Twenty-one-year-old uber geek Cody who still lives with his parents (I got both of those facts straight off of his blog) got tired of my crap and wrote “I hate fake computer geeks.”
He’s right. I’m not a real geek. I just play one on the Internet. Damn, I hate it when I get found out. 😉
But, a real geek just finds solutions to problems, no? And at the lowest-cost and fastest way possible, no? At least that’s what Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, told me. His Apple II motherboard was designed to be manufactured the cheapest and easiest way possible. It was so well designed that housewives in Silicon Valley could build them without any errors (seriously, it was that good). Or, if you watch this video of Alex Gounares, Bill Gates’ technical assistant (that’s a real geek to you Cody) you’ll see that he uses stacks of paper to raise his monitors to a proper height instead of doing it a more elegant, albeit more expensive, way.
I used to load up my own servers and prove that I was geekier than the rest of the world. I beta tested OS 7 and NT 3.5 before they were out (seriously, ask my ex-boss at San Jose State, I regularly frustrated people when I loaded their machines up with betas of the latest stuff — in fact, that’s how I got the name “Scobleizer” cause I “Scobleized” machines, both there, and later at Fawcette Technical Publications where I helped out on a computer programming magazine). Then, as I got older and wiser, I gave up and learned how to scale my life. And, that means letting other people host my wikis and weblogs. Matt Mullenweg, for instance, is freaking awesome at hosting my blog. It doesn’t go down. He doesn’t charge me any money. And every few weeks a new feature shows up without me asking for it.
Translation: I don’t need to know how to host my own WordPress server. I just need to be able to find people who do.
Oh, and Cody, go look at this photo over on Channel 9. Hint: you’re the guy in the blue shirt. Heheh.
Update: I forgot what could have been my best answer — if I wanted help setting up a Wiki I could just call the guy who invented them. Ward Cunningham. Here’s an interview I did with Ward back when we both worked at Microsoft.
Scobleizer 
Just posted a comment on his blog entry about this. Jeez talk about someone who gets all upset because a husband and father wants to actually have a life! I guess since I am always looking for the easy way I am a wannabe as well. I guess when he was just an infant (if he was even born) in 1984 and I was figuring out how to use the Armies new Fire Direction Control computer in Korea without any training and was then only one in my unit who could get it working I was just “wannabeing.” 😉
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He should have programmed himself a spell checker. I am not sure what word “ebfore” is.
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Just posted a comment on his blog entry about this. Jeez talk about someone who gets all upset because a husband and father wants to actually have a life! I guess since I am always looking for the easy way I am a wannabe as well. I guess when he was just an infant (if he was even born) in 1984 and I was figuring out how to use the Armies new Fire Direction Control computer in Korea without any training and was then only one in my unit who could get it working I was just “wannabeing.” 😉
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He should have programmed himself a spell checker. I am not sure what word “ebfore” is.
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LOL!! Just looked at the photo you referenced. You made my night!! 🙂
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LOL!! Just looked at the photo you referenced. You made my night!! 🙂
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Michael: exactly. It’s also why I have a moving company here in the house right now while I get to have more fun on my vacation instead of having to pack everything. I’m a lazy geek, shoot me! 🙂
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Michael: exactly. It’s also why I have a moving company here in the house right now while I get to have more fun on my vacation instead of having to pack everything. I’m a lazy geek, shoot me! 🙂
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What a true computer geek would do would be to install and setup your own damn wiki software.
That’s the difference between a “geek” and someone that just wants to use the tool: sure someone could install a wiki but then they would have to host it somewhere, manage user accounts, watch out for spam, etc. The geek wouldn’t get to that stage though, and be content in his smugness that he could do a “./configure ; make && make install” and dick around with php for hours.
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Maybe you aren’t a geek at all. Maybe you are a highly technical business solutions specialist. At least, that is the verbiage that I use. The challenge I have with geeks (going down the stereotype path) is that “their technology” is the “best” – and everyone else is ignorant.
They often find the least elegant way to do the simplest things – for instance, while I can certainly bring up a variety of servers, maintain them, modify them, and even code them, why?
The Linux geeks – better than the Windows geeks.
The C# geeks – better than the VB geeks.
It is really very geeky, if you ask me.
Just a thought.
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What a true computer geek would do would be to install and setup your own damn wiki software.
That’s the difference between a “geek” and someone that just wants to use the tool: sure someone could install a wiki but then they would have to host it somewhere, manage user accounts, watch out for spam, etc. The geek wouldn’t get to that stage though, and be content in his smugness that he could do a “./configure ; make && make install” and dick around with php for hours.
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Maybe you aren’t a geek at all. Maybe you are a highly technical business solutions specialist. At least, that is the verbiage that I use. The challenge I have with geeks (going down the stereotype path) is that “their technology” is the “best” – and everyone else is ignorant.
They often find the least elegant way to do the simplest things – for instance, while I can certainly bring up a variety of servers, maintain them, modify them, and even code them, why?
The Linux geeks – better than the Windows geeks.
The C# geeks – better than the VB geeks.
It is really very geeky, if you ask me.
Just a thought.
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Matthew: that sounds like you make at least 20% more than I do. 🙂
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Matthew: that sounds like you make at least 20% more than I do. 🙂
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If you doubt that I know my stuff, take a look at my skillset on my online portfolio. Somehow you keep equating doing things on your own takes a lot of time. Actually, if you know what you’re doing, you can do anything pretty much on a computer with time to spare.
For example, my OpenBSD server had some corrupted files (my fault) so I copied my personal files to the slave drive, dban’d the main drive, reinstalled OpenBSD, and setup samba CIFS shares and all my other packages in under 2 hours.
I even write a shell script to handle source file installations. I could list out 15 different *nix source packages from, say, SourgeForge, and have them automatically downloaded, configured, and compiled for me. I could do anything I wanted in that spare time while my machine did all the work for me.
And I’m not saying you need to own the server that’s hosting your website. I get my space from x10hosting, but I installed my own copy of wordpress by using good ‘ol FTP and phpMyAdmin. Installed in 10 minutes.
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If you doubt that I know my stuff, take a look at my skillset on my online portfolio. Somehow you keep equating doing things on your own takes a lot of time. Actually, if you know what you’re doing, you can do anything pretty much on a computer with time to spare.
For example, my OpenBSD server had some corrupted files (my fault) so I copied my personal files to the slave drive, dban’d the main drive, reinstalled OpenBSD, and setup samba CIFS shares and all my other packages in under 2 hours.
I even write a shell script to handle source file installations. I could list out 15 different *nix source packages from, say, SourgeForge, and have them automatically downloaded, configured, and compiled for me. I could do anything I wanted in that spare time while my machine did all the work for me.
And I’m not saying you need to own the server that’s hosting your website. I get my space from x10hosting, but I installed my own copy of wordpress by using good ‘ol FTP and phpMyAdmin. Installed in 10 minutes.
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You are not the kind of geek that Cody defines to be.
This pingpong game between the Codys of the world and you can go on for ever.
It happens because the definition of geek is pretty broad today. We’ll start by defining categories of geeks and then set up an hierarchy system.
This much would get us a great flamewar on the blogosphere.
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You are not the kind of geek that Cody defines to be.
This pingpong game between the Codys of the world and you can go on for ever.
It happens because the definition of geek is pretty broad today. We’ll start by defining categories of geeks and then set up an hierarchy system.
This much would get us a great flamewar on the blogosphere.
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Cody,
Erm, are we meant to care about this? Is this you boasting? Should people be impressed?
You, seriously, seriously, seriously, need to have a good long hard look in the mirror, like
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I like the “guy in the blue shirt” because his OS runs on a UNIX backend (Darwin, which was derrived from FreeBSD). So yes, I like UNIX and I want a Mac because of that fact.
I only use XP because I need Photoshop CS2 for design work that I do.
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Cody,
Erm, are we meant to care about this? Is this you boasting? Should people be impressed?
You, seriously, seriously, seriously, need to have a good long hard look in the mirror, like
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I like the “guy in the blue shirt” because his OS runs on a UNIX backend (Darwin, which was derrived from FreeBSD). So yes, I like UNIX and I want a Mac because of that fact.
I only use XP because I need Photoshop CS2 for design work that I do.
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It always stings when “even housewives” (or “even your mom” or “even your grandmother”) are held up as the lowest common denominator for technical competence. It would sure be great if we could come up with an alternative that got the ease-of-use message across without the baggage.
