The Geek Code is a harmless, but perhaps a little silly in-joke among geeks; a way of introducing yourself to another geek by how you score on different geeky things, such as Star Trek or programming tools.
What follows is my geek code:
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCS/L/P d--@ s+:-- !a C++(++++) UBL++++$ P++$ L++$ E+++ W- N+++ o+ K++ w O- M V PS+++ PE Y++ PGP++ t 5 X+@ R@ !tv b+++ DI++ D--- G e++ h---- r+++ y? ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Here it is in expanded and explained form with some comments by me (marked with "MC"):
Geek of Computer Science, Geek of Literature, Geek of Philosophy.
MC: Among other things. As Lazarus Long so aptly put it (with a little help from Robert Heinlein): "Specialization is for insects".
My t-shirts go a step further and have a trendy political message on them. But that varies...
MC: ...but they're all black.
I'm a little taller than most. I tend to have to fight against a strong breeze.
MC: 1.85 m. ~65 kg.
It's none of your business how old I am.
MC: I'm on my second gigasecond, but not my third. I was born the same year as such celebrities as musician Hank Williams III and the author China Miéville, the year of the last succesful moon landing and the same year the KI10 based DECsystem-10 was introduced.
My tendencies on this issue range from: "Computers are a large part of my existence. When I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is log myself in. I play games or mud on weekends, but still manage to stay off of academic probation.", to: "I'll be first in line to get the new cybernetic interface installed into my skull."
MC: I'm not much for computer games. The possible exception is Nethack and text adventure games/interactive fiction, but that was years ago.
I use BSD and GNU/Linux. I am the sysadmin. If you try and crack my machine don't be surprised if the municipal works department gets an "accidental" computer-generated order to start a new landfill on your front lawn or your quota is reduced to 4K. Getting paid for it!
MC: Mostly FreeBSD at home, *BSD, GNU/Linux and other unicens at work. See MC's Centre for Geek Pr0n for more on this.
Perl is a powerful programming tool. I don't write shell scripts anymore because I write them in Perl. Getting paid for it!
MC: But perhaps as much Python as Perl nowadays.
I use GNU/Linux ALMOST exclusively on my system. I've given up trying to achieve GNU/Linux.God status, but welcome the OS as a replacement for DOS. I only boot to DOS to play games. Getting paid for it!
MC: Here the Geek Code shows its age. I haven't started MS-DOS since 1988! And besides, I don't use Linux much at home.
Emacs is my login shell!! M-x doctor is my psychologist! I use emacs to control my TV and toaster oven! All you vi people don't know what you're missing! I read alt.relgion.emacs, alt.sex.emacs, and comp.os.emacs.
The web is really a pain. Life was so much easier when you could transfer information by simple ASCII. Now everyone won't even consider your ideas unless you spiff them up with bandwidth-consuming pictures and pointless information links.
I read so many news groups that the next batch of news comes in before I finish reading the last batch, and I have to read for about 2 hours straight before I'm caught up on the morning's news. Then there's the afternoon...
MC: Mostly in Gmane nowadays, although I still read groups from the Usenet proper, specifically comp.compilers, alt.sys.pdp10 and alt.folklore.computers.
MC: The Usenet Oracle is now known as The Internet Oracle and is still around. A rather funny (in both senses of the word) mythos has sprung up around him (and his girlfriend Lisa). See also the Wikipedia article.
You owe the Oracle an incarnation.
MC: ...and I've kibozed for my own name in Usenet.
MC: Once in a while I'm more or less forced to. I don't know much about it, though, so consider me a Windows luser.
MC: But it was leaps and bounds better than MS-DOS. But IMHO unicens are nicer, and I went with ABCenix and then SunOS instead.
I use a Mac, but I'm pretty indifferent about it.
MC: I would use a Mac, if I had one. I hear modern Macs might be able to run FreeBSD nowadays.
I've used VMS.
MC: ...and discovered the pain of porting Unix applications to it.
Legalize drugs! Abolish the government. Fuck the draft!
MC: Yeah!
Distrust both government and business.
MC: Hell, yeah!
I am on the cypherpunks mailing list and active around Usenet. I never miss an opportunity to talk about the evils of Clipper and ITAR and the NSA. Orwell's 1984 is more than a story, it is a warning to our's and future generations. I'm a member of the EFF.
I have the most recent version and use it regularly.
It's just another TV show.
MC: ...and I don't own a TV tuner. See below.
I've seen it, I am pretty indifferent to it.
I've converted my family and watch the show when I remember. It's really kinda fun. But that varies...
MC: I really dig the characters from The Lone Gunman, even if they're quirky and dorky and the jokes sometimes are too much.
Role-Playing? That's just something to do to kill a Saturday afternoon. But that varies...
MC: I was into RPGs in the 1980s.
I do not own a television.
MC: I own rather a lot of DVDs, though. Our DVD player is connected directly to our projector.
I consume a few books a week as part of a staple diet.
MC: Mostly Science Fiction and fantastic fiction nowadays. Some namedropping: Neal Stephensson, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Mark Chadbourn, et c.
I work with people that act a lot like Dilbert and his boss.
MC: At least once in a while. Scott Adams' comics are sometimes much too close to reality.
To hell with Doom, I miss Zork.
MC: Text adventures games are much more fun than those boring First Person Shooters.
I know what the geek code is and even did up this code.
Got a Baccalaureate degree.
MC: A degree in Literature, would you believe? (With a side order of Linguistics, History, Philosophy, Religion, et cetera ad nauseam.)
Married with children - Al Bundy can sympathize.
MC: I wouldn't compare my life with Al's in any way, really, but there you go.
Found someone, dated, and am now married.
MC: Twice, even.
Male. It's none of your business what my sex life is like.