Mar
13
13
It’s not about the computers, dude…
I long ago stopped really caring about how those weird creatures called bloggers are caricatured in the media, but I do find one aspect of it fascinating. There is a complete inability of writers to get beyond a decades old stereotype of the “computer nerd.” You know, bloggers use computers! Nerds use computers! Bloggers are nerds!
It’s weird.
Our super-keen press corps defines “nerds” as “people who give a shit about stuff besides whether they got invited to the latest McCain barbecue.”
OTB said,
March 13, 2008 at 16:54
Right. Bloggers are actually Geeks, not nerds. Basically, geeks are generally cool; nerds deserve to be beaten. I always sympathized with the jocks in Revenge of the Nerds. Death to our technocratic overlords!
http://web.vee.net/stuff/geek-vs-nerd.html
Marco said,
March 13, 2008 at 16:58
What about dorks? Who is looking out for our asses?
OTB said,
March 13, 2008 at 16:59
And nimrods! I forgot nimrods!
Jake H. said,
March 13, 2008 at 17:03
Zounds, but these bloggers doth use contraptions most foul and futuristick in their aspect! Veryily, mine humors do run towards the bilious when confronted with these devilish machines–the unholy marriage of the printing press and Mr. Morse’s telegraphy device!
owlbear1 said,
March 13, 2008 at 17:19
They’re just jealous .
foreigner said,
March 13, 2008 at 17:38
Aint no nerds here.
Would nerds include, at the bottom of the comment column, a link to the W3C XHTML validator — when that validator returns a report of 122 errors?
Blue Buddha said,
March 13, 2008 at 17:39
Martha! That damned haint* box is talking to me again!
OTB said,
March 13, 2008 at 17:42
That jam is fresh as hell, I’ll grant you that. But the gay black kid makes it. I approve bashing nerds, not gays or blacks…unless they’re nerds…damn, I’m confused now….
SenderC said,
March 13, 2008 at 17:45
But you know what’s totally not nerdy? Jowl McCain serving us pulled pork sammiches! If we’re extra nice, he buys us ice cream and pushes us when we’re in the swing. BTW, women are uncool too cuz they watch “Grey’s Anatomy” and stuff.
/WaPo columnist
Dagoril said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:02
If I’m a nerd, where is my automatronic sex servant, like in that movie Weird Science? Heck, I don’t even have any Star Wars ship replicas!
pedestrian said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:07
I am a geek, but strictly in the sense that I bite the heads off of live chickens for money.
Southern Beale said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:08
Our super-keen press corps defines “nerds” as “people who give a shit about stuff besides whether they got invited to the latest McCain barbecue.”
Indeed. And pardon me for blogwhoring, but I think it’s important we all remember what happens when the press corpse forgets to do its job.
J— said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:13
Yes, bloggers certainly do use computers. And given the general accessibility of desk-top music production software to bloggers and others who use computers, I am surprised we have yet to see a response to Capt. Trollypants’ challenge.
Moon said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:13
What a nerd.
Southern Beale said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:17
You know what’s weird is that back when I was a journalist, we used computers, too!!!!
OMG!
Professor Illuminata said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:19
Wow, I actually know what foreigner is talking about… does that make me a nerd?
b. hussein canuckistani said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:19
I’m not a nerd. I wear a Star Trek uniform as a statement of faith in the possibility of future human progress.
atheist said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:31
I tried to be a nerd, but was unsuccessful. That makes me a nimrod.
Righteous Bubba said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:32
And given the general accessibility of desk-top music production software to bloggers and others who use computers, I am surprised we have yet to see a response to Capt. Trollypants’ challenge.
J— is making sense!
Susan of Texas said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:33
I’m not a nerd. The Hellboy lunch box is an retirement investment.
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:35
computers… computers…
Are they those refrigerator-looking things with the spinning wheels and blinking electric lights on the sides? That cause a ghost to write things on the type-writer?
They’ll never replace the abacus.
