Ahhhh. Das Bliken
Lights.
The college I got my first degree from had an IBM 370 mainframe computer, operated by a formidable fellow called "Old Swede." He was a crusty old guy who kept track of how many seconds of computer time we used, how many pages we printed, and so on. Use too much of anything . . . and your job would only be run if no one else was using the computer. These were the days of IBM cards and tape reels that spun back and forth. Our six hard drives had a total capacity of 420 megabytes.
Anyway, all our compile and statistics jobs had to be submitted to Old Swede on IBM 80 cards. We were not to touch the computer. Ever. Old Swede had a sign up over the computer console that read:
ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!
Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mitten grabben.
Ist easy schnappen der springen werk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.
Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.
There were a lot of blinking
lights in those days . . .
--Peter