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Geek Pride Hits Boston This Weekend 135

Posted by timothy from the please-note-I-said-throngs-not-thongs. dept.
Academic head of the MIT Media Lab Alex Pentland and Eric S. Raymond (ESR), software evangelist and straight-shooting author of some of the Free software world's most influential essays, will be there. If you can cough up zero dollars (or the equivalent in lire, pesos, krugerands, galactic credits, etc.) and get to Boston on Friday (31st March) or Saturday (1st April), you'll be well met at the 3rd annual Geek Pride Festival.

The Festival is free and brought to you by Andover.Net / VA Linux, Addison-Wesley and SwitcHouse.

Also in attendance will be the esteemed Cmdr. Taco himself, Rob Malda, and Christopher Locke and David Weinberger, authors of The ClueTrain Manifesto. Listen to them address the assembled throngs, and ask questions. In addition to speakers, there will be food, chair massages, a $500 cash-prize Quake III competition, an install fest with support from the Boston Linux Users Group, and booths representing groups like Perl Mongers, the Free Software Foundation and more.

Roblimo will be there, enjoying the street party he secretly believes is being thrown for his and lovely wife Debbie's wedding anniversary, and JonKatz may be there as well. The first person to ask Katz about his dog and the manhole, then transmit a recording of his reaction to hemos, will win an as-yet-undetermined fabulous prize. If you can't make it to Boston for April Fool's Day, you can vicariously experience the gathering via downloadable video and audio, available for the same price as the festival, less the cost of getting there.
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Geek Pride Hits Boston This Weekend More

Geek Pride Hits Boston This Weekend

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  • I always had the idea of a contest of who could install Linux the fastest... my friend and I did that once... and I felt at me "geek maximum." And it sounds like fun to me.

    djsw

  • Flying into Boston... (Score:4)

    by tokengeekgrrl ( 105602 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @03:53PM (#1161736)
    ...can be really expensive this time of year so anyone who's going might want to consider flying into Providence, Rhode Island through a smaller airline and then renting a car and driving up or, if you know alot of people in Boston, have them pick you up. It's only an hour away.

    I'm really tempted to go but I'm already going to be going to Boston later in the summer to visit my grandmother and cousins and old college friends.

    - tokengeekgrrl
    "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions

  • Am I delusional or is it REALLY annoying that there was, essentially, 48 hours notice on this? Ah, obviously, all geeks MUST have "mondo frequent flyer miles" to be able to burn on picking up high-priced airfare at the last minute if they wanted to attend.

    Come on guys, Andover's part of this, we should have had WAY better notice than 2 days...

  • I don't really get the use of the word geek either, but hey, it's like a term of pride to half my friends.

    Like, "Hey, maybe i was a geek five years ago, but now that's the coolest thing to be!"


    --

  • Slashdot trolls will be out in force... why?
    1. Natalie Portman will be within range for all the grit pouring you need. (She attends Harvard!)
    2. Boston baked beans make a good substitue for hot grits down the pants. As an added bonus, they taste the same even after festering in some AC's shorts all day.
    3. MIT might pull one of their pranks [mit.edu] for the occasion.
    What can YOU do, mere Anonymous Coward? When Rob speaks I think we should shower him with hot grits. The first person to write "First Post" on a bathroom wall will get the respect of AC's everywhere!

    Don't forget to bring hardware to swap!
  • note on the Providence airport suggestion:

    One option is to take a taxi from the airport to the Providence MBTA station, and take the train into Boston. This may be significantly cheaper than renting a car (and also possible for those under the age of 25) - you also avoid driving on I-95. check http://www.mbta.com [mbta.com] for the cost of that train ticket... I can't help on the cab fare.

  • Free Plugs? (Score:4)

    by Mike Schiraldi ( 18296 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @04:12PM (#1161741) Homepage Journal
    As long as we're plugging events that are only of interest to the small fraction of Slashdot readers who live in or near a particular city, i'd like to announce that

    Richard Stallman will be speaking in NYC next Monday. [columbia.edu]
    --
  • Uhm. No. Seeing as I personally have known about it for several weeks.

    Also seeing as it was posted in the quickies, a couple of weeks back.

    *Think back, you remember don't you?*

    -Janus
  • Not true. Geekpride Day is sponsered (i.e., corporate sponsership) by Andover, etc., but Geekpride Day was happening long before Andover was part of it. This isn't an Andover/VA/etc event.
  • Actually, I don't remember it, but searching for it in the archives did find it. So there was a whopping two weeks notice (it was posted 3/15). Still not exactly prime candidates for affordable airfare, is it?

  • Geek pride - april fool's day. (Score:5)

    by JudgePagLIVR ( 145069 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @04:23PM (#1161745)

    Am I the only one afraid of what a thousand hackers will do when gathered into a small area on april fool's day?

  • There are a lot of different
    kinds of geeks. You have computer
    geeks, science geeks, hardware geeks, etc.
    Geeks and nerds are
    getting all this publicity,
    but what about us space-cadets?

