Robert Davies tried to log onto FuckedCompany.com, and he could not, and he knew he was fucked.<\/p>\n
The chair squeaked as he leaned back. He double-checked the URL in the browser\u2019s address bar; it was correct. He pursed his lips and typed the URL again. Again, Microsoft Internet Explorer showed him its regular, unhelpful, the-page-cannot-be-displayed screen. It suggested he might want to check his browser settings.<\/p>\n
Robert typed in www.nTropics.com, the address of the Web servers sitting in the large, bomb-shelter safe room in the basement. His company\u2019s site popped up, with its neo-Aztec cursive logo and gold bar icon. He typed Instapundit.com, and the popular blog loaded. His Internet connection was indeed active. But when he tried to get to FuckedCompany.com again, the same.<\/p>\n
The first time was an accident, the second time coincidence, and the third time, one of his college professors said, was a pattern. This was the other shoe, and the axe was going to fall. He wanted to be sure, so he went looking for Daryl.<\/p>\n
Daryl was the company guru. Whenever a new employee at nTropics.com needed some help with his or her workstation, that person went to the two network administrators in the unlit office that probably was a supply closet before nTropics took over the building. Those who had more than six months\u2019 experience, few as they seemed to be, would go to the same guy the certs-from-a-book weenies did: Daryl Simon. So Robert made his way up a half flight of stairs into the Customer Support Room.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I Write Like said:<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/s.iwl.me\/w.png\")
<\/p>\nCory Doctorow<\/a><\/div>\n
I Write Like<\/em> by M\u00e9moires, Mac journal software<\/a>. Analyze your writing!<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n I didn’t like that answer, so I tried with the next block of text:<\/p>\n Daryl studied his computer screen. His visibility, and the high level of background noise imposed by fourteen other technical service reps all in open cubes, didn\u2019t bother him. When Robert got close enough, he saw Daryl was reading some system board review, dazzled and probably slightly intoxicated by the speed of the front side bus and the RAID capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cAhem,\u201d Robert mentioned after standing for a moment at the edge of the half wall, just over Daryl\u2019s shoulder and conveniently noticeable for anyone, probably, but Daryl.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s up, Robert?\u201d Daryl said.<\/p>\n Robert dropped his voice. \u201cI can\u2019t get to F Company.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n Robert hated to say it, so he hissed, instead. \u201cI can\u2019t get to FuckedCompany.com!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou kick your Cat5 out?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I haven\u2019t lost connectivity, I just can\u2019t get to the site. That means they\u2019re blocking us, and that means we\u2019re going out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s up, guys?\u201d Kevin Horton appeared and asked.<\/p>\n \u201cRobert can\u2019t get to Fucked Company, so we\u2019re all fired.\u201d Daryl tapped on his keyword.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s Fucked Company?\u201d Kevin said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Dot-Com Deadpool,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a rumors site,\u201d Daryl said. \u201cWhen a company\u2019s thinking about layoffs, someone drops Fucked Company an e-mail and the guy puts it up on the Web. A lot of times he\u2019s got actual e-mails and whatnot. Mildly amusing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as you\u2019re not on it,\u201d Robert said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can\u2019t get to the Web site, why don\u2019t you just can the net admins, Robert? Why do we all have to pay for their incompetence?\u201d Kevin rubbed his cheek with the arm he was leaning on. Elbow up, he looked foolish instead of nonchalant, Robert thought, but Robert\u2019s idea of nonchalance tended to parade rest. Hands behind the back in a non-threatening way. Kevin liked to repose like that, in his Dockers and collared shirts, dressed in business casual to rank him somewhere above the casual information technology rabble. He probably stuffed a sock down his trousers, too.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I Write Like said:<\/p>\n \n I Write Like<\/em> by M\u00e9moires, Mac journal software<\/a>. Analyze your writing!<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I don’t like that answer, either.<\/p>\n I’m giving up. There’s no telling how long it would take me to find a snippet that I Write Like would tell me the answer I am looking for (Ernest Hemingway).<\/p>\n But if my writing style varies that widely from one page to the next, I don’t question myself: I question I Write Like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So I tried out the I Write Like site using the first couple of paragraphs from my last novel: Robert Davies tried to log onto FuckedCompany.com, and he could not, and he knew he was fucked. The chair squeaked as he leaned back. He double-checked the URL in the browser\u2019s address bar; it was correct. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7700"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7707,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7700\/revisions\/7707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
William Gibson<\/a><\/div>\n