- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yes, but like I joked, it's actually just a PRT cell, and the increasingly unstable idiot didn't pay enough attention. Because Cauldron gave her enough rope to hang herself.
Distance Learning for fun and profit...
- Thread starter mp3.1415player
- Start date
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- Tags
- worm
Yes, but like I joked, it's actually just a PRT cell, and the increasingly unstable idiot didn't pay enough attention. Because Cauldron gave her enough rope to hang herself.
- Location
- Deep in the Badlands of Equestria
As the only IT guy in the small company I worked for on the night shift, I was guaranteed to find some sort of small snack along with a chilled can of Mountain Dew every time I had to make a visit to someone's desk for a computer problem. I never figured out if it was a bribe for me, or if everyone in the company thought it was like leaving out cookies and milk for Santa.
Kryslin
[Has Delusions of Authorship]
- Location
- Mythic Iowa
My own TechSupport anecdote:
Way back in the mists of time, I once repaired computers for a living. We had recieved an IBM PC/AT (Which, at the time, was a very pricey piece of hardware; IBM must've been researching tanks when they built it) at the service desk, in its box. The only note from the customer was "It didn't work." We took it back into the shop, and unboxed it. There were 7 holes in the case, each one being .450" in diameter. Upon opening the case, we surveyed the carnage; two through penetrations, four slugs in the 30MB HDD, and one in the PSU.
I had to call the customer. "We're sorry, sir. It would be less expensive to purchase a new one." He asked what the problem was. "Foreign Object Debris," is what I told him. "I'll be in in thirty minutes," he replied, and asked me my name. He was in within minutes of the appointed time, asked for me, and asked me my recommendation for a replacement. He walked out with a new computer, and I got the sales comsission for a brand new IBM PC/AT, an exact replacement of what he'd brought in, for about $1K less, because I was able to reuse some of the adapter cards from the old machine.
Some people take the term "Troubleshooting" way too literally.
Way back in the mists of time, I once repaired computers for a living. We had recieved an IBM PC/AT (Which, at the time, was a very pricey piece of hardware; IBM must've been researching tanks when they built it) at the service desk, in its box. The only note from the customer was "It didn't work." We took it back into the shop, and unboxed it. There were 7 holes in the case, each one being .450" in diameter. Upon opening the case, we surveyed the carnage; two through penetrations, four slugs in the 30MB HDD, and one in the PSU.
I had to call the customer. "We're sorry, sir. It would be less expensive to purchase a new one." He asked what the problem was. "Foreign Object Debris," is what I told him. "I'll be in in thirty minutes," he replied, and asked me my name. He was in within minutes of the appointed time, asked for me, and asked me my recommendation for a replacement. He walked out with a new computer, and I got the sales comsission for a brand new IBM PC/AT, an exact replacement of what he'd brought in, for about $1K less, because I was able to reuse some of the adapter cards from the old machine.
Some people take the term "Troubleshooting" way too literally.
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
... That guy was a world class moron. Why on earth would you expect firing a gun at a computer to fix the problem?!
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
But guns solve everything, don't they?
Kryslin
[Has Delusions of Authorship]
- Location
- Mythic Iowa
He was a wealthy world class moron who I was told not to ask too many questions about. I was polite and helpful, he listened to my recommendations, and I got a commission on the sale that was twice my weekly wages. I wasn't complaining too much.
- Location
- Logan, Queensland, australia
Tony Soprano? Is that you?
Then again - it was an AT. Surprised shooting it did anything
My first (second hand) computer as an 11-12 year old was an XT someone gave me. Big lever red switch on the side, steel case, sounded like a jet engine taking off. Built like a safe. Never ran out of space or memory for whatever I used it despite the fact I know it probably had less than 100mb on the drive or a 1mb of memory, if I was lucky. I didn't even know pcs had specs till I bought its replacement (486-dx266)
I just had the oddest thought about us trading these stories back and forth about completely bizarre users. I'll bet the equivalent of these stories is what taylor is dealing with when she's talking to the other scientists; And the other scientists are throwing up their hands and go... it runs on magic smoke... quantum foam I mean...
oh right, that's how we got to this topic
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FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
Well, when one puts it that way maybe I can understand overlooking some oddities and insanity.
