The Wrath of Khan. Ricardo Montauban was worried that he was being too over-the-top and the director pushed him to be more and more so. The result is one of the most memorable science-fiction bad guys ever.

Something in Japan being racist?!?

Or lack thereof.

This should have been called "The Shirtless Garrus Chromicle".

You have said everything that needs to be said about this story. Perfectly. No need for anyone else to post. You have it covered.

Holy Self-Entitlement Batman!

I would like to think that the Academy knows everything that happens in every square inch of the boiler room and that the students are none the wiser.

you get my vote!

As a computer guy I see misused terms all...the...time. I've always assumed chemists see chemistry terms misused, economists see money terms misused, etc.

"I rub a mexican monkey".

As a computer geek I'm a little bothered by the odd use of "operating system" when it means "AI agent".

D12 is the red-headed stepchild of the core dice set family.

That is a more rounded answer. From above it seems like gifts (and their optimization) was all you were about. I am also at an age where gifts are nice, but I am more interested in the reactions I see from the gifts I give than to see what it was that I've been given. So I can see your point.

I need a tee shirt that says that now...

It's not about what you get; it's about someone giving. You really have overoptimized the POINT out of it.

Let me put this gently:

OK, you get the overthinking-it-on-IO9 award for the day, though. But you would not be a true geek if you did not do that from time to time!

So you can't infer any grade skipping or accelerated progress even if it is not explicitly mentioned? Doesn't the age imply it?

Even though the ambient air temperature is 350 isn't it possible that there are hotter pocket temperatures at contact points?

I know it from D&D