From the Onion: Heroic Computer Dies To Save World From Master’s Thesis

A courageous young notebook computer committed a fatal, self-inflicted execution error late Sunday night, selflessly giving its own life so that professors, academic advisors, classmates, and even future generations of college students would never have to read Jill Samoskevich’s 227-page master’s thesis, sources close to the Brandeis University English graduate student reported Monday.

“This fearless little machine saved me from unspoken hours of exasperated head-scratching and eyestrain, as well as years of agonizing self-doubt over my decision to devote my life to teaching,” said professor John Rebson, who had already read through three drafts of Samoskevich’s sprawling, 38,000-word dissertation, titled A Hermeneutical Exploration Of Onomatopoeia In The Works Of William Carlos Williams As It May Or May Not Relate To Post-Agrarian Appalachia.

[...]

“Jill called me last night and told me that she was too crushed to even consider starting over from scratch,” Mendel said. “One determined computer has triumphed over years of misapplied literary theory.”

Too funny.

h/t: a student via e-mail.

2 Responses to “Classic”

1. Alan Kellogg Says:
   May 19th, 2024 at 9:47 pm

   38,000 words, 227 pages. What did she use, 30 point courior?

2. John Hay Says:
   May 22nd, 2024 at 2:34 pm

   Really hits the mark.