2008.09.26 13:00 - Of Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks

This was Solo's session; comments are his...

I arrived at the Pavilion to join Fael, resplendent and winged in white.

Fael Illyar: Hi Solo :)
Solobill Laville: Hey, Fael!
Fael Illyar: Ah, casual outfit today :)
Solobill Laville: :) I love your white!!
Fael Illyar: Thank you :)
Fael Illyar: The outfit was named Zadkiel :)
Solobill Laville: Kind of a neo-Gothic feel too
Fael Illyar: wb Gaya :)
Fael Illyar: Hi Adams :)
Solobill Laville: What does Zadkiel mean? Does it have a meaning?

Gaya and Adams join our pair.

Solobill Laville: Hello Gaya and Adams!
Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
Solobill Laville: Gaya beat you to that cushion Adams! haha
Gaya Ethaniel: ty
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Adams Dubrovna: Hello Bill, Gaya and Fael :)
Adams Dubrovna: Yes, sorry Gaya
Fael Illyar: It's the archangel of forgiveness ... I forget the rest.
Solobill Laville: Ah, OK
Fael Illyar: oh wait, remembered wrong :)
Fael Illyar: Zadkiel or Hesediel (Heb. צדקיאל Tzadqiel, "Righteousness of God") is the archangel of freedom, benevolence, mercy, and the Patron Angel of all who forgive. Also known as Sachiel, Zedekiel, Zadakiel, Tzadkiel, Zedekul and Hesediel.
Adams Dubrovna: Very nice outfit Gaya :)
Solobill Laville: ah!
Gaya Ethaniel smiles. ty
Fael Illyar smiles.

Wol joins us.

Fael Illyar: Hi Wol :)
Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
Adams Dubrovna: Hello Wol :)
Solobill Laville: Hiya, Wol
Wol Euler: hello all, nice to see you again.
Adams Dubrovna: The thing on the table is gettong more colorful
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Fael Illyar: Yes, more color is nice :)
Solobill Laville wonders if it is working yet
Wol Euler grins. Adelene is letting her imagination run wild.
Wol Euler: nope
Wol Euler: but she isn't online, I haven't been able to ask for an update.
Solobill Laville: Very kind of her to put in all the effort, and you two as well :)
Wol Euler smiles modestly.
Adams Dubrovna: Yes we all appreciate it
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Fael Illyar smiles a bit shyly.
Solobill Laville: I eagerly anticipate its launch!!
Wol Euler: me too.

I thought I'd see if there was any topical burning desire someone may have had to share...

Solobill Laville: Any topics for discussion today?

But, alas, just then an avatar whizzed by the Pavilion.

Fael Illyar: Hey look! A flying Avatar!
Wol Euler thinks everyone looks quite gorgeous today. must be the "friday" enzymes at work.
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Solobill Laville: Maybe flying enzymes at work
Fael Illyar: flying something, definitely
Solobill Laville: I missed it :(
Fael Illyar: yes, they tend to be gone in a flash.
Fael Illyar: need to be quick
Wol Euler: ah :-)
Solobill Laville nods
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Solobill Laville thinks that Adams' SL hair looks very much like his own RL hair....
Gaya Ethaniel: oh...
Adams Dubrovna: Hmmm
Solobill Laville: I haven't had a trim in good bit ;)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Adams Dubrovna: :)
Wol Euler thinks adams is progressing very nicely.
Solobill Laville: And the color is about the same as well
Gaya Ethaniel: Indeed
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Fael Illyar: Yes, very good progress :)
Adams Dubrovna thinking he should give Solobill his hair :)
Solobill Laville: hehe
Solobill Laville: Wouldn't match this av methinks...
Solobill Laville: but ty!
Wol Euler: I was going to offer you a landmark to a shop selling "old man" skins, but I see you already know KTG
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Adams Dubrovna: Wol?
Wol Euler: the shop that made your glasses :-)
Adams Dubrovna: Oh
Wol Euler: also sells an excellent worn-and-wrinkled male skin.
Adams Dubrovna: Very old :)
Wol Euler chuckles.
Wol Euler: my alt wears it sometimes.
Adams Dubrovna: ah
Fael Illyar smiles.
Adams Dubrovna got hair color from other Adams
Gaya Ethaniel smiles

I am very interested in the PaB-fest and also in folks' thoughts about it so I brought it up.

