Month: February 2006

Before I begin, here are the meetup details:

The invitation is open to all. We’ll probably talk a little tech if enough techies show up, but it’s really a “Hey, we’re in town and we’d like to see you” kind of gathering. I plan to have the accordion with me, so it’s likely there will be some kind of performance. The timing may not be the hottest — this Sunday is Superbowl XL — but it’s the only day that Ross and I could be available this trip.

(Boss Ross and I will be in San Francisco to catch the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference on Monday and Tuesday, and Wendy and I are making a mini-vacation of the trip.)

If you’re planning to come, please let me know via email or in the comments so we know how much room to set aside!

These days, if you go to any developer conference where the focus isn’t on “emerging technologies” and not “the enterprise” (read: boring old accounting software and most Microsoft conferences), you’ll see a lot of Macintosh laptops. Mac OS X hasn’t even been out five years — the fifth anniversary will be this March — but it’s already become the preferred platform of the alpha geek.

It wasn’t always this way. The macho undercurrent of nerd culture — quit laughing, there actually is one — is one of one-upmanship and showboating one’s IQ and mental fortitude, which is counter to the user-friendliness and aesthetics of the Mac. Hence the remark a lot of hackers used to make: “Macs are for fags”.

Nowadays, the only people who’d say that are the folk behind this short movie: Broke Mac Mountain [2.3 MB Quicktime, safe for most non-uptight workplaces]. Tech support was never so man-on-man tender!

Click the image to watch the movie.

In case you were wondering, Broke Mac Mountain is the creation of the comedy troupe Mighty McPilgrim.