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Goddamn Teenagers (Worm, AU/time travel)

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Country Living, Part 9
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    • "All I'm saying is that he went after a Ward," Vicky said emphatically. "There are rules! And this isn't the first time!"

    Her mother sighed. "I know, believe me I know. I wish it were that simple."

    "Why can't it be?" Vicky said, near tears. "They killed Aunt Jess! They almost killed Rachel Lindt, and she's a Ward now! Someone has to stop them!"

    "It's too dangerous," her mother said forcefully. "I can't--let the PRT handle it, just leave the Nazis alone for now."

    "How can you say that!" Vicky said, forcing herself not to stomp her foot or punch the wall or do something else that would break something. "I just, arrrrrrrrrgh!"

    "Victoria!" Her mother called after her, but Vicky was already gone.

    Later

    "... and so I came here," Vicky finished, as she accepted another 50-pound bags of feed from the nice PRT man below her, and passed it along up the stairs.

    "Fucking Nazis," Rachel Lindt said from the top of the stairs, taking the bag and setting it on the shelf. "Brandish ain't wrong though. Cornered animals are dangerous."

    Vicky blinked in shock, as she accepted a box of emergency supplies. "Huh, I'd have thought you'd feel differently."

    Rachel snorted as she took the box. "Hookwolf's gone, and the ones left aren't hurting dogs no more. His friends left too." She paused to take a pallet of water from Vicky. "Most of them left. The ones left, rabid, cornered animals. Dangerous. You shoot them from a distance, or wall them up and leave them to die. Dangerous, too dangerous."

    "But I'm a hero!" Vicky replied, passing along a pallet of freeze-dried food.

    "So? They don't care. You're too nice, you want things to be fair. Fuckers like them, you don't fight fair, you just put them down."
    Note: Rachel knows this one. Is real confident about it.
     
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    • dc2008 said:
    Lazy smart are good as commanders. Active smart are good staff officers but you DO NOT want them in command. Lazy stupid can be MADE useful, if aggressively supervised. Active stupid need to be put down, pushed out, quarantined, or otherwise remediated.
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    I recall Heinlein was talking about engineers. The lazy smart ones who'll work really hard now, so they can be lazy, later.

    Personally, I tend to be much more enthusiastic about good engineering, than the military. But, I'm aware not having good commanders can mean you've not got a civilization, any more, no matter how good your engineering is...

    ---

    Rachel-approved ways of dealing with E88 members still in BB?

    What happens if you dump Alabaster a good ways out in the Atlantic? He's not going to drown, but...
     
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    Communications Styles, Part 3
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    • Amy stared, baffled, at the floating device keyboard. She glanced at Armsmaster, who was… still doing something with his equipment. Totally not Alec was watching with interest, while Cherish was… under a table, which, fair.

    Shit. Looks like I'm the responsible one. "Uh, hello?"

    "Hello," a computerized voice replied. "I can help with the questions, query."

    Alec was unfazed. "Hi, Impulse here, rude girl is Panacea. What's your name? Also, are you a haunted floating computer?"

    Amy froze in shock, wanting to interfere but unsure how. Fortunately, the ghost… thing just rolled with it.

    "Expresses confusion. I am incorporeal, with the ability to exert force on my surroundings. The machine is a communications assistive device. My name is Custodian."

    "Excellent, so more a poltergeist with a computer than a haunted computer. Much more interesting. Do you do events? Have you considered accessorizing? A cloak, perhaps, you could rock a cloak."

    "Oh. Hesitation. I had not considered events. Would people be interested query."

    "Fuck yeah, man—sorry, shouldn't assume, gender is a tool of the Illuminati to cramp our style—anyway, the possibilities are amazing, why, you could—"

    "Thank you, Impulse," Armsmaster interrupted, finally.
    Note:
    Meanwhile, Cherish and the normie scientist are under a table, staring at each other in horror.
     
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    • BethofDeath said:
    Alec is based.

    Never thought I'd say that before this fic.
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    Yes, but is his base made of plastic or metal? I supposed being attached to a base would make it easier for him to be an upright guy...

    What does 'based' mean?
    Based is a slang term that originally meant to be addicted to crack cocaine (or acting like you were), but was reclaimed by rapper Lil B for being yourself and not caring what others think of you—to carry yourself with swagger.

