Back when bash.org was a thing (I’m aware it has since been archived in multiple places), there was a quote that went something like “you only have a name because your mother was suspicious it took nine months to take a shit.”

I used to work in a call center with a very long spiel for answering the phone. I never used it when someone called me, but one time I had a dream that my phone was ringing at work. I woke up (sort of), picked up my cell phone, and recited the script … Only to finally open my eyes and see I was talking to no one but my befuddled dog.

That’s fair, I feel like I could support the project either way.

Depressing endings are so rare in movies that I, personally, often enjoy them for the novelty if nothing else.

I don’t remember much of that movie, but an Aliens / Evil Dead crossover sounds like a lot of fun.

It’s not.

And the owner of Epic, which owns Fortnite, is rabidly anti Linux. I believe he’s made some concessions to lose less of the Deck market share, but he’s made many insulting and untrue statements of Linux and its users in the past as well as actively sabotaging Linux functionality in games that used to have it.

Well, certainly that was more information than I knew about it, thanks!

No, but I’m friends with them.

Apparently AQ-50 is an autism test. Now I feel called out.

I thought this post was about the numbers and … Well, I like 16. It’s got a few neat math things going on. 19 is a prime, but doesn’t have much else going on for it.

edit: I was thinking that 16x3 was 38 and that 19x2 was 38, which would be interesting. However, 16x3 is 48, which I love, while 19x2 is indeed 38, which is still pretty cool. On the other hand, 64 is fun, while 57 is super duper boring.

Maybe my wife is right when she says I’m neurodivergent.

edit: This is pleasing to me.

My second grade teacher told me that negative numbers don’t exist.

She was trying to communicate that you can’t have a negative quantity of something (pencils in this case) but I had just learned about negative numbers in my own time and her words indicated that the concept wasn’t real, even if that wasn’t her intent. At the time, I found the exchange very upsetting.

That sounds like an alliterative challenge.

I think you’re making a joke I’m too oblivious to get, but in case I was wrong:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsby_(novel)

(Not to be confused with a similarly titled book that definitely uses the letter ‘e’)

Did you ever read that book that was written without using the letter “e”? Now there’s something on which English - the word itself even - depends.

Regardless of whether my door is locked, the idea of someone uninvited trying the knob is rather frightening to me.

Especially because, in this house, all of my external doors are surrounded by windows. They don’t really provide any security, so if someone malicious were to come by, they’d get in if they wanted to.

Alternatively, if I’m nearby, we might end up having a staredown. That doesn’t sound scary, necessarily, but definitely upsetting.

I used to work at a facility where, to make an outside call, you had to start the number with 91 like: 91-###-###-####

However, dialing 911 bypassed the external call arrangement and just called emergency services directly. I have no idea who made that boneheaded design decision, but the local dispatchers were definitely not a fan of it.

In a book series I read as a kid, part of the story is set near Zeus’ abode. Zeus being, among other things, a thunder god with a significant ego, objects to anything being louder than he is. Unsurprisingly, however, he has no problem with generic violence, just with gun-based, IE loud, combat.

The solution his guards find is to use gyrojet rounds, which are said to whistle rather than bang. Rare in real life (I think I saw Ian fire one once), they’re common in this world. I always thought that was a cool little detail.

My dad used to put on a pretty substantial fireworks show every year. For years he did it with no problems; he and the show were both pretty popular in the neighborhood. The show was large enough that when my sister once took my then young nephews to an official city show, at the end they said “that’s it?”

Anyway, as I said, for years there were no problems. The last time he did it, though, was the year the police got called … Because a lady a few neighborhoods away said he was spooking her horses.

Side note: when the police talked to him, his immediate response was “but I do it every year!” After they left, everyone admonished him “next time, don’t say that.” Presumably because it was the holiday, the officers were pretty relaxed, though; they just said something like “we’ll be back in fifteen minutes. We hope there won’t be any fireworks going off then.”

Huh, I’ve never noticed you write a message without the need to replace a “th” before.

Personally I’d rather it broke mine.

My parents had a dumbwaiter in their house. I have physical limitations and so wish for one in mine. I wonder how much that would cost in maintenance … I don’t remember my parents ever maintaining theirs.

edit: A few quick searches (not at all exhaustive) suggest that dumbwaiter installation can cost from $4k-$20k, with most being $8k-$12k. After installation maintenance plans mostly involve inspection and lubrication with costs usually being $200-$500 annually. Not as bad as I expected.

(Though my parents’ one was used at least weekly for at least twenty years and I’m pretty sure that not once was it inspected. I think the current owner of the house might not even be aware it’s there.)