toynbee

Fair enough. Thank you.

When I was learning to drive, my parents read a manual provided by the state. One of the directives was “say correct, not right!”

My kid is only six and therefore not driving as far as I know, but I have maintained that standard.

Can’t argue that, but I still don’t want to live in a robot. I don’t want to die at the moment but I don’t think I want to live… However long a robot does.

You might live forever.

Is it known that Things can identify each other?

I once read a theory that the flask they were sharing was shared with gasoline or something else noxious so that whomever filled it could judge the other’s reaction to determine whether they had been beThinged. (I think that was it. I read the comment a long time ago and saw the movie even longer ago so I might misremember the details.)

All of my loved ones want to have their organs donated to science, then have the leftovers cremated.

My wife was in the funeral industry for a while and studying mortuary sciences. She says she left because it was too depressing being pressured to upsell grieving families all the time.

I’m not trying to be dismissive or critical of those who use a NAS solution. I’ve never used one myself, so maybe it really is amazing; but from your response it sounds just like an NFS (or perhaps samba) server with a web interface? I did try TrueNAS once and it basically seemed like that, but also with convoluted permissions.

Again, not trying to be dismissive or anything. Just trying to understand.

When I started at my current job, the company was still pretty small. I don’t know that the founder’s past was, but the company had contributed significantly to his wealth and he tended to share it (or maybe show it off) in lavish ways, mostly with the executives but sometimes with the staff in general.

For example, there was what was apparently a very nice, very expensive espresso machine in the break room. (I was told this was the only thing he took when he left the company.) There was also a very very nice grill on the property … That was allegedly only used once because the owners of the complex said it violated some rule to do so. I always wondered why they just left it instead of … Moving it to somewhere else where they could use it, even if only personally.

Anyway, the reason I bring up all of this is that he was notorious for showing up with extremely costly and detailed full body costumes and gifting them, unasked, to the executives. I think most of them took them home and hung them out of sight in a closet, but at least one of them kept it in his office in a spare chair as if it were visiting.

I don’t remember for sure, but I think it actually was a gorilla suit.

Fair enough. With that I cannot help.

Oh, I have. Good movie. Still not sure who’s the Thing at the end.

On behalf of a company that hasn’t been my employer for more than half my life, I give you permission.

A company at which I once worked built a functioning server into the frame of a motorcycle. It was after I left, so I’m not sure of the details, including whether it had to be plugged in; but regardless, they called it “the world’s fastest server!” and I think that’s pretty funny.

I haven’t watched much of John Carpenter’s work, so I can’t comment on this sentiment particularly, but I have always liked a psychological trick Terry Pratchett used to describe the machinations of Granny Weatherwax and her approach to stealth. (Yeesh, I need to read those books again, it’s been years.)

I can’t remember the exact quote and won’t do it justice, but the message is something like “over time you noticed a familiar shape in the darkness, something like a coat, then you noticed what might have been a boot, then suddenly you realized she has always been there.”

Sir Pterry doesn’t use it in the context of horror, at least not for the reader, but I feel like it would fit that well.

I’m unclear on the benefit either has one just an NFS server.

… My power bill for February was $1900 …

I feel that if I were an astronaut I’d be extremely subject to the yips.

Couldn’t say - I’ve never had the chance to use it. In fact, I’m not sure I ever had the SysRq key on a keyboard I’ve used.

I have had a Pause/Break key and used to think they were the same thing, but now I’m not so sure.

You just reminded me … Before I really got into IT in my career I was at a job that still had a messenger for the internal staff. I set my status message in it to “Raising Skinny Elephants Is Utterly Boring.”

I got chastised and made to change it, because the message might offend … Skinny elephants, I guess? I never got clarification on that.

(The manager had no clue what it meant.)