Jennifer said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:48
Being a nerd isn’t Atrios’ problem. It’s actually much sadder than that.
Blue Buddha said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:58
Really?!?! I assumed that all journalists wore fedoras, typed on Royal manual typewriters and recorded quotes on a little memopad during press conferences. I mean, that’s how they’re like on teevee… right?
Legalize said,
March 13, 2008 at 18:59
Dude, so many nerds and/or geeks around here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to figure out who my 18th pick will be in my fantasy baseball draft on Sunday.
Dagoril said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:01
Are they those refrigerator-looking things with the spinning wheels and blinking electric lights on the sides?
No that’s the Machine-That-Goes-Ping!
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:01
Atrios does have a point, which is part of a smaller point that everyone is caricatured in the media according to 1960s standards.
None of the genuine computer nerds I know (including me) call computers “computers”, either. If it’s a specific kind of computer, they’ll use the brand name or the specifications. If it’s a particular computer on the network, they’ll use its name. Generically, the nerds call computers “machines”.
This might be a regional thing, but I don’t think so - I know nerds from places ranging from SoCal to NY to Seattle to Kentucky who all call them “machines”.
I guess it is a fairly recent development that the majority of computer users are not programmers. Less than a generation, and it’ll take awhile before the top-ranking journalists catch up.
Monica said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:03
Is that guy in the Little Black Robes wearing birkenstocks?
Legalize said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:04
Yeah, all the tech/computer folks I know call their computers “machines.” The allegedly hipster geeks tend to refer to their specific machine, e.g. “Mac Book Pro” or what have you. My Senior partner calls his computer his “email machine.” I call mine, “Irving.”
Luddites'R'Us said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:04
I call them “damn infernal machines” when not calling them other names not suitable for young children.
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:09
I call mine, “Irving.”
Irving is a fine name for a machine. I’ve never got in the habit of naming computers except as a network thing. Which is weird, because I do tend to name everything else.
Southern Beale said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:10
Meanwhile, hackers keep taking down the Tennessee Democratic Party’s blog, for like the gazillionth time this week.
You’d think there’d be a nerd somewhere who could fix that …
Blue Buddha said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:10
Y’know, there are sooooo many things to put in that blank which could completely change the context of that sentence.
Southern Beale said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:11
Really?!?! I assumed that all journalists wore fedoras, typed on Royal manual typewriters and recorded quotes on a little memopad during press conferences. I mean, that’s how they’re like on teevee… right?
You forgot the green eyeshades and the cigarette clamped between the teeth.
Susan of Texas said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:12
I wanted to be a girl reporter but I didn’t have a hat and shoulder pads.
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:14
You forgot the green eyeshades and the cigarette clamped between the teeth.
I thought that was accountants. And maybe bookies.
J— said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:14
Really?!?! I assumed that all journalists wore fedoras, typed on Royal manual typewriters and recorded quotes on a little memopad during press conferences. I mean, that’s how they’re like on teevee… right?
You forgot the green eyeshades and the cigarette clamped between the teeth.
And a phone booth into which they run to call in the Big Story.
Blue Buddha said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:15
I think what caused the quantum shift from programmers to non-programmer use is the wide use of the GUI interface, around the late-80’s/early-90’s. No one had to be burdened with constantly typing commands into a user prompt, when they could just point and click.
Southern Beale said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:16
I thought that was accountants. And maybe bookies.
Damn.
Maybe I was working in the wrong office.
Southern Beale said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:17
I wanted to be a girl reporter but I didn’t have a hat and shoulder pads.
:lol:
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:18
I think what caused the quantum shift from programmers to non-programmer use is the wide use of the GUI interface, around the late-80’s/early-90’s.
I think you’re right, and now that I reflect on just what year it is, that was longer ago than I thought. That makes it about a generation, doesn’t it?
Easy to misplace a decade when you get a bit longer in the tooth, I guess.
mikey said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:18
I was really geeky in the 90’s. Now, I’m very comfortable owning, building and maintaining my networks, servers and ‘puters, but it’s just not exciting like it was a dozen years ago. I call my closet computers “servers” (they have network names), and my client machines “living room computer”, “office computer”, “bedroom computer” and “bathroom computer”.