    Based has been appropriated by the alt-right online as a general term of praise, as if "un-woke."
    Dictionary.

    The culturals, a pain they can be... Ze language, teh English, always at change, always in motion...
    *tongue-in-cheek* :)
     
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    grommile said:
    Remember the chain:

    Biology is applied chemistry is applied physics is applied mathematics is applied philosophy is applied bullshit.
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    Does 'information theory' fit somewhere in that? Also, sociology is applied psychology is applied biology... And 'ecology' goes somewhere in there...

    Mathematics and philosophy are weird... The first is a tool, the second is... weird. :)
    (*cough* natural philosophy *cough*)
     
    grommile said:
    Information theory is a branch of mathematics.
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    Was developed from mathematics, seems to be something more than that, is my understanding. May be the fundamental level of reality, beyond/below matter/energy, and (physical) dimension...

    Of course, it requires sufficiently twisty thinking I may have misunderstood it. It's tricky...

    (This looks interesting...)
     
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    Business Lunch
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    • "No, Max." Victor said evenly. The two were meeting over lunch, in civvies, at an upscale Manhattan steakhouse.

    "The Company," Max began, "greatly values your services. Surely you can see the benefit of a more familiar, more familial environment."

    Victor shook his head. "Too much risk. I remember fondly our time together, but even this meal is pushing the terms of my new employment. I will tell you this, for old times' sake. L-Corp is engaging in talks about a strategic transaction, along with expansion to new markets. You will need to tread carefully."

    Max nodded, and changed the subject. Recovering Victor and Othala had been a long-shot, the Elite could bid more than him, especially now. Still, this unexpected intelligence, alarming as it was, had been worth the trip.

    Later

    "How was Kaiser," Uppercrust asked, after the usual pleasantries had been seen to.

    "Desperate," Victor said confidently.

    "Hmmm," Uppercrust replied, standing and turning to face the window. "Will he cause problems for us?"

    "Here? No. In the Bay? He's not one for last desperate gambles. Too much to lose, even now."
    Note: Looks like someone is appreciating their new lease on life. Recall Dr. Weaver's previous musing about getting someone to see to Uppercrust's condition.
     
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    • nicoo said:
    You really nail it in the afterthought though: she thinks highly of her intelligence, and might not look for instructions (even fairly visible ones) when trying to do something; it's not uncommon, like people not even opening the instruction sheet before putting something together.
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    Ace Dreamer said:
    Some people, first thing they do when they confront something new is ask 'Where's the manual?'. On being told, 'It's intuitive, you don't need one!', they may be... less than totally happy.
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    With sufficient domain knowledge (corporate jargon for "I knows dis sh*t" :p), it may actually be intuitive. The problem is getting that knowledge, and (well-written) manuals are a great way to do so...it's somewhat horrifying that the art of writing good manuals is now becoming lost, and, worse, is considered unnecessary.

    Yes, I do RTFM, why do you ask? (Sometimes I even learn something new.)

    Anyone who doesn't like to flail around to learn things (and didn't learn how to use a smartphone before they grew out of that) hates the smartphone UI, because there's never any documentation, and, no, it is not intuitive. Worse, how do you SFTW for <insert some UI widget here>? (I can get an answer about 75% of the time because I've tried to keep up with UI design, etc., but that's not exactly a common skillset/knowledge base.)

    Ace Dreamer said:
    I recall Heinlein was talking about engineers. The lazy smart ones who'll work really hard now, so they can be lazy, later.
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    Really, "lazy smart people who like to solve problems" is the category; "engineer" is a profession where you don't survive if the last four words of that description do not apply...but not everyone to which it applies is an engineer or has education as an engineer.

    EDIT: One other common profession where this is often true would be "farmer"; this may have held true for the trades, but a lot of those have become/are becoming "Run the diagnostics, swap modules until it works, recommend replacement if the bill is too high", rather than any real problem-solving.
    (end of edit)

    Sadly, so many products these days are compromised not by bad engineering, but by bad management decisions, usually in service of either saving money on manufacture (and/or certification, testing, etc.) or making more money on replacement parts. Those goals tend to encourage and reward bad engineering...

    dc2008 said:
    He's not one for last desperate gambles. Too much to lose, even now.
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    Max may not be one for desperate gambles, but I definitely get the impression that most of the other current/former E88 are. I think Uppermost may have asked the wrong question.
     
