# I think I killed a hamster. Sorry. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943 "2012-09-07T02:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/1 "2012-09-07T02:27:31Z")
I was curious about the original of a dope meme and just did a search for the keywords, “when come back bring pie.” I got back the following error message: > [@Straight Dope Server](#): > > Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 536870912 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 81 bytes) in /home/straightdope/boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/includes/class\_core.php on line 3225 Exhausted? _Fatal_ error? Oh man…I’m so sorry. I hope at least it was an old hamster with not much time left to live. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/2 "2012-09-07T02:31:26Z")
Run out of ladles, did you? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/3 "2012-09-07T02:31:36Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > I was curious about the original of a dope meme and just did a search for the keywords, “when come back bring pie.” I got back the following error message: > > Exhausted? _Fatal_ error? Oh man…I’m so sorry. I hope at least it was an old hamster with not much time left to live. That was Hamster Zotti, **Autolycus**. You’re in big trouble now. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/4 "2012-09-07T02:44:39Z")
Yeah, demand has risen … again. That’s the message you get when the system gets overloaded. It’s a good thing (more pageviews) but also a bad thing (not meeting demand). ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/5 "2012-09-07T03:02:05Z")
That phrase isn’t originally an SDMB meme, as far as I know it originated from [this silly flash cartoon](http://www.weebls-stuff.com/wab/pie/). ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/6 "2012-09-07T03:23:28Z")
> **[When Comeback, Bring Non-Base 10 Pi](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=322665)** > > I got to thinking the other day about how it’s stated that if we ever ecounter aliens, the easiest way for us to communicate with them would be via mathematical formulas, and it occured to me that there might be some problems with that. Obviously,... ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/7 "2012-09-07T06:08:58Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Run out of ladles, did you? Oh yeah? Well, the jerk store called, and they ran out of you! ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/8 "2012-09-07T13:05:15Z")
I have seen this error too before (not recently), and I was wondering why there are only 512 MB of memory allocated (536… bytes is 512 x 2^20); don’t computers, especially servers, now have multiple GB of memory? Or is that the memory used by one search (improbable)? It would seem that this would be an easy and relatively cheap fix if memory is all that is causing the server to fail. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/9 "2012-09-07T13:56:31Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > Run out of ladles, did you? One of the flayrods has gone askew on the treadle? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/10 "2012-09-07T14:32:16Z")
Let me get one of the tech guys to explain it for you. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lBp5ag6SJH4/hqdefault.jpg "Allen-Bradley Retro Entabulator") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBp5ag6SJH4) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/11 "2012-09-07T16:59:40Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Oh yeah? Well, the jerk store called, and they ran out of you! And the jerk store called you to order new stock, is that it? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/12 "2012-09-07T18:50:14Z")
This is what we need here. May be not safe for work. (_Nude_) [link](http://diyeskopo.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/hamsterpumptingiron2fun.jpg?w=510) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/13 "2012-09-08T00:09:03Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Oh yeah? Well, the jerk store called, and they ran out of you! > [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > And the jerk store called you to order new stock, is that it? 😕 This had better be a VERY friendly exchange, despite appearances. Otherwise, take it to The BBQ Pit. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-killed-a-hamster-sorry/633943/14 "2012-09-08T00:32:25Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > This had better be a VERY friendly exchange, despite appearances. Otherwise, take it to The BBQ Pit. > > [/Moderating] It’s a Seinfeld reference. They’re having what the kids these days call “fun”. I know we have a gray line on what an insult is and isn’t, but I think a good rule of thumb would be “if you heard a 6 year old child utter this, would you be shocked or would you laugh?”