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Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

#171

Post by rvnx »

moralestapia wrote: post #81

Pardon the interruption but ... who are you? Your bio is empty.

In the 1980s he was a sysadmin for a science lab in the US.

After his boss spotted a discrepancy, he understood that one person was using the computer that he managed without permission.

He was the only one who really cared.

He pushed and asked everybody for help (FBI, NSA, CIA, Air Force, etc).

That person was actually connecting from Germany.

The German police arrested the guy and released him.

It's a cool story because it puts you in the shoes of the 1980s phreaking and hacking scene but from the defense-side.

Now he is selling glass bottles that look like klein bottles (but are obviously not but it's still a cool object, and again don't want to spoil).

Re: Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

#172

Post by CliffStoll »

runjake wrote: post #6

Legitimate question: How do we know you're not an AI simulation of Cliff?

Legitimate answer: Maybe someone has stolen my account on hacker news. Maybe someone has researched who I am, even looking at sources unavailable online. Perhaps they stopped my my home (while I was alive) and noticed that I like Apricot decaf tea. Perhaps they attended a talk where I quoted chess master, Arthur Bisguier. In that case, maybe it's a real person simulating me. But counting my fingers (five on each hand), I'm fairly convinced that I'm not an AI simulation.

Having said that, it was just three weeks ago that I spoke at OpenAI in SF. Maybe they did a whole-body substitution. (counting my fingers again...) Cheers, -Cliff

Re: Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

#173

Post by CliffStoll »

brudgers wrote: post #7
runjake wrote: post #6

Legitimate question: How do we know you're not an AI simulation of Cliff?

AI comments are not in the spirt of and the account is basically about as in the spirit of HN as it gets.

You betcha, Brudgers: I'm a member of the tribe.

Re: Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

#174

Post by CliffStoll »

andrewstuart wrote: post #18

I’m sorry to hear you have passed away, Cliff. I enjoyed your book greatly, back when you were alive. Please give my condolences to your family. Don’t be too sad about dying, Cliff - everyone has to go and you had a wonderful fulfilling life. And remember, stay away from the light. @dang can we have a black banner on HN for Cliff Stoll?

Thank you Andrew - I will pass along your condolences to my family, especially to my wife, Pat, who passed away a year ago.

Re: Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

#175

Post by CliffStoll »

DonHopkins wrote: post #24

Oh thank god you're alive! I have an urgent customer service request for you. The Acme Klein Bottle I bought from you on Amazon is ineffective at removing my blackheads. Am I holding it wrong?

Oh Jeez, Don! That nuttiness still haunts me five years later. I still cannot sell Klein bottles on the Canadian Amazon site -- the Amazon hijacker somehow held onto the listing for my klein bottle listing for Amazon/Canada.

Re: Rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated

#177

Post by moralestapia »

CliffStoll wrote: post #167
moralestapia wrote: post #81

Pardon the interruption but ... who are you? Your bio is empty.

My bio is empty. Hmmm. I'm giving a talk this Thursday (May 14th at a San Francisco Computer Security group, SFISCA. They asked for a bio. Here's what I wrote: Cliff Stoll graduated from Buffalo Public School #61 with a blue star for good attendance. In his spare time, Cliff pieces quilts and squeezes lumps of bituminous coal into diamonds. I wonder if they'll use it...

Hey, that sounds really nice ^^. I'm glad you accomplished that and that seems like a cool hobby.

OTOH, I can see how times truly have changed. If I was as relaxed as you wrt. my carrer I'd be living under a bridge, lol.

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