What?
mikey
J— said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:26
What, no basement computer?
OB-GYN Kenobi said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:27
“The Hellboy lunch box is an retirement investment.”
Only if it’s still in the original packaging. You don’t — GASP — actually USE it, do you???
mikey said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:33
You can’t have a basement in the bay area. Water table’s in the way…
mikey
Nim, ham hock of liberty said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:36
“I think what caused the quantum shift from programmers to non-programmer use is the wide use of the GUI interface, around the late-80’s/early-90’s.”
You’re not part of the club unless you had to make your own custom autoexec.bat and config.sys boot disks, if you wanted to play a game on your 386/486. Learning how to move all those sound card drivers into himem put hair on your chest.
David in NYC said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:39
Really?!?! I assumed that all journalists wore fedoras, typed on Royal manual typewriters and recorded quotes on a little memopad during press conferences. I mean, that’s how they’re like on teevee… right?
You forgot the green eyeshades and the cigarette clamped between the teeth.
——————–
And a phone booth into which they run to call in the Big Story.
Don’t forget the editor (or whoever) who gets to yell “Stop the presses!” whenver they get a big scoop. (And, sometimes, of course, a really famous editor, who gets to yell at his cub reporter, “Stop calling me Chief!”)
zeppo said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:41
REAL reporters can only type with two fingers.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:45
I used to write the most awesome spaghetti basic code on the Apple II+.
The line numbers themselves took up memory, and I needed all 48K for the options pricing formulas, and the helpful user interface I added as well. So I would out as many statements on a line as would fit. Hell to read, though.
pedestrian said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:47
I wanted to be a girl reporter but I didn’t have a hat and shoulder pads.
It’s alright, as long as you have a short skirt you could still be the damsel in distress. That requires a much smaller hat. Just remember: Never, EVER enter a brightly lit room.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:53
That’s the Sally Quinn formula, right?
Legalize said,
March 13, 2008 at 19:58
Real reporters also always wear a shirt with the top button unbottoned, and jacket and tie in August.
PeeJ said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:00
You’re not a real member of the club unless you’ve toggled in the program from the front panel. Or patched a mainframe OS on the fly.
Try to outnerd me, willya? G’won g’haid. Try.
pedestrian said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:02
I would rather be a fumbling but lovable defense attorney myself. You know, the kind that thinks that the easiest way to defend a client is to find the real murderer?
PeeJ said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:02
I thought about becoming a girl reporter but had no interest in girls. I did end up with some padded shoulder outfits and fabulous hats.
pedestrian said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:05
PeeJ, I hope you remembered to give up nylons for the war.
J— said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:09
You can’t have a basement in the bay area. Water table’s in the way…
Rugged in Montana says basement computers are best. I guess I can’t call you Rugged in the Bay Area.
PeeJ said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:10
You can have my nylons when you pry them off my cold, dead, hairy legs.
Susan of Texas said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:12
I was tempted to use it as a purse but the little latch didn’t look too secure. So it is still pristine and investment-worthy.
pedestrian said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:13
Ah, cold dead hairy legs! The perfect compliment to a big bag of dicks.
Susan of Texas said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:14
PeeJ, you’re a better man than I am. I gave up nylons the second I could get away with it. Putting nylons on always made me feel like sausage meat being stuffed into casing.
PeeJ said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:29
heh heh you said Sausage….meat…stuffed….
PeeJ said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:32
And lets not forget the twerp! Which person, according to Vonnegut, is some one who farts in the bathtub. Deliberately. And maybe does something else, I don’t recall.
billy pilgrim said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:40
I named my computer Flat Stanley.
r@d@r said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:49
jocks, nerds, geeks………what about the punks?
atheist said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:51
It was a snerk, PeeJ. A snerk sniffs the seats on public trains, I think he said.
atheist said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:52
Yeah, the Punks. And don’t forget the Psychos and the Freaks. I’ve belonged to both of the latter groups at one point or other.
t4toby said,
March 13, 2008 at 20:59
I think I’m a perv, because this is the only thing that has made any sense to me in this whole thread.