Solobill Laville: So is anyone here travelling to Princeton?
Adams Dubrovna: I will be there
Fael Illyar will be there.
Wol Euler pouts and shakes her head
Solobill Laville: Should be very cool to be there!
Adams Dubrovna: yes, think so
Gaya Ethaniel: (afraid not)
Fael Illyar: the list Pema posted is quite complete.
Solobill Laville: Could be quite a concentrated PaB session!
Wol Euler: heheheh yes!
Adams Dubrovna: It is nice that they are planning a session in SL so anyone can join in
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Fael Illyar: larger than most anyway :)
Solobill Laville: I haven't heard about that Adams
Wol Euler: we'll have to lay out more cushions
Adams Dubrovna: It is in the email today
Solobill Laville: Over the weekend?
Adams Dubrovna: yes
Faenik: why not?
Solobill Laville: Ah, just got in...I'll read it later
Solobill Laville: Great idea!
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Solobill Laville: I'm thinking voice chat would be good for that perhaps
Adams Dubrovna doesn't have voice chat :(
Solobill Laville: well I'm sure it will fun whatever happens
Fael Illyar: voice chat doesn't leave us logs
Adams Dubrovna: yes Fael
Faenik: why not?
Wol Euler: I find it impossible to follow if more than 2 people talking
Solobill Laville: Someday maybe we can have podcasts... :)
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Fael Illyar: voice really only works for very small or very controlled meetings.
Adams Dubrovna: There are many advantages to the text chat. It has been kind of a revelation to me
Solobill Laville: I agree
Solobill Laville: Just thinking how a combined RL and SL meeting would work for us SL'ers...
Gaya Ethaniel: brb
Adams Dubrovna: I think it will be like a regular SL meeting
Solobill Laville: Everyone in SL?
Solobill Laville: BYOL - bring your own laptop?
Adams Dubrovna: They are asking us to bring ours to Princeton
Solobill Laville nods
Wol Euler chuckles.
Solobill Laville: Adams, how has chat been a kind of revelation to you?
Fael Illyar is trying to get together enough money to buy a laptop to use while in U.S. and probably keep it after that as well.
Adams Dubrovna: Well folks, I must leave you all. Very good to see you all :) whoops. I like the fact that we can interrupt each other without interrupting and that we can easily have two or three threads going at once without anyone missing anything. Also it seems that we get right to the core of things. Less "self" intruding
Gaya Ethaniel: back
Fael Illyar: wanting to have it able to run SL kind of increases the price :)
Fael Illyar: See you later Adams :)
Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
Wol Euler: bye adams, take care.
Solobill Laville: OK, ty, Adams, and bye!
Adams Dubrovna: bye :)

Of nerds, geeks, and dorks...

