from "An Oblique Approach" by David Drake & Eric Flint

"Where else but from doubt can faith arise, wise fool?" Michael glowered. "It is the true sin of the churchman that he doubts not. He knows, he is certain, and thus he is snared in Satan's net. And soon enough, casts the net himself, and cackles with glee when he hauls up his catch of innocence."

The raptor vanished, replaced by the friend. "Others see in you the gentleness of your spirit, and the wisdom of your mind. Those are there, true. I have always recognized them. But beneath lies the true Cassian. There is no strength so iron hard as gentleness, Anthony. No faith so pure as that which always doubts, no wisdom so deep as that which always questions."

The monk straightened his back. "Were this not true, I would reject God. I would spit in His face and join the legions of Lucifer, for the archangel would be right to rebel. I love God because I am His creation. I am not his creature."

Gotta love NASA and the Lenovo T420s Hardware Manual

Cosmic radiation can refer not only to incoming radiation from outside the solar system, but also from the sun (NASA calls them “solar energetic particles”). If you’ve ever watched NASA tv, you know that solar flares can look very impressive; for this reason they have potentiated many years of ideal scapegoating when a technical problem must be blamed on something abstruse or impossible to refute.

So the next time you have a bizarre issue that really cries out for some kind of doublespeak label, feel free to pull this gem directly from page 56 of the Lenovo ThinkPad T420s Hardware Maintenance Manual.

Keep in mind these events are intermittent at best, and often very transient, sometimes clearing up in a matter of minutes. This may seem like a downside, but can be used advantageously to get your caller off the phone:

“I’ve got another call coming in which could be related to your issue. The vast majority of energized particles should be exiting near-Earth vicinity shortly; please power off your machine for ten minutes, then restart it and email us with an update.”

If you’re feeling really bold, toss in the phrase “coronal mass ejection” since the vaguely ominous acronym “CME” can then be thrown around rather indiscriminately, which should further allow you to intone something funereal like, “I’d better warn them to harden the data center while they still can.”