    It's suddenly so cool to be a geek.
    I suggest all you geeks remember
    what it was like before you were
    cool -- being a space-cadet still isn't
    thought of as cool, even by the geek and
    nerd populations, although its coolness does
    happen to be on the rise.

    A note to Rob -- please change "news for nerds"
    to "news for nerds and space-cadets".

  • Oddly enough, i was already planning on taking a vacation to Boston this weekend. I'll have to stop by.

    And no, i can't tell you details about my job. But at least i can pony up a couple of pre-IPO shares so i can use the restroom. :P

    __
    (oO)
    /||\

  • Not even at gunpoint. (Score:5)

    by Venomous Louse ( 12488 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @04:39PM (#1161748)

    "Geek Pride" my ass. What a ridiculous crock of shit. Thousands of at-least-semi-intelligent young men, most of whom can't get laid, all standing around and telling themselves they're the master race because they know how to configure sendmail.

    If geek pride didn't involve inventing bogus excuses to sneer at everybody else, I might be able to take it seriously.

    Furthermore, the prospect of meeting Eric "You're Endangering My Tribe" Raymond is about as appealing as a headwound.

    Even if I did want to play Professional Geek this weekend, I can't: I've got to be in the office. I've got code to write.

  • If you can't "be there" you can still "be there" ala the Web site. cuseemeworld.com is setting up a little video chat area and thesync has offered to help out with an audiocast. A couple people will be roaming around with video cameras and highlights will be on the geekpride.org Web site sometime after the Festival.

    And if all goes well, there will be Geek Pride Festivals beyond Boston. :)

  • Well, I was considering stopping by, but I guess I'm still not grown-up enough. Sucks.

  • is it just me or considering the short notice as well as the timing of this event perhaps a very complex april fools joke (i know it starts on the day before) but that would be pretty amusing to all those who chose not to attend to discover that all these geeks show up with their laptops only to be told "april fools" so they just go over to MIT and utilize their ethernet connection for a Quake 3 tourney anyways, no prize though

    i gues i have answered my own question here-even if it is a joke it doesnt matter-get enough geeks together and well figger out a way to have fun (in our own geeky way)

    latre
  • umm..no dimwit. suns HQ is in burlington. take a bus from alewife T station to get to it. its 4 bldgs and looks like a university campus. waay kewl.
  • 'IF I EVER MEET THE "IF I EVER MEET YOU I WILL KICK YOUR ASS" GUY, I WILL KICK HIS ASS'

    Hey, that's *almost* a quine! And in Flamebait's clothing!
  • hey..its just a show with a large amount of floor time for speakers. its not that big a deal..not like a gay pride parade or something. if you want to miss watching ESR and the /. crew spout off, its your perogative.

  • April Fools? (or not...) (Score:3)

    by trims ( 10010 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @04:52PM (#1161755) Homepage

    I used to work for Prof. Pentland, and he's definately a good guy to hang out with, not to mention having a packed head (as Ender would say).

    However, when I first heard of this thing via the MediaLab mailing lists, I had to wonder about the sanity of those involved. Or, at least, the common sense.

    I mean, the Lab has done some really strange stuff over the years (anyone remember the original "fashion-show-with-wearable-computers"?), but I have to say, getting a group of nationwide geeks together is kinda weird. I mean, when I used to work there, you already had the biggest bunch of geeks together in one place.

    Oh well, I'll probably fly cross-country to get there just for giggle (and to see my friends).

    Fight advice: Check out the specials from the various airlines starting today for flights leaving early Saturday morning and returning Sunday or Monday. I can usually catch a flight from SFO to BOS for about $300 or so. I got used to seeing $150 from most East Coast cities for such a jaunt. And, when you're there, buy a 3-day T pass. It's cheap, and Boston has excellent public transporation.

    Tourist Advice: go to RedBones in Davis Square (off the Red Line) for some tasty BBQ. Check out the MIT Museum for some randomly nerdy exhibits and a cool display of MIT hacks memorabilia. Go to E.L.I. computing on hampshire st in cambridge for a look at all the wonderful old recycled computer parts (they used to be the only place I could find PDP-11 parts). And, of course, go see the Boston Computer Museum (conveniently next to the Children's Museum).

    Have fun!

    -Erik

  • I wish I could go, but I can't make it cause I'm too stupid to properly plan anything. Maybe I'll see ya'll next year...

    Someone previously said, "This is a crock, lots of young men who couldn't get laid, and who are getting together to sneer at other people." (the quote isn't exact but I'm sure you can find that post). I wanted to go to geek pride to:

    1. Here the band Everyone. If you've ever played a video game in your life, you will *LOVE* this band. They're really cool ^^
    2. Most of ya'll use Unix, but I swear to God, I know Windows 98 like the back of my hand (kind of dry, needs lotion, breaks every time someone takes a hammer to it) and I'm damn good with Active Server Pages. I'd love to meet any closet Windows geeks =)
    3. Maybe there will be lots of young men who can't get laid. Who cares? If there were girls at Geek Pride, I'd rather talk to them to find out what makes them fall into the geek category instead of hit on them.
    4. Why sneer at anybody? Geek- or non-geek-involved sneering, either way, is pointless. You don't have to sneer at another group of people to have a good time...

