Technology Bytes Radio – Page 4 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Now I know my ABC’s

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In my line of work, the need for a phonetic alphabet comes up rather frequently. You know, when you’re trying to tell someone how to spell something.

You hear it used in emergency radio and ham radio communications all the time.

Standardized Phonetic Alphabet

A	ALFA	M	MIKE	Y	YANKEE
B	BRAVO	N	NOVEMBER	Z	ZULU
C	CHARLIE	O	OSCAR	1	ONE
D	DELTA	P	PAPA (PA-PA’)	2	TWO
E	ECHO	Q	QUEBEC (KAY-BEK’)	3	THREE (TREE)
F	FOXTROT	R	ROMEO	4	FOUR
G	GOLF	S	SIERRA	5	FIVE (FIFE)
H	HOTEL	T	TANGO	6	SIX
I	INDIA	U	UNIFORM	7	SEVEN
J	JULIETT	V	VICTOR	8	EIGHT
K	KILO	W	WHISKEY	9	NINE (NINER)
L	LIMA	X	X-RAY	0	ZERO

During the show last week, as I was trying to impart a web address to a caller, I was struggling with one of the letters. I always get confused with N and Q for some reason.

After the caller disconnected I mentioned on air that there should be a geek version of the phonetic alphabet. Makes total sense to me. G as in Google and so forth.

We tossed around a few ideas on the air and then my co-host Barrett threw it out to our guests in IRC and hammered out version 1.01

Geek Phonetic Alphabet

A	APPLE	M	MICROSOFT	Y	YAHOO
B	BOOTDISK	N	NEWBIE	Z	ZAXXON
C	CAFFEINE	O	OBSOLETE	1	ONE
D	DONGLE	P	PRINTER	2	TWO
E	ERROR	Q	QUICKTIME	3	THREE (TREE)
F	FREEWARE	R	REBOOT	4	FOUR
G	GOOGLE	S	SERIAL	5	FIVE (FIFE)
H	H4x0R	T	TOOLBAR	6	SIX
I	INDIA	U	UNIX	7	SEVEN
J	JOYSTICK	V	VIRUS	8	EIGHT
K	KILOBYTE	W	WEBCAM	9	NINE (NINER)
L	LINUX	X	XMODEM	0	ZERO

This is still in development. We changed Y from YMODEM to YAHOO on the air last night, per a brilliant suggestion from Dwight Silverman, so I guess this is technically Version 1.01 rev A

Barrett goes into a bit more detail on his Geekspeak Bog over at the Chronicle website.

White and Nerdy – Weird Al

New theme song for Technology Bytes?

Perhaps….

Parody of “Ridin’ Dirty” by Chamillionaire

White and Nerdy

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times

When I got the call from Phil Archer and Channel 2 I was reluctant to be interviewed on such short notice. I was not feeling my prettiest yesterday and, believe it or not, I suffer from HUGE stage fright. I hide it well but you can see it in the beads of sweat that form on my head. I tried to duck out but he was very persistent. I was explaining to him that I didn’t feel camera ready and he asked me “Do you have any open wounds?” to which I replied “Well, no, not right now.” He said “Then we’re good to go!”

I gave him directions to the office and he and his cameraman were there in 15 minutes.

These guys are pros and they do put a person at ease when they are doing the interview so I relaxed very quickly.

As it turns out, I was able to get home in time for the broadcast so I could cringe in horror as appropriate. Turns out I looked fine and the sound bite was perfect. It could not have been a better on screen appearance….well, except for one tiny detail.

The name of the radio show is Technology Bytes, not Reality Bytes.

Yes, Technology Bytes and Reality Bites both strive to be funny.
We both were created in Houston, TX.

But from there the differences become more and more glaring.

Reality Bites was created in 1994
Technology Bytes was created in 1995

Reality Bites is a comedy about love in the ’90s
Technology Bytes is a comedy about computing with equipment from the 90’s

Reality Bites features a mediocre cast of washed up near nobodies
Technology Bytes features a … wait … this is not a difference.

For sure they have more women in the movie than we do on our show, but I bet Jennifer the Intern was never arrested for shoplifting.

Ah well, you know what they say about publicity.

Technology Bytes Anniversary Party = Success!

Last night’s gathering of geeks in celebration of the 11th anniversary of Technology Bytes was a spectacular success. Many, many fine people showed up as the band played and adult beverages were consumed.

A heartfelt thanks to Drop Trio for providing the music and for the special tunes learned, rehearsed and performed for the event. You guys are awesome!

