Overloading a telephone central office
The start of the first gulf war came out as an interruption to normal television programming. Shortly after the announcement, the Braintree Massachusetts telephone switching office was brought down on volume. Normally the telephone company can react and throttle calls adequately to prevent overwhelming a switch, but the spike was so fast that it could not be accomplished. There is no military operation out of Braintree, so what was the cause? The interruption to normal programming cut right across the announcement of winning lottery ticket numbers. The Massachusetts lottery offices are in Braintree. I hope this give you all a laugh.