    If you do go to Geek Pride, have fun for me... I'll be right here randomly uploading slashdot as usual. I'll join ya next time...
    --
    Peace,
    Lord Omlette
    AOL IM: jeanlucpikachu

  • Foreign language translation (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @04:55PM (#1161757)
    Translated using yodafish.altavista.com [altavista.com]:

    Alex Pentland, academic head of the MIT Media Lab he is, and Eric S. Raymond (ESR), software evangelist and straight-shooting author of some of the Free sofware world's most influential essays he is, be there they will. If you zero dollars (or the equivalent in lire, persos, krugerands, galactic credits, ec.) can cough up and Boston on Friday (31st March) or Saturday (1st April) get to, well met at the 3rd annual Geek Pride Festival you will be. Free and brought to you by Andover.Net / VA Linux, Addision Wesley, and SwitcHouse the Festival is.

    In attendance the esteemed Cmdr. Taco himself, Rob Malda he is, and Christopher Locke and David Weinberger, authors of The ClueTrain Manifesto they are, will be. The assembled throngs listen to them address, and questions ask. Food, chair massages, Quake II competition for $500 cash prize it is, support from the Boston Linux Users Group an install fest with, and booths groups like Perl Mongers, the Free Software Foundation, and more representing they are, in addition to speakers there will be.

    Be there Roblimo will. The street party is thrown for his and his lovely wife Debbie's wedding anniversay believes he, and enjoy it he will. Be there Jon Katz may as well. The first person to about his dog and the manhole ask Katz and to hemos transmit a recording of his reaction win an as-yet-undertermined fabulous prize he will. For April Fool's make it to Boston. Do not make it and experience vicariously the gathering via downloadable video and audio -- for the same price as the festival less the cost of getting there, available it is. There is no try to make it.

  • Hey, I can get together the fee in zorkmids! Can I come?
  • A few points for clarity:

    1) I wrote and posted the article. I hope Rob likes it, but I have no telepathic link to him. No one at VA knows me in particular, or how to reach me any better than the rest of the world does, since my email address is public knowledge.

    2) Related to that last part, it would be pretty hard (and silly) for slashdot to ignore things that are related to VA Linux. The fact is, like Red Hat (and General Motors, and the Crips), VA does a lot of stuff. If we did ignore anything related to VA, it would mean not talking about projected hosted by sourceforge, or about VA buying other companies, for good or for ill.

    See conspiracies where you will, of course, but q) bad-mouthing Rob really doesn't make sense here that I can see and w) our story choices aren't perfect, but they're hardly made by puppetmaster VA evil geniuses.

    Thanks for considering,

    timothy
  • ESR and I carry the same sidearm (COM1911)... maybe we can have a duel at the Geek festival!

  • If you attend, make sure to stop by the MIT Coop and pick up some pocket protectors. They have some that say: MIT Nerd Pride Which are very very very cool.
  • How slow do you drive? I can make it up from prov to the junction of 95/93 and back down to kingston (rt 3 ext 10) in 20 minutes. Then again being one of the nuttier boston drivers probly helps. And if any of you tourist ask me to say "pahk da cah in havahd yahd" ill slap you. For a prep if you are visiting check out masshole.com i think. Knowing boston driving laws will help. (rember signs are only suggestions)

  • Re:Not even at gunpoint. (Score:4)

    by _Mustang ( 96904 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @05:21PM (#1161763)
    Frankly I couldn't agree more. The sad truth of our age seems to be nowhere more exacerbated than by events like this one. "Geek pride"? So now all of a sudden being geek falls into the same category as being gay - something for which "coming out of the closet" is an apparent necessity.

    And how wonderful, we get to
    "..Listen to them address the assembled throngs, and ask questions..."
    Since when did we as geeks ever decend to the level of being just another cow in the herd..
    I must say I am very disappointed in the way this whole thing has been presented. Instead of being a herald to the *new and better* way of doing things that we as the most intelligent minds of our times could offer, this comes across as nothing better than a frat-house beer party

    ..there will be food, chair massages, a $500 cash-prize Quake III competition,..

    never before has being intelligent meant so little to moving a cause forward..

  • In the interest of full disclosure... (Score:3)

    by Merk ( 25521 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @05:22PM (#1161764) Homepage

    You guys might want to point out that it's presented by Andover.Net [andover.net] and VA Linux [valinux.com], who are the owners of Slashdot. I know, in this case it's something they're sponsoring, not something they're trying to promote and make money from -- but now that Slashdot is sponsored by the big boys, you guys should start putting a disclosure statement in things involving Slashdot ownership.

