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Wil Wheaton playing for EFF

Quintin Stone (and every other Slashdot reader on the planet) writes: "Wil Wheaton is among the many Star Trek actors on tonight's Weakest Link, except that the charity he's playing for is the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Though so far he's been doing well." CD: I don't want to give away the ending, many people have yet to see the show.

14 of 385 comments (clear)

  1. ugh, the weakest link by sagious · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Anyone want to tell for those of us who can't stand the show?

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    -- "The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who can not fly" -Frederick Nietzsche
  2. I quit watching Weakest Link by sessamoid · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The problem with WL is that the brightest out of the bunch almost never wins. By logic, when it gets down to the last 3 or 4, it's in the best interests of the other players to vote out the player who is clearly the strongest. This has happened on almost every single episode I've watched, sometimes quite a bit earlier in the game as well.

    The few exceptions tend to be those episodes that are made up of celebrities from a similar background. They're generally all independently wealthy, so aren't driven by personal gain. In addition, they've all got "personal history" between them which often leads them to vote off other players without regards to what would give them the best chances of winning.

    It's nice to see the EFF getting national publicity though, as I'm a paying member myself.

    In all, though, when I watch game shows (not often) I tend to watch Jeopardy for the reasons stated above.

    --
    "No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
    1. Re:I quit watching Weakest Link by CleverNickName · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hmmmm if you were playing for the money for yourselves, I could see eliminating any threats. But it was all for charity... no matter who wins, it is for a worthy cause, I can't see why you wouldn't let the best man win.

      This is *exactly* the idea we all had, and why I was glad to be voted off. I blew some really easy answers, because I choked, and my brain skipped ahead...I mean, Paul Newman? C'mon! The worst thing was, with that one, and the ACE bandage one, as the words were coming out of my mouth, my brain was screaming at me "YOU'RE WRONG, ASSHOLE! YOU BLEW IT! SHUT UP, WESLEY!"

  3. Re:A Question for Wil by Aelgifa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    She doesn't seem to know when someone is making a joke. I mean "because I am in love with her" all by itself....without the tone...maybe could be taken seriously, but add "because she is the only one on here who is as good looking as me" and it becomes a complimentary joke. In regards to her exiting comments" Starting out saying she would be mad if Wil wins it is just out of line, I mean what she was really saying is that she hoped he blew it for his charity. Way to go Roxann! Now shut up while I dig through your email. Then going on to say she didn't like how he "came onto her on public TV" Well geez, sounds like someone is full of herself to think that was coming onto her. And that she was upset cause her husband was going to see the show. Well my dear if you were that upset about it maybe you shouldn't have mouthed and gestured "I love you" back to Wil. What a dumb bitch. Aelgifa A.K.A. Cherish

  4. Re:what a waste by 1010011010 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, freedom is not nearly as important as children.

    Not.

    --
    Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
  5. Damn. by Chris+Johnson · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Wil, you just flat out _rock_.

    Actually this tends to confirm a theory I have- the coolest/healthiest/sanest people out there are those who HAVE to be, because they learned the hard way. I think Wil definitely illustrates this- if you get heavy into being not only a Hollywood teenager, but are also saddled with being Wesley Crusher, you'll get off to a really bad start- and then, unlike most people, you have to _really_ grow up.

    That's my theory, anyway, for explaining how Wil Wheaton turned out to be one of the cooler humans I've ever seen. Keep it up my ex-starfleet friend :)

  6. Freedom is not a waste by IdocsMiko · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The EFF is fighting for our freedom, one of the most important and central issues in the world. Women's Rights, Human Rights, Children's Rights, these are all worthy and important issues. They all have on thing in common: they need freedom to make progress.

  7. Re:what a waste by Artifex · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have to agree with this. With starvation-related deaths in Afghanistan (conceivably going over a million) as just the most obvious example, there are better ways to spend the money. Sure, the EFF is cool. General human rights is even cooler. But... let's keep people from dying of things like starvation, disease, and our own political expediency before we worry too much about their rights - or ours.

    Wil, I like ya - I really do. I just have to wonder, though - if you had a million dollars to invest on a cause, why you'd pick the EFF. I hope it wasn't just because of some 31337 haxor image or something...

    Disaster and famine relief organizations (I'm thinking Mercy Corps, not the Red Cross), Doctors Without Borders, CARE, and UNICEF have relatively low administrative overheads (Mercy Corps claims 5%!) and work to stop people from dying. If slashdotters want to concentrate on helping people at home, plenty of homeless shelters and havens for abused and/or addicted women and children, not to mention any number of cancer and disease societies and, yes, famine relief organizations in almost every city, also are desperate for funding.

    --
    Get off my launchpad!
  8. Re:what a waste by naasking · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Before you can help others, you have to help yourself. You're no help to someone if you're in just as bad a situation as they are (albeit different circumstances). Freedom is very important, more important than food, shelter or anything else you can possibly think of. I would rather starve free, then live a comfortable, oppressed life.

    When freedom prevails, the ingenuity and inventiveness of people creates incredible wealth. This is the source
    of the natural improvement of the human condition.

    ~ Brian S. Wesbury ~


    In order to truly help these countries, we must provide them with a model upon which to build. If the free world (not just US) can provide this example, then that is a worthy goal. No amount of free giving will solve the causes of those problems; they will just temporarily alleviate the suffering.

    To sum it up: there is no point helping someone survive starvation, war, or any other form of suffering, if all you do is buy them a life of slavery. That is why freedom is important.

  9. Re:what a waste by Sloppy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You're right, it's not a charity. It's an activist organization. And it's worth more than almost any charity. It's for improving the future instead of putting a bandaid on the present.

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    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  10. Re:what a waste by PD · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your comments reflect a common sentiment, but it's not logical to take that position. Here's why:

    1) First statement (yours) summed up neatly: why play for charity A when charity B appears to address a more pressing need. That is where you stopped thinking about it and reached a conclusion.

    2) The conclusion was premature: one can go further - why play for charity B when charity C is addressing an even more pressing need. But that's not the end of it either.

    3) The set of all charities is finite, meaning that if you continually favor the charity that address the more important need, then eventually you will find THE charity that addresses the MOST important need. That is where you stop. Give them your money.

    4) Unfortunately, that situation leads to starvation. If you accept the first idea as true, (the one that you offered) then only one charity can logically be funded. Obviously, this is a far worse situation than we intended,

    5) Therefore, we must reject the original premise as leading to an undesirable outcome, and therefore flawed for purposes of efficiently distributing money to charity.

    The insult "get a life" is similarly flawed. At the end of the chain of thinking, one must live as the finest human being ever, and to be any lesser earns the "get a life" smackdown. One could offer my argument that I gave above as a logical retort. Or, one could simply offer a middle finger and a "hearty colloquialism".

  11. Re:what a waste by Robotech_Master · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When you get on The Weakest Link, then you can decide where you want your money to go. I have to say I agree with all the other people--the EFF is an important foundation, now more than ever, what with the terrorist backlash seriously threatening our civil liberties. It's not just about whether we can watch DVDs on Linux, you know.

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    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  12. Re:what a waste by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Where's "+10, God's Almighty Word" when you need it?

    This is one of the best displays of sarcastic logic I've seen in quite a while.

  13. Improving WL by john@iastate.edu · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Clearly WL would be a lot better if (oh gosh, here it comes) the strongest link in each round won a reprieve and was exempt from being voted off.

    --
    Shut up, be happy. The conveniences you demanded are now mandatory. -- Jello Biafra