Geeks in Suits

This weekend Hemos & I went to California for Chris and Christine's wedding. Congratulations to both of them. It was a great ceremony and we're both super happy for ya... buuuut that's not the point of this story. What follows may frighten you, but it must be exposed. Geeks in Suits. Yes it's Rasterman, Mandrake (with Tammy) NeTTwerk, Horms, Kevin, Hemos and yes it's true, me: CmdrTaco (note: this is the first time I have ever worn a suit). Thanks to OctobrX for the pics, you can see more on his site. Update: 01/25 01:49 by CT : And sorry about those broken links. Email [e-mail] and tell him he's dumb ;)

Re:Who cares?

Tranquilo vato - The Solaris story will be coming soon.

Re:Who cares?

Well, Slashdot has "topics," that we're allowed (nay, encouraged) to filter with user preferences, and when something's posted in a horribly incorrect topic ("news," in this case), the value of the site lessens, because the functionality doesn't work as advertised.

I don't care if Hemos posts pictures of the new pimples on his butt every day, as long as they're not stuck into some topic I'd otherwise be interested in, like 'news' or 'science' or the like. Isn't there a 'geeks in space' topic that this would have been better suited for?

And yes, it's not just "News for Nerds." It's also "Stuff that Matters." Which this story isn't.

--

Re:Who cares?

I mean, really: who cares?

Its people who make technology happen and its good news to see the faces of people who make this community thrive get married and start a family. If you have wedding pictures and other good news, I'd sure like to see it. It just brightens my day a little to see those in this community doing good things with their lives.

Re:Sick of "We Don't Want Personal Stuff Here."

instead of a long winded counter-counter-counter-argument, i'll just refer you back to the last counter-argument...if you just want straight news, why not read the other weblogs that do basically the same stuff?

there are those of us in the community who love seeing this stuff (btw, congrats chris :) even if it isn't strictly technological news, it's definitely _community news_ and for some of us here, it's most definitely stuff that matters.

afaik, /. has never had the motto "news for nerds: purely technological stuff that bugzilla wants to see"


-dk

Re:Who cares?

Do you have a clue what Slashdot is about? It isn't _just_ News for Nerds. It's about a site that has all of the stuff that Rob is interested in on it (and then some). This particular event interests Rob. He probably doesn't care whether or not you care. It's interesting to some of us, just like every other story (some I ignore, some are neat, some are stupid, etc.).

I'm not ignorant enough to think that every story on Slashdot is going to be so grand that I can sit around whimpering "who cares? so what?" to anything that's less than amazing. So why are you?

No Arrogance Here!

Gee I wish I had a site that hundred of thousands of people watched for news so that I could grandstand any ol' time I wanted. Perhaps I should create a geek gossip site for just this kind of stuff. ("Did you hear? Cowboy Neal went on a date! With a REAL WOMAN! Rumor has it was with the X10 QuickCam ``Babe''!")

This is insanity.

The subject of this message refers not to the news item, but to the non-stop and ever inceasing volume of ctiticism from message posters leveled at every kind of topic posted.

"Less personal info. Less legal stuff. Less stuff about commercial software. Less opinion pieces from [whoever]."

What are we left with? A bunch of dry news items about kernel releases and KDE upgrades. I much prefer the occasional personal piece from our online friends, or the occasional humourous new topic.

If you are posting a message on here complaining about the signal/noise ratio on Slashdot, think it over first. You are about to become the noise, not the signal.

Hotnutz.com [hotnutz.com]

Marital Bliss...?

This is kind of a question, kind of a statement, kind of a proposition. Like everything in my life, it can not be clearly quantified. Basically, it is this: are geeks suited for marraige? I am not asking if geeks get married for that is an obvious fact, but in fact, whether or not those marraiges are successful.

Now please realize that I am not commenting one way or the other. For all I know, geek marraiges could be twice as successful as "normal folks" weddings (hey cleetus, where's that woman?). What I am wondering is if geeks do better, if so, why? If not why? And if you have no clue, what do you predict?

To start things off, my theory. I predict that geeks do just as well as anyone else - no better no worse. There are those that succeed because two highly reclusive people fit well togethor and an equal amount that fail based on the same reasoning. I have absolutely NO hard data to back this up, but that's the point.

Correct URLs

Replace "Chris_and_Christinas-Wedding" with "Chris_and_Christines-Wedding" in all cases.

Re:Who cares?

Hey, y'all're missin' the point!

That [octobrx.com] guy ended up with this [octobrx.com] girl. This proves that even total geeks like this guy [octobrx.com] can end up with a hot girl like this [octobrx.com]! :) This is "News for Nerds" right?

:)

*ducking*

"Too Sexy For This Site"

I'm too sexy for this site
Too sexy for this site
Too sexy, daaaaamn right

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

And I'm, too sexy for JonKatz,
Too sexy for JonKatz,
what's he think about that?

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

I'm too sexy for you trolls
Too sexy for you trolls
Go back into your holes.

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

And I'm to sexy for AC's
Too sexy for AC's
They wish they could write posts like these

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

I'm too sexy for Roblimo
Too sexy for Roblimo
Nobody ever liked himo.

