Murphy's Law states: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." This is especially true and especially painful when there is an audience involved.

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This blog was active from April, 2008 to July 2012.
It is no longer being updated. It will continue to be maintained for reference purposes.

Cyberpunk: Being pros, they had a backup…

gibsonEven fictional characters know the importance of the first principleIf you can’t do without it, make sure you won’t have to.  Acting on this knowledge is what marks them as professionals in the eyes of the other character in this passage from my favorite early work by one of my favorite writers:

“Now,” Lucas said, “when Two-a-Day’s hired help, who are all in all a pair of tough and experienced console jockeys, when they saw what you are about to see, my man, they decided that their deck was due for that big overhaul in the sky. Being pros, they had a backup deck. When they brought it on line, they saw the same thing. It was at that point that they decided to phone their employer, Mr. Two-a-Day, who, as we can see from this mess, was about to throw himself a party.”

~William Gibson, Count Zero

I know. I’ve just betrayed a little geekiness in my ready habits. Just substitute “AV tech” for “console jockey” and “projector” for deck”. Okay, that’s still pretty geeky, but you get the idea.