WTF (Interrobang)
Smut Clyde said,
March 13, 2008 at 21:22
OT News Flash –
Shania Law declared in New Zealand!
[must credit Smut]
Johnny Coelacanth said,
March 13, 2008 at 21:22
“lets not forget the twerp! Which person, according to Vonnegut, is some one who farts in the bathtub. Deliberately. And maybe does something else, I don’t recall.”
A twerp farts in the bathtub, then breaks the bubbles by biting them, if I remember my Vonnegut.
PeeJ said,
March 13, 2008 at 21:26
Something wrong with being a perv? It’s always worked for me. I recommend it highly. But then, I do so many things highly.
The World Wide Web Consortium has a thingy where one submits a web site for checking conformance to the standards. No true nerd would ever admit, much less say their site had 122 errors.
g said,
March 13, 2008 at 21:30
Damn! [Door closes behind g] That other thread is dangerous! Can I hide in here for a while?
Righteous Bubba said,
March 13, 2008 at 21:33
I credit smut with many things.
pedestrian said,
March 13, 2008 at 21:39
When politicians, upon winning elections, credit smut and snub Jesus, this country will finally be on the right track.
Roggered in Montana said,
March 13, 2008 at 21:54
If only nerds use computers and only pervs like porn, then would someone who likes internet porn be a pnervd?
t4toby said,
March 13, 2008 at 22:03
pnwed by a pnervd
PeeJ said,
March 13, 2008 at 22:48
If all pnervds were pnwed, and some pr0ns are pwned, are all pwned pnervds pr0ns?
g said,
March 13, 2008 at 22:50
OK, my day started with an Xtofascist making bizarre threats toward women. I’ll tell you all about it after work.
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 22:55
There’s really only one thing computers are good for: nonsense.
Pulled Prairie dog with Biased curried Baker’s cheeses
Ingredients:
1 prairie dog, grated
4 pints cellular baker’s cheese
5 teaspoons roasted robiola, pointlessly roasted
4 cans xenophobic lizard colon, sensuously broiled
1 ounce vanilla
1 pound cilantro
Incautiously grease a cookie sheet. Separate prairie dog eye from thorax. Mock thorax. Stir the baker’s cheese with the robiola over medium heat in a bowl. Stuff the resulting goo into the prairie dog. Shred - very peacefully - the lizard colon, vanilla, and the cilantro. Dab the latter combination on to the former. Abandon for 119 minutes. Serves 11 eccentric individuals with formless stomachs.
(Last time I steal RB’s joke. Thanks, Bubba, it seems to work fine.)
Smut Clyde said,
March 13, 2008 at 22:57
That other thread is dangerous!
Will there be straw-men in this thread?
For bonus art-nerd points, here is a 1899 pastel by Stanis?aw Wyspia?ski: Straw-men (The Planty Park by Night).
atheist said,
March 13, 2008 at 22:58
OK, my day started with an Xtofascist making bizarre threats toward women.
?!?!
We’ll be listening.
gbear said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:02
Sam, Why did you have to go and put cilantro in there. That ruins everything. Yuck.
Smut Clyde said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:04
Testing with escape codes for weird Polish letters:
Stanisław Wyspiański
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:08
Sorry, gbear. I got caught up in the yuppie cilantro craze in the early 90s and got hooked.
atheist said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:12
I LUV CILANTRO
t4toby said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:18
Cilantro? Not so much.
Nice pic, Smutty. Along with the Wichita Wingnuts, I think we have some good found art around here.
Dagoril said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:20
What if you used a computer to play computer DND? You could asdf your way around the 8 bit dungeon. Nerdy + geeky = Gnerky?
I must confess to playing Colossal Cave back in the day. Magic word XYZZY!
