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Talk It Over With Captain Crunch
John T. Draper is most famous as "Captain Crunch," the legendary phone phreak who taught others how to make illicit use of Ma Bell's facilities to call almost anywhere, almost any time, for free. But (as a glance at his personal page will show you), that is just about the least of Draper's accomplishments. Not only that, he's still going strong. This is your chance to talk directly to a man without whom the modern-day personal computer -- and modern hacking and many other things we take for granted -- might not exist at all, and certainly would not exist in their current forms. One question per post please, and try to avoid asking questions that could be answered with a little online research. We'll send 10 or 12 of the highest-moderated questions to Draper tomorrow, and run his answers as soon as he has time to reply.
How much Captain Crunch cereal do you eat these days? Would you say it has gone up or gone down since your now-infamous discovery?
My
Limekiller
Has your view of computer security (in terms of effectiveness) changed as opposed to security 10 years ago?
Support Israeli punk bands. Man Alive.
Anyone who can call themselves a hacker (in the old sense of the world) will have lost sleep to a problem, that one that you absolutely must solve. In your formative years I expect phreaking or hacking problems grabbed you in this way, for each of us it's something different but it's the drive and focus we have in common. My question is, what grabs you like this now? Do you still get those moments when you just can't leave a problem alone?
Will/Have you ever make/made any changes you've made to OpenBSD for your Crunchbox available to the OpenBSD group?
vodka, straight up, thank you!
Ñ'
The aparent "Grandfather of Hacking" if you will... ...uses Macs?
Is this important to note?
I like him better already.
What a smart guy!
I got nothin'.
Are the phreaking times gone forever with the digital technology or it ain't interesting anymore since we have the internet?
> One question per post please, and try to avoid asking questions that could be answered with a little online research.
And don't read this article in Michigan.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
In "Revenge of the Nerds," Woz tells the story of phreaking his way to Vatican City and trying to get the pope on the line, claiming to be Kissinger (IIRC)
Do you have a favorite story, either because of the people involved, the tech (high tech or low tech) used, or the problems solved along the way?
--
Dear Captain Crunch.
Big fan of your work. But I was wondering, how come you couldn't rig up a couple of fancy grey boxes to fix your god damn slashdot problem?
Love,
Rizzizzle Rizzzzazzzat. Bizzat.
Can you hear me now?
d0 j00 pj33r t00k4n s4m?
0r d4 k33b13r 3lf..
1337 d00d
Have you still got your original whistle? And if so, have you ever thought about putting it on eBay?
Seriously, you completely ruined HoHoCon'92 with all your bitching about the smoke in the conference room.
What is your outlook for the future of hacking high-tech consumer products? Given the increasingly hostile legal climate regarding these activities (DMCA et al) it appears that corporations have much stronger legal tools to go after hackers that in days gone by were seen as more of a not-well-understood nuisance factor. Are the good old days gone forever?
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
I heard you on his show a few years ago... he's pretty clueless isn't he?
Mr. Crunch,
Your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
Do you like the peanut butter flavor or the regular of your namesake's cereal?
shouldn't this be offtopic, not flamebait, or do you REALLY hate Captain Crunch Cereal?
Will you please stop making that horrible "Peanut Butter Crunch?" The stuff tastes like ass. Please focus on those yummy Crunch Berries.
Captain Crunch, what is the extent of your relationship with Kevin Mitnick?
If you could go back and do it all over again, would you? Also, what do you consider to be the emerging playground (ie WiFi, etc) of phreaks today?
Could you elaborate on your opinion of new laws like the DMCA in the US and the variants thereof that are being introduced in Europe and the rest of the world.
What would have happened differently if laws like the DMCA were in force during your first phreaking sessions?
Not sure about still going strong... last time I met him (last year), it looked like he didn't go all that strong. not sure if all the 'phreaking' or the accessories that went with it took its toll.
Mr. Draper,
It is an honor to "speak" with you.
Recently, in an information security class, I gave a presentation based mainly on your 1970's exploits and how you (and other's who have the fortunate distinction of not being made scapegoats by the government) helped lead to a more secure POTS system and stronger security in general, which is what most hackers want anyway.
My professor later berated my choice of topics as (his words not mine) "he is an obvious lawless felon and is not worthy of this class's time". How do you respond to this unfair characterization by others?
Also, it would seem that no lessons have been learned over the years since we still insist on punishing the messengers (hackers) rather than the cause (insecure systems). Is there any way you think we can change these perceptions?
Thank you.
Come on, Tinkler, Tink!!
As someone who was an original pioneer in hacking (in the true since of the word, which is discovery and exploration), do you feel that technology, security advances, etc, have made it impossible for people to satisfy their curiosity by hacking and toying with ideas? What is your opinion on the tightening of government control around computer and phone security?
MunITioN
"A mind is a terrible thing to lose"
Freedom on the internet is becoming increasingly threatened by corporate and government interests. What can a /. reader do to help prevent this?
Question everything.
Is phreaking dead forever?
------
"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?" --George W. Bush, in Jan. 2000
This is similar I'm sure to questions you get asked all the time, but with, I think, a slightly different twist.
In what context do you put your activities of your youth now that you are older and, presumably, wiser. Have your views of hacking and the ethical implications changed over the years? Back then, if it were demonstrable to you that your activities were causing harm (presumably financial), would it have made any difference back then, does it make any differnce now?
This is kinda like taking pop-shots at rare or endangered species:
...
Tuesday April 15th:
wake-up
pay bills
Slashdot a living legends homepage
lunch
-bart
Do you think your former actions in any way have affected the way big telecommunications providers look at themselves, their services and specially how their attitude and feeling of/behaving like they are always more right and migthier than the normal costumer ? And if so, what did you achive to change, even this was an uninteded side-effect of your former actions ?
What kind of dog barks "BOFH! BOFH!"? A rootweiler of course...
Here.
Blearf. Blearf, I say.
LAUGH YOU FUCK.
What was the mood or zeitgeist like in the early days of the Phreaker/Hacker world? I mean, how did it feel to go from nothing to suddenly learning how to control the phone system? The feeling of excitement, exploration, and power must have been really intense, and I'd love to hear more about that. Excellent site by the way!
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
pitcher, or catcher?
http://www.theinformationminister.com/press.php?ID =612212701 -- saddam's direct challenge to mr. crunch
For those of you who are interested, Draper is the first speaker on the webcast for the second session.
As a legendary communications hacker and an expert on communications security, how does it feel to be /.ed and then asked for an interview?
