Episode: 482
Title: HPR0482: Lugging it Home
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0482/hpr0482.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-07 21:28:06

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academy.com
Good luck and don't take it off, give it a little bit of it's real
And it's really gonna catch you off, give it a little bit of it's real
And if you catch it off, nobody wants to fuck the whole world
And what everybody damn hate, good luck and don't take it off
And if you catch it off, give it a little bit of it's real
Good luck and don't take it off, give it a little bit of it's real
And if you really gonna catch it off, give it a little bit of it's real
And if you catch it off, nobody wants to fuck the whole world
And what everybody damn hate, good luck and don't take it off
And if you really gonna catch it off, give it a little bit of it's real
And if you really gonna catch it off, give it a little bit of it's real
And if you really gonna catch it off, give it a little bit of it's real
Hello, this is Lost in Bronx
There comes a time in many free and open source software users' lives
And by many users, I mean mine, when you long for the company of your fellows
Less for companionship, perhaps then for personally profitable networking and educational purposes
At those times, it would be only natural to find a local Linux users group
Or lug as they're called
This is a common progression to some degree I think
And one that would prove advantageous to all involved
If you like free and open source software
A local lug, assuming it isn't run by or filled with them
What's that word?
Ah, assholes
I say a local lug is the place to go for inspiration, the trading of knowledge, and a few hearty laughs
What's not to like?
Well, I'll tell you
No, no, actually, I won't, I won't
Cause I don't know what a lug is like
I'm talking do-do
Everything I've just said is stuff I've heard or read from other people
I currently live in rural Arizona
This lug that I know of is over a hundred miles away
Even at only monthly meetings that's a long commute for me
Some people may think nothing of that
I, however, think something of it, something unpleasant
Ironically, considering all the open space out here, I hate driving
I almost died the other day
Car missed me by inches
Blue by me at 70 miles per hour at least on the left hand side
As I was making a left turn
And yes, I was using my turn signal for all the good it did me
And so no, I'm not going to be going to my localist lug meeting anytime soon
Because it's just not local enough for me
The less I'm on the road, the slower my smile fades
So that leaves two alternatives as I see it
Number one, do without
Now that's actually viable as an option and I'll get to it in a bit
Number two, start up a lug of my own
That would be the best of all worlds
And if anybody knows of a rocket heading to it, I would be obliged for the heads up
Because the world I'm in doesn't allow for it
My days are not my own, that is to say I'm busy
Or I have obligations which amounts to the same thing
Yes, certainly we make time for what is important to us
Everybody who starts or runs a lug anywhere in the world is no doubt quite busy
Yet they prioritize their very precious store of time and they make it work
So why can't I?
Well, because I have a finite store of energy to go along with my own store of time
And most of that is already spoken for
I'll skip the drama and just declare my situation atypical and draining
We get by, I get by, but I have no desire or capacity to take on outside
Responsibilities beyond the most rewarding of the least and combring
For instance, these very occasional HPR episodes of mine
I enjoy doing them but no one is exactly counting on them
No one has to rearrange their very precious store of time if I fail to deliver
And it's that knowledge that allows me to continue in it
A slow trickle that would dry up under higher pressure may happen unlikely situation to encounter in plumbing
But all too real in the human realm I think, certainly it is in mine
So while it would be easy to open my mouth and post up notices online or on telephone polls in town
And maybe make a few phone calls to find a place to meet
That's as far as I can imagine myself being able to go and I have a pretty good imagination
Oh and as an aside and only barely apropos I apologize
My favorite local coffee shop which would be perfect for small meetings
Free Wi-Fi, great coffee, friendly management
They just changed hands and then they changed hours
And the new people aren't so friendly until now it's not so perfect anymore
And that sucks like a leech
You got blind food here
I'm on the way to get out of that
Follow me
Don't ever blink under the line
Swinging into town on the telephone line
It's all alone but no one cares
I'll bring you back love around in the air
You freeze with pride, you're also a bird
Such a weird way
It's misty cat
Here's a restless innocent little bitch
I don't want to talk about the little empty cat
But I don't want to talk about the cannibal vibe
I don't want to talk about the life
You freeze with pride, you're still a bird
Such a weird way
It's misty cat
So I can start a ball rolling,
but only far enough to disappoint
If I initiate anything or claim to want to
I have an obligation to at least
get people involved to take over the work of running it, even if that work only amounts
to being the person with all the email addresses.
Now I have met a few Linux enthusiasts out here, and if anything, they're busier than
I am.
Starting up a lug was mentioned in my presence once, and I hardly endorsed the voice thought,
but it was agreed upon by all and sundry on that occasion that nobody know how Godstom
will free time.
We were a bunch of losers.
None of those guys, and I was one of those guys, wanted to try and organize it.
Busy.
Oh, we're all so busy, except we are one meeting a month, one or two hours out of 720 or
so.
Too much.
Arguably, I was the most enthusiastic and verbose of the conversationalists, and possibly
the least encumbered by outside obligations, and even I can't commit to one meeting a month.