Solobill Laville: wb Gaya
Wol Euler: wb, gaya
Fael Illyar: wb Gaya :)
Wol Euler: Fael, a MacBook runs SL (and Windows...) :-) bot not as fast as you're use to.
Gaya Ethaniel: ty
Fael Illyar: it only needs to run Ubuntu for me :)
Fael Illyar: although, Mac OS X might be usable as well
Gaya Ethaniel nudges Wol
Wol Euler: I'm not going ot rise to that :-)
Fael Illyar: :P
Fael Illyar: not OS flamewar PaB meeting?
Fael Illyar pouts.
Wol Euler grins.
Fael Illyar: :P
Wol Euler: sorry to dissapoint.
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Gaya Ethaniel: well I hope everyone enjoys the meeting at Princeton whatever OS they run on their puters
Fael Illyar grins.
Fael Illyar doesn't really have flamewars. Backs off too easily.
Faenik: why not?
Wol Euler: good. very sensible.
Gaya Ethaniel assures Solo that she is not another female geek
Wol Euler: heheheheh
Gaya Ethaniel: What makes one a 'geek'?
Gaya Ethaniel: (not just about computers)
Fael Illyar: that's a good question :)
Wol Euler: "Like nerds, geeks are smart, but they tend to focus more on technology. As Urban Dictionary explains, these are the people you make fun of in high school and later work for as an adult."
Fael Illyar: is it perhaps an interest in a single subject almost to the exclusion of all others?
Wol Euler: http://ask.yahoo.com/20060818.html
Gaya Ethaniel ponders
Wol Euler: nerds are inept; geeks oftn appear inept because they are utterly absorbed in something nobody else notices.
Solobill Laville: In the US those definitions have changed quite a bit over the last few decades
Wol Euler: indeed.
Fael Illyar: although ... if that's the definition of 'geek' ... do I still fit that?
Fael Illyar: (point to her own definition)
Gaya Ethaniel laughs... ty for the link Wol
Wol Euler smiles
Gaya Ethaniel: what do you think Fael?
Wol Euler: geek is to young as absent-minded professor is to old.
Gaya Ethaniel: ah...
Solobill Laville: But there can be "old" geeks too ;)
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Gaya Ethaniel doesn't like absent-minded professors
Wol Euler laughs and points to herself.
Solobill Laville: hehe
Gaya Ethaniel: Wouldn't say you're absent-minded Wol. You are very aware of others' needs
Solobill Laville: No, Wol bites heads off chickens
Fael Illyar: can't say absent minded about anyone here, no.
Gaya Ethaniel laughs
Solobill Laville: :)
Wol Euler: true, and also true.
Wol Euler: it's the genes, I just can't control it. They run, I chase and bite.
Gaya Ethaniel giggles
Fael Illyar grins.
Solobill Laville: genes and canine enzymes
Wol Euler: yep
Gaya Ethaniel: ...mm, what is this canine enzymes about Solo?
Solobill Laville: Oh, do tell Wol...
Wol Euler is slightly abashed at how sessions she attends often descend into jokery.
Wol Euler: ah, it's an extended joke, referring to my profile's "real life" page
Gaya Ethaniel smiles at Wol. That's not true... just more fun and as serious as ever...
Gaya Ethaniel: ah...
Fael Illyar: fun and seriousness aren't mutually exclusive :)
Solobill Laville: true
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Solobill Laville: It seems things have been a bit lighter when I am here as well...
Solobill Laville: hmmmm
Gaya Ethaniel: mm... lighter? Just more fun...
Solobill Laville: :)
Fael Illyar: well, there was a session about fourth time ... umm, this morning?
Fael Illyar: interesting, I thought it was yesterday
Wol Euler: true, that was pretty serious.
Gaya Ethaniel: feels like ages ago... yes
Wol Euler: heh, I guess you've had a busy day?
Solobill Laville: And you all were at that one too?
Fael Illyar: that'd make this the third meeting for me today :)
Wol Euler: wow
Solobill Laville: Wowza!
Wol Euler: yep the three of us.
Fael Illyar: been a while since I did that last :)
Gaya Ethaniel nods. yes Solo
Wol Euler: (and corvi for a while)
Solobill Laville thinks then the lack of seriousness is not Wol after all...hmmmm... :)
Wol Euler: Fael was waxing poetic about books and being and fourth time. It actually made sense.
Wol Euler: oh no, solo, it was an exception :-)
Solobill Laville: ah :)
Fael Illyar smiles 'waxing poetic, sounds nice'.
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Solobill Laville: "Books, Being, and Fourth Time" sounds like a best-seller
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Wol Euler: indeed.
Fael Illyar grins.
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Solobill Laville: Someone call Oprah
Gaya Ethaniel giggles
Wol Euler: um, don't we need to write it first?
Solobill Laville: dag!
Gaya Ethaniel laughs
Solobill Laville: Ok, you write it Wol, quick!
Gaya Ethaniel doesn't think it's quite a material for the book club
Fael Illyar: takes time, that sort :)
Wol Euler: 'k
Solobill Laville: Notecards will be fine
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Wol Euler: actually I realized that outsourcing in writing has been happening for yonks. It's called "a ghostwriter"
Fael Illyar ponders, Pema tends to use movies in place of books when making the same comparison.
Solobill Laville: I think you three needed a "lighter" session :)
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Fael Illyar: Yes :)
Wol Euler: hehehehe
Gaya Ethaniel: I especially need one Solo and this has been great
Solobill Laville smiles at Gaya
Wol Euler: awww
Fael Illyar realized after bringing up the books that Pema had said much the same but with movie.

This idea that Fael brought up led to an interesting discussion on the use of analogy in describing these more "Language of Absolute" topics, and the predisposition of our own perspectives or style.

