Computer hardware poster by sonic84

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

Benjamin Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com> writes:
>
> On Sun, Jun 20, 2010 at 8:48 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen
> <rozzin at geekspace.com> wrote:
> >>   "Standards are wonderful!  There's so many to choose from!"
> >
> > I actually got that quip as a fortune, recently.
> >
> > And I don't mean as output from the unix `fortune' program,
> > I mean an actual paper fortune in an *actual fortune cookie*
> > that actually came with Chinese take-out.
> 
>   That's awesome!
> 
>   Hmmm.  I wonder if some cookie company somewhere decided that they
> might as well use fortune(6) to obtain their copy...

My bet is that they did a Web search for "fortune quotes" or something,
and found... unix-style fortune files. This would mean that the meaning
of "fortune" has basically come full circle--that the etymology has
a loop in it. I wonder how many other etymologies are like that.

Though, I can also imagine a comic scene in which the management
at the fortune-cookie company is being asked to make a choice between
two operating systems: one being Windows, which requires expensive
licensing, specific hardware, layers of add-on security tools and
procedures, regular comany-wide upgrade cycles and employee re-training,
and a bunch of other things before the cookie-company can even start
to consider what other third-party tools they'll need in order to actually
*do stuff* (and how to procure the tools--and how to even *find* them...);
and the other system being one that just boots up and starts printing
fortunes on the screen (xscreensaver kicks on while the IT guy is busy
answering questions about viruses relating to the first system).

"So, this one is infinitely more cost-effective, and is also
 specifically designed for generating fortunes?"

-- 
"Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr))))."