Can you help me find tales of l33tness?

ArgentCorvid — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:01:39 -0800

Can you help me find more Hacker Folklore? There's The Story of Mel (and most of the rest of the Jargon File). There's The Story of the 500 Mile E-Mail. To a lesser degree of what I am looking for is The Origin of Quake3's Fast InvSqrt.

Do you know of anywhere that I can find more short stories in the same spirit of these? I'm talking about (probably) true stories of Techie Awesome and/or the history of Hacking. Stories about things that shouldn't work, but do.

If the story goes deep into the technical details, thats fine with me. In fact, the more details about the equipment and/or circumstances, the better.

I know that there are more out there than the three above, but I'm not sure I've been putting the right words into the search box.

Thanks in advance.

I wish to have an Adventure. I'd like suggestions.

-harlequin- — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:05:44 -0800

I would like to have a Crazy (or Grand) Adventure, but it seems good adventures are harder to find than in the movies. Anyone know or can think of any good ideas? Difficulty: I'm aiming for a LOW likelihood of getting killed/arrested/maimed/sued, but a HIGH likelihood of Amazing Tales I can bore people with 50 years from now. A grand expedition and/or something totally half-assed. I guess movies are the best common language here so for half-assed plans, things like "Without a Paddle" or "The Motorcycle Diaries". For grand adventure, think "Indiana Jones", etc.

Location: I don't want to restrict things, so let's say anywhere in this world (or any other :-), but it would be a lot more doable a lot sooner for me the closer it is to Seattle. I have relatives in New Zealand, so stuff close to that end of the planet works better too.

I'm in my late 20's, fairly fit, healthy, have some basic survival skills, but I would take some time to learn the appropriate skills before tackling whatever incredibly stupid (or grand) undertaking(s) I settle on.

Money is currently a limiting factor, but don't let it limit your suggestions. (Something that involves significant investment in equipment, travel, or help, isn't impossible, just not possible in the near-term. There is no rush.) I don't expect to ever break out of the working/middle-class income range though, so ideas involving things like airships are unlikely to ever be feasible. :-)

I have some stout volunteers. (Indeed - stout enough to volunteer for an unknown adventure). So something we can tackle as a team is a plus.

Length: a few days to a few weeks in the field. (Time spent preparing beforehand can take as long as necessary).

Some adventure ideas that I'm already aware of, and not particularly interested in. (They all seem to be a bit of stretch to be described as An Adventure)

- The $1M reward for finding the Tasmanian Tiger. (reason: It's a race, and there is no way I could bootstrap my tracking skills to the level of those who have already spent years searching. And I wouldn't want to spend years on it. It also seems highly likely to prove fruitless).

- The hunt for the treaure trove of narcotics hidden underwater off the coast of Australia by a drug smuggler who is now dead. (reason: don't want to tangle with the drug trade. Underwater searches are costly. Not my forte)

- The hunt for a broken arrow ditched in a bay in the 50's. (reason: Everything will inevitably come down to "What the Airforce says, goes". Something where a small group can achieve something independantly would be better)

You might say that rejecting things like these is being picky, but I think while (mostly) noble endeviours, they're all a little sub-standard compared to the Hollywood-exagerated concept of adventure. So call me unrealistic instead :-)
Now that I think about it, I like mapping, so going and mapping unknown terratory as part of it would appeal to me, but the only unknown terratory I can think of is very very deep caves and undersea. I'm not so interested in re-mapping an area just so I can pretend to be mapping something :)

I thinking something that involves wilderness in some way is likely to be better than something urban. And... that's about it.

Focus the raw power of your pent-up creative energies on this problem. Melt it like butter in a blast furnace.
Much obliged.

Nasty Fairy Tales

stoneegg21 — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 02:24:36 -0800

I need to find nasty fairy-tales. For an example, in the first Sleeping Beauty, the prince rapes her sleeping body and she wakes up when she gives birth to twins and one sucks the splinter out of her finger. Also, fairy-tales that go back to the original belief that elves and fairies were nasty creatures would be useful. Either the original nasty fairy-tales or new written ones would be good.

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Can you help me find tales of l33tness?

I wish to have an Adventure. I'd like suggestions.

Nasty Fairy Tales