...more recent posts
Like things could get any better. I think we're sprouting again. I've been hoping for this one since the beginning. Details to follow...
Hack the Planet has been getting more and more popular. The discussion board there has crossed some sort of threshold, and now seems like a very important public place. Is that what slashdot used to be like? I came too late to the party to be sure. Anyway, I guess it's the case that very smart computer programmers like to communicate with other very smart computer programmers. The technical stuff is largely over my head, but lately there hasn't been much technical stuff.
I can see now that this post is going to be a little long, but there is a payoff.
Anyway, Wes posted this picture on March 28, and 8 minutes later Aaron Swartz posted this reply. What happened next was probably the most interesting discussion thread I've ever watched unfold (and watching is all I do on that board.) Aaron, evidently, is a very bright 14 year old computer geek. He is very articulate. Maybe you remember him as the author of this great article (explaning the "semantic web") that I linked to a week and a half ago. And that's just one of his interests. Another is a more quixotic quest to change the american educational system which he sees as basically bankrupt, full of busy work, and signifying nothing. (Of course this is all to put words in his mouth which is a dangerous thing, but I have to summarize somehow.) Anyway, the discussion thread on Hack the Planet turned into a beautiful/frightning back and forth between the very outspoken and unfearful Swartz, and a variety of much older, more jaded, but also highly intelligent and outspoken programmer types. It was clearly evident that many saw Aaron as youger versions of themselves: overly smart in a specifically technical sense that makes it difficult to fit inside a strict bureaucracy (be it a corporate job, or american high school.) Many had very kind encouraging things to say to him. Many had what I thought very wise advice for growing up feeling you are a little different. A few thought he should quit complaining and just swallow his medicine. That's the way it is with internet conversations. They can get a little heated. They can get a little nasty. This is part of what makes them so interesting. Some of the social regulations which govern face to face communications are stripped away, and you can really get at what people think. Sometimes it's not so nice. O.K., here's the payoff. My favorite person to read on the site is David McCusker. His personal site is here. What he does is so far beyond me that I couldn't begin to judge his competence, but I can tell how the other people treat him, and let's just say he carries some weight. When the thread began to get a little personal I started wondering if someone would step in, and David McCusker did. Here's his reply (hint: that's the payoff, go read that entire post.) I say we put this guy in charge. If only every person new to the internet, and this particular way of communicating, could be persuaded to read his post. I think he makes the world a better place.
I now have two different, longer, and much harder to write posts that I want to make. I can't seem to crack either one though, so in the meantime I'll point out that google is starting to do language translation (from scripting news.)
I now have two different, longer, and much harder to write posts that I want to make. I can't seem to crack either one though, so in the meantime I'll point out that google is starting to do language translation (from scripting news.)
Randal Schwartz is a software programmer best known for his wildley popular O'Reilly books on the Perl programming language. Quite a few people, myself included, started their computer lives with a copy of Randal's classic, Learning Perl. He's also a friend of Steve's so I hope to be able to meet him some day. In any case, he was also involved in some serious legal problems with Intel in 1995. He didn't do very well. But the court of appeals has finally ruled on his appeal, and although the three convictions against him were basically upheld, he's not going to have to pay Intel the $70,000 restitution award. Slashdot has the story and a bunch of links. Pretty interesting case.
Randal Schwartz is a software programmer best known for his wildley popular O'Reilly books on the Perl programming language. Quite a few people, myself included, started their computer lives with a copy of Randal's classic, Learning Perl. He's also a friend of Steve's so I hope to be able to meet him some day. In any case, he was also involved in some serious legal problems with Intel in 1995. He didn't do very well. But the court of appeals has finally ruled on his appeal, and although the three convictions against him were basically upheld, he's not going to have to pay Intel the $70,000 restitution award. Slashdot has the story and a bunch of links. Pretty interesting case.
"This provoked Stallman into an extended rant against the whole idea of patenting software, and ended in him leaving the room to shout in the corridor while Professor Bill Cornish, who was chairing, tried to resume the discussion."Here is Stallman's homepage, and here is his must read distopian vision of the future that everyone used to laugh at, and that now, with the advent of the DMCA and things like CPRM, no one is laughing at anymore (disclaimer: he's no William Gibson or anything, but the writing style is not the point.) Dave's been doing some good digging into this area as well.
"This provoked Stallman into an extended rant against the whole idea of patenting software, and ended in him leaving the room to shout in the corridor while Professor Bill Cornish, who was chairing, tried to resume the discussion."Here is Stallman's homepage, and here is his must read distopian vision of the future that everyone used to laugh at, and that now, with the advent of the DMCA and things like CPRM, no one is laughing at anymore (disclaimer: he's no William Gibson or anything, but the writing style is not the point.) Dave's been doing some good digging into this area as well.
megnut @ knownow. That's some high profile geek team they've got over there.
megnut @ knownow. That's some high profile geek team they've got over there.