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Why Do Other Geeks Leave the House?
JG_Elliott asks: "Being a geek getting more and more frustrated with shopping trips, I've turned to the internet to buy things to save time and effort. This made me wonder, other than leaving the house for work/lectures/school, why do other geeks leave the house? What is in the big wide-world that you can't get online (other than real sex)? What do other geeks get up to in their spare time, that they recommend, as something to do out of the house?"
Excercise, fresh air, sun.
The ability to poke at my greens before paying for them.
Oh yeah, and I have WLAN and my are is heavily saturated by unsecured networks.
Life is out there.
To go see the new star wars..duh.
Buying a new house. If my current house runs out, I have to buy a new one. In order to do that, I have to leave my current house.
...that's about everything I can't do online. Of course,if you have a laptop,everything changes
although to actually answer the question, it is nice to go for walks outside of the house, and you do need a change of scenery every so often.
Geoff "Mandrake" Harrison
Some Random UI Hacker
By throwing your pc out the window you will be overcome with the need to go out of the house for things like... food... shopping.. CONTACT WITH OTHER PEOPLE.
This might in turn lead to things like... a social life.... friends... things to do.
Remarakbly this actually leads non-internet people to opertunity to do things out of the house as will as get them invited to such events.
Think about it.
Because, quite frankly, you can't get decent produce by sending somebody else to get it.
This sig no verb.
I like to shop because it takes me out of the house, and out of Geekdom for a while. I also like being able to see and touch things before I plunk down my hard-earned.
:-).
I find that a bit of human contact, even if it's saying hi to the cheerful checker at Gelson's, leaves me reenergised and ready to take on new items back in the Geek Castle
Besides, how could I check out the latest Apple stuff without visiting the Apple Store?
D
(btw, is this topic amusing or depressing? insightful or flamebait? not sure.)
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
I can't race my car inside, that's why I go out there.
-- Breaking Windows: Not just for kids anymore KDE
I think a more interesting and honest question is 'Why do people not leave the house?'. Is is related to past experiences? Is it a result or cause of social phobia? Is it related to the satisfying of short-term objectives? Is it related to intelligence or laziness? Is there a correlation between any variable (e.g. happiness) and time spent ouside? ... (fill in gap yourself)!
So does the good of outside-activity outweigh the bad, or vice versa? The relationship between obesity and inmobility has already been discussed numerous times.
In my opinion, there are lots of reasons to leave the house, which outweigh spending time inside. The best answer was already given: Life is out there! Nothing beats the sweet smell/feel/taste of
So you've noticed sex can be geeky to? You know, you half-wake in the middle of the night from a C-hacking dream with the raging horn and your s.o. lying next to you, there's only two chars' difference between hacking and **cking, one thing leads to another, we've all been there, right? As the int main(int argc, char *argv[]){..}s scroll through your minds eye, your scrolling through her pie! Know what I mean??
Right???
Stop looking at me like that!!
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
What is in the big wide-world that you can't get online[...]
Well, sunshine and fresh air come to mind.
You'll also find there's far more opportunity to expand your horizons out in the "big wide-world" than there will be within your residence.
All opinions presented here aren't mine.
One, fresh vegatables at the local farmers market, and two, basics like milk and eggs.
"Your having a bad day when the voices in your head put you on hold"
Taking photographs. Walking to the riverside and watching swans. To feel the sun shining, wind blowing. For going to the pub and having a couple of pints of warm ale. To go and lay down on the grass in the park and read a good book. For fun and joy.
While video games are fun there are other fun activities that can be had. In the summer I like to go for a walk at the beach or just drive around. Playing some basketball or tenist also requires getting out of the house. Also, being locked up in your house 24/7 will surely make you go insane.
-----
One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
You put on an anorak, find somewhere you can watch trains going past, and write down their numbers.
Soccer, Kneeboarding, paintball.
All non-computer related activities.
All semi-healthy.
All adrenaline pumping.
----- LoboSoft specializes in Digital Language Lab
To throw garbage
(The cleaning company refused to send their employees inside my house to pick up the garbage bags)
http://efil.blogspot.com/
Apart from work, I leave the house to be Rejected by Women at parties.
:P )
It's better than drinking alone alone.