Congrats on learning to delegate and scale your life! (I’m still working on that one myself.) Besides, you can always let someone else host your blog and still be a geek.
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Maybe when Cody gets old enough to have a job, he’ll find that delegating some of these tasks to save the 10 minutes here or 2 hours there would be well worth it.
Actually, he’s old enough now — I’ve been employed since I was 16. And BTW I do host and manage my own WordPress server, but only because I want more control over my blog. But why do it yourself if someone else can do what you need and save you the time? When I need a plugin, I could write it easily enough, but most of the time I’ll download instead.
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It always stings when “even housewives” (or “even your mom” or “even your grandmother”) are held up as the lowest common denominator for technical competence. It would sure be great if we could come up with an alternative that got the ease-of-use message across without the baggage.
Congrats on learning to delegate and scale your life! (I’m still working on that one myself.) Besides, you can always let someone else host your blog and still be a geek.
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Maybe when Cody gets old enough to have a job, he’ll find that delegating some of these tasks to save the 10 minutes here or 2 hours there would be well worth it.
Actually, he’s old enough now — I’ve been employed since I was 16. And BTW I do host and manage my own WordPress server, but only because I want more control over my blog. But why do it yourself if someone else can do what you need and save you the time? When I need a plugin, I could write it easily enough, but most of the time I’ll download instead.
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Oh, and your portfolio…that’s brilliantly hilarious.
I’d love to see you try to impress in an interview by listing some of them “skills”
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Oh, and your portfolio…that’s brilliantly hilarious.
I’d love to see you try to impress in an interview by listing some of them “skills”
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What a simple method to get hundreds of links.
noted yeserday that you Rss the word geek.He puts in a post with geek and we all link.
Buthey your my kinda geek
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What a simple method to get hundreds of links.
noted yeserday that you Rss the word geek.He puts in a post with geek and we all link.
Buthey your my kinda geek
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Thin skin, Scoble. You gotta admit, that Cody kid has some serious skillzzz. Maybe that’s why his blog entry stung you like it did. Talk about defensive. You gibber jabber about Web 2.0 social networking mumbo jumbo all day long, while people like Cody are the ones that really make stuff happen.
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I can throw this football over those mountains. Vote for Pedro and all your wildest dreams will come true.
See, there are many forms of geek!
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Thin skin, Scoble. You gotta admit, that Cody kid has some serious skillzzz. Maybe that’s why his blog entry stung you like it did. Talk about defensive. You gibber jabber about Web 2.0 social networking mumbo jumbo all day long, while people like Cody are the ones that really make stuff happen.
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I can throw this football over those mountains. Vote for Pedro and all your wildest dreams will come true.
See, there are many forms of geek!
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Hey, Cody, nice set of skills! I thought all those skills already got offshored to India, though? 😉
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Hey, Cody, nice set of skills! I thought all those skills already got offshored to India, though? 😉
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Roy, Roy, Roy. You’re right. I have thin skin. And I do appreciate it when other people have more skills than I do.
It’s why I link to other people. Most people have more skills than I do. I’m just having some fun with Cody on a Friday night.
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Roy, Roy, Roy. You’re right. I have thin skin. And I do appreciate it when other people have more skills than I do.
It’s why I link to other people. Most people have more skills than I do. I’m just having some fun with Cody on a Friday night.
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I’m installing MediaWiki to my server just to prove a point…the files are uploading right now via FTP, and once I do that, I’ll create a SQL database and link it to it, change some settings, and I’ll be ready to go.
So basically in the time it takes you to post about it, I’ll have a wiki of my own running.
I think being a computer geek means that you should, for the most part, rely on yourself to get something done. There’s ALWAYS a way to do it yourself, and once you get the skills needed to do such, it’s really a simple process.
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I’m installing MediaWiki to my server just to prove a point…the files are uploading right now via FTP, and once I do that, I’ll create a SQL database and link it to it, change some settings, and I’ll be ready to go.
So basically in the time it takes you to post about it, I’ll have a wiki of my own running.
I think being a computer geek means that you should, for the most part, rely on yourself to get something done. There’s ALWAYS a way to do it yourself, and once you get the skills needed to do such, it’s really a simple process.
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Cody..when did you see a woman last time?
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Cody..when did you see a woman last time?
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Krizdabz: I’m engaged to a beautiful woman. 🙂
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Cody: excellent. Want a job? 😉
Hint: I don’t want to be a developer. If I did, I would have stayed in computer science after second semester of calculus.
Do you define everyone’s worth by whether or not they can run a compiler? Hmmm, now I know why people beat on me so hard when I say I’m only gonna hire bloggers.
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Krizdabz: I’m engaged to a beautiful woman. 🙂
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Cody: excellent. Want a job? 😉
Hint: I don’t want to be a developer. If I did, I would have stayed in computer science after second semester of calculus.
Do you define everyone’s worth by whether or not they can run a compiler? Hmmm, now I know why people beat on me so hard when I say I’m only gonna hire bloggers.
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You’ll always be a geek to me, Scoble. 🙂
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Hey Scoble, what do you think of this 😉
http://www.cypherxero.net/wiki/
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You’ll always be a geek to me, Scoble. 🙂
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Hey Scoble, what do you think of this 😉
http://www.cypherxero.net/wiki/
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Cody: you’re hired! We need developers. Seriously. You can even run a show if you’d like.
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Cody: you’re hired! We need developers. Seriously. You can even run a show if you’d like.
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Cody did put up a wiki, really dang fast.
http://www.cypherxero.net/wiki/
Maybe you should use a wiki from him for your Off-the-Grid campout?
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Cody did put up a wiki, really dang fast.
http://www.cypherxero.net/wiki/
Maybe you should use a wiki from him for your Off-the-Grid campout?
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“Hey, Cody, nice set of skills! I thought all those skills already got offshored to India, though?”
Wow! Good one. Now how about you both grow the hell up. No wonder people don’t take bogging seriously. The most famous blogger in the world is in a flame war with a random 21 year old.
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“Hey, Cody, nice set of skills! I thought all those skills already got offshored to India, though?”
Wow! Good one. Now how about you both grow the hell up. No wonder people don’t take bogging seriously. The most famous blogger in the world is in a flame war with a random 21 year old.
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Toby: good idea. But he’s not the only one. Several companies set up wikis for me today. Including this one: http://www.centraldesktop.com/isaacgarcia/offthegrid/FrontPage which was done by Isaac Garcia.
Oh, and Cody, are you a geek like Napoleon Dynamite? I figured you’d enjoy this video clip: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2679657?htv=12&htv=12&htv=12&htv=12&htv=12
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Toby: good idea. But he’s not the only one. Several companies set up wikis for me today. Including this one: http://www.centraldesktop.com/isaacgarcia/offthegrid/FrontPage which was done by Isaac Garcia.
Oh, and Cody, are you a geek like Napoleon Dynamite? I figured you’d enjoy this video clip: http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2679657?htv=12&htv=12&htv=12&htv=12&htv=12
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Matt: my mom grew up. Then she died.
So, I’m gonna put off growing up as long as possible.
Actually, what most people don’t like about blogs is anonymous people who tell bloggers to grow up.
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Matt: my mom grew up. Then she died.
So, I’m gonna put off growing up as long as possible.
Actually, what most people don’t like about blogs is anonymous people who tell bloggers to grow up.
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Haha, that’s a great video, Scoble, it’s awesome. Yeah, I have a bit of ND in me, lol. 🙂
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what kind of useless skill set is this cody
Computer Repair Tools
AdAware-SE
Spybot S&D
Microsoft Anti-Spyware
AVG Anti-Virus
Not sure if companies will be interested in them if I put them on my resume.
If you really wanna be a geeky geek kind of guy, write your own blog software 🙂 Dont use media wiki written by someone else. Oh wait how about coding your own language and OS and protocols . Every geek at some point of time ought to make best use of tools available. It makes no sense to start from scratch
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what kind of useless skill set is this cody
Computer Repair Tools
AdAware-SE
Spybot S&D
Microsoft Anti-Spyware
AVG Anti-Virus
Not sure if companies will be interested in them if I put them on my resume.
If you really wanna be a geeky geek kind of guy, write your own blog software 🙂 Dont use media wiki written by someone else. Oh wait how about coding your own language and OS and protocols . Every geek at some point of time ought to make best use of tools available. It makes no sense to start from scratch
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Haha, that’s a great video, Scoble, it’s awesome. Yeah, I have a bit of ND in me, lol. 🙂
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anand: I made a nice business out of knowing those programs, by doing in-home computer repair. You won’t believe how valuable those skills can be.
