06.25.2002 - 1:09 p.m.

Warning: Geek entry ahead.

I am sitting in the computer lab, iBook on my lap. Chris, the Guy Who Knows Stuff, has been teaching me command lines. I am picking it up pretty easily, or at least the basic stuff is pretty easy.

I try not to laugh when he says words like gooey and OroborOS, which I think I may have spelled with too many r�s. Computer geek language fascinates me; it is one of the newest dialects on the planet, and full of all sorts of concrete metaphors and cutesy acronyms-turned-verbs, evidence of the human attempt to wrap familiar concepts around an essentially counter-intuitive, non-linear process. A process which we actually invented in the first place.

Just fascinating.

Anyway. Chris gives me a small quiz on what he�s taught me, and the lesson is almost over. �Alright, good. You�re back to the root directory. Now, I want to show you something. Remember how to see what�s in the directory?�

[technobabble] ls

�How about if you want to see everything?�

[technobabble] ls -a

�Good.� He reaches over to pull up another window. �Now if you look at this same directory in the display mode, you see AIM, Apps, Apps for OS 9, Documents, Library� but you don�t see all that other stuff. Want to know why?�

�Sure.�

�Because most people don�t usually need to see them, because those are the files that are capable of turning this laptop into a top-of-the-line prop for a short table leg. If you do anything to these files, you could hose your entire computer to the point where it will Never Work Again.� Pause for emphasis. �Did I scare you yet?�

�I think you�ve inspired the necessary caution about mucking around.�

�Good.� He cups both hands around his mouth and speaks through them. �Then welcome, Luke, to the powah of Unix.�

I love my job.

-stonebridge

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