I can fully and painfully witness that the Hole Hawg is in fact exactly as described. Steven Peck http://www.blkmtn.org
On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Ben Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 10:58 AM, David Lum <[email protected]> wrote: > > I’m guessing this utility by design is clunky? I do get that it’s > powerful, > > but man it reminds me of EDLIN. OTOH I’m getting the hang of it, but not > > sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing. > > NTDSUTIL is a low-level, raw access, powerful sort of tool. > Generally you shouldn't be using it unless things are moderately badly > broken already. In that kind of situation, you want as little > "helpfulness" between you and the data as possible. You wouldn't be > using it if things weren't outside the expectations of the higher > level tools, so by definition you're in a situation where you're > claiming to be smarter than the higher level tools. > > The following excerpt from Neal Stephenson's essay, "In the > Beginning... Was the Command Line", explains the sort of tool that > NTDSUTIL is. NTDSUTIL is like the Hole Hawg. > > ===== The Hole Hawg ===== > > The Hole Hawg is a drill made by the Milwaukee Tool Company. If you > look in a typical hardware store you may find smaller Milwaukee drills > but not the Hole Hawg, which is too powerful and too expensive for > homeowners. The Hole Hawg does not have the pistol-like design of a > cheap homeowner's drill. It is a cube of solid metal with a handle > sticking out of one face and a chuck mounted in another. The cube > contains a disconcertingly potent electric motor. You can hold the > handle and operate the trigger with your index finger, but unless you > are exceptionally strong you cannot control the weight of the Hole > Hawg with one hand; it is a two-hander all the way. In order to fight > off the counter-torque of the Hole Hawg you use a separate handle > (provided), which you screw into one side of the iron cube or the > other depending on whether you are using your left or right hand to > operate the trigger. This handle is not a sleek, ergonomically > designed item as it would be in a homeowner's drill. It is simply a > foot-long chunk of regular galvanized pipe, threaded on one end, with > a black rubber handle on the other. If you lose it, you just go to the > local plumbing supply store and buy another chunk of pipe. > > During the Eighties I did some construction work. One day, another > worker leaned a ladder against the outside of the building that we > were putting up, climbed up to the second-story level, and used the > Hole Hawg to drill a hole through the exterior wall. At some point, > the drill bit caught in the wall. The Hole Hawg, following its one and > only imperative, kept going. It spun the worker's body around like a > rag doll, causing him to knock his own ladder down. Fortunately he > kept his grip on the Hole Hawg, which remained lodged in the wall, and > he simply dangled from it and shouted for help until someone came > along and reinstated the ladder. > > I myself used a Hole Hawg to drill many holes through studs, which it > did as a blender chops cabbage. I also used it to cut a few > six-inch-diameter holes through an old lath-and-plaster ceiling. I > chucked in a new hole saw, went up to the second story, reached down > between the newly installed floor joists, and began to cut through the > first-floor ceiling below. Where my homeowner's drill had labored and > whined to spin the huge bit around, and had stalled at the slightest > obstruction, the Hole Hawg rotated with the stupid consistency of a > spinning planet. When the hole saw seized up, the Hole Hawg spun > itself and me around, and crushed one of my hands between the steel > pipe handle and a joist, producing a few lacerations, each surrounded > by a wide corona of deeply bruised flesh. It also bent the hole saw > itself, though not so badly that I couldn't use it. After a few such > run-ins, when I got ready to use the Hole Hawg my heart actually began > to pound with atavistic terror. > > But I never blamed the Hole Hawg; I blamed myself. The Hole Hawg is > dangerous because it does exactly what you tell it to. It is not bound > by the physical limitations that are inherent in a cheap drill, and > neither is it limited by safety interlocks that might be built into a > homeowner's product by a liability-conscious manufacturer. The danger > lies not in the machine itself but in the user's failure to envision > the full consequences of the instructions he gives to it. > > A smaller tool is dangerous too, but for a completely different > reason: it tries to do what you tell it to, and fails in some way that > is unpredictable and almost always undesirable. But the Hole Hawg is > like the genie of the ancient fairy tales, who carries out his > master's instructions literally and precisely and with unlimited > power, often with disastrous, unforeseen consequences. > > ===== END EXCERPT ===== > > (Original essay "In the Beginning... Was the Command Line" copyright > 1999 by Neal Stephenson; available online freely at > <http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html>. Above text copied from > "The Command Line in 2004", copyright 2004 by Garrett Birkel; > available online freely at > <http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/commandline/index.html>. Reproduction > with credit is explicitly allowed.) > > -- Ben > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
