Replying to
@NanoRaptor@bitbang.social
Mine's "The building still stands and nothing is on fire." Occasionally adapted to "and nothing is currently on fire" as the situation requires.
Remote
Skjeggtroll
@skjeggtroll@mastodon.online
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-09Just your friendly, neighbourhood bearded troll. Toils in the software mines for kroner. Plays games. Reads the odd book. Knits. Reminiscences about the good old days when computers were eight bit, men were _real_ men, women were _real_ women and small, furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were _real_ small, furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.
133 Followers
179 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 04, 2022
Replying to
@pewnack @NanoRaptor
Counter-suggestion: an episode of Doctor Who where every character, including the Doctor, is played by Daniel Craig putting on a different dialect.
Replying to
@baldur@toot.cafe
Besides, some of the relevant folktales shows that it can be surprisingly easy to put a genie back in the bottle if you just have your wits about you.
Replying to
@TarkabarkaHolgy@ohai.social
"(Publishers keep telling me underrated Greek myths are not marketable because "everyone wants the popular ones")"
They're certainly not marketable with _that_ attitude. Isn't marketing supposed to be to _make_ people want something?
Replying to
@koushiniku@hachyderm.io @doctormo@floss.social
That's where it's from. The Register re-used an old photo.
https://www.theregister.com/software/2012/06/18/linus-torvalds-drops-f-bomb-on-nvidia/1525362
Replying to
@MicroSFF@mastodon.art
"These are the voyages of the starship Alexandria. Its continuing mission: to catalogue strange new books; to seek out new titles and new periodicals; to boldly lend where no one has lent before!"
I hope that when the history books for these times are written the focus will not be on the many inexcusable transgressions and abuses of a few named sociopaths in power, but instead on the moral cowardice and dereliction of the people and institutions whose duty and responsibility it was to prevent them.
Replying to
@tante
"Dunno what you call the people prompting software at Anthropic but "engineer" is not it."
'Software mendicants', perhaps?
Replying to
@bri7@social.treehouse.systems @wtrmt@mastodon.social @liamvhogan@aus.social
The "Cloud" is just Somebody Else's Mentat. Would you trust somebody else's mentat? No, of course you wouldn't. You don't know _where_ they've been or what the state of their eyebrows are.
Replying to
@glyph@mastodon.social
We know what the future of software development will be. Vernor Vinge told us:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9427225-pham-nuwen-spent-years-learning-to-program-explore-programming-went-back
Replying to
@baldur
I mean, we've seen similar issues with code quality from certain types of outsourcing setups where companies send out under-thought and over-written tickets to an outsourcing mill and gets back knee-jerk code that appears as if it's been written at haste while wearing blinkers in a snow-storm, and without any traces of "second-layer thought." (_Not_ the fault of the individual programmers who are often very bright, mind. It's a system failure.)
Replying to
@cflynnbooks@mastodonapp.uk @mrundkvist@archaeo.social
"Does the fact that the UK still uses MILES on all our roadsigns, and sells beer in PINTS (bigger than a USA pint btw 😉) make us all hicks?"
Of course not. Hicks is a US thing. When the UK keeps using archaic, stupid measurements it's because they're all Tea-aboos who refuse to accept the loss of the British Empire and stubbornly cling on to anything that lets them pretend they're still a world power.
We're not culturally ignorant, you know. We target our insults.
Replying to
@2legged@mastodon.ie
I'm 50/50 on whether that note is genuine bluenosed moral outrage or a ploy to get people to leave _more_ pornographic literature.
Replying to
@cstross
She probably wants to head off any accusations so that she doesn't get in trouble with SVR's HR department for dating a co-worker.
So I've been playing _way_ too much #Timberborn over the last month or so, and figured I'd share my Folktails central station layout. It transfers! It irrigates! It gives the wet fur and several decoration bonuses, _and_ it provides somewhere to get snacks and books for a long journey.
(P.S. Don't forget to add the path in the middle of the pond.)
Replying to
@newsguyusa@flipboard.social
It's not a sentiment I hold often, but I really hope the mosquitos will have a good time.
