Sharing wisdom --- Top 10 things I've learned as a geek...

dalecosp

I was reflecting on the many lessons I've learned in this business...

Ten Things I've learned from being a geek...

There is a right way to do things, whether asking questions,
sending email, programming, whatever...
Microsoft is evil ... even more than IBM.
I am much smarter than a few people, and much dumber than many others...
A comfortable chair is worth 10³ dollars...
Not everyone took 'typing' in school.
You don't have to pipe grep(1)...
Spammers are tricky b*strds...
#alias dir ls -l
#alias rm rm -i
Save time and bandwidth: surf playboy.com with /usr/local/bin/lynx.

Hope you gain something, heh ... share yours, too!

stolzyboy

don't know what i have learned right now, but reading over your i can't agree with this one

Microsoft is evil ... even more than IBM.

anymore anyway, since i am an apple fan, and IBM along with apple created the new G5 processors in the new systems

and anyone helping to dethrone M$ is good folk to me

dalecosp

Maybe that should say "IBM used to be..."

The 'Evil Empire' in the Golden Age was IBM, according to most reports...

drawmack

buggy code is bad, especially when it's not mine.

Elizabeth

Here's mine:
Even when people ask you what you do at work all day, they really don't want a coredump.

-Elizabeth

drawmack

I usually tell them that I break computers for a living, then they don't ask me to fix theirs

piersk

Strange. One of the things I've learnt is that MS aren't as bad as everyone makes out. If run properly, a windows server can stay up for months on end (ok so mine hasn't been up THAT long, but its getting there). The trick is to not muck around with it.

drawmack

Originally posted by piersk
Strange. One of the things I've learnt is that MS aren't as bad as everyone makes out. If run properly, a windows server can stay up for months on end (ok so mine hasn't been up THAT long, but its getting there). The trick is to not muck around with it.

or access it
or ask it to do anything
or run a web server on it
or send mail from/to it
or turn it on
or.....

dalecosp

Originally posted by piersk
Strange. One of the things I've learnt is that MS aren't as bad as everyone makes out. If run properly, a windows server can stay up for months on end (ok so mine hasn't been up THAT long, but its getting there). The trick is to not muck around with it.

Perhaps we need to differentiate between the software and the empire that creates it?

I earn a bit of my living by helping people that use Windows keep their systems up and running. OK by me ... not only that, I have 3 copies of their OS'es myself (yes, they are all licensed copies...)

But, lots of Microsoft's competitors cry "foul" with such regularity, and there are factual reasons to say that, yes, they could definitely behave themselves differently in the marketplace. I don't really know whether we should blame them, or us (the old "we get what we deserve"...) but as Grandpappy used to say, "where there's smoke, there's fire..."

piersk

Thats very true. However, I think a lot of people who slag off MS haven't tried to keep it up, so to speak, for long periods of time.

Weedpacket

Originally posted by piersk
Thats very true. However, I think a lot of people who slag off MS haven't tried to keep it up, so to speak, for long periods of time.

What do you mean, "tried"?

You acquire intimate insider knowledge about the PCs belonging to your friends, relatives, neighbours, random acquaintances....

(I mean, I've had waiters come up to me in restaurants asking about Zip drive installation. I kid thee not.)

piersk

Why? Were you wearing your sysadmin badge that says "I work with computers all day and I won't be happy until I discuss them all night too"?

Weedpacket

Originally posted by piersk
Why? Were you wearing your sysadmin badge that says "I work with computers all day and I won't be happy until I discuss them all night too"?

I really honestly haven't a clue. I mean, I'm sure I don't look like that much of a geek. Either it was a setup or the waiter was inferring something from the comments I was making at the time - which if I recall were about AOL-Time-Warner owning Netscape and CNN. He was on the wrong side to see the leatherman on my belt, so it couldn't have been that.

dalecosp

Originally posted by Weedpacket
I really honestly haven't a clue. I mean, I'm sure I don't look like that much of a geek. Either it was a setup or the waiter was inferring something from the comments I was making at the time - which if I recall were about AOL-Time-Warner owning Netscape and CNN. He was on the wrong side to see the leatherman on my belt, so it couldn't have been that.

Hmm, so no uniform?

And, !wow! a Leatherman? I wasn't aware they were sold on your side of the pond ... It's nice to know I have something besides PHP, this forum, and maleness in common with someone as brilliant as Weedpacket!! 🙂 1/2 the time, mine lives in the laundry hamper ... :rolleyes:

piersk

Originally posted by dalecosp
I wasn't aware they were sold on your side of the pond ...

is a leatherman one of those all-in-one fits-in-your-pocket took kit?
Weedpacket, where you from?

dalecosp

Originally posted by piersk
1. is a leatherman one of those all-in-one fits-in-your-pocket took kit?
2. Weedpacket, where you from?

1. Yes. Mine is two knife blades, pliers/cutters, file, 3 or 4 screwdrivers, bottle opener ... heck, I can't remember what else ... (it's probably in the laundry hamper 😉 ) Nice, quality (the original "leatherman" anyhow.)

For the life of me, I thought he was over there with you ... UK ... maybe when he moved "out of his skull" that was a little farther away than for some other folks.....

Weedpacket

Originally posted by dalecosp
1. Yes. Mine is two knife blades, pliers/cutters, file, 3 or 4 screwdrivers, bottle opener ... heck, I can't remember what else ... (it's probably in the laundry hamper 😉 ) Nice, quality (the original "leatherman" anyhow.)

Yup, that's the one; found mine in a large camping goods chainstore. Don't forget the ruler and the short pointy thing I usually use for cleaning my nails. May I ask how many times you've accidentally slashed your finger on the knives? Did that a couple of times when I first got it; never felt a thing.... I still take good care of the blades: I lent it to a colleague so he could take the screen out of his laptop. He didn't notice either until his grip got slippery.

The only time I'm not wearing it is when for whatever reason I'm not wearing a belt, and when I'm flying (at least, not since that brief crisis at the departure gate....)

2. For the life of me, I thought he was over there with you ... UK ... maybe when he moved "out of his skull" that was a little farther away than for some other folks.....

If I had been I'd've seriously considered the UK meetup; unfortunately I'm on entirely the wrong side of the planet. I'm the bastard who got jstarkey confused when I complained that the board wouldn't allow me to select "GMT+1300" as my local time. (No, the other pond!)

dalecosp

So you're in Kiribati? 😃 You are IN the pond, not across it...

Fantastic mind, great command of English, UK spellings. Too bad I'm not a mod, I'd map your IP, I guess...

But, when it comes right down to it, it's your business, and none of mine. 😉 Good tomorrow morning over there!!

Weedpacket

Originally posted by dalecosp
So you're in Kiribati? 😃 You are IN the pond, not across it...

Right across the pond - nearly twice as far south, though not that many degrees further west. I think Kiribati's problem is that it straddles both the equator and the Date Line and gets all confused about what day or season it is (but living in the tropics makes for simpler seasons).

My problem was just daylight saving; which (incidentally) is still causing grief. Local time is 16:17 as I write this, but the forum says "GMT+12 hours ... 5:17 PM". And last time I checked, 4:17AM plus 12 hours is not 5:17PM.

But that's another problem.

Confusing Australians with New Zealanders is like confusing Indians with Pakistanis. Or Canadians with U.S. citizens. Or is it the other way around?

BuzzLY

Take a look at the CyberTool by Victorinox. The ultimate geek toy 🙂

Incidentally, for the person who said they have never seen a page with a .cfm extension... there you go 😃