ooterness

Old hotness: Swing Wing

New hotness: Transform into bipedal mech

• Exhibit A: YF-19 variable fighter (bonus points for backwards-swept wings)
• Exhibit B: A-2 Viking armored mechanical hybrid

This 100%. Only a hobbit would bring their favorite cast iron frying pan on a transcontinental hike into hostile territory.

I've read and enjoyed a lot of Stross's work. Some of my favorites are Palimpsest, Colder War, Singularity Sky, Nightmare Stacks, and Accelerando.

Again, thanks for making the connection. I wanted to show the story to a friend, but the details I could remember weren't much use for a web search.

The event I'm referring to wasn't OP's photo. Mine was back in 2004 or 2005, long before Win10 was released.

That's it! Thank you so much!!

Maybe? If I recall correctly, this was Windows XP. Also the computer was owned by the school, so the students didn't have admin access.

I saw that happen once in a big presentation.

There was a team of students presenting their work to ~200 people. Right in the middle, a pop-up says updates are finished and the computer needs to restart. It has a helpful 60-second countdown, but "cancel" is grayed out, so all they can do is watch.

I was only in the audience and I still have nightmares.

Fallout narrator: "Trash...trash never changes."

I found this podcast which matches the title and author. However, it's about monkeys, not a spaceship. Thank you for trying?

Why am I reminded of the Self Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage facility from Star Trek: Lower Decks?

Relevant scene from LA Story.

Do not cite the deep magic to me, OP, I was there when it was released.