    Btw, for those of you like me who have no hope of making it on such short notice, I saw this on the site:

    The Festival is Distributed. If you can't physically make it to the Festival, connect to the website and watch the happenings. Or, get your local Net cafe to join up and throw their own fling. All they have to do is let us know and they're in. It would be kinda cool if geeks from all over this little old world of ours could take a couple days off to celebrate. What the hell!

  • I highly recommend the use of public transportation during your stay in Boston. As a Massachusetts resident who lives 25 miles south of the city, I know that traffic in Boston can be horrendous, particularly on the Central Artery (I-93) in the morning and afternoon (especially when there is an event at the FleetCenter). Taking a taxi can be rather expensive, and driving around and finding places to park is quite a hassle.

    Boston's public transportation system, the MBTA (known to us as "The T"), is reliable, clean, safe, and inexpensive (fare = $0.85, one of the few cities where you can take public transportation for less than a dollar). If you're coming from Logan Airport, take a Blue Line train inbound to Government Center and change over there to the Green Line. Take a southbound train to the Boylston Street stop. The Park Plaza castle is about two blocks away from the T station.

    Hope that helps. If you've never visited the Commonwealth before, I wouldn't recommend driving here. We're notorious for road rage and poor driving skills.

    Enjoy your stay in Boston!



    awkwardone
  • A phrase preceeded by a quoted copy of itself is a quine.

    "is a quine" is a quine
    "is a sentence fragment" is a sentence fragment

    If this interests you, check out Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter.
    --

  • We're Here!
    We're Geeks!
    We're- hold on, I have to reload slashdot.

    ----
    Don't underestimate the power of peanut brittle
  • Flying into Providence and/or trying to find a hotel in Providence may be a bad idea. The NCAA Ice Hockey final 4 is in Providence, is sold out, and is probably occupying a goodly number of hotel rooms in Providence.

    Yes, a geek who actually knows about sports. Kinda amazing, isn't it?

  • Me too. A little too close...
  • Unfortunatly... the MBTA Commuter rail doesn't run from providence on saturday/sunday. You'd have to take a taxi all the way to the South Attleboro Station.

  • They need volunteers! URL to volunteer. (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    http://www.geekpride.org/ma ilman/listinfo/gp_volunteers [geekpride.org]

    Moderators, please moderate this up!

  • That's just for the Friday event. Saturday is an "All ages" event.
  • No it's not. The Geek Pride festival has been around for a while. Those companies are just sponsoring this one.

    But either way, you can go to this *and* go see RMS.

    --

  • Erhm, re-read the article. It says that it's sponsored by andover and VA.
  • Majority rule is an important concept in any kind of democracy. Your post is moderated down because, since it is unrelated to the topic, the majority of readers do not want to waste their time on it. Moderation expedites the reading experience by allowing readers to make quick decisions regarding which posts to read. Being moderated down does not mean that readers cannot read your opinion, nor does it mean you cannot write your opinion. Moderation is merely a tool to improve the quality of the Slashdot experience and a way for ordinary people to participate in the system; it is not censorship.

    Being on topic now, This geek pride thing sounds interesting, but there is another event of earth-shattering importance coming up soon, and it IS an april fools' day joke: NATIONAL ATHEISTS' DAY IS APRIL 1ST! ("And the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God")
  • I like "Nerd" better myself

  • Re:They need volunteers! URL to volunteer. (Score:5)

    by intuition ( 74209 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @05:50PM (#1161777) Homepage
    Since the site is /.'d to volunteer you can email me - I am the volunteer coordinator. I will forward you details. (Again volunteers please moderate this up.)

    jason@4u.net [mailto]

  • I agree. Geeks being proud of their alleged intellectual superiority is just as repugnant as whites being proud of their alleged genetic superiority. Would Slashdot advertise "White Pride day"?
  • I followed the link to esr's gun nut page. I have to say I have never seen somebody so thrilled at their ability to put "big-slow-bullet"s into human-figured target's hearts and heads.
  • The bad news: last year, the Computer Museum merged with the Museum of Science and moved out of Museum Wharf. The Children's Museum, I believe, has since expanded to take over the space.

    The good news: I haven't been to the Museum of Science since the move, but I believe quite a few of the Computer Museum exhibits are now up and running in their new home. So it's a nice twofer when you go there. It's right on the Green Line. And the MoS is, I think, one of the better ones of it's kind in the country.

    (not to mention the great parties Ingram used to throw there during Macworld back before they split for NYC)

    Special Boston museum bonus: the penguins at the New England Aquarium. Go see them. For some strange reason, none of them really resemble Tux that much...

    And there's a Franklin Covey store pretty close to the Castle (in the Prudential Center mall), where you can get all sorts of goodies and software for your Palm if the urge strikes you.

    Finally, besides the excellent Redbones mentioned in the previous post, the Castle is also fairly close to Boston's Chinatown, where there is good eatin' to be had.

