Ultimate geek bucket list

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#2160718 14-Jan-2019 08:25

From the last officially revised list. 18.5/30, plus 2 bonus points.

1. Set up a Raspberry Pi, Arduino or other single board computer.
2. Crimped / punched down an ethernet plug or jack.
3. Know at least one programming language. Does BASIC (and really basic BASIC at that) count?
4. Own a custom domain name. Sort of...
6. Used a multimeter and soldering iron. Half a point. I'm quite capable of butchering things with a soldering iron...
7. Rooted/jailbroken/flashed custom firmware on to some device (bonus points if you've broken that device in the process but managed to recover it).
9. Been asked by a family member to fix something technological (bonus points if you've later been accused of causing other, entirely unrelated, technological issues by helping out that one time).
10. Member of Geekzone.
14. Consciously used open source software.
16. Read Dune, Foundation, and the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings (potentially fraught trinity there). I'll claim a partial credit here for Dune - I've read the first Dune many times, and a couple of years ago re-read it along with the next three books in the series. Gave up at Chapterhouse Dune though.

17. Watched the Matrix, Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who (again, potentially fraught [strike]trinity[/strike] quarternity). I'll offer more bonus points for (a) knowing the Machete Order and (b) not really having a clue what the Matrix Sequels were about. Have seen all the above (most of them many times over). I'll claim the bonus points for knowing the Machete Order (and have watched in said order), and not really knowing what the sequels were about (though have had plenty of conversations/arguments about them)

19. Built your own PC.

20. Have something IOT in your house.

21. Worn a t-shirt or hoodie displaying a computer games, cience-fiction character, comic book character, maths problem, or anything else that can properly be described as "geek chic".

24. Own/made/resurrected some kind of retro technology, purely for nostalgia reasons. I have a working A500, which I'm hoping will last long enough to be able to show my kids when they're old enough to care.

26. Participated in a hackathon. Sort of. I won a "non-technical" hackathon at work last year, but hope to participate in a real one this year.

27. Have something 3D printed in your home or office (or perhaps have a practical need for something 3D printed in your home). I used Sketchup and the 3D printers at the library to reproduce a broken plastic part from an outdoor table.

28. Have a figurine/model/poster of a beloved pop culture icon from your childhood within sight of your computer desk. I have 3D metal sculptures of the Millenium Falcon and a TIE fighter (made from a kit) duelling at the front of my desk. I also have a James Bond Trivial Pursuit game set up for visitors to ask me questions when they visit.

29. Visited a geek mecca while on holiday (bonus points if your family members or travel companions rolled their eyes when you insisted that you go. Double bonus points if a family member/travel companion fall asleep from boredom while inside that geek mecca. <Cough> Mrs MDF <cough>). Bletchley Park in 2012. Awesome.

MurrayM

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#2160751 14-Jan-2019 09:32

pdh:

Well - here's a few other Geek milestones...

...

Program something useful directly in 'machine code' - ie: without benefit of an 'assembler' or interpreter or compiler.

...

My first computer was a Panasonic JR-100 from 1981 (which I still own) and I did a bit of programming in machine code on it. There was very little commercial software available for it, no assembler available, so I taught myself 6800 assembler and then would hand-assemble my code and load it into the memory via a little BASIC program that contained the machine code in hexadecimal DATA lines. I think the largest/most complicated program I made this way was a centipede clone.

frankv

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#2160767 14-Jan-2019 10:19

Read Dilbert daily. Bonus points: Work in a Dilbertesque environment. As Dilbert.

Recognise this list as a Purity Test.

geoffwnz

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#2160781 14-Jan-2019 10:38

13 out of the original 21.

MotorDrive Rallying

pdh

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#2161052 14-Jan-2019 16:58

> genuinely have not the slightest idea what quite a lot of those things are

This thread exemplifies 'we stand on the shoulders of those who went before us'.

Technology is such a prime example of that - many of us will recall working with people who did _really_ arcane & primitive stuff - and you younger guys & gals will look back in 30+ years and chuckle at no one remembering what an app is - or what Java means...

dryburn

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#2161059 14-Jan-2019 17:18

These are the only two missing for me even though i partially read The Hobbit

16. Read Dune, Foundation, and the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings (potentially fraught trinity there).
18. Have tried a non-Qwerty keyboard.

where to find a non-Qwerty keyboard?

Lias

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#2161064 14-Jan-2019 17:33

Behodar:Meanwhile, do I gain or lose points for having used OS/2?

That depends if you liked it or not :-P

blakamin:ran my own BBS in the dial up days .... I hate people too much....Currently wearing one of my many Deadpool t-shirts though.

Good call, also ran a BBS.
I think hating people is a pre-req for working in IT isn't it, or maybe it's just working in IT makes you hate people :-P
I'm pretty sure Deadpool counts for #21, I certainly consider the Marvel universe to be Science Fiction, it has aliens and all sorts of "high technology" that doesn't (yet) exist on earth.

SirHumphreyAppleby: Watched Revenge Of The Nerds really should be on that list....release a remastered Meet The Feebles.....Worn once, for a work function....I also have a nice rack

Such a great movie.
I'd happily kickstart or similar to see Meet The Feebles remastered
That's keen.. My sense of humour has gotten me in trouble more than once at work and I'm not sure I'd have the balls to wear a pedobear shirt to anything work related lol. Mind you I did wear a very offensive one from T-Shirt hell to an exit interview with a manager I loathed so maybe lol.
Oooh wotcha got? Mines a NetShelter SX - AR3100.. so black and shiny...

