14 ms·

The DOE labs weren't so spooky. Lawrence Livermore was more like a campus with public bikes at the end of the 8O's. I got to program on the Cray 2 in FORTRAN

The DOE labs weren't so spooky. Lawrence Livermore was more like a campus with public bikes at the end of the 8O's. I got to program on the Cray 2 in FORTRAN as part of a DOE high school program. I even got a picture of myself standing by the Cray 2. They did take security seriously as it's the only time I've had a M-16 pointed at me.

whatshisface 5y ago
Aren't you, uhh, not supposed to aim at targets you don't intend to fire on?
- spijdar 5y ago
  Well see, that’s the thing. They do intend to shoot you, but only if you don’t do what they want. No idea what the context here is, but I’d assume military (adjacent? Do uniformed servicemen protect DoD sites and co?) security wouldn’t hesitate to point live weapons at you if you have to prevent someone from <x>. Unless you’re ready to immediately fire, you might not stop them from <x>. That’s how I reason, anyway. No personal experience thankfully ;-)
  - flyinghamster 5y ago
    Nuclear facilities of any sort are a good example of places where guns can get pointed at you, even if you're a U.S. Marshal on your way in to apprehend a fugitive. https://www.funraniumlabs.com/2018/09/the-fringes-of-regulation/ https://www.funraniumlabs.com/2018/09/the-fringes-of-regulat...
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  Well he shouldn't have used tabs instead of spaces, then!
- protomyth 5y ago
  Well, yes. Apparently, at the time, bringing a foreign national (such as an European exchange student participating in the same program to see the host individual's non-classified experiment) to the lab after 5PM was a bad thing. Bad things at national labs get an armed response very, very quickly. Armed responses are by definition pointing weapons at people who they might need to shoot. It was actually more surreal than scary for me, but I had grown up on a rez and was a bit more fatalistic than the other passengers in the car. I guess we made for a rather harmless test of the response speeds.

whatshisface 5y ago

Aren't you, uhh, not supposed to aim at targets you don't intend to fire on?

spijdar 5y ago
Well see, that’s the thing. They do intend to shoot you, but only if you don’t do what they want. No idea what the context here is, but I’d assume military (adjacent? Do uniformed servicemen protect DoD sites and co?) security wouldn’t hesitate to point live weapons at you if you have to prevent someone from <x>. Unless you’re ready to immediately fire, you might not stop them from <x>. That’s how I reason, anyway. No personal experience thankfully ;-)
- flyinghamster 5y ago
  Nuclear facilities of any sort are a good example of places where guns can get pointed at you, even if you're a U.S. Marshal on your way in to apprehend a fugitive. https://www.funraniumlabs.com/2018/09/the-fringes-of-regulation/ https://www.funraniumlabs.com/2018/09/the-fringes-of-regulat...
DonHopkins 5y ago
Well he shouldn't have used tabs instead of spaces, then!
protomyth 5y ago
Well, yes. Apparently, at the time, bringing a foreign national (such as an European exchange student participating in the same program to see the host individual's non-classified experiment) to the lab after 5PM was a bad thing. Bad things at national labs get an armed response very, very quickly. Armed responses are by definition pointing weapons at people who they might need to shoot. It was actually more surreal than scary for me, but I had grown up on a rez and was a bit more fatalistic than the other passengers in the car. I guess we made for a rather harmless test of the response speeds.