The 50 Skills Every Geek Should Have

Meme,

I ran into this list over on Gizmodo today, and thought it’d be an interesting meme.

If none of these make any sense to you, that’s okay. I choose to love you anyway.

The 50 Skills Every Geek Should Have:

1. Install a hard drive in a laptop – Both IDE/PATA and SATA of various sizes!
2. Perform a clean OS install on a machine with two OSes – Just two? Why stop there?
3. Swap out the battery on your iPod/iPhone – On my 4G 20GB iPod, but I should really upgrade the HDD too… or just buy a new one.
4. Jailbreak an iPhone – I haven’t done it (I’m not an iPhone-r), but I’ve read every article I have seen come across on it.
5. Wire your house for Ethernet and Coax cable – Cat5e and RJ6, although I’m running 802.11n now.
6. Use BitTorrent and RSS to automatically download new shows from trackers
7. Use an A/V receiver to its fullest capability (every port is taken)
8. Calibrate an HDTV without the manual
9. Use a DSLR in full manual mode
10. Hack the encryption and mooch your neighbor’s Wi-Fi – Not that many people actually encrypt their wireless… or their PCs.
11. Solder cleanly enough to get around a circuit board
12. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point – Better—using someone else’s 3G phone to get wireless!
13. Shove the guts of a modern game console into a retro game console – I’m not a gamer, but a case mod is a case mod is a case mod.
14. Design a webpage in HTML by hand that features a picture of your cat – I do it in notepad!!!
15. Use Photoshop to imperceptibly doctor a photo –I prefer Paint Shop Pro and Gimp.
16. Abstain from buying extended warranties
17. Know where to buy cheap cables and accessories
18. Fix your parents’ computer over the phone without looking at a computer – Not just my parents’….
19. Enter the Konami code
20. Comment on Gizmodo from your phone
21. Type quickly using T9 texting – At one time… but now I have a full keyboard on my phone!
22. Program a universal remote
23. Contribute code to the Linux kernel
24. Hide porn from your significant other – Not that I’d have to, but yes….
25. Avoid DRM on everything
26. Know how to back up your data to networked storage—and actually do it – And I know how to recover it too, just in case.
27. Watch TV shows on the internet for free – People pay for content?
28. Edit together digital video ripped from YouTube
29. Play any SNES game on your computer through an emulator
30. Reset expired trial software by messing with the registry – Even better if you can set it from “trial” to “purchased” via the registry.
31. Hackintosh your PC – Just twice, then I went back to DOS.
32. Download pre-release movies from Usenet – Maybe…
33. Hack the Wii to play homebrew games
34. Get around web content filters on public computers – No Comment… 😉
35. Get into a Windows computer if you forgot your password – You DO know what I do for a living, right?
36. Securely erase your data so it can’t be recovered – Don’t ask….
37. Share a printer between a Mac and a PC on a network
38. Build a fighting robot
39. Write your own Firefox plugins
40. Navigate and reorganize the files on your computer in DOS – PUSHD is your friend.
41. Get something on the front page of Digg
42. Get through to executive customer service – I’m not allowed to speak to this in public….
43. Rip a CD to V0 quality MP3s – Using Lame to VBR2, actually.
44. Rip a DVD to DivX – Usually with DVD Decrypter and Dr. DivX
45. Build your own computer from parts – Several times….
46. Swap out the hard drive in your DVR for a bigger one
47. Get an NES cartridge working again by blowing in it – Ahh, childhood memories….
48. Calibrate a 7.1 surround-sound system
49. Play downloaded games on a Nintendo DS
50. Talk about things that aren’t tech related – Sex!

Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there’s Google.

Until next time...
Erik

Oh, Arkansas

Ponderings,

Thanks to Daniel for pointing me to this excellent blog entry discussing Initiative 1 by a gay couple in Florida Ohio who has adopted four children. You should give it a read.

Arkansas. Where to start?

Having lived in Arkansas since 1991, I have sadly come to understand how “mentally backward” most of the population is here. To start with: there are HUGE Pentecostal, Southern Baptist and Church of Christ populations here. Many—if not most—towns have more churches than their population can even support. So, we know the “sheeple” don’t think for themselves and take their cues from the people leading their congregation (and obviously not from what is in the Bible).

Add to this religious “fervor” all the rednecks, hillbillies and other “white trash” that one thinks of when one thinks of the South and you have a good idea about the ideals of the population in general. Did you know there are still “sundown towns” here, many of which “host” various white supremacist groups. Even though the Husbear and I “blend in” with our tattoos and mean-ish looks, many of these towns are places even we won’t stop in if it can be avoided.

Obviously not all of Arkansas is like this. There are some small pockets where people are “normal”. Most of these pockets are the result of an influx of people from big cities in large states. More than likely, these small pockets here are also the cities that have what few gay bars and clubs there are in Arkansas.

I haven’t talked about many “political” topics on my blog, mostly because I am not very political by nature. I just tend to go with the flow of things. However, the hate formerly directed at people of other color is now being directed at people who are gay. (I say “formerly” but in reality it still exists—as was very evident by the verbal comments many people have expressed in the open with the results of this last presidential election.) While it may be a slight exaggeration that everyone is this way, it holds true for many.

The Husbear and I have three children, all from his previous marriage. While the kids are now technically adults, thanks to Initiative 1, I would never be able to adopt them if something happened to their mother and/or him to make them part of “our” family. Although technically we cannot be a “family” either since the Husbear and I cannot marry here due to legislation enacted during the 2004 election cycle that defined marriage in Arkansas.

I’m not sure where I was going with all of this other than to give readers an understanding of what life is like in Arkansas, and maybe why I expect this from from those living in this state. I am not saying it’s right. But it is the middle of the country, where all change is slow to happen.

It is hard to imagine that in the 21st century laws forbidding “rights” to a group of people would even be thought of—let alone passed—by the general population. But as the Husbear says: “it’s a matter of time.” For example, his grandfather didn’t believe in interracial marriage. That generation died off. The next generation, his father, “tolerated” interracial marriage. That generation is dying off. And like most of his generation, the Husbear doesn’t care who of one color marries who of another color because they know it doesn’t matter.

Change takes time. You can “force” change, but hate will be built up on the inside until it festers and a tragic backlash occurs. Time, and leading by example, are the counters to this build-up. It’s the only thing that has ever worked for me. Granted, I don’t know what those people I’m “friends” with actually say about me when I’m not around or how they truly feel about gay people. But they are at least civil when I am in their presence. Sometimes that’s all I can ask for.

Until next time...
Erik