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

And I'm too sexy for RedHat
Too sexy for RedHat
It is bloated dumb and fat

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

I'm too sexy for Trollmastah
Too sexy for Trollmastuh
His posts are inferior to mine, basta'

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

And I'm too sexy for your karma
Too sexy for your karma
Go post at ZD-net you harma

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

I'm too sexy for Signal11
Too sexy for Signal11
He dies but he doesn't go to heaven.

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

I do my sexy thing here at Slashdot.
Yeah here at Slashdot, yeah
I post a lot of posts here at Slashdot.

Sick of "We Don't Want Personal Stuff Here."

Let me preface this by saying that I understand that slashdot has a target audience. But seriously, do comments like "Who Cares? Why should I care about your personal life." really need to be tossed around? Which one of you has not told someone else about your personal life? Even if the setting didn't quite match, like Monday morning at work. Every single one of you does this in some way or another. You tell your Coworkers you went sledding for the weekend. Just because this site has many visitors, does that change things? Would anybody complain if this were on a web site that got only 20 people a day?

Let me make a few points.

1. The web is about communication. Pure and simple. It really doesn't do anything else except transmit knowledge from one place to another. CmdrTaco wished to communicate something about his life. This is no less, and no more, relevant than the DeCSS injunction posts because they both deal with the human experience.
2. No one will argue that Hemos and CmdrTaco and the rest of the /. gang have given vast chunks of their life up to this website. In their little remaining time they do non /. things. They have in the past, and will continue to in the future hopefully, posted several of the (remaining after /. work ) personal events in their lives. This fosters a sense of community and gives greater value to all the posts because it gives you a connection to the crew that makes this possible. Again, they are communicating the human experience through mostly news, but other tidbits as well.
3. If you come to /. for a good spot to stay current in technology, great. But ask yourself, why not the hundreds of other weblogs that do the same thing? Why not the major news outlets? It is probably the /. community itself. The monster of this site's editors sick and twisted minds. *grin* This community was created because we knew we could get the technical information we want and need, but without the dissatisfying taste that we get when we go to other, blander, less human web sites.

So /. really is about the human experience. It really is about the lives of its creators and editors as much as the news it brings to us. While it is true that if it were all about what the gang did over their weekend, we would leave. If it were all tech, I guarantee we probably wouldn't stay forever. You cannot befriend Tech news. You don't feel like you "kinda know it". That is not true of /.

I'll conclude with this exercise
What is the CNN tech new editor's favorite technology?
What is Hemos' favorite technology?
The proof is in the pudding.

Crulx
[e-mail]

From what planet am I?

Why do so many geeks/nerds/hackers/etc. dislike wearing suits? Or is there just a conspiracy among the media to make that seem so? ;-) (And yes, I've read the jargon files, among others.)

It seems like suits would be much sought after for a few reasons:
1) Quality: Your OS is custom tailored, why aren't your clothes?
2) Slickness: Your GUI is fashionable, why aren't you?
3) Reuse: Your processes rarely raise a stink after running for days/weeks/months/years on end, but after 24hrs. those jeans and t-shirts are another story.
4) Modularity: 2+ piece suits can load or unload modules as needed. Processor too hot? rmmod coat. Packets lost in the stream? rmmod necktie. Change in environment? insmod coat. Expecting PHB attack on port *:brainbox insmod necktie.
5) Efficiency: Since suits/shirts/accessories are interchangeable, there's no need to make your apparel statically linked. (Leave that space on /dev/closet for important things like hardwear^H^H^Hare)
6) Emulation: Fool your boss, get a raise.

Well, enough of that list. Now I'll try to predict some replies (R) and answer (A) them:
1) Quality:
(R) Sure, you jerk! Not everyone can afford that!
(A) You're in the computer industry and can't afford two good suits, shirts, and dry-cleaning? Either think of them as supplements instead of complements, or get a job that pays you what it should.
2) Slickness:
(R) According to the numbers, MS's GUI is fashionable. I like to express my individuality.
(A) Fashion isn't about popularity/market-appeal. If you're thinking this way, you're probably missing the point of being an individual.
3) Reuse:
(R) I can wear my clothes for days and noone complains.
(A) They are being polite, but probably stop that when you're not around. Beside badly affecting you in ways you may not know, it's unhealthy.
4) Modularity:
(R) Yeah, and I can do the same thing with a regular jacket and so forth.
(A) Sure, but a suit opens more doors.
5) Efficiency:
(R) What could be easier than jeans and a t-shirt? How often do you mix-and-match coats and trousers? That sounds like a static link to me.
(A) OK, you got me here. But you still can save closet space (and I can pretend I have a /dev/closet :-)
6) Emulation:
(R) As if that ever really happens.
(A) Try it.

OK, I'm done. Now I'm going to put on my flame-retardant SUIT and wait for replies. In the mean time perhaps someone will come up with open source clothing designs and a sewing machine device driver. Either that or I'll wait for jokes about keyRINGs, softWEAR, jeans, genomes, gnomes; or at least for the server load to drop so I can see the photos.