Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense • Hacker News Board

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#41

Post by rjurney » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:33 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #39

rjurney wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its funny because shit happens, and I'd rather a promising young man not be destroyed over it. Better to address the problem and roll with it rather than crucify the guy. The gravity of the situation, and how simple a mistake it was to make is the reason to forgive. Woz got it. Why don't you?

On the spectrum of "shit happens" running from getting too drunk and throwing up on your best friend's shoes all the way to having your house bombed by an F18 because you have the wrong President, this event, while nowhere near the "epic tragedy" end of the scale, doesn't land anywhere near "funny" for me. We agree on how we'd like things to work out for the engineer. Maybe, let's stop turning him into a punch line.

Everyone gets the gravity. Its tragicomedy.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#42

Post by brandonkm » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:34 PM UTC

starkfist wrote: post #25

snom370 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had I lost my iPhone prototype, having Woz go to the effort to make a t-shirt and take this picture would absolutely have made my day. Anyone who knows anything about Woz knows that this was done with a good heart.

Had I lost it, I would have thought it weird that a guy like steve wozinak has nothing better to do than make a t shirt with my name on it.

He didn't make it. Those shirts literally appeared hours after the story broke and his name was out there.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#43

Post by tptacek » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:36 PM UTC

rjurney wrote: post #41

tptacek wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the spectrum of "shit happens" running from getting too drunk and throwing up on your best friend's shoes all the way to having your house bombed by an F18 because you have the wrong President, this event, while nowhere near the "epic tragedy" end of the scale, doesn't land anywhere near "funny" for me. We agree on how we'd like things to work out for the engineer. Maybe, let's stop turning him into a punch line.

Everyone gets the gravity. Its tragicomedy.

Is your point, "don't let some random guy's reputation get in the way of our Internet joke"?

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#44

Post by snom370 » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:37 PM UTC

starkfist wrote: post #25

snom370 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had I lost my iPhone prototype, having Woz go to the effort to make a t-shirt and take this picture would absolutely have made my day. Anyone who knows anything about Woz knows that this was done with a good heart.

Had I lost it, I would have thought it weird that a guy like steve wozinak has nothing better to do than make a t shirt with my name on it.

With all the publicity this story has gathered? I certainly wouldn't. Then again, Woz was the guy that placed professionally crafted signs reading "Warning: Do not use over populated areas" and put them on airplane lavatories, so I wasn't surprised to see him pull something like this.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#45

Post by rjurney » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:37 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #43

rjurney wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone gets the gravity. Its tragicomedy.

Is your point, "don't let some random guy's reputation get in the way of our Internet joke"?

Sir, I suggest that your sense of humor is challenged in this matter and I decline to discuss it further. Woz has a big heart, I take this as a sign the kid is ok. Have a nice day.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#46

Post by tptacek » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:40 PM UTC

CamperBob wrote: post #40

tptacek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing wrong with making fun of people. I do it incessantly. But I avoid doing it to people when they're down. And, if I ever achieve the sort of success Wozniak has, I hope I'll avoid doing it to people just starting to make their way in my field.

You really have no idea who, never mind what, you're talking about, do you?

I don't know the baseband guy at all, even a little bit, if that's what you're getting at.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#47

Post by bbatsell » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:44 PM UTC

jws wrote: post #4

That is a nixie tube watch on his left arm. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nixie_Wozniak.jpg

I had no idea Woz is associated with Axiotron. Interesting...

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#48

Post by pg » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:46 PM UTC

rjurney wrote: post #45

tptacek wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your point, "don't let some random guy's reputation get in the way of our Internet joke"?

Sir, I suggest that your sense of humor is challenged in this matter and I decline to discuss it further. Woz has a big heart, I take this as a sign the kid is ok. Have a nice day.

Argh. Will you guys please stop?

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#49

Post by wallflower » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 6:46 PM UTC

donw wrote: post #2

I think that it would be stupid not to have him on stage as part of the introduction of the new iPhone. It's not like everybody doesn't know about it, and it would generate a lot of goodwill among developers and Apple employees. It's like the story of the Air Force commander and the mechanic: One day, a military big-wig took off in an Air Force transport, which almost crashed, and was forced to land due to mechanical…

I've watched a lot of Steve Jobs presentations, and I can't recall any direct humor (aside from John Mayer and maybe Sam Altman rocking the popped collars).

It just doesn't seem that they'd do something like this. It's not vaudeville night, it's the Reality Distortion Field.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#50

Post by ugh » Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 7:02 PM UTC

wallflower wrote: post #49

donw wrote: post #2

I think that it would be stupid not to have him on stage as part of the introduction of the new iPhone. It's not like everybody doesn't know about it, and it would generate a lot of goodwill among developers and Apple employees. It's like the story of the Air Force commander and the mechanic: One day, a military big-wig took off in an Air Force transport, which almost crashed, and was forced to land due to mechanical…

I've watched a lot of Steve Jobs presentations, and I can't recall any direct humor (aside from John Mayer and maybe Sam Altman rocking the popped collars). It just doesn't seem that they'd do something like this. It's not vaudeville night, it's the Reality Distortion Field.

There is some humor (Remember the reference to the tablet rumors when the iPad was introduced?) but hardly any self deprecating humor. I can‘t think of anything. Bringing him in would be a great thing to do but not something Apple does. Probably. He might at most get a spot in the first row or something like that :)

Nevertheless I’m really looking forward to that Keynote. It will be really interesting to see how they handle that. We had the situation where blurry photos of new iPods leaked, Jobs only acknowledged that by saying something like “I think you may have seen that one before” and carried on like nothing happened. I don’t know whether Jobs can do that this time. That would be pretty ridiculous.