Mar 01 2007
How Geeks Wish You A Happy Birthday
Ms. Q turned 42 today.
Ms. Q has a degree in Computer Science.
You know what that means.
Ms. Q is a Geek.
Geeks congregate. They may not replicate easily but they do congregate.
I must make a confession: I am not a True Geek. I know software but not hardware. I would call myself Geek-Lite.
Anyway, a friend of mine emailed me birthday wishes today. Unlike Ms. Q this friend knows all about board games.
When I told him that I won Simply Catan for HMTKSteve’s Top Commentator contest, he knew all about the game.
Geeks know board games.
This same friend attempted to help me install a new hard drive.
Geeks know PC hardware.
When he failed to install the hard drive and diagnosed a probable hardware issue (bad motherboard), he emailed me with the subject: “It’s dead, Jim”
Geeks know their Star Trek.
So I turn 42 today.
All you geeks out there know what’s coming. What does my friend email me but a quote from a book in every geek’s reading collection?
Geeks know their Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy:
According to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, researchers from a pan-dimensional, hyper-intelligent race of beings constructed the second greatest computer in all of time and space, Deep Thought, to calculate the Ultimate Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
After seven and a half million years of pondering the question, Deep Thought provides the answer: “forty-two.”
The reaction: “Forty-two!” yelled Loonquawl.
“Is that all you’ve got to show for seven and a half million years’ work?”
“I checked it very thoroughly, it’s 42,” said the computer, “and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”
I had thought about posting that in the comments but I was not sure if it would go over your head or not.
Yes, 42 is the answer… but what is the question?
I am not geeky enough. I only read the first book. I know “VI” does that count?
Just a couple of days ago in response to a question asked of me, I said, “The answer is 42.” I received the requisite blank stare in return.
For all the times I answered, “Forty two†I believe I have had only one look of delighted recognition light up the face of the person to whom I was talking.
Can one be a geek and not know it?
Jake: My experience leads me to believe that geeks know they are geeks. I think there are all types of geeks, not just the computer geeks that everyone thinks about. Geeks are passionate about things that bore most people. If you’re passionate about oh, football and know all the stats, no one thinks you’re a geek. If you’re passionate about Dr. Who and can rattle off the various doctors and their sidekicks, you’re considered a geek.
If you can get into the nitty-gritty of something and can start spewing off acronyms and statistics, you’re in the Geek Zone. If and your eyes light up over the elegance of an algorithm, you’re Geeking Out. You can always tell the geeks from the non-geeks.
If you’re Geeking Out, fellow geeks will either join in our try to out-geek you. Non-geeks will stifle a yawn or tease you or walk away looking for some fortifying beverage.
I have a theory. When you are 10 years old, it seems like time moves very slow, and you can’t grow old fast enough.
When you are 42, a year flys by in no time, and you want it to slow down. Why?
When you are 10, a year is a 10th of your life- a vast amount of time that you perceive differently than when you are 42 and a year is 1/42nd of your life.
To put it in perspective, 1/42nd of a 10 year olds life is 87 days. So you’ll turn 43 like sometime in early June.
Happy Birthday.
DigitalRich
DigitalRich: My head is spinning. That was way too much math for me. Do you know PC hardware? Are you a geek? Now that I think about it a running theme of your blog is your working on something and trying to optimize it. I recall your calculating the best way to help move someone and tossing the stuff down the stairwell would save time. You just had to be able to catch the stuff. Then again, your solution was very “guy-like.”