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Laptops with Stickers

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Re: Laptops with Stickers

#181

Post by braden-lk »

chickensong wrote: post #166
braden-lk wrote: post #29

These comments are rough. Some weird hostility to self-expression in here. "Back in my day, laptops were about TECHNOLOGY! Where's the conservative stickers!?" Ok, put some "conservative stickers" on your laptop and submit a pic to the site-- no one's stopping you. I was born in early 90s; all laptops in my memory have weird, silly stickers on them.

Agreed, some weird hostility. I have laptops going back to the 90s all slapped up! BTW I've been following LK for quite a while now and hope to use it sometime in the future. My regular DM is committed to a different platform, but I have a story that might turn into a campaign and I'd sub to LK to run it. Keep up the great work!

I'm glad to hear it; thank you! Reach out if you have any questions or recs. :D

Re: Laptops with Stickers

#182

Post by flir »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #179

I think it's cool, but I could never see myself doing it, because I used to go through a new laptop every couple of years. In any case, the point is moot, now. I switched to using a desktop, in my last upgrade since retiring.

Implies that the stickers are more precious than the hardware, which is an attitude I love.

Re: Laptops with Stickers

#183

Post by komali2 »

anal_reactor wrote: post #152
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I bet pictures with "Yay Facism!" stickers are probably taken down, as they should be.

There will be a time when people putting svastikas will be considered brave heroes. And then it'll be banned again. And then it'll resurface again. Turns out, "things that are obviously morally right" radically chances over time and across cultures.

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think that everyone thought Naziism was morally right at its peak?

Re: Laptops with Stickers

#184

Post by flir »

arcfour wrote: post #72
bitbasher wrote: post #4

I get the feeling about 90% of those laptops belong to either cyber security folks or rust developers. Just a gut feeling.

It's funny, I am in cybersecurity but I have always liked keeping my laptop free of stickers. Always seemed like "trying too hard" to me. And as much as I love my laptop, much like my Fluke 87V, I value it as a tool, not a means of self-expression. Maybe I am just boring, lol. I did use an original copy of the PGP source code book as a monitor stand though!

Sticker of a Fluke 87V for the laptop?

Re: Laptops with Stickers

#185

Post by komali2 »

dinkleberg wrote: post #12

Wow most of these are quite the contrast to what I used to see back in the day. At least in my circles it was just a collection of the technologies you’ve learned and enjoy. These are more like bumper stickers on the back of car. To each their own I suppose.

At defcon, laptop stickers have imo always been vibrantly political. What you saw on laptops may be more a sign of the crowds you ran with than the times!

Re: Laptops with Stickers

#186

Post by mindcrime »

bitbasher wrote: post #101
mindcrime wrote: post #94

I don't have a great picture of mine that isn't obscured by other "stuff" in frame, but for an idea of what my laptop looks like, see: https://fogbeam.com/free-kevin.jpg

I never understood people siding with Kevin. He always struck me as a fraud/pseudo-hacker and never did anything technical or substantial.

I'm not really here to defend OR condemn Mitnick. I was just always fascinated with his story, from the first time I read that Hafner & Markoff book Cyberpunk back in the early 1990's. Anyway, one of the notable aspects of his story was the way he was held for a rather long time without even so much as a bail hearing... something many people believed (and still believe) was blatantly unconstitutional. That was, as I recall, the motivation for a fair amount of the "Free Kevin" rabble-rousing, even among people who acknowledged that he had broken the law and deserved some sort of punishment.

By the time I bought that particular laptop and put that sticker on it, (about 3 years ago now, I guess) Kevin had long since been out of jail, had gone legal and was running his own security consulting company. I put one of those one mostly out of nostalgia and as a conversation starter. Perhaps surprisingly, I've had a modest number of people approach me when I was out in public and ask "Who's Kevin?" or say "Kevin Mitnick, right? Yeah, I remember that guy... I was at DEFCON this one year and ... ".

Re: Laptops with Stickers

#188

Post by brewdad »

crazygringo wrote: post #93
thewebguyd wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These are the people I'd be quite happy to self filter themselves out in the workplace. Same. If my stickers serve as a self-filter away from companies I'd rather not work at, or people I'd rather not work with, then that's a positive thing for me. If someone's offended by, for example, a rainbow sticker on my laptop, well I'd rather not work with them, or for that company. I'll look elsewhere.

I've never seen anyone get offended by a rainbow sticker at work, at least not anywhere I've ever worked. I have seen things that came across as misogynistic or very sexually suggestive, however, and the employee had to be asked to remove them. There are plenty of cases where the problem really is with the employee and the sticker, not the people taking offense.

You've never seen anyone get outwardly offended but I'm sure there have been a few. It's just a statistical probability. I fully support the cause and would not be offended but I encounter people everyday who most certainly are.

Just tell those people you're a big fan of Noah and the Old Testament. Then ask them about why they are wearing a cotton blend shirt.

Re: Laptops with Stickers

#189

Post by brewdad »

shagie wrote: post #154
wyclif wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why even though I like the weird and esoteric stickers you see here, I myself prefer the `unixstickers` style I think you're talking about. Debian, Arch, GNU, Python, bash, Ruby, Git, Vim, fork bomb, Tux, DEFCON, 127.0.0.1, &c. These are great for starting conversations, even in cafes. And you end up meeting some interesting people with shared culture.

It is about advertising one's (possible) shared culture. For me, my laptop is part of my professional culture and thus I try to keep it as crisp and professional in appearance as one's resume since its a bit... difficult to laptop lids in certain cases. For my personal shared culture, that is the sort of thing that can be exposed (or hidden) on a case by case basis. My choice of t-shirt where I can button up or down…

I keep my travel laptop clean of any outward expression. Saves a lot of potential grief crossing borders or cultures.

My at home and around town laptop can be my canvas.

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