Anne Laurie said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:29
I am a geek, but strictly in the sense that I bite the heads off of live chickens for money.
Pedestrian, the MainStreamMedia see that as their job. Which is why they are so determined to see bloggers as “nerds”…. even a
humblefatuous overpaid Pundit geek needs somebody upon which to look down.Righteous Bubba said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:33
Last time I steal RB’s joke.
By all means steal it. I’m still working on the drinks selection.
SamFromUtah said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:47
By all means steal it.
Thanks, Bubba. I promise to use it with restraint. And I’ll see if I can’t think up something of my own with that JanusNode thing.
mikey said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:52
I feel a draft.
I smell a Wumpus…
mikey
mikey said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:53
Sam from that big square state in the middle:
A suggestion?
Janusnode Romance Novels.
Lots of adverbs in the bodice rippers…
mikey
Kathleen said,
March 13, 2008 at 23:57
since when did this blog become digg?
SamFromUtah said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:03
Janusnode Romance Novels.
Hee hee hee
This skates very close to some ideas I had back when I was a foolish young undergrad. Now that I’m a foolish middle-aged post-grad, I might just take it on.
Andre said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:05
Reporters make things up all the time and use words like “tumescent” in a socially inappropriate fashion.
I know this because I, like most nerds, watch The Wire.
Righteous Bubba said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:07
Sam, let me know if you figure out RepriseTextDNA. I haven’t yet.
t4toby said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:12
What is digg?
SamFromUtah said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:15
Being a nerd isn’t Atrios’ problem. It’s actually much sadder than that.
Whatever can you mean? The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.
kobie said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:16
Geeks understand HTML; nerds understand Elvish.
There is a difference.
Saul said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:16
Shalom gentlemen.
Saul said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:20
The bottom line is, the left is going to take a beating in the November election. In order for Barack Obama to win he’s going to have to win at least a few red states. I just don’t see the Patriots in the Heartland and the South voting for someone like Obama. He’s a black racist and a member of the Black Panthers which is their version of the Ku Klux Klan. John McCain on the other hand is a Moderate Conservative Patriot who will easily carry all of the traditional Republican States in addition to New Hampshire. Looks like the left is going to be out of luck with thier new “messiah”.
PeeJ said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:25
Isn’t McCain playing for the Bears this year?
t4toby said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:28
Saul! You’re back! I’m so happy!
Because I was craving some dumb-ass bullshit from a troll who uses several different names, and damned if you don’t deliver every time.
Saul said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:30
I’ve been in Israel for the past three months visiting family and enjoying the Jewish Holy sites. The Wailing Wall was magnificent as was all of Jerusalem.
SamFromUtah said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:30
Sam, let me know if you figure out RepriseTextDNA. I haven’t yet.
Ok - it’ll be awhile before I figure anything out on JanusNode.
The documentation is some of the strangest and most erudite tech-doc I’ve ever read. I like it.
Andre said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:34
Wait…Obama is a panther? Like some sort of shapeshifter?
HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!
Snorghagen said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:45
Not if they’re grit-eatin’, scum-suckin’, pencil-necked geeks.
Dagoril said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:47
Andre, I’d like him better if he had a prehensile tongue, like that dude in that X-Men movie.
Not that I’m gnerdy enough to know anything comics.
Interrobang said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:53
Saul is funny! Ani tzocheket me’od! “Wailing wall,” indeed. :)
I think I’m a punk geek with nerdish tendencies, in that I suck at small talk and used to have two-tone black-and-blue hair. How’s that for messing with the high school pigeonholes? (For what it’s worth, there seem to be an almost equal number of Goth geeks.)
MzNicky said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:54
My Senior partner calls his computer his “email machine.” I call mine, “Irving.”
That reminds me.
Your daily Beatle-ism:
Journalist to George Harrison [in "A Hard Day's Night"]: What do you call that haircut?
George Harrison: Arthur.
MzNicky said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:56
You forgot the green eyeshades and the cigarette clamped between the teeth.
