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Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

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Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#81

Post by jackfoxy »

nakkiel wrote: post #45
Rauchg wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like I wrote, he enjoys the ritual of interacting with the audience after the talk. I think most people at this point stop looking at their stuff for a minute.

Like the other guy wrote. He had his passport in the bag. The number one rule of traveling: your passport is your life. There are things in that should not be somebody else's task. Edit: you guys might be right about the troll thing. I'm terribly confused now as I must confess I agree with a troll..

I traveled overseas for 3 straight years long ago, and with the exception of when I had my own locked apartment, I kept my passport physically on my body at all times. The comment above about developed countries is provocative. I know very little about Argentina, but I believe in the 1930's it was considered on par with European countries and North America in terms of development.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#82

Post by glesica »

planetguy wrote: post #58
dbbolton wrote: post #24

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…

Oh come on. I'm sorry, but how can you be older than 12 and not understand how this stuff works?

Would Steve Jobs have come to any of our funerals? Doubtful. That didn't stop literally the entire front page from being filled with articles about his passing.

They're celebrities in our little community. For better or worse, people want to know when painful, wonderful or otherwise-interesting things happen to celebrities.

Check out a copy of "People" or another celebrity gossip magazine next time you're at the grocery store. Same thing, but for a different community of people.

You may be immune to celebrity-fascination, but most people aren't and that's just how the world is. Get over it.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#83

Post by nakkiel »

billpatrianakos wrote: post #77
nakkiel wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right on your last point however the way he initially reacted didn't add anything to the story. It was the nervous reaction of a man who realized the trip he had spent days organizing was being called off because of one individual. Having personally met RMS and knowing other persons that have the same type of condition, I would say that those people need some respect in the way they handle emotions and other s…

Whoah, wait, what condition? I wasn't aware that Stallman had any condition that would cause him to react that way. I even just posted a comment that touches on that topic. I hope I didn't just sound like a jerk picking on someone with a mental/emotional disorder I didn't know about.

Read the second comment on the link.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#84

Post by smsm42 »

planetguy wrote: post #58
dbbolton wrote: post #24

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…

It may be relevant if his following appearances - as it looks like he was on the tour - will be affected by this. I.e. if he will be unable to appear at the next planned event, people would want to know what happened. I know if I planned to meet some interesting person and the event was cancelled at the last moment, I'd like to know what happened.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#85

Post by billpatrianakos »

stinkytaco wrote: post #79
billpatrianakos wrote: post #71

Reading about Stallman's reaction to this makes me wonder about his mental stability. "Punching himself in the head"? And cursing? Now, cursing I can understand but the picture painted in the story makes it look like Stallman was throwing a tantrum, screaming obscenities, punching himself in the head and then crying. We all knew he was an eccentric fellow but when you're punching yourself in the head, in public no le…

Running the risk of being an armchair psychologist, I think it's pretty well established that RMS likely falls somewhere on the autism spectrum, or at least has some sort of behavioral condition that leads to behavior like this, as well as his documented social quirks. Which is to say that I think he's probably mentally stable, but a bit strange by everyday standards.

But punching himself in the head? I knew Stallman was weird as we all did and that yeah, he's probably got some disorder but when he's punching himself in the head publicly you can't help but wonder if maybe we should reevaluate our faith in his ideas. Having a mental disorder does not automatically invalidate anything he's ever promoted or done but for me personally, I'd ask myself whether the next idea he promotes is coming from a place of logic or if it's his condition talking. People don't seem to really question him as it is and if there really is something more going on with him maybe that should happen more? Because people are so sensitive when talking about Stallman I have to make a disclaimer: I didn't say he's stupid or wrong or crazy. I'm just wondering how stable the guy is and his public reaction to what happened gives me just cause. I'd wonder the same thing no matter who it was.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#86

Post by smsm42 »

eta_carinae wrote: post #65

> Despite his controversial views on a variety of topics, his evangelism work all over the world is a true inspiration for countless people I disagree, I think his evangelism is dangerous and offensive. He goes around telling programmers that they should give their code for free and he belittles anyone who doesn't follow his advice.

I think you are wrong. Convincing people to freely give is nothing dangerous and actually it is a proven fact that it is beneficial both economically and societally - many people now have their bills paid by jobs enabled by free software and while it may be that RMS might like it, commercial software is not dead either and won't be anytime soon. If anything, free software made more people able to sell their services as programmers.

My option is that RMS is going to far in his opposition to commercial software and in his zeal for freedom he sometimes promotes choices which I (and many others) disagree with. But his contributions are still great, despite all the disagreement.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#87

Post by masklinn »

eta_carinae wrote: post #65

> Despite his controversial views on a variety of topics, his evangelism work all over the world is a true inspiration for countless people I disagree, I think his evangelism is dangerous and offensive. He goes around telling programmers that they should give their code for free and he belittles anyone who doesn't follow his advice.

> I disagree, I think his evangelism is dangerous and offensive.

Which is completely irrelevant to what you quoted.

> He goes around telling programmers that they should give their code for free

So I take it you have never looked at his writing or heart him speak, and only repeat fifth-hand earsay? Because if there's one thing RMS does not do it's tell people they should "give their code for free". RMS has (and talks about) issues with freedom-less software, not with paid software.

> and he belittles anyone who doesn't follow his advice.

Meanwhile you call him and his ideals "dangerous" and "offensive" for what you imagine are disagreements with your position?

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#88

Post by billpatrianakos »

makmanalp wrote: post #59
chimeracoder wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you actually do this you'll either have to get it elsewhere or not tell him it came from Amazon. Stallman recently wrote about how we should stop supporting Amazon. I seriously wonder if he'd accept if he knew where it came from.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#89

Post by swa14 »

makmanalp wrote: post #62
gsivil wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Okay, maybe we should wait until we're certain. I'd always assumed that life as a travelling philantropist doesn't exactly lead to a decent sum of money. I thought it'd be cool unanticipated thank-you coming at a shitty time for him though.

rms received the MacArthur Genius grant at some point, which comes with a decent sum of money.

Now before some might get the wrong idea (that it would be easy to be an rms if financial worries were taken care of), rms had a job teaching before he got the award and was already doing these speeches.

As an aside, in my opinion it makes his dedication even more admirable. It would be easy for him to decide that he's done enough for Free Software, gets himself a nice seaside property to retire on and tend to his RSI, instead of speaking around the world, getting mocked and willfully misrepresented in the press, and apparently get his stuff stolen. But he doesn't, because his work is important. He's quite the character, warts and all, but he does have character.

Re: Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina

#90

Post by LiquidSummer »

makmanalp wrote: post #9

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?

Get him a box of Lenode laptop that he wants, inside, it should have a mac book pro. Film his reaction!
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