GETTING CONNECTED

This month, I want to take a look at some of the informal communities that exist all around us. I’m not talking about your local Linux User Group – these days, the LUGs often have formal committees, structures, and even presidents. I’m talking about the more unofficial online communities that many of us participate in. Like many, I’m an IRC addict. I spend a lot of my spare time hanging out on the Linux and Free Software channels on the Freenode and OFTC networks (as well as others). I’ve used IRC for years, and I’m comfortable with it. But there’s a lot more out there these days than plain old IRC. Tale of Gale On my last journey across the Atlantic, I hooked up with an old friend who’s recently moved to the greater Boston area. He and I had the usual chitchat and quickly ended up geeking out, watching the 1980s cult classic move Real Genius. For those of you who get out a little more often, this movie is about a bunch of nerdy students designing dangerous weapons for the military who ultimately end up saving the world. The usual kind of stuff. But during the movie, my friend told me that a large amount of the footage was shot at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).