Gaya Ethaniel: ah...
Wol Euler: ah.
Solobill Laville: It's interestering in perhaps the style of the speaker - movies are more visual, books are more "self-meaning created"
Wol Euler nods.
Gaya Ethaniel ponders...
Fael Illyar: Yes, books draw you in a bit more perhaps
Solobill Laville: Fael, do you feel you learn better by seeing, listening, or doing?
Fael Illyar: when reading a book, it's easier to become a character in the story than watching a movie
Solobill Laville: yes
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Fael Illyar: seeing and doing would be my choices for what I learn best from
Gaya Ethaniel: mm... not for me somehow
Faenik: could be
Wol Euler: listening is last choice for me too
Solobill Laville: It is for most, according to research on learning styles
Wol Euler: works very well if combined with seeing, but on its own close to zero.
Fael Illyar: yes, combined with seeing, it's useful
Solobill Laville: I have a co-worker who is very much an auditory learner
Solobill Laville: Anyway, according to modern learning theory, which I think needs some more time in the oven
Wol Euler: lol
Gaya Ethaniel: books allow more room for imagination than films perhaps
Faenik: ah :)
Solobill Laville: Oh, absolutely Gaya
Fael Illyar: books require more imagination also
Solobill Laville: That was the "self-meaning-created" I was referring to
Wol Euler nods
Gaya Ethaniel: doing is the best way to learn for me... listening... depends on what I learn. For certain things, listening is not useful while for music it is crucial
Solobill Laville: It also instills more "ownership" of the experience
Gaya Ethaniel nods
Wol Euler: oh, yes, hard to see music...
Fael Illyar: listening, in this case, I took to mean speech
Solobill Laville: Yes, me too
Gaya Ethaniel: But then it also depends on films... certain films allow more room for imagination than certain books... styles whatever the medium makes a huge difference imo
Gaya Ethaniel: I see music... when reading notes in my head
Fael Illyar: of course :)
Gaya Ethaniel: and music shows in colours as well... hard to explain
Solobill Laville: I think a germane point here is that every one has a somewhat unique take on things
Solobill Laville: Which is obvious of course
Gaya Ethaniel nods at Solo
Fael Illyar: we have much more developed visual sense than auditory sense.
Fael Illyar: it's possible to take in things with higher speed through vision
Solobill Laville: But important when dealing with the topics we usually talk about
Solobill Laville agrees with Fael
Faenik: indeed?
Gaya Ethaniel: mm... not sure Fael. Certain senses can be developed more than others... for example, the sensitivity of listening of a deaf person
Gaya Ethaniel: oopps
Gaya Ethaniel: physical sensitivity of a deaf person*
Wol Euler nods. It was clear :-)
Fael Illyar: of course, for a blind person, the parts of the brain normally used for vision get used for something else.
Gaya Ethaniel: nature and nurture... perhaps
Gaya Ethaniel: ty Wol
Solobill Laville: Well, similarly, Gaya, those who "see" musical colors have a more advanced hearing mechanism
Solobill Laville: Perfect pitch, major / minor / augmented chords, etc.
Gaya Ethaniel: I believe we all have capacity to heighten our senses in many different directions to aid learning
Fael Illyar: yes, it's a matter of training
Wol Euler remembers student housing. We had a ratty old TV that often lost the colour. I would sometimes watch without actually noticing htat it was in B&W.
Solobill Laville: And effort ;)
Gaya Ethaniel nods. Doing more helps
Gaya Ethaniel smiles at Wol
Fael Illyar kind of bundled effort with the training
Gaya Ethaniel: ah...
Solobill Laville: I think it is a potential great loss when someone feels/thinks they cannot grow (at any age)
Wol Euler: definitely!
Fael Illyar: yes, definitely
Fael Illyar: or cannot learn
Solobill Laville: yup
Gaya Ethaniel: well.. certain things are limited to younger people though ie some professional sports... otherwise no limit
Solobill Laville smiles
Gaya Ethaniel remembers what Wol's grandfather said... don't say 'I can't', say 'I won't'...

Canadian's cheat...

Wol Euler: mmm, there are also counterexamples in sports too. In the last winter olympics, the Canadian team had an average age of about 48. Won by miles ahead of the 20 year younger american team.
Gaya Ethaniel: wow...
Wol Euler: better strategy.
Solobill Laville: Canadians cheat
Wol Euler: lol
Solobill Laville: :)
Gaya Ethaniel giggles
Wol Euler: americans are sore losers
Fael Illyar: another way to call strategy? :P
Solobill Laville is thinking 51st State...
Gaya Ethaniel: I wonder... which countries get long ok?
Wol Euler: ha, you wish.
Gaya Ethaniel: get along with each other*
Solobill Laville: I am about 20 minutes from Canada
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Wol Euler: handy if the republicans get in again
Solobill Laville: I actually speak Canadian, yup
Wol Euler: eh?
Fael Illyar: oh, they've got their own language there?
Solobill Laville: "It's aboot time to go, eh?"
Wol Euler: "meet you at the hoose"
Solobill Laville: hehe
Fael Illyar: ah, just a dialect then :)
Solobill Laville: yes, but French in Quebec
Gaya Ethaniel giggles
Solobill Laville: Well, all, I must be off to me sis's 50th!!!
Solobill Laville: Yay!
Fael Illyar: Have fun, Solo :)
Wol Euler: oh well done!
Fael Illyar: See you later :)
Wol Euler: have a good weekend, and wish her well!
Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
Gaya Ethaniel: Have fun Solo!
Solobill Laville: Will do, bye friends!