Tony Soprano? Is that you?
Then again - it was an AT. Surprised shooting it did anything
My first (second hand) computer as an 11-12 year old was an XT someone gave me. Big lever red switch on the side, steel case, sounded like a jet engine taking off. Built like a safe. Never ran out of space or memory for whatever I used it despite the fact I know it probably had less than 100mb on the drive or a 1mb of memory, if I was lucky. I didn't even know pcs had specs till I bought its replacement (486-dx266)
I know the feeling. The first 'computer' my family had was a word processor. I think it was a Compaq, but don't quote me on that. The only thing it could do was word processing and printing off what you wrote. Maybe even spreed sheets too, if you could figure out how to do that. It looked to have said functionality, but none of us were sure how to use it. But used 3 1/4 floppy disks. And the document format was compatable with Word Perfect, which let me continue working on short stories at the library or in English class in high school. No idea what it's specs were, but it was plenty powerful for anything we wanted it to do. Which was, of course, word processing. I used it for writing short stories, and mom used it to write up reports and schedules for work.
When we did eventually get an actual computer, we again had no idea what it's specs were. I remember the PC came with a text adventure game based on Steven King's The Dark Half, but the system wasn't powerful enough to actually run the game. You'd get text, but no image.
- Location
- Sydney
So let me this straight. Alexandria kidnaps someone in the possess of going against presidential orders, order children to attack the US military and expects to get away with it? Even if gravtech was a parahuman origin that won't be the case? Especially since she compounds it by ordering the president to step down or she'd arrest him. In order words do what she says or she'll despose him and install a puppet... How did she expect to get away with this!
Also how did the wards manage to defeat the secret agents around Taylor? Or did they withdraw after Shadow Stalker tried to kill Taylor? And is Taylor in PRT custody or not?
- Location
- Russia
I think that the Wards attack was mostly a smoke op for Alexandria quietly Doormaker-ing her and Danny away, except Shadow Stalker proved to be too good in the exact wrong way and actually landed a shot.
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
She didn't get to the "try to overthrow the government" part yet. She was going to do that after her press conference.
I think she legitimately wanted Taylor captured (as leverage against Danny). Remember, she is thinking about how Shadow Stalker didn't cause much damage (in Costa-Brown's opinion), and that it's a shame the 'tinker lab' was destroyed by Shadow Stalker. Costa-Brown either was unaware or uncaring of the fact SS almost killed Taylor in this omake. Or the fact she sent kids against the US Military, who had lethal weapons and orders to use them on attackers.
Oh, and let's ignore the fact that Shadow Stalker obviously was using hunting bolts, despite the fact she's probably NOT suppose to have them.
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
I much preferred Sophia when she wasn't in this story.
It's not that they were researching tanks, it's that they were building the TEMPEST 386 at the same time: Slightly larger desktop to accommodate a 1/16" steel shield and between 1/4-1/2" offset with the rest of the case for a total of 50lbs of desktop without the three pound removable steel HDD enclosure (at a whopping 10MB in size). During my stint at NATO, just before I left, they had the bright idea of recycling the cases by putting Pentium boards in (Edit: and removing the shield) - it dropped the weight by half.
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Academic Guardian
Just an old man with a hobby
- Location
- Somewhere in the twisting Kaleidoscope
I was referring to the Apple 2 computer mostly. It is noted that Jobs did most of the form factor and manufacturing of the shell housing the hardware and software.
As for user experience, I rather be able to repair my own stuff thanks. Not the glorified rental Apple is running nowadays but then again he already dead when they decided to do that.
The Apple "II" was the first mass-manufacture form factor "PC" after the initial bread-board kit... Still a massive improvement for the time, considering the shenanigans that IBM was still playing and what they tried to do to the Tandy clones.