Not to mention the half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels in the desk drawer.
Righteous Bubba said,
March 14, 2008 at 0:57
Not if they’re grit-eatin’, scum-suckin’, pencil-necked geeks.
I still own my Freddie Blassie Picture disk.
I also recommend My Breakfast with Blassie.
Andre said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:04
I call my machine “Lucille”, just like BB King’s guitar.
She’s my lady, with only the best video card, power supply, screen and RAM.
My girlfriend was jealous for a while, then she realised she could play Sims 2 with all the extra and the graphics turned right up. Now my two ladies get it on all the time.
Alright.
acrannymint said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:06
I built my first computer - an xt. It had two 5 1/4 inch floppies and no hard drive. I put in the 20MB hard drive 6 months later.
I also worked on a VAX computer with 4MB of RAM and a bunch of 256KB removable disks that fit in something the size of a washing machine.
acrannymint said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:13
I also used to play Zork.
PeeJ said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:23
Oh sweet serendipity!
Just this very morning I was telling a coworker about “walking” those across the floor. They were a little smaller than washing machines, IIRC, about 20 inches on a side. Anyway, by directly controlling the R/W heads - making them swing back and forth - one could find the resonant frequency and “walk” them across the floor. Hysterically funny. There was a down side: it tended to turn them into boat anchors.
Now you’ve got me thinking setting the …Apple IIe I think it was?..on fire through software. A real laugh riot.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:23
I used to play Zork, too!
And I turned in sets of punch cards (PL/1 maybe? and JCL) to be run on an IBM system 370.
(Disclaimer: this was all long ago. I don’t know anything about what you kids and your fancy object orientationed thingamajigs are about these days. So get offa my lawn!)
PeeJ said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:26
“…thinking about setting the… ”
Also, if the “walking needs further explanation, let me know. It’s just getting them rocking back and forth, then varying the head swing frequency you see?
PeeJ said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:38
ittdgy - I have my JCL manual in the attic somewhere if you’d like to reacquaint yourself with an old friend. 370, eh? MVS was it? DOS/VSE?
See my comment above about patching a live OS on the fly.
SamFromUtah said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:38
I also worked on a VAX computer with 4MB of RAM …
Me too, and I got to run backups of those washing-machine disk drives on tape. That was a good bit of paleo-geekery. I missed having to use punch cards by that much, but I have used a hardcopy terminal.
I tried playing Zork but didn’t really have the attention span for it. I did write a couple of little text adventures, though.
Probably my best get-offa-my-lawn qualification is that I was a professional assembly-language programmer for a couple of years.
gbear said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:42
I still own my Freddie Blassie Picture disk.
Cool, Righteous Bubba. I’ve got the ‘King of Men’ EP on blood red vinyl, but I missed the picture disc.
gbear said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:43
and I would imagine that confirms my ‘geek’ status.
Dr BLT, Recovering Troll said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:45
I just stopped by to say thank you and to ask for advice.
If bloggers are nerds then I am grateful for nerds, specifically the ones here that got my musical “career” back on track with a post that suggested I had been snubbed at the Grammy Awards for this song:
Playin’ Politics with the Dixie Chicks
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT (c)2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/DixieChicks.mp3
Since then, the Chicks-dissin’-ditty I wrote, recorded and released as a free download, has gained a steady following. It is now approaching 10,000 downloads per my goddaddy stats tracking program. Yesterday, in the period of 24 hours, 715 hits were recorded. So the momentum appears to be mounting.
For those of you that do like money (I hate it, and the idea of it, as much as I hate fame, and the idea of it), at what point would you begin to charge for the song? And how many download hits do you think it would take for me to convince a major label to re-release the song under their name? Did I make a big mistake to begin with by “pulling a Radiohead.”?
Songwriters are not good on the business end of the industry. So any advice you can give me would be appreciated. And, for the time being, you can still pick up the song for free.
