In the presence of Geekery

[Coinneach]

http://tuxedo.org/~esr/geeks-with-guns/gwg7-17.jpg

For thems what's iggerant about Linux, the guy with the Uzi is Eric S Raymond (all computer geeks, bow your heads in silent prayer). ESR is one of the supreme deities in the Linux pantheon, along with Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman.

That pic was taken in 1999, when ESR was in town to give a talk on Open Source software. The guy behind him is sometime-TFLer Morgan, and the guy with the folded arms and the grin is Your Humble Narrator. The Uzi was mine.

Here's where the irony comes in. At that time, I had never seen Eric. When the skinny little guy with the limp and lazy eye admired my Uzi, and I offered to let him burn through a couple of 32-rounders, all I saw was a polite, well-spoken fellow gunnie. He never gave me his name, and I had no inkling that this picture existed until today. Today, two of my coworkers gazed at me in awe and asked how I got to shoot with this famously pro-gun and Libertarian geek; I had no idea what they were talking about. Until I saw the pic and recognized the guy. And my jaw hit the floor.

DAMMIT! That would be like ending up next to Col Jeff at the range and just seeing a kindly old gentlman with a passion for 1911s.

 

[Bud Helms]

ESR is a legend in his lifetime. ESR's Homepage.

Read The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

Geeks Rule!

(Edited: very cool, Ken!)

 

[blades67]

Geeks drool. At least that would explain why my system is so friggin unstable half the time!

 

[C.R.Sam]

Neat pic. Also an interesting demonstration of shareware. And hair share.....one head of hair for three people.

Sam.............................runnin

 

[ckurts]

Too cool for school, Coinneach! Good to see you posting again, BTW.

Kurt

 

[4V50 Gary]

Good P.R. never hurts Coinneach.

Geeks w/Guns makes a lot of sense. Lest we forget the Old Colt marketing line: "God made man, Col. Colt made them equal."

 

[Dr.Rob]

Hey! I know two of those geeks.. I'm even pretty sure I know that location!

Coinneach you are a geek, and a scary bald guy.

 

[ctdonath]

Geeks With Guns

 

[Morgan]

Hey, I remember that day... I remember that guy!

I guess I'm no longer an official geek, but I had no idea who that guy was, either. Cool.

Quite a collection of weapons we had out that day.

 

[Zak Smith]

Hey Morgan, I thought that looked like you!

Being a linux geek, I wish I wouldn't have missed that day.

-z

 

[Coinneach]

Because of this incident, my new nickname at work is "doorknob."

Eric replied immediately to my very apologetic email... he remembers me and Morgan, but he was trying to keep a low profile that day and not do the celeb thing. No ego-damage inflicted.

Rob and Morgan (and Alan, if he's lurking about), we gotta set up a time to get together again, soon.

 

[GeekWithGun]

Thanx for the link ctdonath, but I feel I must mention that GeeksWithGuns.com isn't affiliated with ESR's Geeks w/Guns.

I got hair.