[linux-elitists] thermodynamics, and some other ranting Re: git and a sysadmin book

[Heather Stern]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 10:56:54PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Bob Bernstein (rs@bernstein.providence.ri.us):
> 
> > This (and the rest of your post) appears to be needlessly pissy.
> > Is there a "backstory" here, or are you just feeling um pissy? 
> 
> My brief serious point seems to have been misplaced.  Rephrasing:

Because you hid it in semi-legalese and anger? :)

In physics,  there's the first derivitive, the second derivitive, the third
derivitive, and words like "work" to calculate energy, and "acceleration" 
and "jerk" to score how it's applied, mean some well, rather specific things 
about motive force.

In a social environment, which mailing lists happen to be, "motive" doesn't
usually mean "motive force" as in motion, it means whether or not you're
encouraging, or friendly, or had some hidden agenda.

The punster in me cannot help but grin at the conflation this thread
represents of those two usages.

Seeing huge and angry posts is not conducive to good cheer;  the fine line
between curmudgeon (highly quotable) and grump (generally to be avoided,
even if one has to pretend one would enjoy a refill on one's scotch in 
order to escape) raises the same red flag in all of us that's usually set
off by the talking heads on CNN reports.  We start looking for who's hiding
what, or where the pissed-in Wheaties got off to.

Now if you guys don't honestly *know* either of how to be cheerful, or
concise, or enjoy and/or have a sparkling talent for choosing words that 
will actually set off people's bullshit alerts, those are different
problems, and solvable with some brief attention to how one's email-self
dresses in the morning.

I *do* know this list is about being elitists for linux,  but *I* think 
bright souls - in both the intelligence and the
spreading-light-and-good-cheer sense -  can be elite without being jerks :)

No specific person is being picked upon in this;  anyone who deserves to
live in this list oughta know better.

"I found this knob on the television called Brightness.  I tried turning it
up.  It didn't work." -- Steven Wright.

p.s. Happy New Year, fellow linux-elitists.  It's been a strange few years
     and I don't speak much here.  I should change that.  What's more, I
     should try to be a techie about it :)

  . | .    Heather Stern          |   
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