Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk
Posted on June 10th, 2011 by Tim Danton
What’s in the cupboard?
Germany. It’s a curious place, with far more pretzels per head than is strictly necessary, and some of the world’s biggest datacenters – some of which are owned by web host 1&1. And I was visiting just such a datacenter (you want to be me, right?) when I spotted this:
Now, if you manage to guess what’s in the cupboard, I’ll send you a free copy of our rather fantastic Pocket Guide to Digital Photography – although you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks because it isn’t actually out yet. (If you want something sooner, you can choose any current book from our MagBooks range.)
The wittiest answer may also get a prize. We’ll see.
Tags: datacenter, mystery
Posted in: Random
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June 10th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
A gimp. Probably.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Narnia.
(I would have liked to post this as a one word answer, but friggin WordPress won’t let me).
June 10th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
I reckon it’s Stewart Mitchell, Stuart Turton and Matthew Sparkes.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
A skeleton.
That is also too short to send so presumably it’s the skeleton of a gnome. Or possibly a KDE.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
David Fearon’s skeleton.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Hundreds of little pixies all with abacus’ doing all the calculations.
Computers aren’t real!
June 10th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
A Sinclair ZX80 and a collection of old computer magazines, with programes to type in.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
The internet
http://blogs.sun.com/vipul/resource/InternetInABox/ThisJenIsTheInternet.png
June 10th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
a load of PS2 keyboards or is have been hiding a whole load of ipad 2 stock
June 10th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Two David Bayons – standing on top of each other.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
A toilet. A toilet. A toilet. Bloody wordpress.
June 10th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Is it all the bean sprouts from the local supermarket locked up never to be eaten?
June 10th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
It’s one of those server racks that’s supposed to fit in with your normal office furniture so you don’t have to find it a special room somewhere.
June 10th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
It has to be where Nicole is banished to when she has to leave the podcast.
June 10th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
A towel, to stop any foreigners using it!
June 10th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Its where the PcPro team lock the editor when he wont let them down the pub on a Friday PM.
June 10th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
A massage table to iron out backup issues
June 10th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Hard drives containing all their users credit card details, unencrypted of course
June 10th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
@Ryan. It’s not me, chum. If PC Pro taught me anything it’s how to escape a locked cupboard. @Tim – is it a trick question? Is that cupboard where they found you hiding after 15mins of rack server trivia?
June 10th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
It’s a trick question. It’s actually Tim’s new office up on the 5th. The doors are closed so one has to assume he’s gone home early.
June 10th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
A sign saying ‘do not open this cupboard!’
June 10th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
@Ryan Not me either – if Stuart Turton taught me anything, it’s not to share cupboard space with hairy Liverpudlians.
June 10th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
The 1&1 customer service centre!
June 10th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Maggie Philbin eating pretzels
June 10th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Due to German efficiency the employees in such companies have a lot of free time.
The cupboard is obviously the free condom storage device of the company, smart as the Germans are they practise safe sex.
Erik
June 10th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
The kettle & brew kit.
June 10th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Nothing.
It’s only just arrived and they’ve not decided where to put it yet.
June 10th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
I feel like I should give prizes for cleverest answer, funniest answer and bizarrest answer! But so far, no-one has come even close to the real answer.
June 10th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
1001 servers (virtual)
June 10th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
A years supply of Hob Nobs.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
NBC suits in case of attack?
June 10th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
The German effort to contain their Ecoli outbreak..sooo millions of sprouts!!!
June 10th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Spare hot swap hard drives and PSUs.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Looks like we’ll find out soon enough:
http://www.whatsinthecupboard.com.au/
June 10th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Server backup tapes
June 10th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Rats, AnonnyMuss beat me to it.
So I will have to think of something else. Knowing the Koltz-Koff’s quite well Applecorn or snaps.
Did you know that the Germans actually complained to the British Embassy about “The Wooden Tops” being shown on British Forces TV.
They thought it was a program taking the micky out of them.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
And guess what, it got pulled.
June 10th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
@Paul
They pulled the Wooden Tops, yet they decided to dub this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apY4RsKWHg4
June 10th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
A random answer generator?
June 10th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
The future of Nokia. They know they can’t compete on phones so have taken on Ikea in the furniture business???
June 10th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
Well I’ve lost several things over the years that have to be somewhere – odd socks, sense of childlike wonder etc…
June 10th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
A *Slightly* smaller cupboard
June 10th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Steve Ballmer and Jon Honeyball. And a webcam.
June 10th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Perhaps a load of water they are planning to send down the fiber-optic cables to sort out their drought.
June 10th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Oh, and to sort out France’s even worse drought.
June 10th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
A love of chiptune musical theatre?
June 10th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
First Class presenter Debbie Greenwood
June 10th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Andi Peters, Ed the Duck and some brooms?
June 10th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
876 floppy disks to install Windows Server 2008 R2
June 10th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
Files, folders and books – has to be something fairly dull.
June 10th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Or a PDP-11 that they use to connect everything to the internet.
June 10th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
If it is in germany I would have to say the cupboard is likely to be full of Beer.
Probably along side some big-ass glasses to drink from.
June 10th, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Schrödinger’s cat
June 10th, 2011 at 11:36 pm
Is where Ryan Giggs has been hiding?!
June 11th, 2011 at 12:44 am
It’s obviously your macintosh fetish closet
June 11th, 2011 at 1:21 am
The next dot.com bubble.
June 11th, 2011 at 2:13 am
Ghost in the Shell?
June 11th, 2011 at 7:56 am
Heinrich the hoover
June 11th, 2011 at 8:32 am
Mmmmhh…. three stabs:
Emergency snacks
Stash of comics
Fire extinguisher…..
June 11th, 2011 at 10:01 am
Es ist der mittlere bis große Wurst Schrank und Kuchen Probenahmegeräte Lagerfläche.
June 11th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
A gun rack where they store their Uzis?
June 11th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Is it all the documentation for the datacentre?
June 11th, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Hard-copy printouts of all their data so they can type it in again in the event of a disk failure.
June 11th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
Shotguns?
(More than one…[stupid comment limit])
June 12th, 2011 at 12:39 am
Escher pretzels- too weirdly convoluted in different dimensions to be carelessly exposed to view in the canteen… & with anti-salt…
June 12th, 2011 at 3:27 am
Table-tennis table? Or emergency fold-up beds for overnight crisis management? Or a hyper-efficient Teutonic combination of the two? That’s about as Rock’n'Roll as I’d want my critical systems guys to be…
June 12th, 2011 at 7:25 am
The world’s last IPv4 address.
June 12th, 2011 at 9:47 am
Back issues of pc pro?
June 12th, 2011 at 10:21 am
I’m going to say its Boris from Goldeneye. I swear he’s been hiding in the closet all this time… He should really come out!
June 12th, 2011 at 10:36 am
Is it Lord Lucan?
June 12th, 2011 at 10:51 am
Stairs to a secret basement lair?
June 12th, 2011 at 11:29 am
You don’t understand Germans, do you? That’s not a cupboard. That’s a Dornier Flying Cupboard.
June 12th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
The real Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle and Gareth Southgate? Their doppelgangers were obviously used in the 90s against ze Germans!
June 12th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Since this is in Germany, probably a Hitler costume is stored in that cupboard.
June 12th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
A cuddly toy?
A games console?
A hover?
June 13th, 2011 at 8:48 am
Do you not actually know what’s inside the cupboard because it’s top secret?
either that or the staffs emergency beer? You’re in Germany right!
June 13th, 2011 at 9:53 am
Hopefully it is the entire cast of Glee.
June 13th, 2011 at 9:58 am
if not, then suction cups for lifting floor tiles
June 13th, 2011 at 10:21 am
An inflatable Angela Merkel?
June 13th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
The entire PC Pro back catalogue?
June 13th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
This is Germany right?
A SUNLOUNGER!
June 13th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
…..or a TOWEL for putting on said sunlounger.
June 13th, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Debbie McGee ???
June 13th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Is it a bicycle?
June 14th, 2011 at 9:19 am
A fireman’s pole fr quick access to the floor below?
June 14th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Duke Nukem Forever 2!!!!
June 15th, 2011 at 5:59 am
Knowing my time in Germany, a Commadore 64, upgraded to 4GB, with a Parrallel Disk Drive upgrade, 5,000 x 5.25 floppies, with all of the games from the collaboration of Amsterdam Uni & one in the states via satellite, via Bielefeld.
I had Castle wolfenstein on 10 double sided in 1974 via a friend.
June 15th, 2011 at 6:01 am
Should read 1984
June 15th, 2011 at 9:47 am
To find out the answer (it’s not at all funny, for which I can only apologise) head over to my new blog post…
June 18th, 2011 at 8:36 am
Mop & Bucket! The Germans are SO tidy