Re: "Hackers", the movie (*RANT!*)

Article: 8637 of alt.hackers
From: aradia@teleport.com (Aradia)
Newsgroups: alt.hackers
Subject: Re: "Hackers", the movie  (*RANT!*)
Date: 19 Sep 1995 22:41:31 -0700
Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016
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Approved: well, of course, silly person.
Message-ID: 43o9ib$prl@linda.teleport.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: linda.teleport.com
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Status: RO

Morgan Schweers (mrs@netcom.com) wrote:

:     I dunno...  In tech terms it's nonsense, but the attitude, and
: even some of the events are very very real for me.  I remember doing
: things like that nearly a decade ago.  The main character had a geeky
: 'I don't fit here' feel, which was very true for a lot of hackers, but
: tacked onto it was the 'I've gotta look good' 90's attitude.

i absolutely loved what you posted, and agree totally.
yeah, the movie was purely hollywood sensationalism, but there was some
underlying realism, if you could get past the bullshit.
(i remember someone on alt.2600 who said one reason it was unrealistic
was that hackers don't go to classes on rollerblades. i take great
offense at that, as i *DO* rollerblade to school and to each class (in
the halls, even :). anyway...)

yeah, i have a perfect example of that mindset at home. my mom was a
receptionist for a doctor, for many years, until he retired recently. she
took a couple classes on using the computer (windoze, ms-works), and she
would have me help her when she was confused (read: all the time). now,
i'm great at teaching people, and i like doing it, but i couldn't stand
her at all. she doesn't give a shit about computers, doesn't want to have
anything to do with them, and the only reason she took the classes was
because 99% of all offices are computerized. she never learned a hting,
though. and i refuse to try to teach people who don't want to learn.
that's the problem. people just don't want to learn anymore, they don't
want to think for themselves, or explore the world (or the computer). the
movie will of course bring out the lamers who suddenly want to be
'hackers' and learn how to break into systems, but maybe it'll get
some people interested in really learning about the nature of the hack.
ok, anyway, this is my first post btw, although i've been lurking for i
dunno how many months. so hello everyone. :)

and now, a poem i wrote earlier this year. :)

Hack

The soothing hum of
equipment fills my ears,
drowning out (almost) the
softly clicking keys. bright
colours contrast sharply
with the dark room.
i notice my blurred reflection
in the screen. my
fingers continue to dance,
creating something that
is not there. my mind
singularly focused on
this one task. as the
city sleeps, i watch
the clock mark the second
hour of the day.

(c)1995 Aradia

well, damn. now i need to pull out one of the hacks i've been saving. :)

ObScanningWithoutAScannerHack:
yep, i want to write a webpage. if for no other reason than to let some
of my friends (friends? what are those? :) see what i look like. however,
i don't have a scanner. oops. :)
suddenly, i remember that my grandma has a video input card (marketed by
the geniuses at packard bell as a 'tv card'. :). so i permanently borrow
it from her, and shove it into my computer. (then go back to her house to
get the required plug for it :). i install the software, hook up my
camcorder, turn everything on, and finally (finally!) get everything
working. put the camcorder on the desk, look at the cool image in the
window on the monitor (nifty :), then press the *, to capture an image.
convert to jpg and voila! i have a pseudo-scanned picture. i'm going to
play around with this thing now, it's really quite fun. of course,
immediately afterwords, while swapping the card for my modem, the
motherboard got fried. but that's an entierly different story. ;)

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