Key Attribute: Magic
Mar. 20th, 2009 03:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dsrtaoWhen hiring a systems administrator, the most important attribute to look for is the natural ability to emit cluons.
Cluons are fundamental particles of the universe, with a net charge of +1 clue. (Their antiparticles, called bogons, carry -1 clue.) I used to have Feynmann diagrams in ASCII text showing the lifecycles of these particles. Cluons and bogons are time-symmetric -- you can consider the absorption of a bogon to be equivalent to the emission of a cluon backwards in time.
Computing machinery -- electronics, in fact -- tends to be based on strong bogon sinks. A bogon-emitter in the vicinity, or indeed the random bogon fields of the universe, will eventually cause malfunction.
I am healthy today, and have regained the ability to emit cluons. In this case, I walked into the machine room where my Chief Minion was bemoaning the insufferable tendency of HP to build custom incompatible parts (to promote vendor lock-in) and fixed his problem by staring at the machine in question.
Cluons are fundamental particles of the universe, with a net charge of +1 clue. (Their antiparticles, called bogons, carry -1 clue.) I used to have Feynmann diagrams in ASCII text showing the lifecycles of these particles. Cluons and bogons are time-symmetric -- you can consider the absorption of a bogon to be equivalent to the emission of a cluon backwards in time.
Computing machinery -- electronics, in fact -- tends to be based on strong bogon sinks. A bogon-emitter in the vicinity, or indeed the random bogon fields of the universe, will eventually cause malfunction.
I am healthy today, and have regained the ability to emit cluons. In this case, I walked into the machine room where my Chief Minion was bemoaning the insufferable tendency of HP to build custom incompatible parts (to promote vendor lock-in) and fixed his problem by staring at the machine in question.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 07:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 07:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 08:00 pm (UTC)(I work with his son)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 08:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 08:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 08:10 pm (UTC)(Though I doubted the existence of the cluon, instead prefering a pure bogon-based theory. In this view, dsr is a major bogon sink. Unfortunately, absorbing bogons causes a fair amount of stress, which is why sysadmins are routinely grumpy.)
2. Cool! Didn't even know he had a son.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 08:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-24 04:23 pm (UTC)I met him years ago. Smart, nice guy.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-24 04:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-20 08:59 pm (UTC)