From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ian Price Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: The Night before M-x-mas Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2013 22:40:13 +0000 Message-ID: <87y539rhyq.fsf@Kagami.home> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1387926614 23550 80.91.229.3 (24 Dec 2013 23:10:14 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2013 23:10:14 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Dec 25 00:10:19 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Vvb7C-0006M4-Km for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:10:18 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:40624 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Vvb7C-0006HJ-5k for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Dec 2013 18:10:18 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:45294) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Vvb74-0006H0-Ky for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Dec 2013 18:10:15 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Vvb6z-0004Qh-LH for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Dec 2013 18:10:10 -0500 Original-Received: from plane.gmane.org ([80.91.229.3]:60945) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Vvb6z-0004Mr-BM for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 24 Dec 2013 18:10:05 -0500 Original-Received: from list by plane.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Vvb6x-00064V-GQ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:10:03 +0100 Original-Received: from host86-132-92-12.range86-132.btcentralplus.com ([86.132.92.12]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:10:03 +0100 Original-Received: from ianprice90 by host86-132-92-12.range86-132.btcentralplus.com with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:10:03 +0100 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-Lines: 87 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: host86-132-92-12.range86-132.btcentralplus.com User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.1 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:zpUvQrXeRgv79H7ztnDxmiixWVY= X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 80.91.229.3 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:166862 Archived-At: I don't usually follow emacs devel, but I wrote this for the regulars on the #emacs IRC channel, and I felt you would all appreciate it. My apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and to rms. I have taken much liberty with the St. Ignucius character, and I hope you'll forgive it. If you want to link to it, I have also posted it to my blog at http://shift-reset.com/blog/2013/12/24/The%20Night%20before%20M-x-mas/ Happy Holidays. 'Twas the night before M-x mas, and all through the list Not a lurker was stirring, nor were they missed The ports were opened on the firewall with care In hopes that St. Ignucius soon would be there The parens were nested, all snug in their configs While delusions of wit danc'd in their sigs With a hot cup of tea, and pillow at my back I checked out the source for a short winter's hack When out on the server a hard drive expired And I ran through the house to put out the fire Wanting the data, for this mystery to uncover I tear open the casing, and try to recover Though I cry, and I shout, and computing gods implore I'm left with the backups from two days before When, what near my bloodshot eyes should cavort But a miniature laptop, and four tiny USB ports With that little old yeelong, so lively and free I knew in a moment it must be St. Iggy More rapid than eagles his fingers they flew As he danced, and he sung, to a bulgarian tune Join us now and share the software; You'll be free, hackers, you'll be free. Join us now and share the software; You'll be free, hackers, you'll be free. As microsofties before the GPL fly Or when led to the zune store, obsessively buy So onto the network, his interns connect With a disk full of source, and documentation correct And then in a twinkling, as I wait to reboot I hear a creaky mixture of floorboard and foot I open the door, just a bit more than an inch I see good old St. Iggy, with head in my fridge He was dress'd in white robes, from his beard to his ankles And his feet were quite dirty, from ill fitting sandals A disk platter was strapped to the back of his head And his hair look'd quite hippy, straight out of bed His eyes were quite focused, careful, and wary But his cheeks were flushed, like he'd been at the sherry He has the nasally voice of a New England sage And the beard of his chin was flecked grey with age His laptop he held loose on the palm of one hand With emacs open and ready to receive its command A quick tap on the keyboard to check his email just a memo or three, and a flame on e-devel He jots off a reply, as quick as a flash Then a quick swig of water, and some nuts from his stash With a nod of his head, and a scratch of the chin He signalled to me that his speech will begin He spoke at great length, on non-free software most vexing And fill'd us all up with visions of mac store protesting He wraps things up with a tale of macaws Before giving a bow, and receiving applause He sprung from his lecturn, and to his interns he hollers And for the fare home, asks a fee of some dollars But I heard him exclaim, ere he ran into the black Happy M-x mas to all, and to all a good hack -- Ian Price -- shift-reset.com "Programming is like pinball. The reward for doing it well is the opportunity to do it again" - from "The Wizardy Compiled"