Wow. I’ve discovered many bugs in my life. But none caused me to fear for my life.<p>>There were often significant food shortages in the Soviet Union, and the government plan was to mix the meat from Chernobyl-area cattle with the uncontaminated meat from the rest of the country. This would lower the average radiation levels of the meat without wasting valuable resources. Upon discovering this, Sergei immediately filed immigration papers with any country that would listen. The computer crashes resolved themselves as radiation levels dropped over time.
I love reading these bug-hunting war stories, there's no breakpoint for radioactive cows in GDB! Another favorite of mine is the 500-mile email bug[1], if there's a bigger collection of these stories anywhere on the internet, I'd love to read them<p>[1] <a href="http://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles" rel="nofollow">http://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles</a>
I kind of doubt this story. What kind of radiation would you have from Chernobyl?<p>My understanding is that bit flips (SEEs) are typically caused by energetic particles like cosmic rays. To simulate upset damage on Earth, you typically need to decap the IC and go to a testing facility that directly hits the wafer with particles. It seems unlikely that somewhere near Chernobyl that there would be particles energetic enough that didn't get stopped by the IC packaging.<p>Gamma radiation gives total ionizing dose effects that degrade chips until the point they no longer work. Those shoot right through the chip packaging. But I don't think it typically causes upsets.
Having issues loading the text on this page. Seems to keep "blinking" out for me. Is there anyway we can get a printer friendly or text only version? Super interested in this article.