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anand: I made a nice business out of knowing those programs, by doing in-home computer repair. You won’t believe how valuable those skills can be.
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[quote]How does a fake geek work at Microsoft, and get so much press? [/quote]
could someone let cody know that scoble does not work at microsoft anymore !!!
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[quote]How does a fake geek work at Microsoft, and get so much press? [/quote]
could someone let cody know that scoble does not work at microsoft anymore !!!
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Hey Cody, your definition of a “geek” is not the only definition. You can say whatever you want to about Scoble, but he’s a geek for sure.
Regarding your skills, yeah you do have some skills, but some of them are really funny: Ad-aware? AVG AV?
From your skills page, it looks like you don’t do core programming (you know, at the hardware level). Perhaps you are not a geek too!!!
BTW, did you write your own
“Packet Sniffing
Port Scanning
Wardriving
TCP scanning
OS Fingerprinting
Service Identification
Network Drive Mapping (Windows/Mac/UNIX)
ARP Cache Poisioning
Password Cracking
Password Hash Insertion”
applications???? If not, I declare that YOU ARE NOT A GEEK!
Put your skills to better use.
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Hey Cody, your definition of a “geek” is not the only definition. You can say whatever you want to about Scoble, but he’s a geek for sure.
Regarding your skills, yeah you do have some skills, but some of them are really funny: Ad-aware? AVG AV?
From your skills page, it looks like you don’t do core programming (you know, at the hardware level). Perhaps you are not a geek too!!!
BTW, did you write your own
“Packet Sniffing
Port Scanning
Wardriving
TCP scanning
OS Fingerprinting
Service Identification
Network Drive Mapping (Windows/Mac/UNIX)
ARP Cache Poisioning
Password Cracking
Password Hash Insertion”
applications???? If not, I declare that YOU ARE NOT A GEEK!
Put your skills to better use.
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Dileepa, Maryam is telling me to stop picking on Cody. She said that if he had used the word “programmer” instead of “geek” that he would have been correct. Where Cody went wrong is assuming that you need to be a programmer to be a geek. But, he definitely has more skills than I do, so his point is a good one. I just couldn’t resist taking advantage of him on this Friday evening.
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Dileepa, Maryam is telling me to stop picking on Cody. She said that if he had used the word “programmer” instead of “geek” that he would have been correct. Where Cody went wrong is assuming that you need to be a programmer to be a geek. But, he definitely has more skills than I do, so his point is a good one. I just couldn’t resist taking advantage of him on this Friday evening.
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Dude, he’s moderating comments. Lame. Here is mine, maybe he can read it here:
Dear Cody,
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Dude, he’s moderating comments. Lame. Here is mine, maybe he can read it here:
Dear Cody,
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I moderate comments to prevent spam. I allowed your comment and replied to it, go read it.
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I moderate comments to prevent spam. I allowed your comment and replied to it, go read it.
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I have to agree with Cody that Scoble is a self-styled fake geek, not because he doesn’t know how to do geeky stuff, but he doesn’t appear to know basic shit.
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I have to agree with Cody that Scoble is a self-styled fake geek, not because he doesn’t know how to do geeky stuff, but he doesn’t appear to know basic shit.
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Cybereer, you must be really smart. Can I be like you?
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Cybereer, you must be really smart. Can I be like you?
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Scoble, you are not taking advantage of Cody, you are engaging in a juvenile squabble.
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Scoble, you are not taking advantage of Cody, you are engaging in a juvenile squabble.
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Cybereer: you’re right. You’re so right. Hope you’re having a nice weekend!
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Cybereer: you’re right. You’re so right. Hope you’re having a nice weekend!
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Timeout!
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Timeout!
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Merriam Webster defines geek as :
”
1 : a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake
2 : a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked
3 : an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity ”
Cody seems to fit into 2 around here.
Scoble seems to fit into 3 around here.
both of you are geeks. Hurrah!
I haven’t met a category 1 geek yet.
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Merriam Webster defines geek as :
”
1 : a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake
2 : a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked
3 : an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity ”
Cody seems to fit into 2 around here.
Scoble seems to fit into 3 around here.
both of you are geeks. Hurrah!
I haven’t met a category 1 geek yet.
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Programmer != Geek
SysAdmin != Geek
Rather, the sets of programmers and sysadmins are subsets of the set geek. (Now was that a geeky sentance or what?).
Geeks existed long before computers did, and while the explosion of information technologies has led to a flowering of geekdom, the ability to set up a program on a *NIX box is hardly the be-all end-all of geekiness.
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Programmer != Geek
SysAdmin != Geek
Rather, the sets of programmers and sysadmins are subsets of the set geek. (Now was that a geeky sentance or what?).
Geeks existed long before computers did, and while the explosion of information technologies has led to a flowering of geekdom, the ability to set up a program on a *NIX box is hardly the be-all end-all of geekiness.
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you know, i find it hard to take someone seriously who doesn’t know the difference between “righting” and “writing”. i don’t think he makes a single valid point in his blog post. and, as has been said many times already, you don’t have to be a programmer to be a geek.
(and yes, i’m aware i use all lowercase; i was actually an honors english student all my life. i just happen to be a long-time programmer who, like most programmers, is incredibly lazy. shift keys take too much effort. at least i can spell! 😉 )
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you know, i find it hard to take someone seriously who doesn’t know the difference between “righting” and “writing”. i don’t think he makes a single valid point in his blog post. and, as has been said many times already, you don’t have to be a programmer to be a geek.
(and yes, i’m aware i use all lowercase; i was actually an honors english student all my life. i just happen to be a long-time programmer who, like most programmers, is incredibly lazy. shift keys take too much effort. at least i can spell! 😉 )
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If you’re argument is that I, as a human, made a spelling mistake, then you really have no argument at all.
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If you’re argument is that I, as a human, made a spelling mistake, then you really have no argument at all.
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edit: your, not you’re
I’m a bit tired, actually, so mistakes are being made. LOL
At least I can laugh about it. 🙂
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edit: your, not you’re
I’m a bit tired, actually, so mistakes are being made. LOL
At least I can laugh about it. 🙂
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You descibed the correct defination of a Hacker.
Crackers are a totally different breed.
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You descibed the correct defination of a Hacker.
Crackers are a totally different breed.
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You know after a while you get tired of doing it yourself. There was a time when I built my own computers, programmed in real languages (assembly language, C – real geeks don’t use Java), and produced operating system code for a living. Been there; done that. Now days I want someone else to do that stuff for me. I don’t have anything left to prove and I have a lot more things to do with my time. If buying an off the shelf computer and using a hosted blogging solution means someone is going to say I lack cred as a geek I could care less. It just proves they are clueless. Just because you know how to do something doesn’t mean that you have to do it.
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You know after a while you get tired of doing it yourself. There was a time when I built my own computers, programmed in real languages (assembly language, C – real geeks don’t use Java), and produced operating system code for a living. Been there; done that. Now days I want someone else to do that stuff for me. I don’t have anything left to prove and I have a lot more things to do with my time. If buying an off the shelf computer and using a hosted blogging solution means someone is going to say I lack cred as a geek I could care less. It just proves they are clueless. Just because you know how to do something doesn’t mean that you have to do it.
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I can’t believe you guys are arguing over who is the bigger geek. It was not so long ago, when being a geek was nothing to brag about, see #1, on comment #45. These kids today…sigh
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I can’t believe you guys are arguing over who is the bigger geek. It was not so long ago, when being a geek was nothing to brag about, see #1, on comment #45. These kids today…sigh
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Geek definition: A geek is someone who is really passionate about something. No one can train to be a geek..it is a higher life form 🙂
The geek test: You are a geek if you would be doing “it ” (whatever your “it” is) even if you had a million dollars.
Both Scoble and Cody are geeks, but different kinds of geeks. I view Scoble as a very good ‘tech journalist geek’, and I don’t have much of an opinion on Cody, though he could be a ‘tech geek’.
There is no geek hierarchy, and geeks are unlikely to talk down other fellow geeks (what happened to mutual respect..). The outside world thinks that we geeks are weird people, while we geeks think that we are the smartest people in the world.
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BTW, I am not a geek. Just thought I’d let you guys know.
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Geek definition: A geek is someone who is really passionate about something. No one can train to be a geek..it is a higher life form 🙂
The geek test: You are a geek if you would be doing “it ” (whatever your “it” is) even if you had a million dollars.