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    SpeedDaemon said:
    EDIT: One other common profession where this is often true would be "farmer"; this may have held true for the trades, but a lot of those have become/are becoming "Run the diagnostics, swap modules until it works, recommend replacement if the bill is too high", rather than any real problem-solving.
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    I'm pretty sure I mentioned this before, but back around 2007 or so I'd JUST bought a new desktop computer, only for the 500 gig hard drive to crap out and die after just a single month. I took the computer to Best Buy (where I bought it) for service, since it was still well within the free service period. When I did so, I told them what the problem was. I gave the exact error code that had popped up too. With that knowledge, the person who was working the Geek Squad desk said "It's probably the hard drive, but we'll run some tests to make sure." I was told the repairs should be done within 3 days.

    3 days later, I went back in to pick up my now repaired computer. Once there I was told "It's more complicated then we thought, it'll probably be another 3 days". Three MORE days later, I went back. And I got told "It's taking a while due to complications, I'll check what the status current of the repairs is." While the Geek Squad member was in the back area, I looked over the desk and saw the repair order for my computer. On it was written the following:
    I can't run the diagnostic, the hard drive isn't being detected and the computer wont turn on. I have no idea what the problem is. Someone else want to try?
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    This was signed by a dozen different people. When the employee returned and tried telling me it would take at least another week to finish the repairs, I kind of went off on him for the outright incompetence of him and his co-workers, since that idiot was one of the first people to sign off on the above message. This attracted the manager for the store's Geek Squad department. Said manager listened to my rant, read the repair order form, went back to test the computer tower himself, then came back out and started laying into the entire department (who had gathered to see what the commotion was all about) for their gross incompetence.

    The manager decided he personally would handle the repair. The next day I was called and informed it was ready for pickup. Once I got there, the manager apologized, saying that they were out of 500 gig hard drives, "so I put in a 1 terabyte one, is that okay?" Afterwords, I roamed the store for a bit, and out of curiosity checked. There were a plethora of 500 gig hard drives of various brands on the shelves. I've long suspected the upgrade was not due to a lack of parts, but as an apology/bribe due to the incompetence of the Geek Squad department.
     
    Communications Styles, Part 4
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    • "What is Armsmaster doing?" Emily asked, skimming the report.

    "Former Cauldron parahumans now working with Valkyrie requested assistance with a tinkertech issue," Phil said.

    Man isn't even able to keep a straight face. "Specifically their pet cat ate tinkertech," Emily replied, twisting the knife.

    "Yes."

    "Why, exactly, are we devoting such extensive resources to a pet?"

    "Because it's the pet project—" damn him, now he was trying to make me smile "—of Cauldron's portal guy, omniscience guy, and the Case 53 who managed their principal facility. They've also said we can keep the tinkertech."

    "Right. Very good initiative, any support we can give."

    Elsewhere

    "Did you know you don't have a detectable nervous system?" Impulse said, as Custodian awkwardly fiddled with his handheld game system. "My sister can still detect emotional states, not sure how that works."

    "Statement of interest. I never much considered the function of my form, it simply worked."

    "Now," Impulse said, gesturing to the screen. "You will want to pay careful attention to the next bit, there's a tricky jump."

    Elsewhere

    "We greatly appreciate your assistance," Armsmaster said to nothing.

    Amy envied his ability to just roll with the bizarre situation.

    "The tinkertech silhouettes and samples provided have allowed us to narrow the possibility space to a small number of candidates…"
    Note: Just another day at the office.
     
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    • Ace Dreamer said:
    Based has been appropriated by the alt-right online as a general term of praise, as if "un-woke."
    Dictionary.
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    I have literally never seen it in that context, and the Gamergate thing it referred to was quite a long time ago (albeit one a certain crowd has never grown the hell up about).

    The online crowds I move in are all left-center or further left, and everyone there considers the cryptofascists (and not so crypto fascists) a genuine and often personal danger -- let alone cringe, like we thought that was all they were back in the 00s -- so this may be why I haven't seen it used like that.

    That all said to make it clear that I have less than zero desire to communicate THAT position from the quote, let's please not derail the thread again from my reply, thank you. :)
     
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