    - -Josh Turiel

  • Geeky.org is up (Score:3)

    by Pike ( 52876 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2000 @06:07PM (#1161781) Journal
    It's unrealistic to expect slashdot, a software-centric site to cover all stuff relating to nerds and geeks like us.

    I don't know about geeky being cool; it seems cool here because we're all geeks! Out in RL it's really not as hot as hollywood makes it out to be. Yes, Jon Katz, we're still a persecuted minority! And what are YOU doing about it?

    *slap*

    Thanks, I needed that.

    Anyhow, a couple of us /.ers have set up geeky.org [geeky.org] running Scoop [slashdot.org] (not slashcode [slashcode.org]) for the true range of geeky stuff. Get your early #'ed account now!

    Not much there yet, but we plan to fix that in the next day or so. Feel free to submit something.

    -JD
  • Boston geeks have known about it for weeks. :)

  • Instead of being a herald to the *new and better* way of doing things that we as the most intelligent minds of our times could offer, this comes across as nothing better than a frat-house beer party

    Are you serious? Being a "herald to the new and better way" has it's time and place, but so does enjoying yourself and hanging out with people with similiar interests. Is a frat-house beer party for geeks so bad? Man, I bet you are a lot of fun to hang out with.
  • The NCAA Ice Hockey final 4 is in Providence, is sold out, and is probably occupying a goodly number of hotel rooms in Providence.

    IIRC, that's the following weekend. (I write, as I shield my eyes from watching the Bruins blow a lead against Montreal.)
  • This is exciting in a geek kind of way. I'm not used to living somewhere with stuff actually going on.

    And to be honest, I'm kind of glad this wasn't posted two weeks ago on Slashdot -- there were limited tickets for the party Friday night and I might not have gotten any! ;)

    This ought to be even more interesting than IBM's Bar Code thing a few weeks ago that Michael De Icaza spoke at. Hmmmm... free food, free beer and legos. Doesn't get much better than that!
  • Amtrak. Amtrak goes from Providence to all Westwood and into downtown Boston. South Station is actually pretty close to the event itself. Dunno what the price is, though.
  • Boston to the 95/93 junction is at least 20 minutes, sometimes longer. The few times I've driven from Waltham to Providence (Waltham is about 20 minutes West of Boston, right on i95) it took about 40 - 50 minutes. And that is without going through Boston itself.
  • Are the chickens included for geeking?
  • Those are no longer worth anything since a grue ate the last remaining Flathead thereby ending the Flathead dynasty :).
  • Lets have Mattel there. Maybe they can explain how they are not being bullies.

    sarcasm=TRUE
    Maybe they could give lessons on how to encrypt well.
    sarcasm=FALSE

  • Boston Geeks need to learn to communicate better. ;-) Well, maybe not BETTER, but SOONER. :)

  • Re:Not even at gunpoint. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Finally! Someone else who's not all that fond of Eric Raymond. I wish I had copies of the posts that Eric used to make to USENET back in the old days (when it was all under net.) He was quite a kook!

  • You mean, something like:
    The Festival is free and brought to you by Andover.Net / VA Linux, Addison-Wesley and SwitcHouse?

    Emphasis mine.

    --

  • I live on Columbus Ave, not to far from the Castle, where it all takes place!!

  • Nor do I claim to get laid all that damn often :)

    That's not the point. This thing strikes me as trumped-up self-congratulatory nonsense, is all.

  • Ha! The "T" is not as a good as the system in my beloved hometown (uh, try to figure that out), but it is very cheap at $0.85. The big problem with the "T" is that it closes at 12:30am. You can't go out drinking and take public transportaion home. This damn state is so screwy! :)
    --Ivan, weenie NT4 user: bite me!
  • Ok, I have to admit I'm a french-speaking person, and even though I saw that numerous times, I still don't knows what means "pouring hot grits down your pants" and from where comes the Natalie Portman fetishism... anyone would care to explain? please?
    guillaume
  • We're driving. From Virginia. Got the oil changed in the beetle today.

    I'm just going for the opportunity to leer at all you delicious he-geeks...mmm yeah! Should be better than the MarketPro Computer Show crowd at the Capitol Expo Center.

    I bin plannin dis fo' months!

    --mandi

  • Nor do I claim to get laid all that damn often :)

    You should learn how to configure sendmail. Really. Then all you need to do is print out your sendmail.cf on some thermal-transfer paper and iron it onto a T-shirt. Wear it to the local shopping mall and the women won't leave you alone. Seriously. They'll flock around you. You'll have to beat 'em off with a fuckin' Louisville Slugger. And I'm not talking just the skanky hoes, here .. I'm talking Grade A, first-class betties. The hotties. "Show me the ropes, Mister Sendmail," they will beg. "I want to paint me like you do your French girls ...."

    huh?

    What? Where am I? I must have dozed off again. :-)
  • People like you said that I got sorehands from jerking off.