(I'm joking THey Run screaming before they can reject me
Go to your local coffee shop and relax with a cup of java. Then do one of the following, depending on who you are:
1. Feel good about yourself as you observe the fact that you are not like the other complete losers who frequent coffee shops because they have no life, no job, and have nothing but superficial "friends" and juvenile dramas. Then go home and truly appreciate it.
2. Revel in the fact that all your friends are there and enjoy the sense of community and belongingness that comes from being just like everyone else while you enjoy your Starbucks coffee which you think is just the pinnacle of fine coffee enjoyment. Then go home and be patheticaly depressed.
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
Sunlight.
Wind.
Clouds.
Sounds of Nature.
...from all of the stupid April Fools posts on /.
The last time I was at peace with the universe was a week I spent backpacking in the wilderness. In some ways it was like being at home (i.e. sleeping alone, almost no human interaction), but the only electronic device I had on me (or within a few days' hike) was my camera. No TV, no computer, no PDA, no phone, no pager, no radio, not even a watch... nada. Just me, the trails, the moose, the lakes, the wolf tracks, and the stars.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
golf is good and relaxing...not to mention a fine way to enjoy a cigar outside. If that doesn't lose my geek statues nothing will...although I probably lost my geek status sometime around getting married and dealing with children...
currently, tho, I do have to admin the house...which consists of 4 desktops and 3 or 4 laptops...of which I have 2 iBooks, 1 WinXP, 1 Win98, 3 WinME, 1 FreeBSD, and 1 RedHat...plus the collection in the basment..oh, well...
The geek habitat is warm, cozy, and smells like bawls mixed with sweat, blood, and sorrow. Sometimes you just need to get out to breathe after drowning your memories in brute force.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
If you don't go out of the house, you can't justify the purchase of your mobile (cell) phone, PDA, portable MP3 player and so on. So clearly, one important reason to go outside is to use your personal gadgetry.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
To go Geocaching!
It's a Bagel.
Two things I try to get first in the real world, and only resort to the net when that fails.
Beer, shows, beer, cinema, beer, D&D, beer, beer.
Playing D & D is usually a lot more fun in Real Life vs. over the internet. Actually using Dice and having a paper stat sheet. A board with squares and some putter figurines (I Have monorail operator Homer Simon from Simpons Monopoly). It is just better that way. It is not always can I do it Online but more of is it better offline.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Go to the movies. (I work there, so I get in free.) I LOVE movies. Also, this includes my date.
Seeing my girlfriend in general. Pretty weird for a geek to have a girlfriend, eh?
Radiohead concerts. Concerts in general though.
Hanging out with friends
Besides this, I stay at home programming/hacking/playing video games/talking online/talking on the phone/social engineering/etc.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
So, you can take the music away from the house, but you can't take the House away from the music?
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.
Obviously, you're not a real geek. All real geeks are hackers.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
Sigh, the ease of that depends on where you live. Where I used to live, Chicago, was a pretty happening place for industrial, my music preference, but now I am in Indianapolis, and there are a few places to go, but haven't been able to find anyone else around here interested in going. My friends prefer mainstream meatmarket clubs, which get annoying to me after some time.
After marathon keyboard banging sessions, when I absolutely HAD to leave the house, I'd go to this real small hole in the wall bar a mile from the house. If you go to a small bar once a week or so, you get to know the bartenders and owners well, and any other alcoholics who may frequent the place as often as you.
how does one get friends?
I would also like to know how one acquire sex.
"I used to have that really cool,funny sig
I work from home, which means a guaranteed 9+ hour stretch of having to be indoors. Then I get off work and have to play a few minutes of stress relief in the form of HL or BF1942. By that time I have to go sit down and relax cuz I'm tired from the long work day. After about 30 minutes of that my computer chimes and starts up Stargate, so 50/50 chance I'll watch it live rather than let it record it (I never go back to watch the recorded ones, wierd I know). Then I or my fiance makes dinner (she has now come home from work). Then I sit with her for a while, then a little more gaming or work on a side project. Then bed time.