What prompted you to use OpenBSD as the platform for the Crunch Box? Not intending to start a BSD flame war, I am interested in why you personally chose OpenBSD versus any other BSD or Linux or anything else.
ASCII tastes bad dude.
Binary it is then.
I was curious what BBS's you frequented back in the day. I used to hang out on BBS's that ranged from Ripco in Chicago (very popular phreaker hangout) to USS Enterprise in Houston, TX, and of course, phreaking was the way that one tended to call BBS's. Nowdays computing is so much less "fun" than it used to be really. I remember using my trusty TI-99/4A to dial for codes with a program a friend and I wrote, wardialing, etc. All I can do is hang out on gamer sites and code sites like Naughtycodes
Dear:
[ ] Clueless n00b
[X] Lamer
[ ] Kid with no clue
[ ] Flamebait
[ ] Jackass
[ ] Lazy person
[ ] Me too'er
[ ] Spammer
[X] Idiot
[ ] Asterik-laden adjective
[ ] Pointless Thread Starter
You Are Being Flamed Because:
[ ] You continued a long, stupid thread
[ ] You said "me too" to something or "Send ______"
[ ] You asked for w@rez
[ ] You don't know what you're talking about
[ ] You suck
[ ] You posted one of the reposts from hell.
[ ] Your post title has nothing to do with the content
[ ] You complained about something you got for free/low cost
[ ] You are not the grammer police
[ ] You hate the U.S. or its policies yet will not leave
[ ] You started a flamewar thread
[ ] You are b!tching about something you have no right to b!tch about
[ ] You asked for medical help on a computer forum
[ ] You asked an incredibly stupid question
[ ] You asked how to mod a honda
[ ] Your sig/alias sucks
[ ] You did not listen to a smarter member or ignored advice
[ ] You need use the damn search button
[ ] You said any version of "repost" This is allowed sometimes but not this time
[ ] You posted something totally uninteresting
[X] You posted a topic/message all written in CAPS
[ ] You posted spam
[ ] Your stupidity is astounding
[ ] You used the words 'suxors' and/or 'roxors'
[ ] You posted "FIRST POST!"
[ ] You are quitting the website for good...again
[ ] You complained about the Mods
To Repent, You Must:
[ ] Give up your AOL/Euronet/MSN/Planet Internet account
[ ] Bust up your modem with a hammer and eat it
[ ] Jump into a bathtub while holding your monitor
[ ] Actually post something relevant
[ ] Listen to Moonbeam for 3 hours
[ ] Become friends with Red Dawn
[X] Pry the Caps Lock and Shift keys from your keyboard
[ ] Read the damned FAQ
[ ] Cut off both your hands with your own hands
[ ] Post some damn pics
[ ] Go hug your parents right now
[ ] Remove the Slashdot forum from your list
[ ] Read the manual / instructions
[ ] Remove your genitalia so you do not breed
[ ] Repenting is not possible, you are banned.
[ ] Use the damned search function
[ ] Post in the right damned forum
[ ] Put your car into a crusher
[ ] Apologize to everybody on this website
[ ] Actually leave the website for good
Do you regret adding the 'crunch berry' to your popular formula, just to hype up what was already a perfectly good product? Do you think that such actions will lead to cereal deflation among your territories?
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
Also, is slashdot gay, or what!?!
Many movies portray hackers and phreaks in various, mostly inaccurate ways, from the fun but fantasy of movies like "Hackers" to the more recent depictions like The Rat in the new movie "The Core", who uses a comb as a whistle to phreak someone's cell phone. My question is: How do you feel about these depictions of phreaks and hackers? Is it good that media largely glosses over the reality, and focuses on making them look hip, or is it vaguely insulting?
This statement is solely an opinion. Kindly take it as such in all cases.
There have been rumours that you use your status within the 'hacker community' to lure young boys into having sex with you. Is that true, or would you like to refute those claims.
I also hear that you're a big proponant of illicit drug use, has this been a life time habit, or something more recent, such as when you started going to raves.
PS.. maybe its a troll, but if you've met him, you know the above it true.
What sorts of changes (5-7 most important) do you think could be made to the DMCA that would provide reliable protection for intellectual property while minimally intruding on innovation?
As long as there is a Second Amendment, there will always be a First Amendment.
What illicit technology offers the most fun and challenge today... where are the new frontiers for today's hackers to push the bleeding edge, and what interesting directions do you see them taking with it?
SoupIsGood Food
On slashdot, Tuesday is troll tuesday. Did you ever have an official date or time to do your crunching?
That is, the answer to the question:
:)
" shouldn't this be offtopic, not flamebait, or do you REALLY hate Captain Crunch Cereal?"
It is flamebait because you were just flamed
My dad swears he met you in the late 70's. It's his only claim to fame.
So...is it true? Did you meet him?
Thanks.
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
Why are you so delicious in milk?
You want a sig? I'll give you a sig.
Is there a cereal box whistle that will get me past the "The page cannot be displayed" message?
Dear Sir,
:) ).
Having grown up (there's a scary thought) hearing about the pioneering work you did, i always wondered:
If you could do it over again, would you do something differently? Anything you regret doing? Perhaps more importantly, anything you regret having not done?
(In the context of your telecom / computer life, i don't mean to pry into your.. ah.. personal affairs
Are you and Steve Jobs still friends? Is it true that your "blue box" design inspired the iMac?
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
In your day, phreakers et al were pretty much barely a blip on the radar screen. A few of you got charged with old laws, several were threatened or intimidated, and many many kids followed in your wake.
Now we're watching a world get built where PhD thesis material might be illegal, writing code can get you arrested and charged, and even giving an academic presentation is threatened.
How much responsibility, if any, do you think the early phreakers and hackers have for this rash of paranoid law?
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Thanks much for creating the horde of script kiddies.
They keep a good number of us employed.
In comparing the security back in the day, and modern, much more complicated systems, how much of a factor is overall complexity in the way things have changed over the years? Does more complexity (and therefore obscurity) make things harder, or does it make things easier, since even the people doing the security don't understand what's going on?
In other words, what's your take on obscurity/security?
Congratulations! Now we are the Evil Empire
OK, a large chunck of the world knows you for doing amazing things with cereal box toys. What would you like to be famous for doing? Actual or fantasy.
There's more to it than this.
John, you were a cautionary tale for some of us. If you had it all to do over again, what, if anything, would you do differently?
--rgb
Do you feel that your actions and the actions of others like yourself are (in)directly responsible for the current corporate push toward DRM?
