geek joke

[strmrdr]

If you get the joke your a geek.
If you think it is funny your a nerd and proceed directly to /.

Q: Why do geeks celebrate Christmas on Halloween?
A: Because Oct. 31 = Dec. 25!

I laughed for 5min the first time I saw it back in the stone age.

 

[dragonfly411]

 

[onvacation]

Date: 10/29/2008 5:56:26 PM
Author: dragonfly411

Remember when we learned about numeral systems way back when? 25 in the decimal system is 31 in the octal system. (3*8 + 1 = 25)

So Christmas for regular people, when changed to the octal system, falls on the same day as Halloween for regular people. I believe that's what he's referring to.

(Oh shoot, does that make me a geek?

Uh, back to our regular programming!

)

 

[Elmorton]

Wow...not only am I not a geek by not understanding the joke, I'm not really sure I got the explanation.

 

[Kaleigh]

HA, I guess I''m not a geek then. Hehe.

 

[onvacation]

Date: 10/29/2008 6:07:15 PM
Author: Elmorton
Wow...not only am I not a geek by not understanding the joke, I''m not really sure I got the explanation.

Umm, so if I got the joke the way strmrdr intended, who by the way is waaaaay geekier than I am for sure

:

You know how in the decimal system, 9 is as high as you can count without using some combination of some other smaller numbers? Like the next whole number, 10, is made using 1 (for the first digit) and 0 (for the second digit), so we end up with the number than means 9 + 1.

But in the octal system, a base-8 system, there''s no 8, so the highest you can count is up to 7. In the octal system, the decimal 8 is represented as o10, the decimal 9 as o11, and the decimal 10 as o12. So if you continue to count this way, decimal 16 is o20, and decimal 20 is o24, and decimal 25 is o31.

Here''s a table.

Decimal Octal
7 7
8 10
9 11
10 12
11 13
12 14
13 15
14 16
15 17
16 20
17 21
18 22
19 23
20 24
21 25
22 26
23 27
24 30
25 31

So you see, in the joke, Dec. 25 is Oct. 31 for geeks who actually use other numeral systems than the decimal. (I bet you use them too; hexadecimal for HTML color codes, or binary for the light switch and your computer on/off button, etc.)

HTH?

 

[strmrdr]

storm passes onvacation a geek card.
Welcome to the club!

 

[Sabine]

Wow, I''ve never heard of the octal system. Is there anything in particular it is used for?

 

[princesss]

Onvacation, I think you just blew my mind a little.

And by a little, I mean a lot.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 10/29/2008 7:05:06 PM
Author: Sabine
Wow, I''ve never heard of the octal system. Is there anything in particular it is used for?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octal

 

[choro72]

Aha, I knew it was about counting on different bases, but I didn''t know which.

It reminds me of the joke
"There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don''t"

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 10/29/2008 7:21:25 PM
Author: choro72
Aha, I knew it was about counting on different bases, but I didn't know which.


It reminds me of the joke

'There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't'

Or the variation of that...
'There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary collections, Those who think they understand binary collections, and those who don't'

Binary collections are 0 based.
10 has 3 states 00 01 10

Where decimal collections are 1 based.
2 has 2 states 1 and 2.

At one time 90% of security holes in software were caused by confusing the 1(binary) of them :}
Now days its still up there.

 

[JulieN]

I'm only fluent in base 2 (I spend most of my day playing Nim variations)

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 10/29/2008 6:07:15 PM
Author: Elmorton
Wow...not only am I not a geek by not understanding the joke, I'm not really sure I got the explanation.

I didn't get either one, and I'm a teacher! Hey wait, El, aren't you also?

I've never heard of the octal system either. There's a reason I only teach second grade! We use base 10 blocks to help practice place value, so that's all I'm familiar with.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 10/29/2008 7:09:36 PM
Author: princesss
Onvacation, I think you just blew my mind a little.

And by a little, I mean a lot.

Word.

 

[dragonfly411]

Date: 10/29/2008 6:04:27 PM
Author: onvacation

Date: 10/29/2008 5:56:26 PM

Author: dragonfly411

Remember when we learned about numeral systems way back when? 25 in the decimal system is 31 in the octal system. (3*8 + 1 = 25)


So Christmas for regular people, when changed to the octal system, falls on the same day as Halloween for regular people. I believe that''s what he''s referring to.


(Oh shoot, does that make me a geek?

Uh, back to our regular programming!

)

Am I considered dumb if I never learned that?

I stayed in the same algebra class through most of highschool. Only now, after a two year break, and picking back up in school am I understanding it

 

[strmrdr]

I am shocked at how many people say they never learned it....
I learned it in middle school.

 

[FireGoddess]

I think my head just exploded. I guess that makes me neither a geek or a nerd. Maybe a dweeb?

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 10/30/2008 11:52:31 AM
Author: strmrdr
I am shocked at how many people say they never learned it....
I learned it in middle school.

I remember it from middle school now seeing it but I would have never known the answer. Karl, middle school was years and years ago for me. hehe

 

[coatimundi_org]

Dadgummit! I thought I was a geek, and I guess I''m not...