Both Scoble and Cody are geeks, but different kinds of geeks. I view Scoble as a very good ‘tech journalist geek’, and I don’t have much of an opinion on Cody, though he could be a ‘tech geek’.
There is no geek hierarchy, and geeks are unlikely to talk down other fellow geeks (what happened to mutual respect..). The outside world thinks that we geeks are weird people, while we geeks think that we are the smartest people in the world.
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BTW, I am not a geek. Just thought I’d let you guys know.
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Second geek test: Only a true geek would feel insulted if someone told him that he wasn’t really a geek. The rest of the world doesn’t care, and would view it as a good thing that they are not geeks.
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Second geek test: Only a true geek would feel insulted if someone told him that he wasn’t really a geek. The rest of the world doesn’t care, and would view it as a good thing that they are not geeks.
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Range: if you are reading my blog you’re probably a geek. So I don’t believe you.
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Range: if you are reading my blog you’re probably a geek. So I don’t believe you.
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My my. Nothing seems to get under Scoble’s skin more quickly than the truth. Scoble, why fan the flames? It’s sort of childish that you fell for his trick. It’s rather interesting how much energy you are devoting to defending yourself. Why do you feel the need to do so? Are you worried others my pick up this meme and actually find some truth in it?
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My my. Nothing seems to get under Scoble’s skin more quickly than the truth. Scoble, why fan the flames? It’s sort of childish that you fell for his trick. It’s rather interesting how much energy you are devoting to defending yourself. Why do you feel the need to do so? Are you worried others my pick up this meme and actually find some truth in it?
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My problems…I don’t live in Silicon valley and I’m not a house wife. So how could I even consider any thing technical? I want mother board…and a geek…or wait… is that a mother board in a different kind of package? (sorry…:D)
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My problems…I don’t live in Silicon valley and I’m not a house wife. So how could I even consider any thing technical? I want mother board…and a geek…or wait… is that a mother board in a different kind of package? (sorry…:D)
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Are you serious? You actually responded to that and linked to his post, which you just yesterday expressed as being valuable for pagerank?
Do you really undermine your readers so much that you have to make such an obivous point in such a low manner?
I would have concidered it as somewhat cruel mockery of his naive world view if you just had linked to his post as a humorical side note.. But after reading your post, his doesn’t feel so bad in comparison anymore! So maybe you did the right thing after all! 🙂
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Are you serious? You actually responded to that and linked to his post, which you just yesterday expressed as being valuable for pagerank?
Do you really undermine your readers so much that you have to make such an obivous point in such a low manner?
I would have concidered it as somewhat cruel mockery of his naive world view if you just had linked to his post as a humorical side note.. But after reading your post, his doesn’t feel so bad in comparison anymore! So maybe you did the right thing after all! 🙂
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I consider you a geek, Robert. You just happen to be a geek with a life and some balance. When I was single I’d stay up all night getting my website looking just right or installing the hip Linux distro of the time. I do host my own WordPress blog but that’s just because I’m cheap and not a reflection of any skill beyond the very basics. Most of the young guns I meet these days are pretty geeky which is cool because I can learn from them. I think I’m becoming the old guy who remembers what PINE and Trumpet Winsock.
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I consider you a geek, Robert. You just happen to be a geek with a life and some balance. When I was single I’d stay up all night getting my website looking just right or installing the hip Linux distro of the time. I do host my own WordPress blog but that’s just because I’m cheap and not a reflection of any skill beyond the very basics. Most of the young guns I meet these days are pretty geeky which is cool because I can learn from them. I think I’m becoming the old guy who remembers what PINE and Trumpet Winsock.
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Come on Robert! “I beta tested OS 7” – A *real* geek would know you mean “System 7” unless of course you meant to say “OS/2” perhaps? 😉
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Come on Robert! “I beta tested OS 7” – A *real* geek would know you mean “System 7” unless of course you meant to say “OS/2” perhaps? 😉
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Ok, Robert – you got me thinking (and writing) on this one. I think in this rapidly changing world we need to rethink what geek means. I would suggest that real geeks use tools.
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Ok, Robert – you got me thinking (and writing) on this one. I think in this rapidly changing world we need to rethink what geek means. I would suggest that real geeks use tools.
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Scoble, you’re alright. I commend you.
Cody, I used to be like you but I grew up.
=)
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Scoble, you’re alright. I commend you.
Cody, I used to be like you but I grew up.
=)
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Pete: guilty as charged! It was System 7.
Dan: good enough. Most geeks I hang around build things. Whether they are sewing geeks, coding geeks, or car geeks.
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Pete: guilty as charged! It was System 7.
Dan: good enough. Most geeks I hang around build things. Whether they are sewing geeks, coding geeks, or car geeks.
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People keep saying that if you install your own copy of WordPress to a server, that there’s a lot more upkeep. That is, infact, untrue. What I get is more control over my blog, over every file and all the options.
I can get WordPress installed in under 10 minutes, and that’s really it. Nothing to it.
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People keep saying that if you install your own copy of WordPress to a server, that there’s a lot more upkeep. That is, infact, untrue. What I get is more control over my blog, over every file and all the options.
I can get WordPress installed in under 10 minutes, and that’s really it. Nothing to it.
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Cody: really? What happens when your server goes down cause a hard drive dies? Or, when something else goes nutty? Valleywag has been down for more than a day now. Cost of upkeep is not zero.
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Cody: really? What happens when your server goes down cause a hard drive dies? Or, when something else goes nutty? Valleywag has been down for more than a day now. Cost of upkeep is not zero.
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He has a point, Robert. A true geek would do it himself. You’re just a “consumer”.
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He has a point, Robert. A true geek would do it himself. You’re just a “consumer”.
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Anon: and a real geek wouldn’t name himself “anon.” Hope that helps.
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Anon: and a real geek wouldn’t name himself “anon.” Hope that helps.
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>Nothing seems to get under Scoble’s skin more quickly than the truth.
Damn, found me out again! That obfuscation algorithm isn’t working the way it once did. Sigh.
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>Nothing seems to get under Scoble’s skin more quickly than the truth.
Damn, found me out again! That obfuscation algorithm isn’t working the way it once did. Sigh.
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Wow. Cody put up a wiki. That’s amazing. Only everyone and their grandmother can put up wikis these days with the variety of wiki apps out there. What a genius.
Who freaking cares? I work with people all day who do all this stuff and more and don’t think it’s worth enough to mention, let alone brag about. That’s a geek, Cody, not the guy who thinks fixing some corrupt files, running a server (wow, real hard to setup a server) or managing to install a wiki. This is 2006. In the early 90’s, someone might have been impressed. But only because they didn’t know better.
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Wow. Cody put up a wiki. That’s amazing. Only everyone and their grandmother can put up wikis these days with the variety of wiki apps out there. What a genius.
Who freaking cares? I work with people all day who do all this stuff and more and don’t think it’s worth enough to mention, let alone brag about. That’s a geek, Cody, not the guy who thinks fixing some corrupt files, running a server (wow, real hard to setup a server) or managing to install a wiki. This is 2006. In the early 90’s, someone might have been impressed. But only because they didn’t know better.
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If you’re on a *nix system using WordPress, and you’ve installed WordPress (and Apache, PHP, mySQL) to /usr, you can just do a raw dump of the filesystem, and if you need to restore it, it’s not that difficult.
dump -0f /share/usr.dmp /usr
Oh, and it’s not that hard to connect another drive and restore your dump’ed filesystems. Infact, you can just make a raw image of the main drive on a slave drive, and then when things get bad on the main drive, just switch drives.
You can even code that dump command into a shell script (along with anything else you need) and link it to cron to run nightly or weekly.
So what am I supposed to be worried about again?
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If you’re on a *nix system using WordPress, and you’ve installed WordPress (and Apache, PHP, mySQL) to /usr, you can just do a raw dump of the filesystem, and if you need to restore it, it’s not that difficult.
dump -0f /share/usr.dmp /usr
Oh, and it’s not that hard to connect another drive and restore your dump’ed filesystems. Infact, you can just make a raw image of the main drive on a slave drive, and then when things get bad on the main drive, just switch drives.
You can even code that dump command into a shell script (along with anything else you need) and link it to cron to run nightly or weekly.
So what am I supposed to be worried about again?
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I only put up a wiki because it had been hours since Scoble made his post about wanting his own wiki…and still had no wiki. So I just wanted to put one up in 10 minutes time to show how simple it can be done.
