The Glories of Geekdom

[Jeysie]

Hmmph. Give me enough time, Louisiana, and I shall convert you and Questie to the glories of geekdom.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Louisiana Night]

As long as I don't like being a geek, I won't ever become a true geek(I understand that's one of the big parts of geekdom).

P.S. PLEASE, FLIP THE SWITCH!

[Jeysie]

Ironic, I suppose... judging from some of the things you've posted knowledge about, you'd likely make a better geek than I ever would.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Louisiana Night]

Ironic, I suppose... judging from some of the things you've posted knowledge about, you'd likely make a better geek than I ever would.

Peace & Luv, Liz

I doubt it.

P.S. I grew up a geek. My first toy was a keyboard(minus the cord).  

[Jeysie]

Sounds almost like me. I was a geek-in-training during my childhood... was using my dad's CoCo 2 as soon as I was old enough to read and press keys, and spent many an afternoon reading encyclopedias and watching Star Trek, Quantum Leap, etc. with my dad. Unfortunately he never got to finish the training, so it all kind of went pffft, at least on the computer side.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Louisiana Night]

Sounds almost like me. I was a geek-in-training during my childhood... was using my dad's CoCo 2 as soon as I was old enough to read and press keys, and spent many an afternoon reading encyclopedias and watching Star Trek, Quantum Leap, etc. with my dad. Unfortunately he never got to finish the training, so it all kind of went pffft, at least on the computer side.

Peace & Luv, Liz

CoCo-check
reading encyclopedias-check
watching Star Trek, Quantum Leap, etc. with my dad. -check

Did you get funny looks from people, because the word  "phalanges" was a common word in your vocabulary too(as a youngster)?

P.S. I just have a small amount of knowledge, on many PC subjects. I never stick with one subject for long enough, to truly understand it. So ,I might seem like I know more than I do. Then again, maybe I just think people think that I know something about the subjects I talk about(odd sentence).

[Jeysie]

Did you get funny looks from people, because the word  "phalanges" was a common word in your vocabulary too(as a youngster)?

Hee! Considering that my mom used to be a nurse, and had a healthy supply of medical books, it might well have been.

Mostly it was when I was a pre-teen and teen that my geekspeak showed, though. My friends used to tease about needing to carry a dictionary around while talking to me.

P.S. I just have a small amount of knowledge, on many PC subjects. I never stick with one subject for long enough, to truly understand it. So ,I might seem like I know more than I do. Then again, maybe I just think people think that I know something about the subjects I talk about(odd sentence).

I'd like to think I can understand concepts, the underlying why of how stuff works. But I tend to have a lot of trouble translating that into practical usage, both in geek and non-geek things.

A lot of times I'll know intellectually how something should work/be done, but I just can't actually *do* it, whether due to physical limitations, lacking some innate sense/talent, or just plain not being able to wrap my brain around the details. Which is why I tend to be perpetually frustrated and mad at myself.

Also, many times I honestly end up covering over any lacks of knowledge with my research skills. (One of the very few things I consider myself OK at, although I've gotten pretty rusty at the offline side of research.)

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Louisiana Night]

Hee! Considering that my mom used to be a nurse, and had a healthy supply of medical books, it might well have been.

My mom used to work in a hospital lab, and she had a shelf or two full of medical books. Now I'm getting scared.  

Also, many times I honestly end up covering over any lacks of knowledge with my research skills. (One of the very few things I consider myself OK at, although I've gotten pretty rusty at the offline side of research.)

I tend to rely on my knowledge first, and only after my knowledge fails, research. That's caused me trouble in the past.

[Jeysie]

I tend to rely on my knowledge first, and only after my knowledge fails, research. That's caused me trouble in the past.

My problem is that my memory's just wired funny... part of the reason I focus on trying to learn the whys of things is because I tend to retain that better. Many times, even if I know something well I have to look up the details anyway just to make sure I remembered them right. (Or try to extrapolate the details from the concepts I remember, but that sometimes goes wonky.)

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Louisiana Night]

I tend to rely on my knowledge first, and only after my knowledge fails, research. That's caused me trouble in the past.

My problem is that my memory's just wired funny... part of the reason I focus on trying to learn the whys of things is because I tend to retain that better. Many times, even if I know something well I have to look up the details anyway just to make sure I remembered them right. (Or try to extrapolate the details from the concepts I remember, but that sometimes goes wonky.)

Peace & Luv, Liz

My mind links words together. If somebody says Linux and "based on Unix", my mind quickly finds a piece of information linked to it. In this case, it would be "based on Minix(not sure about the spelling)". If somebody asked me what Linux was based on, it might take me half-a-minute to remember.

[Jeysie]

Sounds a little like me. I have a memory based on cues... seeing/hearing/reading/thinking of one thing will make me think of another thing. The net result is that sometimes I can remember really weird obscure things just because something about them sparks my memory (or something else sparks my memory of the things). Other times, I can forget something I encounter all the time simply because there aren't any cues to it available to me at the time I'm trying to remember it.

To put it more simply, I do better on multiple-choice questions than fill-in-the-blank ones, even if I know a subject quite well.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Louisiana Night]

To put it more simply, I do better on multiple-choice questions than fill-in-the-blank ones, even if I know a subject quite well.

Same here.

