Red Screen of Death
I have been blessed with the blue screen of death and the green screen of not-exactly-death (but hold onto your shorts while the Mothership reaches in and does stuff) and the Deep Sh*t Noise and here is a whole twitter play about the Talking Moose.
Setting: The Landfill Computer Room (later Lizard’s room, now a junk room with the Bureau of ATF in it and way too many file containers but it also has the Raspberry Pi computer and ISS Above🎇)
[KW tries to start up the MacPlus]: Brrrrrrrrrppp Brrrrrrrrp Brrrrrrrrrp. CRASH!
Brrrrriiiiinnnnnnnng! Brrrrriiiiinnnnnnnng!
KW: Why does the computer crash every time I boot it up?
tmotu: Oh! The Talking Moose must be in the system folder again.
KW: k2*3%#2}@
So, the red screen of death is when you work for a company in an industry that needs to totally lock down every computer it has access to and if your company issued laptop dies and you try to using a decommissioned computer that is using an old operating system, you will be red-screened after a certain number of days. Believe me, you are happy that my company does that kind of thing but it is not always that easy for those of us who are working behind the scenes when our assigned computer decides to crap out. It would be nice if we had some kind of on-site tech support for those moments but we don’t, so we generally have to send our musheens out into the ether to get them fixed. Broken computers usually come back pretty quickly but there has got to be a better way. That is all. [This is not my laptop, which is brand new and works fine. It is a co-worker’s computer.]
Heavy rain tonight on the Planet Ann Arbor and enough wind that my umbrella was not all that useful on my walk to the Plum Market after work. Not the usual early February weather here but not unheard of and I am soooo happy to be able to drive my beloved Ninja to work in wintertime.
February 2nd, 2016 at 9:49 pm
I like the “k2*3%#2}@”—so expressive…. I especially like the high-elevation “k2” part. May I borrow k2*3%#2}@ as an aphorism? Interjection? Jocular phrase?
February 3rd, 2016 at 9:05 pm
I never know how to swear with letters and symbols, and like yours; it looks calmer than I what I end up doing. Computer problems are the pits, especially when we depend on them for our jobs. I can’t take attendance, or grade without my school district laptop. AND INTERNET. It has sometimes been a pain in the rear!
February 4th, 2016 at 7:04 am
Margaret, if the computers aren’t “following the expectations”, just turn to the students, and in a quiet, deadpan voice say, “Please raise your hands if you’re not here.” At least you’ll know who’s paying attention. 😉