:)
Complete list of Leaving the House:
- I smoke and my cat has fragile respiratory (projectile cat snot sucks) so I smoke outside. 15-ish trips/day tothe side patio
- We just moved a month ago and have a horrendous lawn, so 3 afternoons outside doing yardwork and 1 trip to Lowes for way to expensive equipment
- Food shopping. I eat better than my fiance (I grew up eating fresh food) so I have to be there to do stuff like order the deli meat and pick out fruit and such. Haven't signed up for the Lowes food delivery pogram yet
Food shopping and buying cigarettes are the only reoccurring trips out of the driveway. Sometimes it worries me that I don't leave as much as I used to, but one plus side is that for the first time in 6 years I am putting less than average mileage on my car...and while I do enjoy things that can't be done at my house, there are many more things that I enjoy more at my house. Plus we have pampas grass. It's evil. I cut the 12 foot one down to two feet, I feel the need for a maniacal laugh coming on....
Whee signature.
Unfortunately, this little gem is only available on VHS. Hey George Lucas! This is the best movie you ever made. Release it on DVD!
THX is about a bleak futuristic society that lives underground following some unmentioned apocalypse. (The movie doesn't elaborate on this, but the people that still live on the surface- "shell-dwellers"- are short little bearded mutants who grunt instead of talking, so I guess the movie takes place after a nuclear war.) Life underground is highly efficient and regulated, sex is illegal, daily ingestion of sedatives is required of everyone by law, and the police are polite but ruthless nuclear powered robots. LUH-3417 was hot (I forget the actress who played her). SEN-2541 was a great bastard too. And it's a delightful showcase of early seventies technology. My father was a mainframe programmer and loved this movie. He would point something out every few minutes (look look, it's FORTRAN!).
The end is awesome. After you watch this movie, you'll want to go outside more often.
If the meaning of life is found in other people, the same geeks would envision the meaning as cruelty in the social activities instead of the intended benevolence. As opposed to committing themselves to that option, they will instead look for other avenues where the meaning of life has a much better image - the internet with no (or limited) emotional communications would appear as a much better option.
The "unmentioned apocalypse" was really just the end result of the Bush Administration.
That bright yellow thing outside that keeps us warm. I've yet to find a sutable replacement online. ..of course, I live in Seattle, so I've yet to find the real thing either.
Well what do you know? It appears that a DVD restoration of THX-1138 is due out in June. Lucas has been promising additional special effects. Hopefully this does not mean airbrushed walkie talkies.
-Cyc
/.'s 10 Millionth
The voices tell me that you are quite incorrect.
You've heard the expression "Everything is bigger in Texas," right, probably from some obnoxious Texan... Well a lot of Texans are shocked to learn that Alaska is roughly twice the size of Texas...
Hearing this, one especially boisterous Texas went to Alaska to see if it was true.
He showed up at a typical Alaskan lodge in the wilderness, and was awestruck by it's scale. He was hungry from his long journey, so he went into the restaraunt, and sat down. Soon after, a waitress approached and asked him what he wanted to drink.
"Whiskey," he said.
"What size? Small, Large, or Alaskan?"
"I'll take the Alaskan," he said, doubtful that it would impress him.
The waitress scurried off, and returned a few minutes later with a gigantic glass of whiskey, larger than the man's head. It easily contained a gallon and a half of booze.
She asked him what he was going to have to eat.
"I'd like one of your finest Steaks."
"How big a cut do you want? Small, Large, or the Alaskan?"
He was too proud to swallow his pride, so he once again asked for the Alaskan.
She went back to the kitchen, and when she returned, some 25 minutes later, she was wheeling a cart with a huge covered tray. She strained to lift the tray from the cart to the table, but managed, and then she removed the lid.
There, before the Texan, was the largest single piece of meat he had ever laid eyes upon. It must have been 25 pounds. It was easily 5 inches thick, and 24 inches across.
He gulped aloud, certain that he would be unable to finish the meal. With reservation, he dug into the steak and ate as much as he could. He'd barely eaten a quarter of it when he pushed himself away from the table, completely stuffed.
After drinking some more of his whiskey, and talking some time to digest, he needed to use the restroom. When the waitress returned, he asked when he might find the facilities.
She directed him down a long, dimly lit hallway, and told him it was the last door on the left.
He walked down the hall, which seemed to stretch on forever, particularly in his bloated drunken state.
When he reached the end of the hall, he mistakenly chose the right hand door, rather than the left. He stepped through the darkened doorway and immediately fell into the lodge's indoor pool.
Having seen him take the wrong door, the waitress appeared a moment later, reached through the doorway, and turned on the lights.
In a moment of panic, the Texan, sloshing around treading water screamed, "For the love of God, don't FLUSH IT!"
For those that would die defending it, Freedom
has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.