Not really on the "rental" philosophy. He started the trend shortly before he died. The IPod, IPhone, and the "New" Macbook were all victims of his final design philosophy - make the user experience "bulletproof" by creating a closed ecosystem that had to be 95%+ bug-free and only reference hardware possible, with service only done by "licensed" dealers/techs.
DoctorNobody
The Doctor is In(sane).
Alexandria expected to get away with it because she's a cape and everyone else is a worthless muggle trash mob.
They withdrew after Sophia dragged Taylor out, full of crossbow bolts, and with another held to her neck. The PRT and Protectorate withdrew because Taylor's secrutiy stopped shooting because Taylor was being used as a human shield.
Taylor is currently handcuffed to a surgical bed on the Rig, while a team of surgeons desperately try to keep her from bleeding out while screaming at anyone they can to get Panacea there yesterday. Brandish isn't letting Pancea go anywhere near the Rig because she can see the sky full of bombers, drones, and Black Hawks helicopters, has a pretty good idea of how many naval battlegroups are steaming into Brockton, and is drastically underestimating just how many Special Forces teams are assembling to storm the Rig and evac Taylor.
No, they were specifically there to make a show of it, storming the house in full force to show that no one is above
She didn't want to overthrow the government. She just wanted to swap out the head muggle for one who knows his place.
Bingo. Though it was Miss Militia's idea to use the Wards- in a high stress situation she was not trained for at all, she fell back on what she knew- small children make great human shields. She judged correctly that the soldiers would be reluctant to shoot at the Wards because of their age, and used that as a distraction while she had Shadow Stalker sneak in, grab Taylor and run. At least that was the plan- Taylor put enough of a fight- everything in the basement was electrical, so Sophia couldn't use her powers to manuever, and Taylor had a heavy, customized mechancial keyboard on a very, very long usb cable (and thus still electrified), Sophia got pissed and went for the kill.
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- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Dammit, idea for an omake of the omake, that I might just write when I get home, of Armsmaster, who was apparently kept out of the loop, racing Panacea across town, the bay, and THROUGH the rig on the back of his cycle, to reach Taylor in time because he can do pattern recognition really good, knows just how many heavily armed people are in the bay, and suspects some of what may be aimed at the Rig right now.
Also, man, in this omake-verse, Rebecca has clearly been relying on Contessa to pull off some REALLY shady shit.
Also, man, in this omake-verse, Rebecca has clearly been relying on Contessa to pull off some REALLY shady shit.
DoctorNobody
The Doctor is In(sane).
I would really enjoy reading that.
I could see a reverse prison break/casino heist story- assembling a team to break in-smuggle Panacea through half the US military and into the ultra-secure fortress in order to save Taylor's life.
I'm just imagining Brandish's expression when several platoons of SF guys show up at her door and directly ask Panacea for help.
DoctorNobody
The Doctor is In(sane).
Stuck between automatically blaming Amy and more realistically wondering how much Collateral Damage Vicky caused this time to warrant Green Berets.
Sad part is, that's not even an exaggeration. That really is Caroll's (sp?) instinctual reaction.
- Location
- Here
I expect, once the dust settles, that Miss Militia, Shadow Stalker, and Alexandria will all find themselves birdcage bound; Alexandria for ordering the assault, Militia for sending in the Wards, and Shadow Stalker for Attempted Murder of the single most important person in the entire country.
I further expect the three will cause enough of a ruckus that The Fairy Queen will end up dealing with all three within the week...
I further expect the three will cause enough of a ruckus that The Fairy Queen will end up dealing with all three within the week...
I'm kind of imagining Alexandria being a bit smug, just waiting until she's in the Birdcage and going "Door Me" and then throwing a fit when it doesn't work after a recovered Taylor added in the 'anti-portal' upgrade patch to the system.
This assumes that they will be rational. With conflict driven stupidity, who knows what will happen.
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That, and I suspect Cauldron will be cutting her off.