    People like you said it's just your case, get on with your life.

    People like you said, it's just your bitching.

    A bully is a bully. They should not be rewarded for a bully. People should not forget what they have done.

    I am not the first employee that Mattel abused! Read Barbie's Betrayal [thenation.com].

  • So, is that a Y2K bug that you have?

    Did you get the Y2K bug fixes completed?

    Sorry, it just slipped out.

  • Well all the bars are closed by then anyway. Boston is one of the "sleepiest" cities in the world, mostly cause its all college kids who drink till they pass out and usually do that by 11
  • This "geek" elitist's bullshit is getting old. I enjoy reading slashdot (at a >=1 threshold mind you) for the intellectual insight of posters, however the Slashdot team along with the Mr. Katz and others are continuously trying to present this "we are different we are superior" crap for too long.
  • Of course!!!!

    I have the plate PERL GRL reserved, but LNX CHK is available, too. I just don't know....

    --mandi

  • I'm running an event at UBCon [buffalo.edu] this weekend...

    Have fun storming the castle!


    Your Working Boy,
  • That's silly. Being overtly intellectual is part of what defines geekness. Nothing "alleged" about it. Your analogy is ridiculous.

    --

  • It's just fun. What's wrong with that?

    --

  • The last time I took the Amtrak to Providence (Dec. 99) it was $15.00 one-way, so it would be cheaper than renting a car. Also, having a car in Boston is a real pain without a place to park. Typical hotel addtional charges are $27.00/day.

  • I live in Boston (Dorchester), and take the T daily. The Green Line is the oldest line on the T, and crowds are frequent (even on weekends, and especially if there is an event at the Fleet Center).


  • BLU announced it in February.


  • I thought the purpose of being a geek is that you don't have to conform to everybody else. You don't have to fit a social stero-type. You are different. If this is you're definiton of "geek" then I am one. (no, computers don't make or not make you a geek, it's you.)

    However, if we are just another social-stero-typable group, then, I am not a geek. I think we've lost the whole point of being a "geek", to me, at least, it was always that you did things _your_ way, not everybody elses. I guess not, it seems we now blindly follow ESR, RMS and, even TacoBoy himself.

    I cannot support anything that would impose a stero-type upon myself. Therefore, I do not believe in, or support "geek-pride." I've got better things to do besides try to gain acceptence into a system similar to that I've fought for the greater part of my life.

    Grades, Social Life, Sleep....Pick Two.
  • This must be some strange usage of the word cool that I was not previously aware of.
  • At the risk of being flamed to death, can it
    get any lamer than "geek pride"? If I was
    gay I might show up to a "gay pride" event,
    but I certainly wouldn't show up to a "geek pride" event, I just don't think geeks are in quite the
    same boat.

    Not that I have anything against gay's, but
    do you really want to equate "geek" with
    "gay"? Do you want to say that being a geek is
    the same as being gay? (I don't think so) I would think those that
    are gay might have something to say about this.

    You can be heterosexual
    or homosexual (or bisexual, or whatever) and be a geek, but being a geek doesn't
    determine your sexual preference. Being a geek
    might determine "how often" you get sex, but not
    with "whom" you have sex!

    My first impression of the term "geek pride" indicates that all the geeks who participate are homosexual; however "gay pride" doesn't indicate to me at all whether the participants are geeks or not. Perhaps this is intentional?

    Derry
  • No, being overtly intellectual is a part of being boring..Being a geek involves having fun doing stuff one loves, even if one doesn't understand the mechanics behind it
  • That depends greatly on your definition of "good". True, it is not as extensive a system, but that's largely because Boston isn't nearly so pathologically overcrowded as New York. But it's much easier to figure out where you're actually going on the T, the stations and trains are nicer and cleaner, and (very much unlike on the MTA), I have never feared for my life on the T.

  • Maybe Boston geeks know how hard it is to find parking down that way, and would rather keep it small!

    Actually, I'm usually the last to know about these things, in this case a friend of a friend has something to do with organizing it, so I found out that way.

    The "community" here in Boston, frankly sucks. Its pretty common that interesting tech-oriented social events are found out about by people after the fact. The Globe's new site (www.digitalmass.com) is probably the best resource here for this kind of thing going on, but I'm not even sure I saw this on there.
  • Someone please actually read the above and change the moderation to "funny".
    Feel free to keep moderating down all the "grits" posts, though.

  • It's just fun. What's wrong with that?

    Obviously there's nothing wrong with fun. If it were billed as Geek Drinking Day I'd be there in a minute. But Raymond and Katz are involved and you know damn well they're not going to get up, say "get drunk, have fun" and then put down the mike.


  • And arguably a true geek would spend all night figuring them out.

    When we start splitting hairs about who's a "geek" and who's not, that's where I draw the line. This is precisely what's annoying me about the whole thing.