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I only put up a wiki because it had been hours since Scoble made his post about wanting his own wiki…and still had no wiki. So I just wanted to put one up in 10 minutes time to show how simple it can be done.
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Hey, Cody, if I need a Wiki server set up, I’ll just call the guy (Ward Cunningham) who invented them. 🙂
Here’s an interview I did with him: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=7726
Where he talks about why he invented the Wiki.
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Hey, Cody, if I need a Wiki server set up, I’ll just call the guy (Ward Cunningham) who invented them. 🙂
Here’s an interview I did with him: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=7726
Where he talks about why he invented the Wiki.
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Cody:
Why don’t you do domething more useful with your “geekiness” instead of boasting that you can write shell scripts (pfft!) and ‘./configure && make && make install’?
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Cody:
Why don’t you do domething more useful with your “geekiness” instead of boasting that you can write shell scripts (pfft!) and ‘./configure && make && make install’?
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Hey Scoble,
You make a good point in that a “geek” or technologist doesn’t necessarily have to manage or know the minute details of every implementation. For example, Steve Jobs isn’t a Computer Scientist, Software Engineer, or Electrical Engineer but he has incredible impact on Apple’s software and hardware.
Yet, I think Cody calls you a “fake geek” because you have a strong tendency to use meaningless buzz words. You often talk about Web 2.0, RSS or why Google is important but you have no real technical or even industry insight on any of these subjects. Your greatest asset was providing an inside view on MS, and you were awesome at that. Taking Coby’s advice and learning the technology will help you discuss it when you don’t have an insider explaining it to you. It’s worth your time IMHO/
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Hey Scoble,
You make a good point in that a “geek” or technologist doesn’t necessarily have to manage or know the minute details of every implementation. For example, Steve Jobs isn’t a Computer Scientist, Software Engineer, or Electrical Engineer but he has incredible impact on Apple’s software and hardware.
Yet, I think Cody calls you a “fake geek” because you have a strong tendency to use meaningless buzz words. You often talk about Web 2.0, RSS or why Google is important but you have no real technical or even industry insight on any of these subjects. Your greatest asset was providing an inside view on MS, and you were awesome at that. Taking Coby’s advice and learning the technology will help you discuss it when you don’t have an insider explaining it to you. It’s worth your time IMHO/
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Why would you need Ward Cunningham to set up a wiki for you? Look, this is the process:
1. Download tarball (.tar.gz) of MediaWiki
2. Extract Contents
3. Rename folder to something like “wiki”
4. Upload to server (FTP, etc…)
5. chmod 777 /config directory
6. Create SQL database and link to a username
6. Browse to http://www.website.com/wiki
7. Follow the onscreen steps
8. Put in the DB name and DB username
9. Finish!
10. (delete /config for security reasons)
Total time: ~10 minutes
So the whole point of this is computers geeks should know this already. It’s what makes them a COMPUTER GEEK. 🙂
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Why would you need Ward Cunningham to set up a wiki for you? Look, this is the process:
1. Download tarball (.tar.gz) of MediaWiki
2. Extract Contents
3. Rename folder to something like “wiki”
4. Upload to server (FTP, etc…)
5. chmod 777 /config directory
6. Create SQL database and link to a username
6. Browse to http://www.website.com/wiki
7. Follow the onscreen steps
8. Put in the DB name and DB username
9. Finish!
10. (delete /config for security reasons)
Total time: ~10 minutes
So the whole point of this is computers geeks should know this already. It’s what makes them a COMPUTER GEEK. 🙂
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Arch: “no industry insight.”
Thanks for the laugh!
Why don’t you come out and sign your real name to comedy like this so we can check out the janitorial job you do to pay the rent.
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Arch: “no industry insight.”
Thanks for the laugh!
Why don’t you come out and sign your real name to comedy like this so we can check out the janitorial job you do to pay the rent.
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Cody: I’m playing with ya! You need to see the humor in this.
You’re not a real geek, though. That’s what Ward told me. He hand coded his own wiki and didn’t download it from no place else.
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Cody: I’m playing with ya! You need to see the humor in this.
You’re not a real geek, though. That’s what Ward told me. He hand coded his own wiki and didn’t download it from no place else.
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Oh, and I do have my own wiki running here. I’m using Office 2007 and Sharepoint 2007 which has a wiki built in. It’s running on my Windows Vista machine. So, I guess I qualify. Oh, I interviewed that team too: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=211511 — they showed me how getting a wiki is a lot easier than doing all those steps you listed.
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Oh, and I do have my own wiki running here. I’m using Office 2007 and Sharepoint 2007 which has a wiki built in. It’s running on my Windows Vista machine. So, I guess I qualify. Oh, I interviewed that team too: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=211511 — they showed me how getting a wiki is a lot easier than doing all those steps you listed.
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Robert, it’s all about hard skills vs. soft skills.
Hiring somebody else to do it (negotiating price, “collaboration”, outsourcing, etc): soft skills. Not geeky. MBA-like, lardass, old timer. The reason longhorn is late, missing most of its promised features, and has no WinFS.
Doing it your own damn self: hard skills. Geeky.
Stop picking on a kid just because he disagrees with you.
Oh, and Cody, go look at this photo over on Channel 9. Hint: you’re the guy in the blue shirt. Heheh.
Threatening people on your own blog? Not funny.
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Robert, it’s all about hard skills vs. soft skills.
Hiring somebody else to do it (negotiating price, “collaboration”, outsourcing, etc): soft skills. Not geeky. MBA-like, lardass, old timer. The reason longhorn is late, missing most of its promised features, and has no WinFS.
Doing it your own damn self: hard skills. Geeky.
Stop picking on a kid just because he disagrees with you.
Oh, and Cody, go look at this photo over on Channel 9. Hint: you’re the guy in the blue shirt. Heheh.
Threatening people on your own blog? Not funny.
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Anon: if you think Longhorn is late cause I (or anyone with soft skills) was involved, think again. Gates messed it up cause he put in too many features that were built on top of too many unfinished technologies. But then anyone who read Philip Su knows that: http://blogs.msdn.com/philipsu/archive/2006/06/14/631438.aspx
Oh, geez, now I’m threatening people?
Why am I talking to an anonymous asshole? Oh, I don’t know. It’s cause I have nothing better to do cause my TV is packed for the move and I’ve already read all my feeds.
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Anon: if you think Longhorn is late cause I (or anyone with soft skills) was involved, think again. Gates messed it up cause he put in too many features that were built on top of too many unfinished technologies. But then anyone who read Philip Su knows that: http://blogs.msdn.com/philipsu/archive/2006/06/14/631438.aspx
Oh, geez, now I’m threatening people?
Why am I talking to an anonymous asshole? Oh, I don’t know. It’s cause I have nothing better to do cause my TV is packed for the move and I’ve already read all my feeds.
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Hey, Cody, if I need a Wiki server set up, I’ll just call the guy (Ward Cunningham) who invented them.
1- How is that efficient? A real geek like Cody can set one up for himself in 10 minutes! I suppose industry should hire dozens of people with skills like yours to “call” Ward Cunningham, spend hours setting up and appointment, wining and dining him – instead of a 21-year-old kid who’ll do it himself in 10 minutes.
2- Then why did you post about what software to use?
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Hey, Cody, if I need a Wiki server set up, I’ll just call the guy (Ward Cunningham) who invented them.
1- How is that efficient? A real geek like Cody can set one up for himself in 10 minutes! I suppose industry should hire dozens of people with skills like yours to “call” Ward Cunningham, spend hours setting up and appointment, wining and dining him – instead of a 21-year-old kid who’ll do it himself in 10 minutes.
2- Then why did you post about what software to use?
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Why am I talking to an anonymous asshole?
Geez, Robert. Are you that closed to alternate viewpoints?
Let’s keep the conversation naked, bro.
I am NOT picking on you. I am arguing with your viewpoint. If you didn’t want to discuss this, why did you highlight some kid’s blog on your own?
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Why am I talking to an anonymous asshole?
Geez, Robert. Are you that closed to alternate viewpoints?
Let’s keep the conversation naked, bro.
I am NOT picking on you. I am arguing with your viewpoint. If you didn’t want to discuss this, why did you highlight some kid’s blog on your own?
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Anon: why did I post about what software to use?
Because I wanted to know what my audience thought was best. I got lots of great ideas and learned about many wiki services that I hadn’t heard of before (and couldn’t find in Google). I even had one guy call me up on my cell phone and say he was in the middle of doing an event-oriented wiki right now and thought I’d be a good test case.