Dear Suparhacker:
// ENTER RECURSIVE LOOP
//End Recursion
I was just wondering, why would you bother to keep a non-working blog?
Dear Captain Tacos,
Why would you bother to feature somebody
who hasn't really done anything in his
reveered community for nearly two decades,
and on top of that hasn't bothered to keep
his website updated every, say, half a
fucking year!
Love,
The Rizzle Agizzain.
Oh well, Mr. Ivan Drago or whoever you are, I forgot what I was going to write to you, but the point is, you're useless! Nobody has 12 or 10 (DEFINATELY NOT ELEVEN, MIND YOU!!) questions to ask you, because you're a schmuck.
Love,
This Fizzle Bizrizatzzzi.s...
What is music when you despise all sound?
Is it true that if you don't let Cap'n Crunch cereal soak long enough, it can cut the inside your mouth when you eat it?
Are you, or have you ever been, a member of or in anyway affiliated with the 2600 club of which they named themselves after the phone frequency that you used to gain free access to the network?
come on fhqwhgads
Lately, there have been many instances of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act being used to prevent the publication of security issues found with various companies' products and services, or both.
/dig,/ so to speak, is security, what is your take on such invocations of the Act?
A recent story here on Slashdot covered university ID cards being flawed, and the DMCA being invoked to prevent discussion of the problem publicly.
Given that your
-/-
Mikey-San
http://www.mikey-san.net/
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
I saw your segment in the documentary "0wned" at H2K2 last summer (a blurb here. Did showing how to make free phone calls earn you major respect amongst the inmates when you were incarcerated?
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Or better:
How do you respond to those who say you merely stumbled onto something (the whistle) that did something that was already known by EVERYONE (2600hz tones which was published in AT&T Manuals in PUBLIC Libraries), and exploited it for personal gain (free phone calls/publicity)?
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
Crunch: I know a LOT of oldschool sfravers who were traumatized by you and your "energy workups." What do you have to say to those people?
Slashdot has always been against the use of the term "hacker" for someone that destroys or steals things. Slashdot and the geeks that read this site have seemed to always want to refer to these people as "crackers." A term that has been legitimately used to denigrate white people for ages. And yet here we have Roblimo, one of the slashdot founders advocating the use of the term "hacker" to describe someone who has stolen things, and inspired others to do the same.
Can someone please step forward and once and for all decide the true meaning of these two terms?
Have you ever had sex with a woman without paying for it? If so could you share your techniques with those of us who have not been so fortunate.
I will shoot myself if this simpleton, who thinks the word "grab" is showing ownership (or is trying to make sentence "What grab is you now?") gets to present a letter to the magnificent what's his face that nobody really gives a damn about!
Fuck you sir!
You even did it correctly in your post!
Why would you screw up the title? Is it because.. you have no ballsac?? That's right! No testicles!
What have you ever accomplished in your entire life that would make any reasonable person interested in whatever you might have to say about absolutely anything?
thank You
I think if you replace "accomplishments" in the writeup with "criminal acts", I think it would paint the guy in a more accurate light.
Of course, hero-worshipping criminals is nothing new to Slashdot.
Page loads straight out of Dreamweaver? Boffo book tour of Germany? Work progressing on movie and musical score!?!?
This ain't no hacker site. This is a David Hasselhoff link!
Is it true that if you don't let Cap'n Crunch cereal soak long enough it can cut the inside of your mouth to a BLOODY FUCKING MESS when you eat it?
John,
Seems to me that the current crop of "2600" folks are much less tech-savvy than we were in the 70s. There is a lack of original thought and a willingness to take actions that cost private individuals money through fraud and vandalism. What do you make of this trend, and do you see any indications that it will turn around?
-Ben
Dog is my co-pilot.
hey,
it's "others", not "other's"
if you're going to try to sound intelligent, you need to work on that punctuation
Its a good story too- they got nixon on the phone through their phone phreaking ways and told them of a crisis in Los Angeles- THEY WERE OUT OF TOILET PAPER!
Nixon was not amused.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
It seems that every week brings some new bill or rider or regulation whose intended goal is strip away yet another sliver of our shrinking collection of privacy rights and individual liberties.
Considering your unique set of experience and insight, what do you most fear in the impending struggle between the government's desire to have total information and the people's right to liberty? Or, in other words, against what do we need to be most vigilant?
I enjoyed an evening with him in 1993, when he was semi-down and out.-- he is very skilled.
At the time I never let him know I was a world famous phone phreak, and I kept that from most people in that city (san francisco).
Anyway.... I was showing him a bunch of macintosh assembly of mine, and while scrolling it at high speed past his eyes he immediately spotted a macro construct that was not a true opcode and Captain Crunch said "hey thats not part of motorola assembler is it? and pointed out the token." I aasked if he did much mac programming and at that time he was into the internet, but not mac programming, and said he lacked the money for the many books needed, or a good enough system.
I felt sorry for the guy because that whole evening I was sizing him up and he was very very quick thinking and semi-genius, yet sufferred from a very mild touch of schizophrenia, or some form of mania. He was truly amazing.
And though I have done far far far more in phone phreaking than most of the people ever written in exploitation books, and have excelled in systems programming commercially, I realized that draper was truly "the real deal".
hundreds slander him, and tarninsh his reputation, and drop innuendos about his sexual nature, and I am saddened taht all those mental midgets never recognized true genius.
I "hacked" draper that night in another way. I got him to eat a warm dinner of sliced lamb at a restaurant, while at the time he was on a very very strict self-imposed macrobiotic diet of blue-green algea and sinple proteins. I was evil. He ate it. But I despise vegetarians, or at least the shee numbers of them that infest northern california. I could tell you some astounding stories of their influence on society, but I got to get one to eat innocently slaughtered flesh.
I feel so sorry for draper, but I see his face and name in print often, so he is doing something right in this world.
So, does the Crunchbox have a cereal interface?
Ballsac??
What the fuck are you? French?
In the "olden days" (not so long ago), other than some of the physical kind, security was almost non existent at telcos. For many years, AT&T published all the technical details of their networks and switchgear in a tech journal that could be found at nearly any university library.
In the mid-80's, I lived in an apartment that was right upstairs from a GTE Telenet point of presense... and all their dialup modem lines terminated in an unlocked punchblock box *in my bathroom*!!
What is your assessment of the improvements in the quality of telco security, both physical and that which is more ephymeral, since those times?
Yes, questions that could be answered with a little online research are more appropriate for Ask Slashdot.
