The Adventures Of Hax0r Man

Chapter 10

Hax0r Man has a dream

by LateBlt

  "Excuse me, sir. Do you think you could help me out a little?" A scruffy
older man with sad eyes extends a plastic cup in Hax0r Man's direction as
Hax0r Man walks down the sidewalk. Hax0r Man's view toward beggars is
probably typical of most people: He regards them with a certain degree of
pity, but at the same time he is usually too busy with other things to spend
much time on them.
  Even so, the man looks like he could use some help. "Sure, let me give you
a little something," says Hax0r Man, reaching into his pockets. After feeling
around for a moment, he produces some RAM chips and what appears to be an
8-bit microcontroller, and drops these items into the cup. "Thank you, sir,
and God bless you," the beggar says.
  "You're quite welcome; use them well," Hax0r Man responds. "By the way,
have you seen any good decoupling circuits lately? I'm looking for one to use
on my latest CPU that I'm building."
  "Oh yes, I saw a website with a few of them just the other day. Let me
e-mail you the URL. What's your e-mail addy?" Hax0r Man gives his e-mail
address to the beggar, and the URLs are sent his way.
  Hax0r Man is feeling a little hungry now, so he stops in at a corner
restaurant for some sustenance. "Can I please get a 4x AGP video card?" Hax0r
Man asks his server. "And actually, while I'm here, can I get a SCSI adapter
for an Amiga 2000?"
  "Of course, sir. Will that be all for you today?"
  "Umm, let's see, I think I want something to drink too. Can you add in an
F-15 flight simulator?"
  "Very well, sir. How will you be paying?"
  "I'm a hax0r, and so I will pay the best way I know how: With 100% cold
hard hax0ring."
  "Excellent. Your order will be with you shortly."
  Hax0r Man tips his waiter with a nice FPGA. After his meal, Hax0r Man wants
to sit down and see some changes of scenery, so he gets on a bus and asks the
bus driver where this bus is going to.
  "I'm taking you straight to Hax0rland! It is where all the good hax0rs go.
There is much hax0ring there," the bus driver informs Hax0r Man.
  "Sounds like my kind of place. Let's go!"

* * *

  "I have a dream!" Hax0r Man proclaims. "A dream that lives in all of our
hearts! Or at least, in my heart."
  "I have a dream of a place where people live in hax0ring. Where children
and seniors are not afraid to go hax0ring at night, and people from all walks
of life, whether rich or poor, young or old, n00b or pwnerer, come together
in unison to celebrate life and hax0ring."
  "I have a dream of a world in which everybody is as thirty one thousand,
three hundred and thirty-seven as I am. A world in which people actually know
something about computers. A place where people don't stare at you blankly
when you ask them a question involving both semiconductor energy bands and
multidimensional data arrays! A place where at least somebody, somewhere,
actually knows what in the world they're talking about, instead of imagining
themselves to be knowledgeable about computers because they can write a
program or screw in a modem."
  "I have a dream of a place where there are actually several people like
this! A land not tainted by businesses selling food, clothing, or gasoline,
but rather by businesses that sell computers and electronics. A
technologically advanced, well-educated society!"
  "I have a dream!"
  His speech now finished, Hax0r Man presses a button, causing the throng of
computers massed before him to play applause sound effects. Hax0r Man feels
warm and cuddly inside, sure that his audience can see his vision as vividly
as he does.