So what if you know how to install a wiki package. I do too. I just should have installed Sharepoint 2007 on a server and done it myself. Then I wouldn’t have to listen to anonymous assholes anymore.
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Anon: why did I post about what software to use?
Because I wanted to know what my audience thought was best. I got lots of great ideas and learned about many wiki services that I hadn’t heard of before (and couldn’t find in Google). I even had one guy call me up on my cell phone and say he was in the middle of doing an event-oriented wiki right now and thought I’d be a good test case.
So what if you know how to install a wiki package. I do too. I just should have installed Sharepoint 2007 on a server and done it myself. Then I wouldn’t have to listen to anonymous assholes anymore.
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>Geez, Robert. Are you that closed to alternate viewpoints?
You’ve crossed the line to assholeness. Cody was quite capable of fighting his own battles. And he signs his own name to his posts. Which I admire a hell of a lot.
But, I guess you’re gonna keep ripping me. Go ahead.
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>Geez, Robert. Are you that closed to alternate viewpoints?
You’ve crossed the line to assholeness. Cody was quite capable of fighting his own battles. And he signs his own name to his posts. Which I admire a hell of a lot.
But, I guess you’re gonna keep ripping me. Go ahead.
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Yes, I see the humor in all of this. It may seem like I’m pissed off, but honestly, I’m not really. I’m actually chilling out to some music right now, and I’ve had more laughs over all this than anything in a long time. 🙂
But, I really don’t want to piss Scoble off, because he was kind enough to propose a job offer that might happen. And for a college kid, that’s the best thing I can think of. 🙂
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Yes, I see the humor in all of this. It may seem like I’m pissed off, but honestly, I’m not really. I’m actually chilling out to some music right now, and I’ve had more laughs over all this than anything in a long time. 🙂
But, I really don’t want to piss Scoble off, because he was kind enough to propose a job offer that might happen. And for a college kid, that’s the best thing I can think of. 🙂
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Hey Cody, if you had seen the excitement over the red sofa from Gnomedex you would be in no doubt as to Scoble’s geek credentials, he is the “real McCoy”, a bonafide geek (in the most respectful of ways).
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Hey Cody, if you had seen the excitement over the red sofa from Gnomedex you would be in no doubt as to Scoble’s geek credentials, he is the “real McCoy”, a bonafide geek (in the most respectful of ways).
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I went out for a few hours, to be a non-geek on a Friday night with some friends… Look at all the fun I missed! Good to know so many opinions of geek-hood exist. I thought mine was the only one. 😉
OK, I admit, I don’t program, but I did follow along most of the evening via NewsGator Mobile on my phone. But, now my schizophrenic geek knowledge (based on today’s events in the blogosphere/echo-chamber/bits and bytes world of joy…) doesn’t know if that was geeky or not.
Maybe I’m just a nerd!
To All~ Thanks for the beginning and end of a fun evening in the comment section/mudpit/peanutgallery. Oh screw it. We’re all geeks!
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I went out for a few hours, to be a non-geek on a Friday night with some friends… Look at all the fun I missed! Good to know so many opinions of geek-hood exist. I thought mine was the only one. 😉
OK, I admit, I don’t program, but I did follow along most of the evening via NewsGator Mobile on my phone. But, now my schizophrenic geek knowledge (based on today’s events in the blogosphere/echo-chamber/bits and bytes world of joy…) doesn’t know if that was geeky or not.
Maybe I’m just a nerd!
To All~ Thanks for the beginning and end of a fun evening in the comment section/mudpit/peanutgallery. Oh screw it. We’re all geeks!
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Everyone has his own version of the definition of “geek”.
Would it lead anywhere?
I doubt that.
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Everyone has his own version of the definition of “geek”.
Would it lead anywhere?
I doubt that.
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Wow – everyone involved in this discussion is a geek.
Just imagine trying to describe what took place here to anyone who doesn’t use the Internet…
“Uhm, yeah so Scoble said…then Cody said….then this other guy said…”
After they are done staring at you like you are a mad-man, they might ask again, “Now where did this take place?”
On the Internet, man! You know, the place where /EVERYTHING/ happens, but it doesn’t really /EXIST/.
Michael B
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Wow – everyone involved in this discussion is a geek.
Just imagine trying to describe what took place here to anyone who doesn’t use the Internet…
“Uhm, yeah so Scoble said…then Cody said….then this other guy said…”
After they are done staring at you like you are a mad-man, they might ask again, “Now where did this take place?”
On the Internet, man! You know, the place where /EVERYTHING/ happens, but it doesn’t really /EXIST/.
Michael B
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Scoble is, infact, justified. Cody is mistaken.
As Eric Schmidt recently put it in an interview, this is the day and age of “Fast Searchers”. I needed a wiki recently, and I *could have* set it up myself. Instead, I asked someone else on the team to do it, *choosing* instead to focus on what I am good at and what I like doing: software innovation. I am not as excited about the regular stuff like installing wikis, as I am about designing the next generation of wikis (for an eg). I think the following makes me a geek:
– I look and tend to act like one. Proud to be a geek and of relatively poor social skills.
– I spend 16 hrs a day in front of a computer (even the breaks, and breakfast, lunch and dinner).
– I can code better than most people (engineers,etc) I have come across and simply have a better perspective on the software/web world.
Yet, I refuse to install a wiki by myself unless I have to. Doesn’t make me any less of a geek.
Cody, I would be impressed if you can install and configure TWiki, one of the tougher wiki softwares to deal with.
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Scoble is, infact, justified. Cody is mistaken.
As Eric Schmidt recently put it in an interview, this is the day and age of “Fast Searchers”. I needed a wiki recently, and I *could have* set it up myself. Instead, I asked someone else on the team to do it, *choosing* instead to focus on what I am good at and what I like doing: software innovation. I am not as excited about the regular stuff like installing wikis, as I am about designing the next generation of wikis (for an eg). I think the following makes me a geek:
– I look and tend to act like one. Proud to be a geek and of relatively poor social skills.
– I spend 16 hrs a day in front of a computer (even the breaks, and breakfast, lunch and dinner).
– I can code better than most people (engineers,etc) I have come across and simply have a better perspective on the software/web world.
Yet, I refuse to install a wiki by myself unless I have to. Doesn’t make me any less of a geek.
Cody, I would be impressed if you can install and configure TWiki, one of the tougher wiki softwares to deal with.
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Essentailly, Scoble is basically what in professional sports world is called a Jock Sniffer. A person who hangs around with professional athletes or jocks in general, thinking this will make them higher on the social food chain. Basically they like to hang around professional atheletes because they aren’t one themselves. It’s why Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks. He’s the ultimate jock sniffer.
Scoble does the same thing but instead of professional atheltes, they are computer and software pro’s. I mean, look at the amount of name dropping he does just in one hour, let alonge one day. Nothing wrong with being a jock sniffer. You just have to be willing to admit your place on the food chain.
Scoble I just can’t believe you let Cody get you sucked in. You apparently have some background in journalism. Did you learn nothing in that profession? People will write what they want to write. Ignore it if it’s not true. Do you really think Cody had the ability to affect your reputation. The amount of time you are spending defending yourself certainly makes one wonder.
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Essentailly, Scoble is basically what in professional sports world is called a Jock Sniffer. A person who hangs around with professional athletes or jocks in general, thinking this will make them higher on the social food chain. Basically they like to hang around professional atheletes because they aren’t one themselves. It’s why Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks. He’s the ultimate jock sniffer.
Scoble does the same thing but instead of professional atheltes, they are computer and software pro’s. I mean, look at the amount of name dropping he does just in one hour, let alonge one day. Nothing wrong with being a jock sniffer. You just have to be willing to admit your place on the food chain.
Scoble I just can’t believe you let Cody get you sucked in. You apparently have some background in journalism. Did you learn nothing in that profession? People will write what they want to write. Ignore it if it’s not true. Do you really think Cody had the ability to affect your reputation. The amount of time you are spending defending yourself certainly makes one wonder.
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Wow, all this backed up traffic, looking at the accident on the other side of the road…
Maybe Dave can define ‘geek’, like he defined ‘blog’…and then all will be settled. I mean, if Dave says it, nothing else left to say.
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Wow, all this backed up traffic, looking at the accident on the other side of the road…
Maybe Dave can define ‘geek’, like he defined ‘blog’…and then all will be settled. I mean, if Dave says it, nothing else left to say.