Do you keep in touch with any of the other original Phone Phreaks? How about a Phone Phreak Phantasy Kamp, where you would hang out with your Phans?
Moderators, please read this message fully before you mod it down (or up).
Mr. Draper, hasn't this charade gone on long enough? Slashdot is only the latest in an endless, decades-long set of press appearances in which you've made errored claims, false self-aggrandizement, and general harm to the very community you claim to be a part (and representative) of.
Why do you continue to let people think you discovered the secret of the Captain Crunch whistle? It was Joe Engressia and other blind phone phreaks who made that delightful serendiptous discovery, that the whistle in Captain Crunch Cereal in the 1960's was within the same tone range as the vital 2600hz that telephone trunks used to signal a TSPS console. You named yourself after the cereal, which is perfectly acceptable, but when the press (which you sought) started representing you as the discoverer of this secret, why did you take no effort to dissuade them? Why do you let the people who were much more technologically astute than you lose the glory in later years, when at least we can have an accurate historical picture of those times?
You went through several stints in the federal pen for your actions. In one case it could be argued you were being entrapped, with the challenge being laid to you to prove your mettle and you going to one of the nearby (tapped) telephone booths to get caught, but shouldn't you at least warn all these young fans who don't know how much pain you endured under that system? Your gift was never in innovation, but in experience; you travelled and travel a lot, and got to see many things, including many negative things. Why not make a real effort to tell that story?
Why do you continually use your (unearned) stature within the hacker community to pursue and seduce young people within it? Is it pathological? Have you sought help? Many of these poor kids, lacking parental guidance, swayed by your legend, fascinated with your promises, have fallen under your efforts. Many others who were ham-fistedly assaulted with your pick-up lines and moves have gone on to warn others, but still you use these hacker conventions and raves as your personal fishing ground. Don't you think that this will eventually blow up in your face, and give the world at large another tool to crack down on the hacker world unfairly, once you're shown as an example of one of the predators that lurk within its bounds?
It would be my dream to have these questions presented to you, but I understand if they won't. I wish there were a webpage, a support group, a place that young people could go to learn your story, the real one, the ugly one. If one young mind could be saved and their hearts aimed at true heroes, like Mark Bernay (the Midnight Skulker) or Cheshire Catalyst or Phil Zimmerman or Gary Kildall, perhaps the world would be a better place.
Why are you still doing this to us?
I met you at linuxworld, and all I could do was wonder what the hell happened to your teeth? Have you been chewing on rocks for years and years? Have you ever seen a dentist, even in passing?
John
n -crunch/) which also mentions the consistent allegation that you attend raves in order to 'hook up' with young boys.
Do you have any comment on the article about you at rotten.com (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/hackers/captai
I remember some of the tales that came up last time you appeared on Slashdot. What's your angle on those?
I was reading the http://www.rotten.com/library/sex/homosexuality/fa mous/ library and it mentioned that you where a out of the closet hacker. I haven't seen this mentioned on any other site. If you don't mind me asking is this true?
Thanks
Hero legend implies, unlike that character in Sneakers, you said no to organized crime while doing hard time.
Given the physical penalty was it difficult to say no the second time?
Was the decision based on ethics?
Did you really design a bluebox add-in card for the
Apple ][? What could the board do? How did
management react to it (I believe they had a
panic attack and canceled your project??)
O.K., that's really two questions. 1.5 Questions? Is it permissible to have a fractal number of questions? Anyway, thanks in advance.
stirring the pot since nineteen mumblty mumble...
I had the opportunity to meet you briefly about 4 years ago at a 2600 gathering in San Jose, and you were talking about your "latest" (at the time) escapade to India, (or was it Pakistan, I don't remember) explaining that you frequented night clubs and danced the night away. (Of course all the while speaking about current tech issues etc.)
With a moniker like "Captain Crunch" one can only assume you carry that spirit with you in everything you do. As your current project demands, do you get put infront of the gun frequently? How do you deal with it?
Great, we slashdotted Captain Crunch, we're all going to hell.
Hi Captain,
How do you imagine today's computer industry would be different had the DMCA been enacted during the industry's infancy?
questions about the "good old days". Tell us what the future holds in store IYHO (phreaking-wise, cracking-wise, or hacking-wise, that is).
The main source of pain to the customers of the defrauded organization would be the practice of carding. No one could deny that running up a bill on someone else's tab isn't nice, even if you know the sap will never have to pay for it (insurance, whatever).
But what if you merely tricked the phone company's representative (the computerized switchboard) into giving you the service for free? That's where the real gray area begins. Who really loses if that pair of wires was going to go to waste at that moment anyway?
Do you have any relatives in Kalamazoo Michigan? Maybe we're related somehow.
- Patrick Draper
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Do you phear the DMCA or the patriot act ?
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
Can I have your old address??
Love,
AC
John,
When you worked at Autodesk, you would often work for 40 hours straight, and then take the rest of the week off.
Do you feel that you shortchanged your fellow employees by doing so? The quality of your code suffered, and you were soon shown the door. What do you have to say for yourself?
Do you find telemarketers a problem? If no, how is it you've managed to deal with them?
-Lucas
Why are you so popular
Yeah, I gotta agree. This is ridiculous. Look at the story post:
This is your chance to talk directly to a man without whom the modern-day personal computer -- and modern hacking and many other things we take for granted -- might not exist at all, and certainly would not exist in their current forms.
Don't get me wrong, lots of (new school) hackers have good technical knowledge, but they certainly don't have the kind of impact that greats like Monty, Carmack or Andreeson has. And the mindless idolation of famous phreaks and hackers is just *stupid*. Mitnick is notable because he liked nasty practical jokes and managed to get lots of people pissed off at him, not because he managed to do much for computing or had much technical knowledge.
Are these necessarily bad people? No. But they are nowhere *near* as significant as they're made out to be.
May we never see th
Damn...What does rotten have against you?a ptain- crunch/
http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/hackers/c
Perhaps because he doesn't like people trying to inhale to blow through one of his famed whistles and just coughing their lungs out instead.
(From someone who's actually seen what lung cancer does to people. It's a bad way to go.)
May we never see th
Go to the dentist.....or look in the mirror?
Have you ever considered being a promotional figure for Cap'n Crunch cereal? *I* think it'd be a lot more interesting than the animated Captain...
May we never see th
It was a joke post. *sigh*
And I presume that the poster above would like me to beat him to within an inch of his life. Post your name and address here so I can come and visit you, you Windows using faggot-ass.
