The Levithins Are The Best Time Period!!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I have a shirt that says "and the geeks shall inherit the earth"  (with the linux penguin on it  )

But do you use Linux? If not, then you're a mere pretender! 

[Taeylor Collins]

I meant I am a geek when it comes to what I like.  So I really don't know if I am the kind of geek you guys are referring too.  I am a geek for DS, Charmed, Buffy, Madonna, The DS Boards, etc! LOL

[Pansity]

But do you use Linux? If not, then you're a mere pretender! 

At the time I had a laptop I had configured to a dual boot windows/linux. Does that make me a half geek?  Or half A geek?  Or do I bite heads off of HALF CHICKENS? 

But no longer.  Now I have to be able to get into the Citrix network at work via my home computer, and it does NOT like Linux. 

Jeannie

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Though that is no reason to completely abandon Linux. A real Linux user would never abandon Linux - they would only use Windows when it was absolutely necessary for work and use Linux for everything else. Also, I've read that the new Citrix Clients for Linux actually get better performance than the Windows ones.

Maybe you should take the Geek Test in this topic to see how much of a geek you really are.

OT-The Geek Test

I'm having my doubts... 

[Pansity]

Though that is no reason to completely abandon Linux. A real Linux user would never abandon Linux - they would only use Windows when it was absolutely necessary for work and use Linux for everything else. Also, I've read that the new Citrix Clients for Linux actually get better performance than the Windows ones.

Maybe you should take the Geek Test in this topic to see how much of a geek you really are.

OT-The Geek Test

I'm having my doubts... 

You're having waay too much fun, aren't you? 

As to the Citrix clients, out of my control at work. I don't work in IT, and they're wedded to the existing standard, which is Windows and Office. I even have to use Explorer to do the remote access, as our Citrix client won't recognize any other browser (IT even had to send an email around about this when they upgraded the client.)

Had this laptop about a year, and it also came with Windows and Office 07, so I haven't spent the time to make it a dual boot at this point.  Relearning all the UNNECESSARY and cumbersome changes in Office is enough of a timesink right now.

But on the geekiness front, does doing all my own computer upgrades (hard drives, configuring, memory, and internal peripherals) count?  I also remember how to assign and force reassignment of com ports on modems......
 

Oh and I took the geek test. I have a vague memory of a version of that going around SW fandom a good while back.  LOL Probably back when the GEnie service still existed.   My score this time was 40.23669.......

Jeannie

[Mysterious Benefactor]

You're having waay too much fun, aren't you? 

Well, I evangelize Linux any chance I get. I've used it as my main OS for close to a decade, and I would never go back to Windows as a main OS again. I only use Windows when I absolutely have to use IE to check something about the forum or to test out a piece of software that someone might want me to look at for them.

But on the geekiness front, does doing all my own computer upgrades (hard drives, configuring, memory, and internal peripherals) count?  I also remember how to assign and force reassignment of com ports on modems......
 

Oh and I took the geek test. I have a vague memory of a version of that going around SW fandom a good while back.  LOL Probably back when the GEnie service still existed.   My score this time was 40.23669.......

Apparently doing ones own computer upgrades doesn't count for much because I do all mine as well, yet my score has barely changed from what it was in 2004 - and that's with me having a computer that never seems to have its cover on AND using Linux AND being a devoted DS and Buffy fan. 

40.23669 has to be a forum high - at least among the people who were willing to share their results. I have NO idea how you were able to reach that level. You must walk around dressed as a Star Wars/Star Trek character 24/7 while also wearing a pair of glasses that are taped to hold together while also wearing a pocket protector filled with four color pens while also reading a comic book in one hand and playing a video game in the other while only speaking in Klingon.   

[dom]

Oh my! If that's the case, we'll be able to spot Pansity among the masses a mile away at the fest! ...(or maybe not, lol.)

[Pansity]

Apparently doing ones own computer upgrades doesn't count for much because I do all mine as well, yet my score has barely changed from what it was in 2004 - and that's with me having a computer that never seems to have its cover on AND using Linux AND being a devoted DS and Buffy fan. 

40.23669 has to be a forum high - at least among the people who were willing to share their results. I have NO idea how you were able to reach that level. You must walk around dressed as a Star Wars/Star Trek character 24/7 while also wearing a pair of glasses that are taped to hold together while also wearing a pocket protector filled with four color pens while also reading a comic book in one hand and playing a video game in the other while only speaking in Klingon.   