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Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where they’re having the fight over the parking spot in front of Jerry’s and the guy that’s the biggest idiot is calling Jerry a phoney.
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Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where they’re having the fight over the parking spot in front of Jerry’s and the guy that’s the biggest idiot is calling Jerry a phoney.
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>Do you really think Cody had the ability to affect your reputation.
LayZ: if I’m a jock sniffer, what does that make you? Someone who told a jock sniffer off. Every interaction you have with people determines what they think of you (and what others think of you).
You have to pay attention to everyone in this new world.
Why? Well, telling a handful of people something can get spread around the world in 36 hours.
But, I didn’t link to Cody to defend my reputation. I thought he had something interesting to say. The fact that so many of you got drawn out of your lurking and were offended enough (either by me or Cody) to post tells me something. Not sure what quite yet, but I do find it all very interesting.
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>Do you really think Cody had the ability to affect your reputation.
LayZ: if I’m a jock sniffer, what does that make you? Someone who told a jock sniffer off. Every interaction you have with people determines what they think of you (and what others think of you).
You have to pay attention to everyone in this new world.
Why? Well, telling a handful of people something can get spread around the world in 36 hours.
But, I didn’t link to Cody to defend my reputation. I thought he had something interesting to say. The fact that so many of you got drawn out of your lurking and were offended enough (either by me or Cody) to post tells me something. Not sure what quite yet, but I do find it all very interesting.
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Who the heck cares what the definition of geek is? It seems to me it’s more important to consider what one contributes to the community. Whatever that community may be and however it is defined. A Unixhead and a reputable blogger should be able to agree on that point and have some neutral ground to start the conversation from, no?
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Who the heck cares what the definition of geek is? It seems to me it’s more important to consider what one contributes to the community. Whatever that community may be and however it is defined. A Unixhead and a reputable blogger should be able to agree on that point and have some neutral ground to start the conversation from, no?
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Interesting. I haven’t read all the replies, either here or on Cody’s blog, but I’ll attempt throw my two cents out there. This comment assumes that Cody was serious, is somewhat smart, and was not *just* trying to make noise and get noticed.
I think there’s a definite tendency among us young bucks (I’m 21) to dive into something tech-related, pick up some knowledge and skills, get proud, and be ready to deride those who are established, have been around the block, etc., but don’t immediately appear to be “hackers” or “coders” or what have you. I got into Linux when I was 14 or so, and for a few years I was in “show the world what I can do mode”, and I spouted obtuse sentences like, “From the ksh shell, I can accomplish anything and everything I need to, with plenty of power through amazing commands”, just like Cody does. With regularity. And things I would later recoil at, like Cody will five years from now, when he reads “My BSD server is just a shell (ksh) that has sshd running” again. And for a while I was all about showing friends my OpenBSD installation (oh so secure!) or how I could write a Perl script that could do ANYTHING.
But at some point, you mellow out, you learn that theory matters as much as practice, that suits have their place, and that you’re probably never going to be terribly close to the 100% mark, as far as skill and knowledge goes. For every “fake geek” you happen to notice, there is someone above you on the ladder who thinks you’re a joke, and has good reason to. And you learn to stop comparing apples to oranges, and you stop worrying about whether or not a technology evangelist employed by Microsoft knows more than your Linux hobbyist self.
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Interesting. I haven’t read all the replies, either here or on Cody’s blog, but I’ll attempt throw my two cents out there. This comment assumes that Cody was serious, is somewhat smart, and was not *just* trying to make noise and get noticed.
I think there’s a definite tendency among us young bucks (I’m 21) to dive into something tech-related, pick up some knowledge and skills, get proud, and be ready to deride those who are established, have been around the block, etc., but don’t immediately appear to be “hackers” or “coders” or what have you. I got into Linux when I was 14 or so, and for a few years I was in “show the world what I can do mode”, and I spouted obtuse sentences like, “From the ksh shell, I can accomplish anything and everything I need to, with plenty of power through amazing commands”, just like Cody does. With regularity. And things I would later recoil at, like Cody will five years from now, when he reads “My BSD server is just a shell (ksh) that has sshd running” again. And for a while I was all about showing friends my OpenBSD installation (oh so secure!) or how I could write a Perl script that could do ANYTHING.
But at some point, you mellow out, you learn that theory matters as much as practice, that suits have their place, and that you’re probably never going to be terribly close to the 100% mark, as far as skill and knowledge goes. For every “fake geek” you happen to notice, there is someone above you on the ladder who thinks you’re a joke, and has good reason to. And you learn to stop comparing apples to oranges, and you stop worrying about whether or not a technology evangelist employed by Microsoft knows more than your Linux hobbyist self.
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Just to clarify my last comment, I incorrectly identified Cody as a Linux hobbyist. I don’t want Cody to think that I’m picking on Linux users, or lumping him into some group that I don’t or can’t identify with. He uses OpenBSD, and thus he and I share something in common, as I much prefer BSD to Linux.
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Just to clarify my last comment, I incorrectly identified Cody as a Linux hobbyist. I don’t want Cody to think that I’m picking on Linux users, or lumping him into some group that I don’t or can’t identify with. He uses OpenBSD, and thus he and I share something in common, as I much prefer BSD to Linux.
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I sincerely hope Cody is better at geeking than he is at writing comments, because I got three sentences into his comment and I knew who it was by the stereotypically geeky errors. Talk about lowering expectations; if his code is as meticulous as his English, I’m surprised he can construct anything more complex than a Guildwars avatar.
It’s fine to do everything yourself, but then you’d better be GOOD at everything.
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I sincerely hope Cody is better at geeking than he is at writing comments, because I got three sentences into his comment and I knew who it was by the stereotypically geeky errors. Talk about lowering expectations; if his code is as meticulous as his English, I’m surprised he can construct anything more complex than a Guildwars avatar.
It’s fine to do everything yourself, but then you’d better be GOOD at everything.
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Out of a hundred…you’d think there would be one good looking photogenic no pen in my pocket protector where’s my eye glasses I’ve been up for three nights programming too tired to talk can’t you see the shadows under my eyes where’s the toothpicks or starbucks…whatever, someone get me a macbook for company!
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Out of a hundred…you’d think there would be one good looking photogenic no pen in my pocket protector where’s my eye glasses I’ve been up for three nights programming too tired to talk can’t you see the shadows under my eyes where’s the toothpicks or starbucks…whatever, someone get me a macbook for company!
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Oh, I meant the ones that weren’t too young, too old, or taken. Scoble has a pleasant happily married look surrounding his geekishness. You guys are hilarious. Forgive me for making fun…each of you I’m sure is quite wonderful. Peace!!!
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Oh, I meant the ones that weren’t too young, too old, or taken. Scoble has a pleasant happily married look surrounding his geekishness. You guys are hilarious. Forgive me for making fun…each of you I’m sure is quite wonderful. Peace!!!
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Now, Kristine, you have no idea what any of us look like, besides Robert, and he is indeed taken. So don’t be aspersion-casting, yo.
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Now, Kristine, you have no idea what any of us look like, besides Robert, and he is indeed taken. So don’t be aspersion-casting, yo.
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To Geek or not to Geek that is the question. This whole debate is pointless.
No way Scoble, I’m no geek!
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To Geek or not to Geek that is the question. This whole debate is pointless.
No way Scoble, I’m no geek!
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Dude, again, take a chill. Your defensiveness speaks volumes. I didn’t tell you off, I simply made an accurate analogy. Again, nothing wrong with being a jock sniffer. It’s working out great for Cuban and seems to be working out well for you. Nothing to be ashamed of. But, by definition it appears you are the tech version of a jock sniffer. Hell, there are a lot of well off jock sniffers. Jerry Jones. George Steinbrenner, Stuart Scott, Chris Berhman. They’ve all made out pretty well. So, take it as compliment. You saw an opportunity to ride the coattails of those that actually perform in the tech industry and took it. (Wait for it, folks! Here comes the: “I got the highest scores at ”, or “I interiewed ”, tell me how many people can say that”? defensive retorts
What does that make me? Simply another rubbernecker that Mr. Coulter alluded to.
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Dude, again, take a chill. Your defensiveness speaks volumes. I didn’t tell you off, I simply made an accurate analogy. Again, nothing wrong with being a jock sniffer. It’s working out great for Cuban and seems to be working out well for you. Nothing to be ashamed of. But, by definition it appears you are the tech version of a jock sniffer. Hell, there are a lot of well off jock sniffers. Jerry Jones. George Steinbrenner, Stuart Scott, Chris Berhman. They’ve all made out pretty well. So, take it as compliment. You saw an opportunity to ride the coattails of those that actually perform in the tech industry and took it. (Wait for it, folks! Here comes the: “I got the highest scores at ”, or “I interiewed ”, tell me how many people can say that”? defensive retorts
What does that make me? Simply another rubbernecker that Mr. Coulter alluded to.