This one is right on the heels of “Playin’ Politics,” and I recorded it with the aid of Bakersfield’s own Mark Yeary, formerly of Merle Haggard and the Strangers.
Merle Hasn’t Lost His Fightin’ Side
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT (c)2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/MerleVeryLast.mp3
Smiling Mortician said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:50
SamFromUtah, the Edie McClurg shout-out just made my afternoon. Drinks are on me.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:51
I’d try to find my JCL book, but I think there are grues down there.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:52
So any advice you can give me would be appreciated.
Vote for Obama.
acrannymint said,
March 14, 2008 at 1:54
One of my all time favorite error messages comes from the world o’Vax. The error code displayed translated into The master processor is insane when I looked it up.
SamFromUtah said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:00
Drinks are on me.
Thanks! I think I might just settle down with a drink or two and watch Ferris Bueller.
gbear said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:01
Our advice to you is take a long walk off a short pier. Hope that helped.
OneMan said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:12
Well gee, if we’re comparing old tech-head e-penii, here’s my contribution:
I took my first programming class using a teletype. Yes, a real, honest-to-god chunka-chunka-chunka TTY.
My first two years at college we all coded using punchcards. PL/1 and IBM Assembler on a System 360. By finals week, turnaround time on a batch job was 24 hours plus. At the end of finals, punchcards would be tossed from high points all around campus and rain down like confetti.
My senior project was writing an assembler for an Interdata 32 “mini” computer (refrigerator sized) with the front panel toggle switches.
Now you kids get offa my lawn!
John A. said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:19
I’m a big-time blogger, and I can barely use my computer. They can’t call me a nerd.
JOHN
mikey said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:23
I’m entirely self taught, no education of any kind (other than a diploma from California public schools high school where I majored in surfing and hallucinogens), and when I worked for Polaroid back in the eighties I had to figure out how to sysadmin an NCR Tower running a 68020 with FOUR MEGS of RAM and AT&T UNIX SVR3.2.
I wrote (and debugged) freakin SQL queries by HAND.
Ended up a shell-script writin mofo. I could make that thing dance and sing showtunes with nothing more than a cshell session or two. With a green ASCII TTY term…
mikey
Ted said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:36
Ended up a shell-script writin mofo. I could make that thing dance and sing showtunes with nothing more than a cshell session or two. With a green ASCII TTY term…
That four megs of RAM alone probably cost thousands of dollars then.
Not many people can claim their grandmother as a programmer (at least people over 30, anyway), but mine wrote code for the defense department in the late 50’s, I’m proud to say. Back then, she informed me, terminals for the mainframes were too high-tech and expensive to have all over the place. So the programmers wrote code by hand on paper, and submitted it to data entry people who converted them into the punch cards. She also remembered the first hard drives in the 60s. The ones the size and shape of washing machines and platters as big as pizzas.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:40
We can fly our geek flags high, can’t we?
!
John A. said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:47
This blog is insolent.
JOHN
Snorghagen said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:51
Pull down your pants
And slide on the ice.
mikey said,
March 14, 2008 at 2:52
The ones the size and shape of washing machines and platters as big as pizzas.
They were called “Disk Packs”. The drives and platters were seperate components. The drives, with the read/write heads, were the size of a washing machine and sounded like a 737 spooling up.
They tended to be under 5MB in capacity, so what you would do is spin them down, open the top and lift out the platters. You put the platters in this housing that looked like a hitech cake saver with pretty colored polycarb lids. Then you would go to the rack, take out the platters the system told you it needed, and put it in the disk pack drive. Lock it in, close the lid, spin it up and you were on your way.
But dude, it was SO MUCH BETTER than hanging half inch nine track GCR tape. Random access, fast, and you never ended up with a big pile of tape on the floor…
mikey
Batocchio said,
March 14, 2008 at 3:02
Wow, you sure nailed that one.
Seymour Cray said,
March 14, 2008 at 3:17
Pikers.
Rugged in Montana said,
March 14, 2008 at 3:45
Rugged in Montana says basement computers are best.
