A Geek can only get a date once a year A Nerd can only get a date in a chatroom
A Dork doesn't realize that that person was interested, possibly even trying to pick him/her up, until three hours later
A Geek obsesses about Star Wars A Nerd obsesses about Star Trek
A Dork thinks Babylon 5 is better than either one of them
A Geek enjoys Red Dwarf, maybe has some tapes A Nerd has a Holly screen saver and will do the Rimmer salute in mixed company
A Dork thinks the writing really went downhill after the third season
A Geek listens to They Might Be Giants A Nerd likes Yes and Rush
A Dork worships The Dismemberment Plan and is willing to drive an hour to see Fugazi
A Geek codes Perl A Nerd codes assembler
A dork gets paid to sit around with carefully coded software and try every sadistic trick to break it
What Else You Can Do (Activism 101)
on
Copyright!
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· Score: 1
One Word: Organize
Lobbying: You alone can't affect your congressman, but if you get a group of people in your district to all sit down and write letters, to call his switchboard all day, then he'll realize he's dealing with a VOTING BLOCK.
Get yer people together and request a meeting. If you get the runaround, show up with a group of a few dozen friends and DEMAND a meeting. At first you'll probably end up talking to an aide, but stick with it until you talk to your representative face to face, express your concerns in rational terms, explain that this is important to you and why, and that if he supports your side he'll have your vote.
Media Activism: Most people actually believe what they read in the papers. But REMEMBER: the single most read page in any newspaper is the Letters to the Editor. Write eloquent (and accesible to the lay-person) letters, short enough to get printed. Try to tie it in with a recent story if you can. Get your friends to write letters. Write longer letters to let the paper know if a story or editorial covers the issue particularly well or poorly. (Editors pay attention to what their readers want)
Direct Action: Protest. I know it seems gauche, but get out in the streets and scream, wave signs, make speeches, hand out flyers. Civil disobedience works too... The key to Direct Action is to decide what course would best achieve your goals and pursue it as if there were no laws. Act as if all Copyrights expired after 20 years. Put up a website with bootleg Mickey Moose alloverit and trade MP3s like baseball cards. Break the law. Be prepared to go to jail. This will get people's attention!
Get People Involved: Where other people see Apathy, the Organizer sees Potential. People think they can't make a difference-- you must convince them otherwise.
Elected officials have NEVER been the impetus of social change... anybody who suggests otherwise is clueless. Change comes from popular movements...
And if you don't think this kind of thing actually happens any more, just watch Seattle next month.
Spiraling off into another topic (though I hope not too off-topic), if any underground movement will inevitably be co-opted by the mainstream (and in the process made harmless to entrenched interests): What would be the scenario where commercial software companies (M$, as the most obvious example) co-opt open source software?
I was thinking the same thing-- walking the middle ground between gee-wiz and luddism? Technorealism!
We don' need no steenkeeng filter, just get our heads on right-- technology will not make life perfect, and it won't enslave us... technology is merely a TOOL, and it depends on how we use it... or whether we use it or allow it to use us.
My younger sister (not a geek or a nerd or any such) was a Speech and Hearing Major in college. In this capacity, she worked a lot with autistic children. I remember one time when the family was together and she was talking about the aspects of autism, both positive and negative, like trouble with empathy and facility with language -- punning and suchlike -- and I found myself thinking, "My God, that sounds like me, only worse!"
It was at that point that I started suspecting that many of my social difficulties result from what might be a very mild form of autism. It's always nice to see those little "gee, what if..." moments reflected in massive academic tomes.
Slashdot Mirror
A Geek can only get a date once a year
A Nerd can only get a date in a chatroom
A Dork doesn't realize that that person was interested, possibly even trying to pick him/her up, until three hours later
A Geek obsesses about Star Wars
A Nerd obsesses about Star Trek
A Dork thinks Babylon 5 is better than either one of them
A Geek enjoys Red Dwarf, maybe has some tapes
A Nerd has a Holly screen saver and will do the Rimmer salute in mixed company
A Dork thinks the writing really went downhill after the third season
A Geek listens to They Might Be Giants
A Nerd likes Yes and Rush
A Dork worships The Dismemberment Plan and is willing to drive an hour to see Fugazi
A Geek codes Perl
A Nerd codes assembler
A dork gets paid to sit around with carefully coded software and try every sadistic trick to break it
One Word: Organize
Lobbying: You alone can't affect your congressman, but if you get a group of people in your district to all sit down and write letters, to call his switchboard all day, then he'll realize he's dealing with a VOTING BLOCK.
Get yer people together and request a meeting. If you get the runaround, show up with a group of a few dozen friends and DEMAND a meeting. At first you'll probably end up talking to an aide, but stick with it until you talk to your representative face to face, express your concerns in rational terms, explain that this is important to you and why, and that if he supports your side he'll have your vote.
Media Activism: Most people actually believe what they read in the papers. But REMEMBER: the single most read page in any newspaper is the Letters to the Editor. Write eloquent (and accesible to the lay-person) letters, short enough to get printed. Try to tie it in with a recent story if you can. Get your friends to write letters. Write longer letters to let the paper know if a story or editorial covers the issue particularly well or poorly. (Editors pay attention to what their readers want)
Direct Action: Protest. I know it seems gauche, but get out in the streets and scream, wave signs, make speeches, hand out flyers. Civil disobedience works too... The key to Direct Action is to decide what course would best achieve your goals and pursue it as if there were no laws. Act as if all Copyrights expired after 20 years. Put up a website with bootleg Mickey Moose alloverit and trade MP3s like baseball cards. Break the law. Be prepared to go to jail. This will get people's attention!
Get People Involved: Where other people see Apathy, the Organizer sees Potential. People think they can't make a difference-- you must convince them otherwise.
Elected officials have NEVER been the impetus of social change... anybody who suggests otherwise is clueless. Change comes from popular movements...
And if you don't think this kind of thing actually happens any more, just watch Seattle next month.
Spiraling off into another topic (though I hope not too off-topic), if any underground movement will inevitably be co-opted by the mainstream (and in the process made harmless to entrenched interests): What would be the scenario where commercial software companies (M$, as the most obvious example) co-opt open source software?
I was thinking the same thing-- walking the middle ground between gee-wiz and luddism? Technorealism!
We don' need no steenkeeng filter, just get our heads on right-- technology will not make life perfect, and it won't enslave us... technology is merely a TOOL, and it depends on how we use it... or whether we use it or allow it to use us.
My younger sister (not a geek or a nerd or any such) was a Speech and Hearing Major in college. In this capacity, she worked a lot with autistic children. I remember one time when the family was together and she was talking about the aspects of autism, both positive and negative, like trouble with empathy and facility with language -- punning and suchlike -- and I found myself thinking, "My God, that sounds like me, only worse!"
It was at that point that I started suspecting that many of my social difficulties result from what might be a very mild form of autism. It's always nice to see those little "gee, what if..." moments reflected in massive academic tomes.