The Houston Chronicle had a photographer there and I can’t wait to see THOSE pictures. For now I have the ones I took uploaded to this gallery.

We had a nice turnout, the full crew of the show was there; Peter, Barrett, phliKtid, Dwight and Groovehouse, as well as show contributors Charles Born and the lovely Aurora Losada.

I believe Jennifer the Intern has officially crossed over as evidenced by her new I Heart Geeks shirt.

Also in attendance were many of the regular geek gathering attendees as well as Groovehouse’s IRC Army, including Amateria, Sketkar, Lambo, Kimberly, BeingKatie, KD5, Yivit and TomTom

We also met many, MANY new folks who had not yet attended one of our events.

And, to make it a TRUE Tech Bytes experience, I even helped a total stranger perform a complete clean install of Windows XP on her laptop while sitting at the bar. When she arrived at the party she had a computer that didn’t work very well. By the time we were done she was happily surfing the web using the Wi-Fi provided by Dean’s Credit Clothing.

I AM a party animal, yes indeed.

11 years and technology still bytes

Houston’s longest running, award winning, advice giving computer show is celebrating 11 years on the air in Houston, Texas.

Join the cast, crew and fans of Technology Bytes this Friday, July 14th at Dean’s Credit Clothing for a party of epic nerd proportions.

Again this year we will be graced with the legendary space jazz ensemble Drop Trio laying down their own funky groove as we get our geek on.

Map located here

The party gets underway at 7:30 and goes till we’re done.
Did I mention there’s no cover? I didn’t? Oh…well then…

NO COVER!

Keep in mind that Dean’s is a full service bar…

Upside: alcohol
Downside: 21 and up

If last year’s party is any indication, this will be an awesome way to spend your Friday evening.

Jennifer the Intern sums it up in one word:

All fans past, present and future are invited to come out.

—

The promo that’s been running on KPFT to hype this event is here.
It’s another hilarious phliKtid production, check it out!

phliKtid

Last night’s show was pretty good. At least we managed to entertain ourselves and that’s always a plus. My friend Jennifer came out for a bit of an internship on the phones. Groovehouse showed her the ropes and she did a good job during the second hour managing the incoming calls.

As we were all preparing to go home I was stuck by the true geekiness of the crew of the show. We are SUCH nerds.

Take, for example, phliKtid…
He’s the man behind, well…behind EVERYTHING. Just click on these images to see what I mean.

phliKtid is the brains behind the hilarious promos that run for the show and he’s been running the sound board and has taken on the role of engineer for the program.

phliKtid is the subtle nerd. He’s a systems administrator for a local medical college and he’s a Free BSD user. He doesn’t “toot his own horn” so much but there is one concession he makes to his geekitude.

Check out his vanity plate on his motorcycle.

Aww, yea!

Geek Gathering – 06/02/2006

Another excellent gathering of the geeks!
There were many new toys being oogled by a room full of nerds and nerd onlookers.

Dwight Silverman, self proclaimed Microsoft lackey and friend of Bill, was spotted with a new Macintosh computer. He claims it belongs to his daughter but there was a unmistakable gleam of delight in his his eye as he explored the features.

Barrett was sporting a new 17″ Macbook and Russell Holliman of Mobilepodcast fame was toting a brand new Motorola Q phone.

It was also a pleasure to meet Matt B. of mattsapundit.com.

In terms of gadgetry and attendees this was probably one of the geekiest geek gatherings in a long time. That’s probably for the best since my friend Jennifer decided to pay a visit. She’s expressed an interest in helping Groovehouse out with phone screening duties on show nights and it’s important she fully realize what she’s getting herself into.

A few more photos here.

MC Frontalot in the house

To make last night even MORE interesting we were being videotaped by a crew from Vaguely Qualified Productions for the documentary film Nerdcore Rising.

Nerdcore Rising is about MC Frontalot and the evolotion of Nerdcore Hip Hop.

From the web site:

Nerdcore Rising is a documentary that will uncover the new wave of hip-hop called Nerdcore by following the godfather of the genre, MC Frontalot and his geeksta entourage on their first national tour. They will perform everywhere from gaming conventions to D&D tournaments. And, of course, we’ll get to meet nerdcore fans in all of their Magic-playing, pocket protector-wearing, Mensa-bragging, Jolt Cola drinking, internet-gaming glory.

You can see a trailer for the documentary here.

We were even joined in the studio by MC Frontalot himself where we witnessed some pretty awesome nerd core free-styling.