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

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Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Batman

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#2161076 14-Jan-2019 17:56

Perfect 10

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2161087 14-Jan-2019 18:31

Lias:

SirHumphreyAppleby: Watched Revenge Of The Nerds really should be on that list....release a remastered Meet The Feebles.....Worn once, for a work function....I also have a nice rack

Such a great movie.
I'd happily kickstart or similar to see Meet The Feebles remastered
That's keen.. My sense of humour has gotten me in trouble more than once at work and I'm not sure I'd have the balls to wear a pedobear shirt to anything work related lol. Mind you I did wear a very offensive one from T-Shirt hell to an exit interview with a manager I loathed so maybe lol.
Oooh wotcha got? Mines a NetShelter SX - AR3100.. so black and shiny...

There has been talk of a Meet The Feebles restoration for a while, so I don't think we need to crowd fund it, just wait patiently. Hopefully this will soon surface in the form of a UHD Blu-ray.

Working in IT, I felt confident the pedobear shirt would be recognised by the technical staff. It was generally well received. I only had to explain it to the HR and admin staff. Now that I think about it, they were probably not the people I should have been explaining it to.

The rack is a cheaper HP 42U model, 1m deep. I have no front door, so it doesn't look as nice as the NetShelters we had in the office, but is probably more practical that way. Matt black, so it goes with everything.

Batman

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#2161127 14-Jan-2019 18:50

Batman: Perfect 10

I have however

11. Flashed my dslr camera with a custom firmware

12. Soldered a chip and mounted a switch onto my car's ECU without bricking the car

13. Used my ipad as a baby monitor

14. Bluejacked a stranger's phone

15. Owned a Sony P900

16. Bought a 120gb SSD for $900 and kept replacing everything with SSD since

17. Replaced gaming console HDD with SSDs

18. Hacked a game to give me unlimited weapons and health

19. Hacked my dad's 286 computer with a paper clip

20. Memorised MS DOS commands

blakamin

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#2161175 14-Jan-2019 20:28

22. Done something really geeky with Lego (I struggled with this one. Built your own design? Own a 1000+ piece set? Have complained about new technic being worse than old technic?)

Yeah, always had lego, and now my kids do.

24. Own/made/resurrected some kind of retro technology, purely for nostalgia reasons.

Anyone remember the HTC Apache and PPC KItchen? Put Android on Windows Phones... Okta Touch (HTC Vogue).. I used to buy them cheap and Android them for fun. Still have some somewhere. Recoded a 90s car to do some extra things. Using german software. 2 years ago. Always re-coding my 15yo X5.

25. Have attended either a technology, electronics or pop culture show or expo.

A local comic-con years ago. Billions of computer swap-meets when the bug bit me in the early-mid 90s... $400 for a quad speed cdrom drive (I actually bought 2), a $1k burner, 486dx4/100...

27. Have something 3D printed in your home or office (or perhaps have a practical need for something 3D printed in your home).

I have heaps of 3D-printed stuff! And a printer.

28. Have a figurine/model/poster of a beloved pop culture icon from your childhood within sight of your computer desk.

Deadpool (not from my childhood but too bad)

Parkes NSW... The Dish! In 1997 before the movie! I went obviously many, many kms out of the way (driving from Melbourne to Cairns) just so I could see it. And yes, I went there because of Apollo 11.

26/30 now. Because movies, books (you never said I had to like them) and my collection of deadpool t-shirts. (yeah, way more than one).

Dingbatt

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#2161186 14-Jan-2019 21:02

This list made me realise I was a geek from before I even knew there was such a thing.

As a child, I had a hand-knitted jersey with the UFO (1970's TV series) logo on it, and in fact I have a die-cast 'Dinky' model of a Lunar Interceptor from the same series sitting under my TV in front of me at the moment. (Is that worth any bonus points......for longevity at least?)

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

kiwifidget

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#2161210 14-Jan-2019 22:02

1. Set up a Raspberry Pi (or other single board computer). I just did this yesterday!
2. Crimped / punched down an ethernet plug or jack. Too many to count.
4. Own a custom domain name. I have a Windows Live Domain, does that count?
5. Built a website. Setup Whiist on a Windows Home Server.
6. Used a multimeter and soldering iron. Half point, I haven't used a multimeter.
7. Rooted/jailbroken/flashed custom firmware on to some device (bonus points if you've broken that device in the process but managed to recover it). An AppleTV, plus bonus point.
9. Been asked by a family member to fix something technological (bonus points if you've later been accused of causing other, entirely unrelated, technological issues by helping out that one time). Yes, and multiple bonus points. Are any deducted for actually being guilty on occasion?
10. Member of Geekzone. Of course.
14. Consciously used open source software. But only because I was being cheap.
15. Contributed to open source software (code or donations). And then I felt guilty.
16. Read Dune, Foundation, and the Hobbit + Lord of the Rings (potentially fraught trinity there). I've read Dune, but not the others.
17. Watched Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who (again, potentially fraught trinity). There is no shame in this.
18. Have tried a non-Qwerty keyboard. Yes, I hate non-QWERTY on-screen keyboards.
19. Built your own PC. Yes, and servers (WHS and WHS2011)
21. Worn a t-shirt or hoodie displaying a computer game or science-fiction character. No, but I do have a Windows 2003 t-shirt with "Do more with less" printed on it.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

blakamin

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#2161223 14-Jan-2019 22:32

How about bonus points for geek tattoos?

One of mine probably doesn't count as "geek", but it's movie and zombie related.

"Bub" from George A. Romeros "Day Of The Dead".

Unfortunately it was never completely finished as the artist went AWOL. And it was going to be a full back piece, so many hours in, and many to go when I find another artist that wants to do it, and when I find the spare $$$.

frankv

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#2161402 15-Jan-2019 10:50

+ Have a drawer full of stuff that was really cool when bought, but never used, but still cool. Bonus points for obsolete things in the drawer.

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