    The difference between "geek pride" and for example "gay pride" is that gays asserted "gay pride" at a time when they were defined as criminals just for living their lives; it took some balls to get out in the streets about it. "Geeks" invented "geek pride" after we got acceptance and stock options. BFD.

  • > Better yet, avoid Boston altogether.
    > Massachussetts has long been known as a center
    > of moral sickness and depravity

    Really? Thats interesting. I live here near boston
    Which moral depravity are you talking about?

    I would have thought Washington DC was the
    center of moral depravity. Silly me.

    > Have YOU accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and
    > personal Savior?

    Nice SIG....nope I havn't. Started out a Roman
    Catholic (like many bostonians) tho...once I
    turned 11 I realized it was a crock of shit and
    left the church.

    I am my own Lord and Personal saviour. For a
    mere $49.95 I will be your Lord and Personal
    Savior too. Unlike other Lords and Personal
    saviours...I do NOT require or even ask you to
    devote large portions of your life to me. I don;t
    ask you to go out and convert others..in fact...
    I would rather you don't!
  • > Not that I have anything against gay's, but
    > do you really want to equate "geek" with "gay"?

    Well I dunno about you, but I am going to the
    event, and I am secure enough in my own sexual
    identity to not care if some people go making
    paralells that have nothing to do with the event.

    The whole point of such an event is to have
    a "get together" of people who have something
    in commone ie geeks. Its a time and a place where
    we can come together and talk, discuss and
    just BE geeks.

    Its taking a little pride in who we are, getting
    together and doing "geeky" things. Its just some
    time to get together and have some fun.

  • Re:Public Transportation in Boston (Score:3)

    by TheCarp ( 96830 ) <sjc.carpanet@net> on Thursday March 30, 2000 @06:15AM (#1161838) Homepage
    > Hope that helps. If you've never visited the
    > Commonwealth before, I wouldn't recommend
    > driving here. We're notorious for road rage and
    > poor driving skills.

    Well I dunno about that....I like to think of us
    as "extra Skilled". In other states, one wouldn't
    imagine turning left from any lane except the
    left lane.... we here in boston are not so
    limited in our thinking.

    While in other places people yeild until an
    opening to make a left turn, we in boston are
    assertive. We even have our own "Boston Left
    Turn" which entails creeping out until the
    traffic on ones left is completely blocked
    off...then creeping forward further until the
    peoplke on the right have to stop...thus making
    an opening.

    (the best part is...those of you who don't live
    here may be tempted to take this all as a joke,
    or an exageration)

    Now remember...this is the city that is known
    for the expression "You can't get there from here"
    and...it is true fairly often. While your
    destination may be only 2 or 3 block away "as the
    pedestrian walks" but, for you it could be a 4
    or 5 mile drive through all manner of streets...
    the path would often entail leaving the city, and
    re-entering from a differnt entrance (this is
    fairly common in cambridge where their motto is
    "All one way streets going the wrong way, all the
    time"

    Also remember, all roads lead to a "square".
    A "Square" can be thought of almost as the
    singularity of a black hole, which warps all
    space around it such that all paths lead
    directly to it.

    Unlikc black holes, you can escape a square, but
    you must go through it. Generally a square
    diverts all nearby roads through it such
    that the only way to get to the other side
    of a square is through it.

    The "squares" are not places where you actually
    WANT to drive (unless your destination is actually
    IN one, even then your best not driving to it...
    there is usually no available parking anyway).

    Since I mentioned parking. Do remember, double
    parking is not merely the "exception to the rule"
    it IS the rule. Some of the wider streets in
    boston proper (usually in residental areas with
    lots of high priced apartments) usually have
    cars double parking on both sides. You should feel
    free to do like we do...act as if its perfectly
    legal to park anywhere, for any length of time,
    as long as your four-ways are on.

    To illistrate this point, once I parked at a
    parking meter and had no change. I ran to the
    store half a block away to get change. When I
    returned less than 5 mins later, there was a cop
    just putting a ticket on my windsheild. he said
    that he already wrote the ticket so he couldn't
    do anything about it but... "You should have just
    put your four-ways on".

    -Steve
    (I am not making any of this up...I am sure other
    bostonians will attest that all of the above is
    true)
  • The Blue Line smells like peepee.

  • The other difference is that for "gay pride", it's a serious issue. For "geek pride", we're just having fun. It's not a movement, it's amusement.

    --

  • Perhaps it's just a kooky excuse to show off and have a bit of fun. No. It must have some weird and mysterious socio-political undertones. Then again, wait--

    Remember the Undertones? Great band!

  • Most of it was sarcasm. Didn't you see the sarcasm commands?

    Do you think they would try to explain to people who had a clue?

  • ...but only because I have to find a home.

    I don't give a damn about this stupid little event. It's a Linux-centric bullshit marketing toy. Now, in case people didn't know, I've been using Linux for a little over 5 years. Maybe closer to 6. And I'm totally disillusioned with Linux at this point. Kernel bugs aren't getting fixed for many versions - critical ones in the NCR 53c8xx driver, mind you - and people don't seem to care.