So by my count, that only leaves alternative number one, do without.
Now that immediately conjures up images of a lone avocationist or enthusiast, read that
crank, read that creep who sits alone in the dark talking out to the void and out
is asked.
Is that me in the mirror?
I say that brings forth a stereotypical view of a Linux or other free software user who
is looking for a connection in the real world, and for some of us, this simply doesn't exist.
Oh, sure, maybe I could join one that's not exactly local, and participate in it as
time and resources permit, or maybe get the ball rolling for a local group and then hand
it off to someone, well, as implied already, if I don't have the time to simply attend a
meeting once a month, I certainly don't have the time to organize and oversee one.
And joining a group that you know in advance, you do not have the time to participate in,
does everyone involved a disservice.
I admire people who can manage to make it all work, that joining, the participating,
but my sitch is not theirs, and my sitch is one that relegates nearly all of my free time
to the wee hours of the morning.
I'm an insomniac, at least to a certain degree, and these hours alone in the dark are mine.
Reasonably, the real world will not intrude, unless we consider the loud midnight shenanigans
of a local Tomcat outside the window, going to trap his ass and have his jolly snipsy
if I don't, and that means the Linux community comes to me in slivers of attention.
I see only what I have the time, energy, and interest to see.
But even if that is true, those slivers add up to much more than one or two hours a month.
So is my lug or lug-like experience purely digital?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
Connection in the real world, as it were, is elusive and elusive to me.
There simply isn't a core group in my field of acquaintances that has the time or interest
to run Linux, let alone join a lug in mutual celebration of it.
What a lug provides, at least as I believe, is a place of floss, fellowship, and education.
Those things are available online, too.
Well, you have to make do, of course.
You have to realize that no one beside yourself is supplying the cookies or pizza, and no
one beside yourself will see the strain and real relief in your eyes from the pressures
of the month and the comfort of like minds, and thereby offer you commiseration and dare
I say it, caring.
No, those things won't happen.
By the same token, if I can't commit to one or two hours a month on a regular schedule,
as I've stated, it doesn't mean I can't benefit from and contribute to the floss community.
Perhaps even to the tune of many more hours than say one or two.
No, what it means is that I can't be at a certain place, at a certain time, with anything
like regularity, for anything that is not an absolute necessity.
Again, no details if you please, but my days and nights are haphazard.
I have a home, I have a family, and no professional commitments, yet my time is spoken for capiche.
Good.
Very good, in fact, because I'm not alone in this.
There are lots of people out there in circumstances that very widely, indeed, who I suspect can empathize.
Our computers, our interweb connections, they are as vital as air as food.
Despite being within recent memory of dream, more fantastic than the most amazing flights
of fancy, these modern doors to the world have become vital, fundamental and transformative.
There is no going back, and even if there were, I certainly wouldn't choose to.
Let's abridge to the whole planet.
The online life has become more of a spyglass aimed at another world, because when the one
I'm in doesn't have the answers I need, it's real important to have an eye on another
one that might.
Wow, that sounded spiritual.
Get the Hints you proprietor demon.
The Power Stolen Compose, you are not going to lay my vision down.
So from an emotional standpoint, a virtual lug certainly can, but doesn't have to be constrained
by regulation that is a set schedule or pile of obligations.
I for one hate schedules, whenever I log on, my lug meeting starts, and whenever I log
off, it ends.
It's all about me.
And whatever I happen to be laying my eyeballs on is a presentation at the meeting, and whoever
I happen to be chatting with or listening to is a fellow attendee or a guest of honor.
Does this stand up at all to real human face-to-face interaction?
Well to be honest, and again for me, it's even better.
I mean, why in hell would I want to smell your bio or farts or wait while you take a cell
phone call?
Why in hell would I want to chip in for pizza and eat a slice or two when I can buy my own
and eat it all?
I think it comes down to comfort here, both emotional and physical.
I like a lug I can attend in my underwear sitting on my own couch.
I don't think that's too much to ask, especially considering the fact that there's no other
alternative here about it.
So I think my point here is, if you're stuck either on the map somewhere or just in your
life, and you're enthusiastic about Linux and other free and open source software solutions,
but you don't have anyone in the real world to share that with, take heart.
Why settle for a local group when the entire world is in attendance, just a few key strokes
or mouse clicks away?
In any way, real life is just so pre-millennium, don't you think?
I mean, I don't think I've been a real person myself since the old 1996, at least.
This has not been lost in Bronx, but an incredible simulation!
If you'd like to contact me, you can write to lostinbronsetgmail.com, that's L-O-S-G-N-B-R-O-N-X-A-G-M-L.
I'll do my best to imitate what I might have written and had I actually been me.
After all, there's nothing too good for a fellow member of EarthLug.
You know, all of us connecting through the many and varied webs, exchanging thoughts
and information in a truly global community?
You like that?
EarthLug?
Yeah.
Me neither.
Take care.
Thank you for listening to H.P.R.R. sponsored by Carol.net, so head on over to C-A-R-O-D-E-N-C-E-N for all of us in the world.
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