Parents

[Pack3t SynAck3r]

My father was piecing together computers before I was even born, literally. His first "computer" was made from an old telephone company analog switch (that was used in central offices back then) components from a four track music recorder, some type of memory module that I have no idea where it came from, an oscilloscope for a screen, a custom black box [see phreaking] for input and a bunch of RadioShack/Tandy electrical components. He did it for as a "hobby endeavor" It had several functions. The idea that caused him to build it was he wanted to have a device whose end functionality was an automated phone dialer that displayed in alphanumeric characters the name of the person the phone would dial(sound familiar?) and all he would have to do is hit a button to call that person. Remember the year was 1977 at this point. Of course the phone could dial anywhere and it would always be a toll free call. His career was a telephone repairman, a pole climber, at least at that point, later a central office tech, then a telecom programmer and engineer. They figured out he was a little overqualified for his original job, but it took them 10 years. But I digress. My father was very liberal with me and his "toys" and projects. My mom has pictures of me holding a disassembled telephone when I was around 1. Dad used to let me help him on all of his projects. He would pretty much let me run riot on all the computers because there wasn't anything I could do to f it up that he couldn't fix. He let me do my thing, we built MY first computer together when I was 8. He wasn't perfect, by any stretch, but when it came to getting on the computer I can't remember dad ever saying no. He would come check out what I was doing sometimes but I think he just enjoyed watching me do my thing, Mom would set time limits on it for me, but it was no big deal. I am the same with my kids. My oldest is 4, running Edubuntu on his amd64 custom desktop(one of my old machines) and loving it. I am currently teaching him how to navigate through the filesystem using Terminal, he has had the GUI down since he was 3. I just set up a laptop for my youngest son of 2 years(Edubuntu again Duh!) and when I left him alone with it for the first time I came back in the room because he laughing hysterically. I look at the desktop and it is filled and overlapping with new folders/directories and he was continuing to make more. When he finally finished: rmdir -p New* Keep in mind I have been teaching them to have a respect for the technology and to treat it properly since day 1. Also it is understood they don't touch daddy's comp without permission, although if my back is turned.....:whistle Lets just say I have found random new folders on my desktop when I come back after a brief break They are MY kids after all. I am building my empire, and life is good.

Honest to god and when I found backdoors on my PC I came so close to just saying "Yep I'm a hacker!"

script kiddy != hacker

You shouldn't lie to your parents, and if you have been using programs you downloaded off of HF there is a good chance it is you who are responsible for the lack of performance from your machine. Either way look at is an opportunity to actually learn something. If nothing is ever broken than where will you get the chance to learn how to fix it.

My oldest son SAYS he is SpiderMan all the time, but he sure as hell can't shoot webs or climb walls. He does wear his costume and pretend though.

You will never find a hacker's tools residing on his hard drive. A hacker's tools are always embodied within himself.