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If there is one thing I’ve learnt in the last 25 years in this industry its that there is always someone younger and smarter than you., but youth is no match for experience.
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If there is one thing I’ve learnt in the last 25 years in this industry its that there is always someone younger and smarter than you., but youth is no match for experience.
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Whoa…what a flamefest! IMHO, everyone can be a geek, and nobody has the right to call someone else a ‘fake geek’, since there will always be someone that knows a lot more about you on any subject. It’s extremely hard to be the top geek on anything
How would Cody feel if Linus Torvalds wrote (does he have a blog btw?) about him, stating that he’s a fake geek and he doesn’t know crap because he didn’t write his own wiki software? You could be an übergeek in your mother’s mind just because you programmed her VCR…
So, geekiness is very relative, you can be a user geek, a circuit designer geek, or a wiki geek – but you don’t get the right to unleash you bile on someone else, just because he is not a geek in your personal cloud.
(posted using a Nokia 770, is that geeky?)
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Whoa…what a flamefest! IMHO, everyone can be a geek, and nobody has the right to call someone else a ‘fake geek’, since there will always be someone that knows a lot more about you on any subject. It’s extremely hard to be the top geek on anything
How would Cody feel if Linus Torvalds wrote (does he have a blog btw?) about him, stating that he’s a fake geek and he doesn’t know crap because he didn’t write his own wiki software? You could be an übergeek in your mother’s mind just because you programmed her VCR…
So, geekiness is very relative, you can be a user geek, a circuit designer geek, or a wiki geek – but you don’t get the right to unleash you bile on someone else, just because he is not a geek in your personal cloud.
(posted using a Nokia 770, is that geeky?)
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>(posted using a Nokia 770, is that geeky?)
Mike: yes!
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>(posted using a Nokia 770, is that geeky?)
Mike: yes!
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Truely!
The fact that we are discussing this means you are a geek! I am in the same boat as you. I started out being hardcore, loading, reading, searching, researching to understand how/what something did something but there is one fact that hits you very quickly. “Either you have a hobby or you have a career” Looks like we both decided to take the career path.
While this path is full of more compromises I am still getting all of the stuff and getting exposed to more geek than ever.
Being 24 years old can really be easy, wait until you find the special someone, graduate or start working, have kids, mortgage, debt. You quickly learn that a hobby will only sustain you for so long and you need a career.
Or you could continue to live in the basement?
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Truely!
The fact that we are discussing this means you are a geek! I am in the same boat as you. I started out being hardcore, loading, reading, searching, researching to understand how/what something did something but there is one fact that hits you very quickly. “Either you have a hobby or you have a career” Looks like we both decided to take the career path.
While this path is full of more compromises I am still getting all of the stuff and getting exposed to more geek than ever.
Being 24 years old can really be easy, wait until you find the special someone, graduate or start working, have kids, mortgage, debt. You quickly learn that a hobby will only sustain you for so long and you need a career.
Or you could continue to live in the basement?
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Scoble,
Are you sure Cody is not a young relative you like and this is a clever ploy to give him some traffic?
Why exactly would you be giving weight and key strokes to Cody’s rant which is embarrassingly ill-written and very un-geeky.
Whats going on here? Come on now…
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Scoble,
Are you sure Cody is not a young relative you like and this is a clever ploy to give him some traffic?
Why exactly would you be giving weight and key strokes to Cody’s rant which is embarrassingly ill-written and very un-geeky.
Whats going on here? Come on now…
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Scoble, real geeks don’t scale their lives, they build better tools for managing them. That’s why real geeks don’t have maids, they rather do themselves or do without.
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Scoble, real geeks don’t scale their lives, they build better tools for managing them. That’s why real geeks don’t have maids, they rather do themselves or do without.
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No geek here, though I use old phone books to raise my monitor. A little duct tape and their as solid as a brick. 😉
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No geek here, though I use old phone books to raise my monitor. A little duct tape and their as solid as a brick. 😉
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I would like to stand up for the maths-geeks, book-geeks, science-geeks and hobbist-geeks totally left out of this arguement. ^-^
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I would like to stand up for the maths-geeks, book-geeks, science-geeks and hobbist-geeks totally left out of this arguement. ^-^
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Hey Scoble!
If Cody doesn’t want that job, then I’d be happy to take it 😉
My uber “skillz” involve predominantly web technology (JSP, Servlets, ASP.NET and (shudder) PHP). Oh, and, I can set up a Wiki in only THREE minutes, which makes me 3.333 (recurring) times the geek that Cody is.
Oh and, just an offer, I can host your uber custom wordpress blog for you if you like. I’m pimping Sun Fire Opteron servers in one of the best Australian datacenters on Teir 1 Optus bandwidth. (But as you may have noticed (if you bothered to traceroute), I tend to keep my blog closer to where my readers are 😉 )
Oh and, I’m 18 years old. So clearly I’ll work for less and have a fresher skillset than that oldschool washed up *nix nerd. Lets face it, Microsoft is where the enterprise is at, no matter how deep the open source community buries it’s head in the sand.
.NET PRIDE!
Looking forward to Vista server – can’t wait to see the joys that IIS 7 will bring for me!
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Hey Scoble!
If Cody doesn’t want that job, then I’d be happy to take it 😉
My uber “skillz” involve predominantly web technology (JSP, Servlets, ASP.NET and (shudder) PHP). Oh, and, I can set up a Wiki in only THREE minutes, which makes me 3.333 (recurring) times the geek that Cody is.
Oh and, just an offer, I can host your uber custom wordpress blog for you if you like. I’m pimping Sun Fire Opteron servers in one of the best Australian datacenters on Teir 1 Optus bandwidth. (But as you may have noticed (if you bothered to traceroute), I tend to keep my blog closer to where my readers are 😉 )
Oh and, I’m 18 years old. So clearly I’ll work for less and have a fresher skillset than that oldschool washed up *nix nerd. Lets face it, Microsoft is where the enterprise is at, no matter how deep the open source community buries it’s head in the sand.
.NET PRIDE!
Looking forward to Vista server – can’t wait to see the joys that IIS 7 will bring for me!
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This is some of the dumbest crap I ever heard. I know Cody only via the Internet, and we often do not get along, never share views, etc. But why the hell “The Great Scoble,” someone rather established in this life, is going to squable with some kid from Atlanta is beyond me.
This battle over who is a bigger geek is also childish and retarded. Just once I would like to see one of these battles in real life and not on the internet. It would be quite amusing.
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This is some of the dumbest crap I ever heard. I know Cody only via the Internet, and we often do not get along, never share views, etc. But why the hell “The Great Scoble,” someone rather established in this life, is going to squable with some kid from Atlanta is beyond me.
This battle over who is a bigger geek is also childish and retarded. Just once I would like to see one of these battles in real life and not on the internet. It would be quite amusing.
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I have to say I agree with Mr. Scoble. It doesn’t mean your not a true Geek if you don’t do everything yourself. It just means you are a General Geek. You have mastered the art of delegation, and as such, command other Geeks to do your bidding.
That doesn’t make you a lesser Geek. Rather, it makes you a smarter Geek!
I have over 2000 Geeks in 47 states that take their marching orders from me. Yet when they come to an issue that they cannot resolve, they look to me for the solutions.
Going by Cody’s definition, they should technically be better Geeks than me, since they are out doing the Geeky work, and I should be less of a Geek, as I pay them to do the Geeky work for me.
Fortunately for all concerned, Cody’s definition is flawed.
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I have to say I agree with Mr. Scoble. It doesn’t mean your not a true Geek if you don’t do everything yourself. It just means you are a General Geek. You have mastered the art of delegation, and as such, command other Geeks to do your bidding.
That doesn’t make you a lesser Geek. Rather, it makes you a smarter Geek!
I have over 2000 Geeks in 47 states that take their marching orders from me. Yet when they come to an issue that they cannot resolve, they look to me for the solutions.
Going by Cody’s definition, they should technically be better Geeks than me, since they are out doing the Geeky work, and I should be less of a Geek, as I pay them to do the Geeky work for me.
Fortunately for all concerned, Cody’s definition is flawed.
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