John - sorry but I had to post this one
Having known John for over 15 years, and put up with his bumming and begging (borrowing money that he never repays, smelling like shit, squandering any money he receives on drugs and little boys)
He is NOT someone to look up to. He DID NOT crack anything, he barely even understands what a computer is nowadays let alone uses one properly.
He in fact PREFERS 17-19 year old boys. He does lure them in with his "Relaxation Techniques" FROM THE REAR
He was kicked out of my house, Woz's house and many other places because of this.
he lives out of his car
He likes to dig in garbage cans for food
His "partner" in the company is a convicted felon, they started the company when he was doing time at a boys ranch in SoCal. (I dont know what he did to be put there)
He is not one to be trusted at all, and here slashdot is giving him a venue like he is the next Bruce Schneier
I am greatly disappointed in this
oh well, thats been par for the course with slashdot lately
This thing is freakin hilarious!!
Here is mine!
Surely, there is no reasonable connection between making free phone calls, giving an academic presentation and watching your DVD under Linux. Bank robber may be responsible for a lot of things, but not government's decision to outlaw cars. This kind of laws were passed because big companies exagerated hacker/piracy threat to get unreasonable control over what their customers do. Or, in the most optimistic case, because lawmakers do not understand technology and are not aware of the side effects that the laws have.
Since the eighties, things are just not the same. I've no use to blue-box to a bbs in barbados to get some Pr0n gifs... The times they're a-changing
and why do you need to hump little boys to give one?
Don't Crease the Weasel!
Why would he screw up the title?
Maybe it's because he's human. We humans make mistakes sometimes. You must be one pathetic asshole if you have nothing better to do than point out errors in grammar.
n/t
We haven't been in contact since the early 1980s, when we knew each other "peripherally", thru some NY Apple ][+ hackers and TRS-80 phreaks (call me a "Magus" ;). But in 1996 someone contacted my .com startup, posing as you, peddling some harebrained security apps. After a few questions I debunked their claim to your handle. I was thinking of you again last week, chortling over a reference to you in the _Cowboy Bebop_ movie. When we were kidz, we walked the tightrope between avoiding fame and seeking infamy, like indoor counterparts to subway graffiti artists. Most identity theft is prevented by attachment to a well-known actual person. Now that your name is a brand, while your origins were shrouded in mystery, do you have a lot of posers riding your glory?
How would you say the average computer geek/nerd or phone phreak has changed since computers have become so easily accessible since the 60s'-70s'?
For The Best Jazz/Hip-hop fusion > COlD DUCK
damn whomever wrote this DOES know crunch.
heh I guess still going strong means he's not OD'd or gotten AIDS and people are still letting him couch surf somewhere.
I remember him trying to get some boys to do 'exercises' with him at hohocon about '92?
Back in the day, I ran a BBS and my little :^)
group of phreaks and hackers got some conference
calls going with John Draper, Steve Wozniak
and a few other "old-timers". One of us
taped the calls, over several different days,
and sent them to me. I still have them,
although he made them in such a way that he
can be heard quite well and everyone else is
very faint. Oh well...good times! Steve
Wozniak tried to get Steve Jobs to join the
conference, but he wouldn't. Woz gave us all
his phone numbers, including private home, so
we could reach him. John Draper was great,
and the guy who made the tapes stayed with
him for a day once when he traveled to where
John lived (for a reason that escapes me). John
even sent me, through that guy, a copy of the
schematics for his famous Apple II phone board.
Oh well, I could go on and on. But I won't!
I read somewhere (might have been Hackers by Steven Levy) that you have a highly idiosyncractic and paranoid coding style, checking and double-checking everything. Is this true? What can you tell us about it?
Are you doing anything illegal anymore?
Hey Capt'n,
I met you once in Houston, at HoHoCon '92, and got you to reveal enough personal information that the hotel felt satisfied that I was John Draper and gave me a copy of your room key, interesting stuff you keep with you when you travel. I remember you as an old, disagreeable, hard to tolerate, kind of a guy without much of a clue. Well, hopefully you've learned and grown as a hacker over the past decade, but just in case:
How long do you think that you can keep riding your reputation, and how much of a factor do you think your name alone is in your ability to find work?
I saw you walking around naked (well, half-jogging, half-running really) at H2K (The Hackers On Planet Earth in 2000 Conference), with a few of New York City's finest police officers trailing about 50 feet behind you. My question is, what was that about? It has always peaked my curiousity. Was it more trouble with the law, or just a misunderstanding, or both? I appreciate your response.
__________________________________________
Take comfort in your ignorance.
Grandmaster Plague
You dont seem to understand. That data was NOT in libraries until people like Mr Draper discovered and published it.
Ma Bell never wanted to give anybody AT ALL any data on how to interface to a phone jack. That's why AT&T always leased phones. They never sold them. It was only when people started to tinker with the system did they finally figure how to interface to it. That right there is the hacking. And since the phone co was soo reluctant in giving basic info, telco dumpster diving came very popular in getting the manuals for telephone equipment.
It was only in '82 did the phone companies release data to electronics people so they could make their own equipment. I even have the first edition of "Creating Telephone Circuits" published in late '81.
...us slashdotting your website?
Before anyone mods me down, these are real questions, ask anyone who came in contact with the creepy buttraper draper.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
...when are you planning to take a bath?
I was there. Jumping jacks. He took off his shirt, did jumping jacks, and tried to encourage everyone else to do the same. 13? 14? I think that's how old the boys in question were.
Wouldn't it suck to have the nickname "Lucky Charm" or "Frosted Flake"?
You lucked out dude.
I'm an ugly geek who never gets any. However I'm somehow turned on by Linux and hacking because it makes me feel like I'm something special even though I'm not. (I refuse to accept that, however. Trying really hard to ignore that.)
So, my question: Would you mind if I humped you in the ass?
"This is your chance to talk directly to a man without whom the modern-day personal computer -- and modern hacking and many other things we take for granted -- might not exist at all, and certainly would not exist in their current forms"
John Draper did not help bring us the personal computer. This is bullshit. He also did not bring us hacking. This is again bullshit. What he did was figure out that the whistle in captain crunch boxes emitted a 2600hz tone. He was a folk hero for this among phreakers. He was involved in some homebrew computer clubs of the 70's. This does not make him responsible for personal computers or hacking. This story is irresponsible at best.
Which long distance calling plan do you use?
That is all.
Give it a rest.
Do you forsee the death of POTS and modems in the future, or will they always be around?
