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Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

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Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#52
post #23

Most of us have cloud backups like Mozy or Carbonite, or keep our documents in the cloud with tools like Google Docs, iCloud, or Zoho. To us, losing a laptop is an inconvenience... but not a cause for canceling future engagements. But RMS is different. He's ethically opposed to the "cloud," calling it a "trap." That is his prerogative. But you can't cry when you lose your data!!

How can you say that, when you don't know the man? He's not crying for his data, his HD didn't broke and lost all of his e-mails and stuff. All of his belongings were stolen by someone, and that I can relate to. He's really sensitive, and as entitled to cry for that as anyone else in that situation.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#53

Damn, this is not nice. Maybe HN can pitch in to get him a new laptop? I'd donate a few bucks. Edit: What the heck? What's wrong with what I suggested?

I am not so sure that rms cannot afford a laptop. He is in need of more free models to choose from than a few bucks

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#54
post #37

The passport replacement is relatively easy, right? The bigger concern is the medicine. How does that work with prescription medicine outside the US? The laptop is rather unique, so if someone pawned it you would think it could be hunted down.

My experience in countries that are less "developed" is that you'll get any kind of medicine you may need if you're ready to pay the price for it. I'm sure he'll be fine.

Passport are simple to replace but Visas simply aren't replaced at all. He could get new Visas under no delay, unfortunately I don't think he has the right connections for that kind of "fast lane" service.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#56
post #28

I understand that Stallman is an important figure in the software community, but this really doesn't qualify as news in my opinion. To be fair, the server went down so I can't access the article, but unless he had something really important in that bag, like the only copy of a new C compiler written from scratch, this article is just a minor inconvenience in the life of a celebrity.

He had his passport. I believe he is currently traveling through South America to give FOSS talks in many universities. I believe part of the issue is that because of this very details, it puts an end to his trip which has been rough and marked by health issues. What I don't understand is why the post's author dares mentioning how RMS reacted. A bit of decency is always a nice thing to have, not to mention due respec…

Decency? We're adults, we respect him like other humans and we can handle the real story. At least we should have the decency to.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#58

I understand that Stallman is an important figure in the software community, but this really doesn't qualify as news in my opinion. To be fair, the server went down so I can't access the article, but unless he had something really important in that bag, like the only copy of a new C compiler written from scratch, this article is just a minor inconvenience in the life of a celebrity.

Yeah. Right now the story is an hour old and has fifty comments.

"How can Richard Stallman getting his bag stolen be that interesting a story?", I thought, as I read the headline. "I guess I should read the story, there must be, in the details, some more important point about how the bag was stolen or what it contains that has broader relevance!"

... turns out, nope. He just had his bag stolen. Y'know, that sucks and all, but I'm still not sure why I'm supposed to care. Richard Stallman didn't care when I got my bag stolen.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#59

Damn, this is not nice. Maybe HN can pitch in to get him a new laptop? I'd donate a few bucks. Edit: What the heck? What's wrong with what I suggested?

It might be hard to find a Lemote Yeelong (at least the particular model he uses, which lets him use a free BIOS). Here's one, though I'm not sure if it's the correct version: http://www.lemote.com/en/products/Notebook/2010/0310/112.htm...

From his usesthis interview: "I do hope to switch soon to a newer model of Yeelong with a 10-inch display."

Also I found it on Amazon, with Prime: http://www.amazon.com/Screen-Lemote-Yeeloong-8101_B-Netbook/... $450.

If one of the known / trusted HN elders decides to pool the money, this seems doable.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Robbery" is often used when force isn't involved. If the object is stolen while you're nearby, people will often refer to it as a robbery. Outfielders rob batters of home runs all the time. The word "rob" is particularly useful because lets the victim be used as the direct object. If you want to emphasize RMS as a victim of personal theft, that's the verb to use.

Some people may use it that way but that doesn't make it right. The baseball example is a figure of speech, not a description of an actual crime. This was a real crime.

I'm pretty sure peoples' use of the word is the definition of how it is used.
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