We need to work on developing your inner geek.   .  All kidding aside, the way those questions were skewed, it looked like they were concentrating on multiple interests across the geek scale to get the grades.   They also included stuff like an interest in history and reading as well as the stereotypical math and science.  Add all of the above, sounds like the typical science fiction fan to me. With a lot of people in DS fandom (but way way WAY less so on this board) my impression is that it's their one and only exposure to fandom, and a lot of them don't come in with the wide range of interests that's typical in science fiction and media fandom in general.  My interests are all over the map, even before I found fandom in 1975. Like most people,I don't ever lose interest in a specific fandom,  just keep accumulating more new ones along the way.  Maybe you need a few new fandoms to boost your measurable geekiness, if not your copious spare time. 

Nah, don't dress that way.  (Sorry, Dom, you'll have to work harder than that.) I wear the usual fannish uniform of t shirts and jeans at cons. I do have some professionally done ears somewhere, and a set of theatrical custom molded fangs (lovely thing about a Science Fiction con is that you get cool panels by folks like makeup artists, where you can learn to do stuff like that).  Only wore them for Halloween Fundraisers at my job, though.

Maybe the other high level geeks are just trying not to be noticed. In the mundane world smart, creative and different gets you picked on.  Some people haven't yet tumbled to the fact that smart and well informed is FUN and a lack of knowledge and curiosity is boring.   

Jeannie

[Nancy]

On the geekiness front I also upgrade my computers myself, change video and memory cards and can do most configurations for new software and hardware.  I can install new hard drives and swap out failing parts of my computer. 

However, that said, I never had the urge to wear costumes at fests or cons even when visiting a con with a friend.  I know there are lots of people who enjoy dressing up the part and that makes it all the more fun for them.  For some reason, when I attend any function just for fun I do not wear t-shirts and jeans.  Funny, just how I am.

nancy

[Mysterious Benefactor]

We need to work on developing your inner geek.   .  All kidding aside, the way those questions were skewed, it looked like they were concentrating on multiple interests across the geek scale to get the grades.   They also included stuff like an interest in history and reading as well as the stereotypical math and science.  Add all of the above, sounds like the typical science fiction fan to me.

Well, beyond what I laid out previously, not even having been on the Math team in high school, having read books on Math/Science/Grammar outside of class, having taken part in Science Fairs, having a Math degree, an English degree, teaching Computer Programming, having taught myself and students five computer languages that I didn't learn in school, having read entire computer manuals for mainframes and personal computers (I worked for several years running/maintaining a mainframe for a high school computer lab) and software/computer language books, and having created Web sites (writing all my own HTML/Javascript) before 1996 barely raises my geekiness (according to that test) over a 16.

But it seems to be that two of the major sticking points for me are that 1) my taste in movies goes beyond the ones on their list (I've only seen four of them), and 2) I've never played a video/computer game in my life - nor do I have any real desire to.    (Not that I look down on them in any way, shape or form - it's just that they don't appeal to me.)

Maybe you need a few new fandoms to boost your measurable geekiness, if not your copious spare time. 

Spare time?  

With a lot of people in DS fandom (but way way WAY less so on this board) my impression is that it's their one and only exposure to fandom, and a lot of them don't come in with the wide range of interests that's typical in science fiction and media fandom in general. ... Some people haven't yet tumbled to the fact that smart and well informed is FUN and a lack of knowledge and curiosity is boring.

Or just perhaps in today's hectic, too fast paced world they're unable to cultivate more than a few interests beyond those that are needed to get through their lives.

[Nancy]

Or just perhaps in today's hectic, too fast paced world they're unable to cultivate more than a few interests beyond those that are needed to get through their lives.

Which is I think is the case with many people.  I have many interests I would like to pursue further but time and some other constraints do not allow me at this particular time.  I will get to explore those other intersts in more depth at some point.  DS introduced me to numerous interests as a child and other tv shows, including Star Trek and other scifi programs have done the same.  But I tend to prefer to incorporate those interests into my daily life and finding friendships and other nearby outlets which eliminates the necessity to travel to many different kinds of fandom conventions/festivals in order to commune with others with the same interests.  Message boards are another easy and convenient outlet. 

I have friends who have what I would call a fandom lifestyle in that they travel several times a year to this and that media convention or some fandom convention.  I prefer to find ways to engage in my interests on a more local and immediate level and to have that access when i want it rather than wait for a function to be planned with people I see only a few times a year, if that.

Nancy