Replying to
@cstross
"Who's a good biological weapon factory? Is it you? Is it you? Yes, it is -- such a good biological weapon factory!"
Replying to
@QasimRashid
I keep being reminded of this quote from a Sherlock Holmes story:
“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'
'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.'
'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'
'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.”
Replying to
@zeldman
"Not bleeding on my shirt has emerged as perhaps the paramount objective of the fight I started."
Replying to
@MostlyHarmless@thecanadian.social
Anyone else have a visceral reaction to the bobcat driver starting to push the tree over before the other guy had even cleared his chainsaw from the cut?
Replying to
@futurebird@sauropods.win
100 times smaller. I might die to wolf spiders or something, but at least I won't kill anyone by turning over in my sleep. Also, the practical problems are just greater -- if I was 200 meter tall, what would I do for food, shelter or clothing?
Replying to
@david_chisnall@infosec.exchange @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu
At minimum, they should introduce regulation that a) in-game shop-fronts need to list the total amount you've spent on in-game purchases with that company so far, and over the last 30 days on the same screen as the purchase is made, and b) have a minimum 30 minute waiting periode between a purchase and any direct or indirect in-game effect from that purchase.
Replying to
@TJ1001@mastodonapp.uk
Oh, come on. Stephen Miller is foul and noxious, but that's a increadibly bad reading of that photo.
Note the direction the armed police are looking; that's the direction they're expecting a threat from. And notice the man behind Miller: Miller and his wife are being ushered out of the room, towards a safer area.
Replying to
@Wen
I don't understand why Vance is saying 'we have all the cards' as if that is a good thing. Surely Vance, out of all people, ought to know how to play Shithead?
Replying to
@TeflonTrout
I guess it was only a question of time before the Brain Eater started in on video game creators as well.
Replying to
@dtm@mastodon.cc @virbonus@sueden.social @fesshole@mastodon.social
It really _does_ affect the taste.
I suspect it's because boiling water in the microwave takes less time and doesn't induce convection currents so that the water retains more dissolved air than when boiled in a pot or a kettle, but that's just my personal theory.
(Re-heating a cold cup of tea in the microwave is fine.)
Replying to
@ethanschoonover
Queen of Wands knows where:
http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040121.html
Replying to
@Elizafox@social.treehouse.systems @thomasbeagle@mastodon.nz
There's a gulf between the statements "there exist sci-fi authors who are bad people" and "most sci-fi authors are either 'age-of-consent libertarians' or techno-fascists."
Even in the short list you came up with I'd quibble that not many are good exampes of either 'age-of-consent libertarian' or 'techno-fascist' specifically.
Replying to
@HamonWry@mastodon.world
"Are there any children here today?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ5YU_spBw0
Monty Python - Stoning
Replying to
@brianbilston
"Who is it?"
"Hwilderness gurls."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRN2spEualo
Loaded Weapon - Wilderness Girls
Replying to
@abstractcode @flyingsquirrel @NanoRaptor
"You write your first Thieves' World story for pay, you write your second for revenge." -- author C. J. Cherry talking about writing stories for the shared-characters anthology 'Thieves' World'
Replying to
@Elizafox@social.treehouse.systems @thomasbeagle@mastodon.nz
"Most sci-fi authors"? I think that's your preconceived biases speaking.
Replying to
@fasterandworse@hci.social
By and large, there's a reason why the people who are on Mastodon are on Mastodon instead of one of the other platforms. So obviously there will be differences in what plays well on Mastodon and what does not, simply because the audience here is different.
If you go into a biker bar and try to start a debate on Kant's moral imperative only to be met with silence, that's not because the biker bar is an echo chamber; it's because you failed to read the room.
"They stink," said Badger with a huff. "I'm sorry, but it's the truth. They reek."
As the moot was winding down, talk had turned to the animals' regular peeve: the humans.
"And they're so clumsy!" Deer added. "Have you seen one trying to run?"
There was a mutter of agreement. Humans certainly looked silly trying to run and there was no denying they had a certain odour to them.
1/4 #fiction #shortStory #fable #cats