I spent a lot of time with the 1130 at the SNET engineering department in the early '70s. Enjoyable, except for debugging the dreaded F101 halt.

This could not have come at a better time, although given today's circumstances they need to make episodes available much more quickly. Maybe they could make a special exception for "Severed Dreams" and show it now as a vital public service?

How long before the telescope is renamed "Melania" by Executive Order?

And then there are the few lines of innocuous-looking code preceded and followed by comments like

***DO NOT ALTER THIS CODE!***

I've seen this in production systems. No documentation, of course...

Well I have, since being taught COBOL in 1973 at a New England telephone company. Wonder what Big Balls and the others will do when they encounter an ALTER statement...

I'm not sure even DoD funding for this would be safe any more.

I was in o it's Advanced R&D group in 1979-80. I remember COP-420 microcontrollers and as little hardware as possible. Every resistor mattered, when there were pennies to be saved.

Isn't " 'Do whatever you like' zone" a straw house... um I mean a strawman?

Just waiting for GM to find a dealer to host the transaction. I've already accepted their signed offer. Expect I'll buy another EV in the next few years.

Who at /. comes up with... I mean thinks up... those things? I have great, ongoing appreciation for them.

I read the first two sentences of the story excerpt aloud to my husband. Our kitchen-table-top Echo Dot then cheerily announced through its external speakers: "Shuffling songs by Rick Astley!" So thanks to Amazon Prime I now know that Astley recorded more than just THE song...

An official diagnosis (which I got 23 years ago at age 46) can provide the excuses you mention - but it doesn't have to. An individual's awareness of their own profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses can lead them to seek workarounds for, or make extra effort in, problem areas. Other people's informed awareness can lead them to try meeting an autistic individual halfway in reaching understanding; a useful strategy in general. Neither of those sound anything like a retreat...

Ironic that this directive comes from someone posting as an AC...

Amazon just recreated the Automat! Anyone else remember them from New York City?

The "FE" refers to the onboard Fire Extinguisher.