vvvexation: (Default)
vvvexation ([personal profile] vvvexation) wrote2006-02-13 11:36 pm
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A fable of the technological era

Unbeknownst to many, there existed in the early days of the Internet a small cadre of computer-savvy castrati dwelling in southeastern Germany. BSD was their operating system of choice, and when they discovered an online bulletin board dedicated to the discussion of said operating system, they all attempted to join en masse. Unfortunately, they ran into trouble when it came time to select their user handles; although there were clearly posted rules explaining that usernames would be assigned according to a universal system, the German contingent demanded that they be allowed to choose their own, claiming that otherwise their individuality would be suppressed. The beleaguered system administrator, unable either to talk them out of or to comply with their request, was forced to simply reject their petitions for membership outright.

This would not in itself have been a particularly tragic story, were it not that the somewhat excitable would-be users in question interpreted this rejection (as, indeed, they tended to interpret any rejection) as a slur against their lost manhood; several of them, in fact, grew so incensed that they sought out the unfortunate sysadmin's home address, and before their fellows could stop them, they descended upon his home and shot the poor man dead.

When the shocking news of his demise reached the discussion boards he had administered, the users one and all were deeply saddened, but none of them were terribly surprised once the details of the story had come to light. After all, as one of them pointed out...

...when you nix Munich eunuchs' unique Unix nicks, Munich's Unix eunuchs nix you.


(crossposted to, illustrated by, and closing line derived in conjunction with [livejournal.com profile] saizai)

[identity profile] vvvexation.livejournal.com 2006-02-24 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
*loveback* I shall try to call you again when I have an evening to myself once more. Is your phone working?

[identity profile] kaidevis.livejournal.com 2006-02-24 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Not really. The speaker isn't working 80% of the time unless I thwack the phone hard, which makes it unhappy in other ways. If any cell company sold a decent "hardened" cell phone for both EM and abuse, I'd be there. On my list is to extract all my numbers/data from it this weekend (the screen is borderline dying too). Steph and I plan to combine our plans at which point I'll have a new phone, but it's not high on the priority list right now -- house hunt, first (the real reason I'm actually online at all today.) I'll email you numbers that will work for me in the interim.

*huggles* ttyl