    I have to be in Boston to find a home. I'm going to be there later tonight. And on Friday, I'm going to be all over the damn Cambridge suburbs looking for a home. And then on Saturday, I'm going to be looking all over as well.

    The ONLY chance you have of finding me at this Geek Pride crap is so that I can manage to get in and ask ESR when he's going to give Microsoft his "seal of approval," since it's always seemed to be available to the highest bidder. Maybe he'll be a little less cocky, seeing as VA Linux's stock price is pretty much FREEFALLING. (Fairly surprising, seeing as their financials are doing fairly well, and they just signed up some major customers.)

    BAH! Geek Pride? Maybe I'll stop by just to see how many lusers show up...

    =RISCy Business
  • this comes across as nothing better than a frat-house beer party

    Which, BTW, are great places to get laid, meet people, have a good time. If none of these appeal to you, crawl back into your hole and lament about what assholes everyone ELSE is.

    --
  • You mean as silly as blacks celebrating their cultural heritage?

    Or some other group that has been repressed as being anti-social/socially inept (which the top of this thread illustrates nicely), creating a SOCIAL event for themselves. In meat-space, no less.

    Does community only exist in cyberspace?

    --
  • is that gays asserted "gay pride" at a time when they were defined as criminals just for living their lives

    DeCSS, Napster, VCDs, cphack, DDoS, software patents..need I go on?

    You do have an appropriate alias, however.

    --

  • is that gays asserted "gay pride" at a time when they were defined as criminals just for living their lives

    DeCSS, Napster, VCDs, cphack, DDoS, software patents..need I go on?

    No, not really. The point, such as it is, has been made, and my point is weaker than it looked when I wrote it. Nevertheless, you can be a "geek" without mirroring DeCSS or cphack. I really don't see an exact analogy there, sorry.

    You do have an appropriate alias, however.

    It's called "irony".


  • someone who doesn't, apparently, understand the concepts of irony or of having a sense of humor.

    Uh, yeah, hence the nick (hence also the bit about sendmail and the master race). The Pot says he wants to talk to you as soon as you're free.

    Furthermore, if Katz and Raymond are involved in this thing, I'm willing to bet you can bid "irony" and "sense of humor" a fond farewell. Those guys don't treat "geek pride" as an ironic or humorous issue. As far as I can tell from their writings, they're quite serious.

    when it comes from someone still subscribing to nonsense like "geek == unable to get laid", I think we can safely ignore it.

    Okay, I'll smiley it next time. Happy?

    "Geek Pride Festival" is an inherently funnier name than "A Big Party For The Type Of People Commonly Known As 'Geeks' Although We Stress That It Is Also OK Not To Be A Geek And In Fact We Don't Even Like To Admit We Are Geeks In Case Someone Thinks We're Bragging," which is what Venomous seems to think we should be calling it.


    That's either a lumbering attempt at a "joke", or else a lumbering attempt at getting away with a false opposition fallacy, right? Just curious.

  • Ok, how is a comment on one of the alpha Geeks at a Geek Pride festival offtopic?

    It seems to me that any "gun nut" attempting to sway over people with bad preconceptions would talk about Constitutional rights, about sporting, about responsibility, about self defense. Instead his site lauds over his ability to perform street-combat firearms maneouvers, and how good he is at blasting bullets into human figures. HUH!?? That would be exactly the WRONG impression I would want to give people. That would just make me feel /more/ against firearms. I mean, if a rather high-level and self-proclaimed gun nut is explaining how thrilled he is at his potential and skill to shoot people with his gun, as a neutral party, what impression does that make about gun owners in general? Good job.

    Oh, I guess you can continue and mark this as "redundant" or something...
  • > Sorry, that is a Mainer saying, used in the 60's
    > comedy routine Bert & I by
    > Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan. Close, but not
    > quite.

    That may be the origin....however Here in boston
    is where it is litterally true...and its certainly
    popular around here.

    > Though I agree driving around Boston can be
    > painful -- especially if you are
    > looking for a place to park under $8/hr.

    Depends where you are. I used to work for MGH so
    if I need a parking garage I sometimes go to
    the Navy Yard garage (right across from building
    149 in the Charlestown Navey yard). Nice MGH
    shuttle goes from there to North Station (orange
    line & green line, fleet center (why anyone would
    go there beats the hell out of me), lots o bars).
    Or continue on the shuttle to the main hospital
    (take sabout 15 mins and is free btw) and you
    can jump on the red line.

    Used to be a maximum of $7/day to park there..
    tho...I think they raised prices. Course...if
    your actually driving into boston itself...well..
    I avoid that at all costs. I fi am downtown in
    boston it either means I have snapped and lost the
    last threads of sanity I have left, or I took a
    wrong turn in cambridge into one of those trap
    areas that forces you away from your destination.

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