Volume 003 / 66 cartoons
The Cartoon Gremlin Files
Sixty-six small machine-room parables: smart homes, stubborn servers, AI helpers, support tickets, radios, dogs, and the occasional raw-SSH jump scare.
Showing all 66
Dog Admin
The household dog is clearly the real administrator of the climate, lighting, and security systems.
Filed under dogs, smart-home.
Cloud Local
A proudly cloud-native gadget stops working because the cloud is literally hovering two inches out of reach.
Filed under homelab, future.
Future Appliance
A futuristic appliance holds a tense committee meeting with other appliances before performing a trivial action.
Filed under future, smart-home.
Ticket Closed
A support system closes a ticket so efficiently that the original problem receives a tiny retirement party.
Filed under work, tech.
Robot Chore Board
A fleet of household robots maintains an elaborate chore board while one sock remains on the floor.
Filed under future, smart-home.
Coffee Dependency
An elaborate automated workplace waits helplessly for one human to make the first cup of coffee.
Filed under coffee, work.
Human Fallback
The advanced automated fallback system is just a handwritten sign pointing to one patient human.
Filed under ai, work.
Backup Paradox
The person protecting everyone else's data discovers their own crucial file is named FINAL-final-really-final on the desktop.
Filed under sysadmin, backup.
Agent Delegation
A chain of AI agents keeps delegating a tiny chore until an exhausted human quietly does it.
Filed under ai, work.
Password Manager — Remade
A password manager guards hundreds of perfect passwords but the human cannot remember the one password guarding it.
Filed under security, tech, remake.
Smart Home Literal — Remade
A smart home obeys a technically correct command in the most useless possible way while its owner stares at it.
Filed under smart-home, ai, remake.
Cable Label
Every cable is beautifully labeled except the one cable currently holding the entire operation together.
Filed under sysadmin, homelab.
Password Manager
A password manager guards hundreds of perfect passwords but the human cannot remember the one password guarding it.
Filed under security, tech.
Smart Home Literal
A smart home obeys a technically correct command in the most useless possible way while its owner stares at it.
Filed under smart-home, ai.
51B Seven Hours Of Fable Hq
Bonus image from the original cartoon archive.
A field report from the machine room.
51 Seven Hours Of Fable
Bonus image from the original cartoon archive.
A field report from the machine room.
Burn After Reading
This report will self-destruct after one view.
A field report from the machine room.
Show Dont Describe
Show, don't describe.
A field report from the machine room.
Emdash Arrest
Punctuation checkpoint. Em-dashes ride in the back.
A field report from the machine room.
Fake Dead Pc
Display teardown. Not sleep. NOT dead.
A field report from the machine room.
Noisy Probe
The quiet alert was the real one.
Filed under sysadmin.
Mission Control House
All systems nominal. The dog is napping.
Filed under smart-home.
Watch Concerns
Sunday, 8:10 AM. The watch has some concerns.
A field report from the machine room.
Bp Commute
Your blood pressure commutes farther than you do.
A field report from the machine room.
Phone Server
The Pixel identifies as infrastructure.
Filed under phones.
Prank Shelf
The prank server is production now.
A field report from the machine room.
Five Layer Squirrel
Layer five is off-site.
A field report from the machine room.
Sync Vacuum
It synced the deletions too.
Filed under sysadmin.
Unattached Ips
'Unused.' DO NOT unplug.
A field report from the machine room.
Unbilled Gold
$12,000 in unbilled work, right where you left it.
A field report from the machine room.
Viking Phone
The phone gets more monitoring than the staff.
Filed under phones.
Tuya Spoof
Trust me, I'm the gateway.
Filed under smart-home.
Nvr Hospital
He's stable. NOBODY touch anything.
A field report from the machine room.
Pfsense Wipe
write_config() saves everything. As nothing.
A field report from the machine room.
Ssh Popup
Raw SSH strikes again.
Filed under sysadmin.
Headless Browser
The tests run where no one can see them.
Filed under sysadmin.
Ham Radio
KC0EKS, loud and clear.
Filed under ham-radio.
Never Kyle
NEVER Kyle. Never again.
A field report from the machine room.
Ledger Nag
That's 25 tool calls without a session note.
A field report from the machine room.
Bots Miss You
Your bots miss you.
Filed under ai.
Claude Codex Bridge
The rivalry is mostly for the shareholders.
Filed under ai.
Advisor Couch
And how does that architecture make you feel?
Filed under smart-home.
Forgot Model Param
You forgot to say 'send the cheap ones'.
Filed under ai.
Delegation Chain
Fable directs. The hamster executes.
Filed under ai.
Ai No Credit
The AI ran out of credit to think.
A field report from the machine room.
Gemini Runaway
The bill is still printing.
Filed under ai.
Ticktick No
Sir, this is the fourth time. It's still TickTick.
A field report from the machine room.
Fable Watcher
Checking every 15 minutes. Forever.
A field report from the machine room.
Roblox Ctrl S
Save your work. Please. I'm begging you.
A field report from the machine room.
Google Voice Exit
They're sunsetting another one!
A field report from the machine room.
Playlist Avalanche
I'll organize them this weekend.
A field report from the machine room.
Onn Debloat
We saved him. He's ad-free now.
Filed under phones.
Rom Treasure
The lost city of 115 gigabytes.
Filed under phones.
Key Slayer
SLAY THE TYPOS.
A field report from the machine room.
Venty Panel
But can I control it from the couch?
A field report from the machine room.
Gunshot Detector
LOUD SOUND DETECTED. DEPLOYING PANIC.
A field report from the machine room.
Dog Climate
The dog's climate system has priority.
Filed under smart-home, dogs.
Bark Logger
Your bark has been logged and will be reviewed.
Filed under dogs.
Pueblo Pete
Thanks for callin'! I'm literally the only one here.
A field report from the machine room.
Kopia Test Folder
Everything important is protected.
A field report from the machine room.
Backup Guy No Backup
The backup guy's own PC.
Filed under sysadmin.
Llc Delinquent
The paperwork is almost done.
A field report from the machine room.
Password Sticky Note
I'll rotate it next week.
A field report from the machine room.
Powershell Escaping
Attempt 198. This time the quotes will survive.
A field report from the machine room.
Git Rm Nuke
I just wanted to untrack them!
Filed under sysadmin.
Runaway Grep
It's not crashing. It's been searching for the same file for 26 hours.
Filed under sysadmin.