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Wasn't this suppose to be a joke question? A play on the breakfast cereal character Captain Crunch? Yet pumped up as interesting..
No. It's a reference to why John's phreaker nick was Captain Crunch, back in the middle of the Twentieth Century.
In those days the long distance system used in-band signaling tones to connect, disconnect, and dial calls. The base system used a 2600 Hz tone to do the rough equivalent of "on-hook". (That's why 2600 magazine is named that.) The full-blown system also had a set of dual-tones, similar to touch-tones, to "dial" the call - but on some trunks (typically those going to legacy dial-only exchanges) you also dialed the call by switching the 2600 Hz tone on and off like a pulse dialer.
Phone Phreaks needed a tone generator to do the dual-tone system. But you could whistle the 2600 "disconnect" tone (especially if you had perfect pitch). If you were REALLY good you could also whistle pluses of it to dial calls. But that was tough. Something over 5 pulses per second or they separate into two digits. Get every digit right or you dial the wrong number.
Then Captain Crunch cereal came out with a prize inside - a plastic whistle. It JUST HAPPENED to be 2600 Hz. Oops! With the whistle it was REALLY EASY to "blow off" calls and/or to dial calls on the legacy-exchange trunks. John Draper noticed this, made heavy use of it, became famous in phreaker circles for it, and eventually used Captain Crunch as his phone phreak nickname.
So his first Captain Crunch plastic whistle is a real historical artifact. (And probably sitting in an evidence locker somewhere if he didn't lose it long ago.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Are you still dropping acid several times a week?
Are you still the incredibly whiny annoying paranoid freak you were when I had the misfortune to have to be around you for a month?
John's glory days were more like 20-30 years ago ..... pre-ubiquitous internet
between you, Count Chocula, and the Trix rabbit ?
Have you had a girlfriend or have you found that your way of life prevents such baggage?
I was at beyond hope in New York in 1997. I met John there. I had a conversation with him at the hope rave. I was sitting at the bar when someone to my right tapped me on the shoulder. I look over and there's this toothless guy sitting next to me. He says, "Man, can you get me a job?". I realised that this toothless person talking to me is John Draper aka Captain Crunch, a man of myth in my circles. I retorted, "No." Then my other friends who knew him better got my attention and alerted me not be anywhere alone with the, "Boy pervert". So, I've heard these same sick rumors......
I busted my gut on this one...
Do you prefer your Captain Crunch with or without the crunch berries?
Beware, Nugget is watching... See?
Capt Crunch, I remmeber using your word writing program while in High School on an Apple II..do you still keep copies of the programs you write and luck enough to paid and appreciated for?
Do you still enjoy writing computer programs and if so what computer languages do you like to explore in?
Don't Tread on OpenSource
Actually Crunch didn't discover the whistle, and I may have had a couple other items a bit off.
Here's the story in his words (via google's cache).
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Hi - I'm going to answer your questions here on slashdot. It was quite clear to me exactly why my server was down. It was getting a good whopping from Slashdotters, and it completely took up 95% of the T1 it was on, and for a while, I had to take it down upon request from my Co-location provider. It's up now, and setup to handle 200 connections, and within seconds, it peaked at 200 and stayed there. Now it's somewhat died down to about 80.
What do you think of Iraq or the operation to liberate the People of Iraq into mirror images of Americans?
So as one of the most wasted people in information security, what do you think your extended drug usage has done to your mental capacity?
i always wondered if my ICQ UIN was lower than the infamous cap'n crunch. now i know.
SIGERR: laziness exceeds quota
Do you think the DMCA and other new restrictive laws dampen the spirit of hacking and will stifle innovations or are they a necessary evil of the age that we live in? Do you think many of these things would have happened anyway though even if the DMCA had always existed?
"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it." -Voltaire
You are quoted as to having acted as a proxy to the internet for kevin during his probationary period when it was illegal for him to do such things.
Your response to questioning was "Well, the guy from kinkos said it was ok"
Do you think you should go to jail for violating probabion laws and aiding a convicted felon in the process?
I wonder if you're still going around touching young boys? At first I was really excited to meet you , being a legend and all. I was so excited you were chatting with me!
And I thought it was so nice that you were working on the healing arts and wanted to work the kink out of my back at the time. Too bad I was such a naieve kid. Of course I realized in about a minute that you were just trying to get off on me, that was pretty sick dude. I'm just glad I got away.
My question is are you still feeling kids up using your "healing arts" story?
Have you been on any dates?
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
People get very particular about their space. We're territorial creatures by nature. Of course no one is going to respect someone who's invaded their space. The phone system doesn't have any physicallity for people to feel invaded by, so I think your anology is deeply flawed.
A more apt analogy is if you had an always on television locked up in a public place. Someone finds a flaw in the lock, and goes and watches your TV when you aren't using it. The person never does any harm to the TV, and locks it back up after he's done with it. Are you really going to get upset at this person? Has anything really been stolen from you?
