Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

…aka 1337, 31337, L337, L33+, etc. etc.

OK, I'd assumed that everyone would know what I was talking about, but I've gotten quite a few “what does that mean?” IM's, so I suppose that it's time for a linguistics lesson.

First of all, it's pronounced elite. As in highly skilled. Now that you know that, that part should be obvious. I'm sure all the i lIkE tO tYpE tHiS idiots know what I mean.

Anyway, nothing illustrates everything better than a scene from a badly written modern teen fairytale. Of course, it's also proof of the mainstreaming — and hence death — of it all. At this point in history calling yourself elite either makes you a lamer or a person with an oddball sense of humor. Thus we arrive at the movie HACKERS. Now, “elite” isn't strictly speaking a “hacker” term (more of a cracker / software pirate / trader / courier term), but I digress. You must remember the movie's grand love finale:

KATE: I can't believe they decided you won.
DADE: They didn't. The guys felt it was the only way I'd get a date. Anyway, you're pretty good. You're elite.
KATE: Yeah? You know if you would have said so in the beginning, you would have saved yourself a whole lot of trouble.

If I wasn't a relatively private person I'd have some things I'd like to say here very loudly. Yes, there's really a lot of thoughts I don't write here. Surprising, considering the sheer bulk of bits that I spew here.

Anyway, my friend Dave who is definitely elite is on his way here.

Finally, I just ordered a new set of shirts from ThinkGeek (as if I don't have too many already). Other than BMEshop of course, ThinkGeek is my favorite online store.