> Maybe people just put time into their appearance?

Impossible.

> It's amazing how far a good diet, good sleep, exercise, and some grooming can do.

It's a slippery slope, though. You start with that crap and, before you know it, you're doing flat-out irrational things like getting dressed and brushing your teeth. I shudder at the thought!

Hey, i put time into my appearance , i don't wanna sound out of the blue or get into stereotypes but maybe is because i am gay, don't know. Really, i have seem in so many conference attractive programmers like the ones in the photos.

No.

There are attractive (develoepers|journalists|best buy employees), and there are unattractive (develoepers|journalists|best buy employees).

I think it's mostly sterotypes and confirmation bias. The ugly people are less liekly to post photos of themselves online, so you only ever notice the attractive ones.

Real hackers are fat, have Unix beards and drink Jolt Cola.

Ahhhh.. Jolt Cola.. them were the days (until I was eating museli and 1/4 of a tooth came off :) heh. Good times. I've not seen Jolt in years - used to drink it in Ireland but haven't seen it in NZ.