AccountKiller
It is clear that my allotment would run out before I try and answer all your questions... I'll answer some here, then more later, as time permits.. Q: Will/Have you ever make/made any changes you've made to OpenBSD for your Crunchbox available to the OpenBSD group? A: I've not made any changes to the OpenBSD kernal at all. Q:Did you (meaning Phreakers in general) have any ethical qualms about stealing service not only from the big bell companies, but also sometimes from their customers who were later forced to pay for the phone charges that were run up? No - not really. We were'nt into it just for the sake of making calls. Sure, in the beginning, I called everyone I know, but the novelty wore off quite quickly, and I was more interested in "routing" and special operator routing codes and calling test boards. I consider myself to be helping them (Ma Bell) rather then ripping them off. IF I wanted to, I could have taken down the entire western switching center by stacking calls. Q: Are the phreaking times gone forever with the digital technology or it ain't interesting anymore since we have the internet? A: Not really. There is just more options available. There are always going to be security holes. People are going to find them. Q: Do you have a favorite story, either because of the people involved, the tech (high tech or low tech) used, or the problems solved along the way? A: Yea, the Toilet paper crisis (details on my site). Q: What do you consider the most outrageous hack you *did* perform Hacked into the White House CIA Crisis Hotline in early 70's. Found the internal number by scanning. Q: Big fan of your work. But I was wondering, how come you couldn't rig up a couple of fancy grey boxes to fix your god damn slashdot problem? A: Because I didn't think I would NEED to. First off, I wasn't prepared for this, so our server got hammered so much I didn't get the chance to go in and limit the flow. I discovered this Slashdotting when my Co-lo person called me up to tell me my server was getting DDOS'ed. Further sniffing revealed a HUGE ASS amount of traffic hammering my Mac G4. Q: Have you still got your original whistle? And if so, have you ever thought about putting it on eBay? A: No - I don't know where it is. When I initially got busted, i was living with my parents, and when they found out about the bust, they threw all my shit away, Me thinks the whistle was amoung it. Q: What is your outlook for the future of hacking high-tech consumer products? Given the increasingly hostile legal climate regarding these activities (DMCA et al) it appears that corporations have much stronger legal tools to go after hackers that in days gone by were seen as more of a not-well-understood nuisance factor. Are the good old days gone forever? A: Looks bleak indeed... now they are trying to ban tinkering. Q: Your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular? A: I wish I knew... I mean, this stuff took place before MOST slashdotters were kicking shit out of their diapers. Q: Will you please stop making that horrible "Peanut Butter Crunch?" The stuff tastes like ass. Please focus on those yummy Crunch Berries A: Ok, I'll call General Mills tommorrow and ask them to trash the product. I hate the stuff myself, especially the "Capn Crunch" cerial. Q: What would have happened differently if laws like the DMCA were in force during your first phreaking sessions? A: Computers may not be around... the world as we know it today would be gone. POOOF! into a black hole. Perhaps a revolution may take place. I mean, if this shit ever reared it's ugly head in the 60's, there would be hell to pay. Q: My professor later berated my choice of topics as (his words not mine) "he is an obvious lawless felon and is not worthy of this class's time". A: this is the typical attitude of todays "industry". Once a criminal, always a criminal, and NO, the statute of limitations does NOT exist. People will have this attitude forever. Q:
Doesn't this draconian approach in itself threaten the country's security because it makes it impossible:
If everything requires sophisticated authorization e.g. through DRM or working network access before any kind of repair is possible, rather than using open technology that keeps things servicable, won't this mean that "you can't mend what you can't bend", i.e. making the technology we depend on today actually more insecure by drastically reducing its fault-tolerance?
Has anyone ever approached you about making a documentary about you or buying options to make a "biopic" based on your past?
It seems as though lately all knowledge for hacking has to be gotten from underground warez sites and websites which are increasingly subject to removal by the DOJ acording to the DMCA. Would you say that the development of P2P could bring back the ability to freely trade hacking secrets the way they used to be traded back and forth on the old BBS systems?
Would you rather smoke tobacco or marijuana?
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Ask you dad if he did any back exercises with Draper. If he says no, then you know he made the story up.
Do you see cereal as always being a tool used by hackers? If so, do you expect the government to pass anti-cereal legislature in the near future? Would you consider moving to a more cereal-friendly country if that did happen? And what are your thoughts on oatmeal as an alternative to cereal?
When you take it up the exit only hole are you on top or is tiny on top?
So what's with the 1U clone box? Why should anyone buy that over the thousand other firewalls, gateways and free linux routers out there?? Ya might wanna be careful about calling yourself an engineer when you aren't one. Nothing wrong about not having a degree, but those pesky engineering associations go after people trying to pass themselves off as something they're not.
What a horrible day. To find that the sexual perve who molested you when you were kid is now a hero on slashdot. Bastards.
Since the early days, you've always been someone who has used drugs, particularly LSD. Do you think this has altered your perception of reality?
Although this is not really a computer/security/phreaking related question, I feel that it is an interesting one, nonetheless, as I met you in the mid ninties in Australia, and found it to be quite a strange experience.
How do you answer the allegations that you've repeatedly tried to molest little scene whore boys? This is a serious question, most people in the scene are aware of this fact.
Well, I met Captain Crunch at a rave back in 1999 when I was about 18. He constantly talked about "energy work" and that it was some for of meditation he learned while he was in India. I exchanged numbers with him so I could tell my friends but he kept bugging me about energy work. At Defcon a year or so later I finally gave in and figured it was just some hippy meditation shit. He is old and was into the whole goa shit but quickly I realized it wasn't what I expected. Nothing sexual happened but I could tell that's where he was heading. I've heard stories of him having sexual interaction with younger boys but I can't verify anything. He always seems like he's on drugs and his pupils are shrunken to pinholes. He is a complete idiot who had some basic electronic skills at one time.
forth ?know if honk else forth learn then
There was an AE special on hacking with various mentions to you, any idea how to get a copy of it? My university library has not been able to purchase a copy through the company that owns the documentary, and AE seemed to never retrasnmit that specific show.
Thanks, dam
Useless sig.
Ok, hopefully this time I'll have the format setup properly. I apologize...
Q: I was curious what BBS's you frequented back in the day. I used to hang out on BBS's that ranged from Ripco in Chicago (very popular phreaker hangout) to USS Enterprise in Houston, TX, and of course, phreaking was the way that one tended to call BBS's.
A: I never went into any of the BBS's. I Do remember the controversy of the 8BBS one. It was on a PDP-8 (Really old schoolers would know this one). Then, I joined the WELL in 1983.
Q: Do you regret adding the 'crunch berry' to your popular formula, just to hype up what was already a perfectly good product?
A: Perhaps I should put "crunch Berrys" in the Crunchbox. No, I got a better idea, why not I just pack a box of CrunchBerries with each Crunchbox?
Q: Do you think that such actions will lead to cereal deflation among your territories?
A: WOW! Interesting point.... perhaps it might shift the whole new world order (dis-order?)
Q: How do you feel about these depictions of phreaks and hackers? Is it good that media largely glosses over the reality, and focuses on making them look hip, or is it vaguely insulting?
A: If it sells movies, they will do it... and make whatever representitives they want in order to sell movies.
Q: What illicit technology offers the most fun and challenge today... where are the new frontiers for today's hackers to push the bleeding edge, and what interesting directions do you see them taking with it?
A: How about tracking down spammers and hacking into their PC's when they are spewing out all that spam? I mean, if people are going to hack, why not hack the spammers?
Q: My dad swears he met you in the late 70's. It's his only claim to fame.
So...is it true? Did you meet him?
A: I have no clue - I don't know you, or your dad, so how can I be sure?
Q: What books, websites, IRC sites, etc would you suggest for an aspiring security engineer? Do you think these have any useful information, or it impossible to learn the necessary skills from these sources?
A: I frequent the computer security web sites like Securityfocus, BugTrax, etc. Some do, others don't. Best way to learn, is to "tinker", but we have to get rid of the DCMA first, so write to your congressman.
Q: Is there a cereal box whistle that will get me past the "The page cannot be displayed" message?