*yawns*

*logs-out*

[copycat]

Sounds a little like me. I have a memory based on cues... seeing/hearing/reading/thinking of one thing will make me think of another thing. The net result is that sometimes I can remember really weird obscure things just because something about them sparks my memory (or something else sparks my memory of the things). Other times, I can forget something I encounter all the time simply because there aren't any cues to it available to me at the time I'm trying to remember it.

Actually, I think that's the way most minds/human memories work. Everything you hear/see/... is constantly run through your memory, searching for a possible match. Sometimes, that match is ignored, because you're focusing on something else, sometimes that match is passed through. Oh, and BTW, I can start at a certain concept, and go via a completely different subject back to the original concept.
When I was young, I didn't read encyclopedias, just normal reading books, books, and more books, from the libraby.
Also, it happans regularly someone asks me what a certain word means, and although I know what it means, I can't put it into words.

[Oldbushie]

I've always felt that memory is being constantly cycled myself... oftentimes I remember the darndest, vaguest things for no reason at all. It would also explain why my dreams are so vast.

[Louisiana Night]

This definition of "compiler" must rank as the BEST of the possible wrong answers. Written by a student in a introductory Computer Science course.

"A compiler's primary function is to compile, organize the compilation, and go right back to compiling. It compiles basically only those things that require to be compiled, ignoring things that should not be compiled. The main way a compiler compiles, is to compile the things to be compiled until the compilation is complete."

Only in America.....
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A Computer Operator says as she is lifting an RP06 disk pack from the drive: "Gee, how much does one of these weigh?"

Me: "It depends on how much data is on the disk....

The operator believed it.
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This was an ad I found in a "Sporting Edge" catalog (you know, one of those yuppie hardware stuff catalogs). I thought it was great....I also thought that I should perhaps open up my own service. I can just see it:

FEDERICO'S RANDOM NUMBER SYSTEM. Guaranteed to follow no pattern whatsoever, or something like that.

Anyway, enjoy the ad.

Tap the power of random selection to increase chances of winning the lotto!

Lotto players face a dilemma each time they buy a ticket. What numbers to pick? Studies have shown that most lotto winners don't use any sort of special system to select their numbers. Instead, they tap the power of random selection.

The Millionaire Maker is a novel, fun way to user random selection to pick your numbers. It works just like a state Lotto machine. A tiny battery-powered motor under the base rotates the sphere, which holds 80 numbered balls. Press one button and the sphere mixes the balls thoroughly. Touch the other and the sphere rotates in the opposite direction...a clever scooping system lifts a single ball at a time, up and into a sliding tray.

To return the balls to the sphere simply place them on the filling tray and tilt it up. Now you are ready to choose another perfectly random set of numbers.

Order Millionaire Maker today, for yourself, or friends who enjoy playing Lotto. YOU might bust the Lotto and be an instant millionaire!

#413110 Millionaire Maker $19.95 (1lb.)
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To lighten your day, especially if you're a tutor in CSC 104, 108, etc., here's a gripe sent in by a first-year student using the PC's:

This may sound like a dumb question but yesterday I wanted to make a backup copy of my disk so I put them both in the drive. At first they...

(That's right, "the" drive. The PC's have ONE floppy drive.)

...wouldn't fit together, but after some force they did fit snuggly. I then realized I hadn't "new"-ed the second disk so I typed new. All of a sudden the drive made a lot of strange sounds and I could'nt get the disks out any more. What did I do wrong ??

[copycat]

This was an ad I found in a "Sporting Edge" catalog (you know, one of those yuppie hardware stuff catalogs). I thought it was great....I also thought that I should perhaps open up my own service. I can just see it:

FEDERICO'S RANDOM NUMBER SYSTEM. Guaranteed to follow no pattern whatsoever, or something like that.

Anyway, enjoy the ad.

Tap the power of random selection to increase chances of winning the lotto!

Lotto players face a dilemma each time they buy a ticket. What numbers to pick? Studies have shown that most lotto winners don't use any sort of special system to select their numbers. Instead, they tap the power of random selection.

The Millionaire Maker is a novel, fun way to user random selection to pick your numbers. It works just like a state Lotto machine. A tiny battery-powered motor under the base rotates the sphere, which holds 80 numbered balls. Press one button and the sphere mixes the balls thoroughly. Touch the other and the sphere rotates in the opposite direction...a clever scooping system lifts a single ball at a time, up and into a sliding tray.

To return the balls to the sphere simply place them on the filling tray and tilt it up. Now you are ready to choose another perfectly random set of numbers.

Order Millionaire Maker today, for yourself, or friends who enjoy playing Lotto. YOU might bust the Lotto and be an instant millionaire!

#413110 Millionaire Maker $19.95 (1lb.)
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I think I had/have one of those already, from when I was still a kid (and trust me, that was a long time ago indeed).

[Louisiana Night]

The lottery a big thing in Belgium? It is in Louisiana(although, I think that's a bad thing).

[copycat]

The lottery a big thing in Belgium? It is in Louisiana(although, I think that's a bad thing).

Define 'big thing'.

[Louisiana Night]

The lottery a big thing in Belgium? It is in Louisiana(although, I think that's a bad thing).

Define 'big thing'.

They spend that much money on lottery tickets?

[MATTANDALEX]

You know now that you think about it I am a bit of a geek. Look back at all of those mideval fesivals and reading books for fun wow I need some alone time