Ask An Ordinary Teenage Slashdot User

These interviews have gotten pretty celebrity-oriented lately. To break the routine, this week's guest is an unknown, 15-year-old, Linux-using, Slashdot-reading high school sophomore named Clinton Ebadi I met at a local LUG meeting. Clinton's mom, who drove him to the meeting (his first), was happily surprised to find that there was a large group of people (of all ages) out there who instantly accepted and respected her son; his relatives, teachers, and classmates looked at him and saw nothing but a slightly strange, slightly pudgy loner. So ask Clinton anything you like about being a kid geek (a living, breathing Katz character, you might say) or anything else, including MentalUNIX or the ncurses-based front end he's working on for Splay. Post questions for Clinton below. We'll send him 10 selected ones by e-mail, and expect his answers within a week or so.

Comments

What are your plans for college?

[Zachary Kessin]

If you have thought about it what do you want to do after High School? Do you have any ideas about college or further education?

Besides computers and high tech to do you have any hobbies.

The cure of the ills of Democracy is more Democracy.

Times Change

[HRbnjR]

When I was a geek in high school (10 years ago)... it was not cool at all. The computer club was definitely frowned upon by the "cool" people. My question is, with the rise of the internet, and computers becoming pervasive in "normal" peoples lives...has this changed? Or have geeks gained some respect?

I read an article somewhere (Wired?) that said geeks were the new sex symbols...doctors and lawyers used to represent power and success and where what men stereotypically wanted to be, and what women stereotypially chased after. But now, as it is suggested, do you think geeks have invaded some of this position? Do you see any attitudes like this in school?

What are you listening to?

[geophile]

When I was 15, my father said, "how can you listen to this? It's noise! There's no melody, it's just boom boom boom!". He was talking about the Beatles. Today, I am horrified to find myself saying the same thing about all rap/hip-hop/whatever, Britney Spears, N Sync, and just about everything else I hear that's been recorded recently. I don't buy much new music, but lately I've been buying CDs to replace my old LPs (The Who, Genesis, and yes, The Beatles).

At least there's Elvis (C, not P), They Might Be Giants, and Komeda.

Is it just me, or my g-g-g-generation, or does new music really suck? What are you listening to?

By the way, I was stunned to find that Jethro Tull is still putting out new stuff. A recent one is called j-tull.com. I am not kidding.

Childhood toys?

[Ralph Wiggam]

Pretty much every geek I've asked remembers loving construction type toys as children. I know my fave was Capsella because of the motors and gears, but there was always a big box of Legos in my house, too.

Did you play with toys like that in your 5-12 years?

What were your favorites?

-B

How is it?

[dbarclay10]

Hey, what's up? :) I'm not a teenager, but I am a Linux user, and a rather dedicated one. I've come to the realization over the past year or so that, indeed, MS Office is actually a good software packager. Well, relatively speaking, of course ;) I find it fast, relatively lean, feature-complete, and more-or-less stable. I was wondering if you yourself have a particular software favorite that doesn't run under Linux?

Thanks for your time,

Dave

Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)

Girls

[Stoke]

At the age when most teens seem to be crazy over the opposite sex and dating, how is your situation with girls? Assuming you dont have a girlfriend, do you feel better off without one taking away your free time, or is it something you wish for?

The Three Most Important Questions Ever

[�nubis]

The three most important questions ever:

<British Accent>

What is your name?

What is your quest?

What is your favorite colour?

</British Accent>

Greatest Generation

[gestalt]

This is taking a bit of a larger context in mind, here, so bear with me for a moment. In the last couple of years, there's been a lot of talk from people like Tom Brokaw about the 'greatest generation'- people who became adults in an age where there was a clear cause for something... for example, World War II, but including all sorts of causes and movements through the decades; up until what seems to be when you and I have spent our time growing up. I'm a bit ahead of you at age 27, but I feel we are both products of a vacant, mass-media driven, consumption-oriented culture that has inherited no clear path, mission, or movement from our society.

Lots of people would look at this as the benefit of living in a free, peaceful, prosperous part of the world (relatively speaking). I can hear them- "Be grateful, kid!" But, it seems that these are the same people who call generations prior to ours (who had their causes and ideals thrust upon them) the 'greatest generation'. Generally, they're closer in age to that generation than yours or mine.

So, my question is this: In this world where there is no clear path to follow, no absolute right or wrong, no great struggle to leap into, what do you see as the primary motivating factor in your life? For people born before us, there were battles to fight that could be universally agreed upon and used as a framework for their lives. These days, our value doesn't extend much farther than how much money we spent at the Gap last week- so for people who want to make something of themselves, that mission must be coming from within. What is that for you? Technology for its own sake? Getting rich? Finding friends and having interesting experiences? Dare I say it, to CHANGE THE WORLD? It's a difficult question that I haven't found an answer for myself yet.