A: Yes, it's called "TIME"... I'm sure you'll be able to access "webcrunchers.com" soon, just let the effects of the slashdot wear off. I've had to cut way down on the number of people who can get on it, by request of my Co-lo
Q: If you could do it over again, would you do something differently? Anything you regret doing? Perhaps more importantly, anything you regret having not done?
A: Yes - NEVER trust your best friend. I've always been a trusting guy. somewhat naive, but always quick to help people out. But people fuck up, which got me in trouble.
Q: Are you and Steve Jobs still friends? Is it true that your "blue box" design inspired the iMac?
A: Jobs wouldn't give me the time of day. I'm always in touch with Woz and Mitnick (which I assume is at the RSA Conf in SF at the moment)
Q: In your day, phreakers et al were pretty much barely a blip on the radar screen. A few of you got charged with old laws, several were threatened or intimidated, and many many kids followed in your wake.
Now we're watching a world get built where PhD thesis material might be illegal [securityfocus.com], writing code can get you arrested [eff.org] and charged, and even giving an academic presentation [princeton.edu] is threatened.
How much responsibility, if any, do you think the early phreakers and hackers have for this rash of paranoid law?
A: It's all greed... back then, it was essentially the same... Phone co secrets were "Forbidden information", where mere posession of such information is ille
Thank God i lived through those way cool times without having a Fed hammering on my door for my actions.... (and being arrested) although the Air Force did pay me a visit way back when...
*--- Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. ---*
...of fame? Is it 15 minutes or 15 years?
this man smokes entirely too much weed.
also: energy seminars? WTF?!
Hello, I just purchased a box of Lucky Charms and inside was a small water toy from the new motion picture "Finding Nemo" by Pixar/Disney.
What phreaking/hacking adventures should I expect this toy to take me on?
Thank you.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
But i'm sure i'll get lost in all the trolls...
Were you ever aware that the wonderful movie "sneakers" had a blind phone phreak named 'whistler' ? I was curious to know if the crunch would know anything about this, I remember seeing something simliar about this on his site..
What's it like to be cool??
Years later, a doctor will tell me that I have an I.Q. of 48, and am what some people call "mentally retarded".
(no body)
Mod parent down now!
desktop-throne?
http://tinyurl.com/3t236
What's the biggest/toughest problem you've ever solved, and how did you solve it?
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
... about Computers and/or IT as a whole, what would it be? What would you like to see done/made/treated differently in all the things you've been exposed to?
The legend was they found the AT&T manuals at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Lab. Not quite the library, but still semi-public info.
But I just can't this go. The only good Cap'n Crunch cereal is Peanut Butter Crunch. The regular one just tastes like sugared corn. If you want a fruit cereal then go for something good like Fruity Pebbles or Fruit Loops.
You have said that the initial system design of the Mighty Bell System was seriously flawed. This is now obvious, but for a long time not many people knew outside the telephone companies. And at the same time, I'm sure those who knew about it didn't think it was a serious security/weakness - who after all could be that bored and have that much time on their hands to analyse tones being sent down lines?
Indeed, if it were not for our blind friends, with their enhanced sense of hearing, it is quite conceivable that Ma Bell may not have been exposed until years later.
This whole phone freaking phenomenon and the hacking it has inspired says a lot about closed systems. They are safe until they are worked out. And people will never stop trying to work them out, the old and the new. And for some reason, in the eyes of the law, the guilt is not associated with those who were responsible for the design and implementation of these not safe systems.
Security through obscurity does not work, but yet the guilty parties seem to have the legal upper hand when it comes to dealing with persons who have curiosity. What in your opinion can be done to change this? Surely civil disobedience alone is not the answer?
....about having a nickname and taking credit for a discovery that essentially belonged to a blind college hermit?
And that reminds me of 1 of my favorite Feynman quotes. This is from www.scs-intl.com under Anecdotes / Al Seckel / It's All A Blur
Once we were out driving in his van in downtown Pasadena when he averted his attention to a beautiful girl walking down the sidewalk. He instantly slowed down the van and narrowly missed another car, which gave out an angry honk. Geeze, I said, Didn't you see that guy? No, I only see the women, the rest is all a blur.
My question is, am I correct in that your device never made it out of the door? Additionally, did it become, or did you have any part in the legendary AppleCat modem? What was the full feature list of your device, and how did it compare to the later AppleCat modem?
For those who don't know what a Novation AppleCat modem is, you can check out this site for more information.
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
John,
Do you still carry round A-4 sheets of blotter paper soaked in acid and give away huge chunks to people you meet ?
Have you learnt too bathe yet ? And those teeth... and that horrid breath... go see a Dentist!!!
Oh, and also, that time i gave you a lift to the rave when you were in Australia and we couldn't get you too shut the fuck up the entire journey.... or get out of the car... *that* was an experience!
Mr. Draper is an interesting character, full of knowledge and interesting anecdotes. I had the pleasure of meeting him at LinuxWorld 99 in San Jose. We spent a day (August 15, 1999) together roaming the streets of Berkeley, Calfornia, chatting up a storm.
It was an interesting get-together. I'm glad I met him. If you get the chance, say hi to him.
Here is a picture of him I took on the UC Berkeley campus. Here is a slideshow of all my LinuxWorld 99 pictures.
an old phot of the capn' raving out... http://pages.sbcglobal.net/5mighty/crunch.jpg -v
Do you still fuck children?
Damn peadophile, I dont care what you did.
GET THIS IDIOT OFF THE STAGE
It is a disgrace that he has even been asked to take part here, I thought that we all forgot about him.
F8ck him!
Ok, now don't get me wrong I think Draper is very cool. Indeed, he is in a class by himself. But this tripe about crackers just being messengers--are you serious?
nohup rm -rf ~/. >& zen &
In the early 1990s, John tried his line on me. Every time I met him he brought up his interest in his "energy excercises" and encouraged me to join him.
One time I actually did. He never did anything that Kenneth Starr would define as a sexual advance, but you could sense that intention was simmering beneath the surface.
Needless to say, his deteriorated body and rotten teeth could only appeal to a necrophiliac - which is not one of my kinks.
Since then, he has made a few more trys. He never offered me any MDMA - I must have caught him before the rave era really got going.
Why are your teeth so fucked up?
Why do you dance like an invalid?
What were you doing (half naked, no less) in the bushes with a guy during that rave in the mountains above L.A. back in 1996?
I really want to know!
Nah, if he were French he would have said 'Balzac'. HTH.