Yes, my computer is in the basement, it’s the best place for a computer. Down there, I’m afforded enough shielding to protect me from the rays the homosexuals of Hollywood are using to try to turn me gay. Here in the rural heartland, we fight against the throbbing immorality that atheists are forcing down our throats with their communist government rules. Whenever I accidently encounter pornography on my basement computer, I strap my Airsoft M1 Battle Rifle to my back and crawl for hours through the brambles on my stomach…sometimes it will make the rigidity of my loins dissipate …but sometimes it almost causes me to spill my essence. Then I know I need to tighten up my cilice, in order to maintain manly discipline.
mikey said,
March 14, 2008 at 3:55
There it is.
Charley Mike, m’man…
Get some…
mikey
Corporal Mortification said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:03
Cilice for sale. Get your cilice here…
Ted said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:05
sometimes it will make the rigidity of my loins dissipate …but sometimes it almost causes me to spill my essence. Then I know I need to tighten up my cilice, in order to maintain manly discipline.
You’re gunnin’ for Jesus’ General’s job, aren’t ya!
Rugged in Florida said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:08
CM, indeed. Down here, I’m currently wading through the swamp, staving off biting chiggers and snapping cooters, trying to get back to my fortified hammock.
Gary Ruppert said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:10
The fact is that liberals are a bunch of dope-smoking, un-American traitors with big butts and their butts smell like dope.
mikey said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:15
Dood, I would be HONORED to hold that fortified Hammock with you against the night attacks.
You take first watch. I’m just gonna stretch out here in the fortified hammock and kinds let my muscles relax and ZZZZZZZZZZ
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:16
The fact is, Gary likes big butts and he can not lie.
Patkin said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:17
OT, but:
I don’t know about you, but tonight’s Lost just tore me apart in ways the Desmond episode two weeks ago couldn’t even wish to manage.
That was a dirty fucking trick, flashes.
RglrLrkr said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:29
On topic:
She’s not a tramp! Her name is Judy!
{Apologies if already posted.}
Anne Laurie said,
March 14, 2008 at 4:50
Just this very morning I was telling a coworker about “walking” those across the floor. They were a little smaller than washing machines, IIRC, about 20 inches on a side. Anyway, by directly controlling the R/W heads - making them swing back and forth - one could find the resonant frequency and “walk” them across the floor. Hysterically funny. There was a down side: it tended to turn them into boat anchors.
Back at the turn of the 1980s, the technerds of my acquaintance were solomnly warned that this “walking” stunt would cause the machines to pull out of their electrical sockets and crash their drives. The only verified destructive disk crash I actually experienced, however, was when a Pointed-Haired Boss said it would be “too expensive” for the midwestern university electricians to relocate the existing midfloor socket when we put in the library’s first (second-hand) zebra readers. Guess who walked in to inspect the “new” machines… and tripped over the socket, and crashed into one of the machines & overturned it for good measure. Us peons were told that each of the approximately two dozen “pizza boxes” that needed immediate replacement cost a thousand bucks each, at a time when I was making approximately $15K a year, so it’s just as well a much more highly compensated individual was the trippee. (No, of course HE didn’t have to pay for the damage. High ranking university administrators are not responsible for “acts of God” even if they believe they are one. What are you, some kinda commanisk?)
g said,
March 14, 2008 at 6:17
Well, earlier today I teased about my experience at work with an abusive Xtian.
Now that I’m home - anyone want to hear the tale?
sxwarren said,
March 14, 2008 at 6:38
(raises hand tentatively)
Umm, I wired panels for an IBM punch-card Sorter when I was in high school. Any paleo-nerd points for that?
sanitas said,
March 14, 2008 at 8:17
I hand coded a sql query today that I’m very proud of ;)
Dr BLT, Recovering Troll said,
March 14, 2008 at 9:16
“Pull down your pants
And slide on the ice.”
Now, that was cold!
pedestrian said,
March 14, 2008 at 15:50
g, tell it! tell it!