______ __
/ ____/___ _____/ /___ ______ ___
/ /_ / __ \/ ___/ __/ / / / __ \/ _ \
/ __/ / /_/ / / / /_/ /_/ / / / / __/
/_/ \____/_/ \__/\__,_/_/ /_/\___/
It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared
to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great.
-- Havelock Ellis
"I don't know what you mean by `glory,'" Alice said
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't --
till I tell you. I meant `there's a nice knock-down argument for
you!'"
"But glory doesn't mean `a nice knock-down argument,'" Alice
objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful
tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor
less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean
so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master--
that's all."
-- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
In Seattle, Washington, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon that
is over six feet in length.
To the systems programmer, users and applications serve only to provide
a test load.
Please, won't somebody tell me what diddie-wa-diddie means?
Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate
and captain of your soul.
THE LAST BUG
"But you're out of your mind," It still wasn't perfect,
They said with a shrug. As year followed year,
"The customer's happy; And strangers would comment,
What's one little bug?" "Is that guy still here?"
But he was determined. He died at the console,
The others went home. Of hunger and thirst.
He spread out the program, Next day he was buried,
Deserted, alone. Face down, nine-edge first.
The cleaning men came, And the last bug in sight,
The whole room was cluttered An ant passing by,
With memory-dumps, punch cards. Saluted his tombstone,
"I'm close," he muttered. And whispered, "Nice try."
The mumbling got louder,
Simple deduction,
"I've got it, it's right,
Just change one instruction."
Mike: "The Fourth Dimension is a shambles?"
Bernie: "Nobody ever empties the ashtrays. People are SO
inconsiderate."
-- Gary Trudeau, "Doonesbury"
Sunday, 9 November 2025 Michael J. Chappell Contact me at:
mcsuper5@freeshell.org
