz zz. 108.162.250.202 23:30, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Air Bud has had multiple mentions in his comics, but I don't know all of them. I also think it was mentioned in one of the What-If's. I'll do a quick Google search to see if I can get at least one of them. 108.162.237.161 06:55, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Mouse-over text in the final image. http://what-if.xkcd.com/111/ Still searching. 108.162.237.161 06:58, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

http://xkcd.com/115/ 108.162.237.161 07:00, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

This comic may be a reference to the highly hyped lack-rack https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack --Belibem (talk) 09:43, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

It's unlikely that this was intentional, but this comic is almost the same as this panel from MSPA: http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003976 108.162.219.224 11:50, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm sure an apiarist might know whether there'd be a problem with air temperature (often chilled), on any bee colony. And with the lack of non-plastic internal flora, and almost certainly some quite severe filtration screens betwixt server environment and the outside world I can't see [i]any[/i] chance for nectar collection. Of course, it's Black Hat, so he's probably worked around both of these (slotted in next to blade servers with consistently warming processors, and maybe a ready nectar supply. But I stil feel for the poor bees, with all those whirring fans of all shapes and sizes, around and within the server room equipment. (Also, perhaps interesting to note that apparently most colocatiopn TOSs don't mention beehives. So he found that some did...) 141.101.99.112 12:47, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

I'd think that a more-or-less simple restriction on interference with other tenants and their equipment would be sufficient to proscribe Black-Hat from causing any issues with his bees (officially, at least), wouldn't it? So perhaps it's as simple as a TOS that only proscribes electromagnetic interference (maybe even touching equipment of other tenants), but nothing involving bees per se? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 13:11, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Lack of non-plastic flora might not be a problem, since honeybees are opportunists, and will gather any sugary liquid they can find. Someone once told me that the bees in the Smithsonian's observation hive made honey from what they found in discarded beverage containers left around the mall by human pedestrians. 173.245.54.153 01:11, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

What does "similar pitches" in the comic mean? 108.162.216.73

not entirely sure about an industry-general term, but there is mention of "tile pitch" here: http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/energy-smart-containment-rack-deployment-guide-dell.pdf -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:41, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Ah, here's something I found: "Aisle pitch is the distance from the center of one cold aisle to the center of the next cold aisle either to the left or right. Data centers often use a seven-tile aisle pitch. This measurement allows two 2 x 2 foot (0.61 x 0.61 m) floor tiles in the cold aisle, 3 feet (0.9 m) in the hot aisle, and a 42-inch (1-m) allowance for the depth of the cabinet or rack."

...and though it doesn't seem the term "pitch" is used in bee keeping that I can find, there are probably generally followed guidelines on spacing... http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/04/placement-of-beehives.html -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:49, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Per wikipedia -- " "Pitch" is widely used to describe the distance between repeated elements in a structure possessing translational symmetry". This would include things like server racks (the distance from the bottom of one slot to the bottom of the next), beehives (the distance from one pane to the next). You commonly hear it in relation to airline seats ("seat pitch" -- the distance from one seat to the next, as a measure of the relative comfort of airline seats) but it is a more general term. Vyzen (talk) 15:13, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Engineer here - The term pitch is used to describe the distance between repeating items. For example: The holes have a 10mm pitch = There is a hole every 10mm. I've added the pitch spec for server racks and beehives, which are not too dissimilar. --Pudder (talk) 15:27, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Without looking it up (sorry, feeling lazy), it occurs to me that the term pitch might ultimately have derived from screwthreads. Pitching (especially when it comes to ships, and by extension air and space-craft) regards a sloping angle, and the angle of the thread dictates the linear distance between each circuit of the ridge/thread element. This latter property is more handily measured than the perpendicular angle away from the pure tangent (assuming not multi-threaded, although that's rarer in nuts and bolts, etc, due to less inherent mechanical advantage), and so while the cutting may have been dictated by the angle (i.e. pitch), the definition quickly becomes standardised against the linear periodicity, and thus becomes used even in describing perfectly square measurements, such as screwholes in racking. Just an idle thought. That adds nothing to the discussion. 141.101.99.112 21:55, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Actually, the pitch of the frames in a Langstroth hive is variable. Some beekeepers use ten frames to a super (box) and others use nine or eight, spacing them by eye. With too much space between frames, the bees tend to build bridge comb (a form of undesired "burr comb") between frames, making it difficult to work the hive. Frames sometimes need to be taken out, mostly for inspection or honey harvesting. "Bee space" is a familiar concept to every modern beekeeper. Much less than 3/16" between components, and the bees will seal that space shut with bee glue, or propolis. Much more than 3/8" and they will fill the vacancy with wild comb, or burr comb. Spaces dimensioned between those limits are left clear for bees to move around in. I'm having fun imagining going into a server rack with a smoker and hive tool (a little pry bar to separate the supers and unglue the frames from their support.)

Orienting the frames horizontally in a normally situated rack would be a deal-breaker, though. Honeycomb cells are built with their bases on a vertical foundation, with each cell having a slight upward tilt, on the order of 10° to 12°, so that the nectar doesn't fall out. The bees fan their wings to ventilate the hive, reducing the nectar's water content and increasing its viscosity, but they also manage the ventilation to maintain a certain warmth around the brood comb. At that temperature, honey flows pretty well. 173.245.54.153 01:28, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

I wouldn't bee suprised if this became of those 'reality imitates art' situations, and somebody goes and makes a beehive out of an old server cabinet. I'll just leave this eBay auction here.... --Pudder (talk) 15:31, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

I'd be cautious if I were to do this. This is one of those projects that could develop some serious bugs... 173.245.54.202 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

This is certainly related to the famous ant-farm-computer, Hex, invented by Terry Pratchett. Anthill Inside! ::: 108.162.249.231 02:48, 28 October 2014 (UTC)