...making Linux just a little more fun!
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Just a few minutes ago, I set my 6-month old son, Michael, on the table in front of my laptop; several moments later, when I looked at the 'xterm', the commandline said
perl -wle'print chr(rand(95) + 33) for 1..40'
"Dear Ghod," I thought to myself. "They certainly do inherit bad habits at a young age!"
(Yes, he was leaning on the 'up-arrow' cursor key while staring at the screen. But he did stop at that particular entry... that's my boy.)
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Martin J Hooper [martinjh at blueyonder.co.uk]
Ben Okopnik wrote:
> Just a few minutes ago, I set my 6-month old son, Michael, on the table > in front of my laptop; several moments later, when I looked at the > 'xterm', the commandline said > > `` > perl -wle'print chr(rand(95) + 33) for 1..40' > '' > > "Dear Ghod," I thought to myself. "They certainly do inherit bad habits > at a young age!" > > (Yes, he was leaning on the 'up-arrow' cursor key while staring at the > screen. But he did stop at that particular entry... that's my boy.) > >
Hehe Made me giggle for a minute... ;)
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 07:58:37PM +0000, Martin J Hooper wrote:
> Ben Okopnik wrote: > > Just a few minutes ago, I set my 6-month old son, Michael, on the table > > in front of my laptop; several moments later, when I looked at the > > 'xterm', the commandline said > > > > `` > > perl -wle'print chr(rand(95) + 33) for 1..40' > > '' > > > > "Dear Ghod," I thought to myself. "They certainly do inherit bad habits > > at a young age!" > > > > (Yes, he was leaning on the 'up-arrow' cursor key while staring at the > > screen. But he did stop at that particular entry... that's my boy.) > > Hehe Made me giggle for a minute... ;)
Kat and I have solemnly agreed that we had him purely for his entertainment value (note the excellent, seamless backstory construction, there.) He's quite low-maintenance, doesn't eat much, hasnt (YET) demanded the family motorcycle keys, and provides us with endless amusement.
For the past two days, he's been climbing Mount Daddy and standing up on wobbly little legs, and trying to climb up on the table - which has been the source of much merriment; I'm sure he's permanently psychologically scarred by all this laughter despite our assurances that we're laughing with him, not at him (his look of frowning, intense concentration is just the whipped cream on top.) Kat's originally amusing comment of "we're going to wake up to find him on top of the mast one of these days" [1] is becoming less and less funny, and more realistic and scary, as the days go by. He has also learned about taking headers (there's about an 18" drop from the bed down to the settee) - and likes them.
He's a fearless little bugger, and is going to be an adrenaline junkie when he grows up.
[1] This has since been extended to "...with a VHF radio, taunting the passing boats into throwing a bigger wake so he can have a better ride!" My glum prediction is that this, again, is going to be a hell of a lot less funny when I have to climb 50 feet straight up to retrieve him.
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Thomas Adam [thomas.adam22 at gmail.com]
On 11/02/2008, Ben Okopnik <[email protected]> wrote:
> He's a fearless little bugger, and is going to be an adrenaline junkie > when he grows up.
Like his father then? 
-- Thomas Adam
Martin J Hooper [martinjh at blueyonder.co.uk]
Thomas Adam wrote:
> On 11/02/2008, Ben Okopnik <[email protected]> wrote: >> He's a fearless little bugger, and is going to be an adrenaline junkie >> when he grows up. > > Like his father then?
I also hoped he wasn't logged into the laptop as root... ;)
Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
On Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 08:43:42PM +0000, Martin J Hooper wrote:
> Thomas Adam wrote: > > On 11/02/2008, Ben Okopnik <[email protected]> wrote: > >> He's a fearless little bugger, and is going to be an adrenaline junkie > >> when he grows up. > > > > Like his father then?
Similar, but not exactly the same. I wasn't trying to surpass anyone at that age. Most especially, I did not set a goal of doing so within the next week...
> I also hoped he wasn't logged into the laptop as root... ;)
This little 15-lb. package of focused intent can do more damage from a
non-root account than you could even imagine. I mean, have you ever
heard of a firewall designed to keep out drool???
-- * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *