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Richard Stallman Falls Ill At Conference
itwbennett writes "Stallman, 59, was speaking at the North Campus of the Polytechnic University of Cataluna when he started to feel ill and called for a doctor. It was originally reported in the Spanish press that Stallman was hypertensive, but it is not yet known what his eventual health status was, just that he left the building later under his own power." He is apparently okay and any significant confirmed updates will be posted here.
Sounds like he is going to GNU/Hell
Richard Stallman Falls the 3rd is?
Isn't it wonderful that a a capital I looks like a small L? It adds a little 'puzzle element' whilst reading therefore adding more spice to life.
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Do you really hold the "first post" to such high standards on the internet?
Face it, lots of people in our field die young. Being fat and sitting around all day is not good. I hope it's nothing and he's ok but likewise I wouldn't be that surprised. Just as I wouldn't be that surprised if someone said Gabe Newell had a heart attack. We've got some really awesome people we're risking losing early do to choices of a career.
Shame it can be a fun and healthy career.
"I am skeptical of the claim that voluntarily pedophilia harms children. The arguments that it causes harm seem to be based on cases which aren't voluntary, which are then stretched by parents who are horrified by the idea that their little baby is maturing." - June 2006
That was just a big misunderstanding. He thought he was talking about people who really like feet.
Stallman on the stretcher https://twitter.com/#!/Cribstopper/status/200641059389313024/photo/1/large
RMS has spent his life fighting for your rights. And when he gets sick all you can do is pile dirt on him? Sure he has some strange views on some things, but in all cases he pushes for greater personal freedom and less corporate ownership of 'ideas' and less government interference in personal lives.
It is actually a good idea to visit webpages that way. If he wants to refer to the source material later he can. Webpages and websites are so dynamic often content is lost, while e-mail can be stored basically indefinitely. If Ballmer was treated with a machine using Linux would he be a hypocrite since he calls the GPL a virus?
He probably has GNUmonia.
We are all hypocrites in our own way, including you. I'm not a fan of Stallman's ideology and never have been, but a difference in opinion is no reason to kick a man when he's down.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
There are 3 ways of doing it, all legitimate. You can subscribe and see the posts early. You can see the posts on firehose and guess which stories will make the front page. Or you can just be aware of the tech news stories of the day, and predict what will come up that way.
Write your opinion.
Then you need to wait for the story to come up. Possibly using a webpage change monitoring app with built in search. Or maybe just by lurking.
Or course you'd only go to that effort if you're either very keen to get moderated up on slashdot and get lots of replies. Or if you really care about the topic really strongly.
And Slashdot is full or both of those kinds of people. Although the specific topic they obsess about varies.
Everyone here that posts has an agenda to put forward.
So, (and this is not the first time) it never ceases to amaze me that the response of some contingent of the Slashdot audience is to dig through his blog and use the worst two comments you can find to smear dirt upon him. He's a libertarian, and yes, if you take Libertarainism to its logical extreme, you might indeed believe that anything that doesn't hurt someone else should be legal. Nobody is accusing him of performing these acts, only of believing that freedom really means all possible freedom.
Like RMS, I'm getting old, and travel a lot to do talks. If I fall ill or get hit by a car, I hope you turkeys never find out.
Bruce Perens.
See Article 134 of the United States Military Code of Justice. Military officers are still tried and prosecuted for adultery - there have been cases in the last few years.
Bruce Perens.
This. I disagree with this end game, and most of his ideology. I'm posting this on an iPad for god's sake.
Yet. I hope he gets better. I hope he can make me see the light or vice a versa. I hope we can continue having this debate. I think some never ending debates bring us down, this one, however, brings us up.
He's a quirky and socially maladjusted but sweet man.
Come on RMS! Pull through!
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Great, now could you please explain what 15-18 year olds have to do with pedophilia, which is the sexual preference for prepubescent children?
"Average" pubescent developments (ability to ejaculate in boys, and menarche in girls) occur about age 12-13, and this actually occurs somewhat after the onset of puberty, as puberty is the "process" of maturation in an individual from a child's body into an adult's body, and other physiological changes are required before those milestones may be reached.
A sexual attraction for prepubescents thus implies that they are somewhere younger than age 12, and more likely several years younger than that. Not 15-18 years old.
The point is, in the power differential between an adult and a prepubescent child, no "informed consent" is possible. I guess the problem is that Stallman has never mentally and emotionally matured beyond the 12 or 13 year old phase himself, and so he doesn't understand this power difference, which is, I suppose, a common affliction where Aspies are involved. Pedophiles are predators, plain and simple. Ephebophiles (the proper term for a sexual attraction for young-but-pubescent teens, generally held to be in the 14-18-ish bracket) are sometimes (I'd argue often, except for the "of the same age range as the partner") predators as well - man-children who are incapable of having an adult relationship, and so they prey on easily manipulated and influenced teens.
Here's an easy rule of thumb for the Aspies who like to argue that banging 14 year olds is acceptable behavior for a 27 year old man:
((your age/2) + 7) = minimum acceptable age of partner.
That's the youngest acceptable age of a suitable partner for any adult over the age of 18. You go below that age, and you're looking REALLY fucking creepy, you are *probably* a damaged Lost Boy incapable of having an adult relationship, and there's a *good* chance you're downright predatory. For those of you who are spitting Cheeto crumbs of rage at the screen while mashing the "Reply to This" link right now: seek help.
Looking through the comments, I'm reminded again why I visit this site less and less. I think this might just be my final post here. This site is a shadow of what it was when I joined, and I came along fairly late...
Except GIMP. GIMP is by far the easiest tool to use in its genre of software. It is amazing how many people left Photoshop in droves with this last release that gave us the advanced technology of the single window interface.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
So, I was offended by those comments, too.
Bruce Perens.
Not everyone on /. is like that. Many of us quiet readers idolize folks like RMS and you, Bruce.
-brian
Which compiler does BSD use for everything? And who wrote that initially? Who wrote a number of utilities that went along with it? Who wrote the GPL? Sure, RMS hasn't done any cool GUI apps or really any notable apps in 20 years. He moved on to running FSF and advocating his philosophy. He built the foundation for something big. It was actually the Open Source "movement" that freeloaded on the idea with a shitload of "approved" licenses.
I do agree that he should stick to his free software philosophy and perhaps anti-DRM stance (tech freedom?) and stay out of more social and political issues.
The agent comes into the room, closing the door behind them, and walks up to the front of the room. There is a large desk, and behind it is a large chair, turned to face the window.
The agent stops in front of the desk and waits. "Reporting, sir."
The chair does not move, but a voice comes from the unseen occupant. "Is it done?"
"Yes sir." The agent stands stock still, as several laser dots play over his chest, head and groin. "I mixed the first half of the binary agent in the bottled water at the hotel. No one else should be affected."
"I see. And the second half?"
"I placed that on the end of his underarm deodorant." The agent smiled at his own ingenuity.
There was a sigh from the chair. "Ah. I suppose that explains it, then."
"Sir?"
The chair slowly turned around. It was bright outside, so the occupant was lit from behind, and impossible to see. "He's alive. He's currently at the hospital and doing well."
The agent fidgeted. "Sir, I.." One of the lasers came close to his eyeball, giving him pause.
"He is a geek, agent. Geeks do not use deodorant. Or soap, for that matter." There was a soft clicking of buttons on a phone console being pressed.
"Begging your pardon sir, but you do." All of the laser dots jumped, as if shocked. In the shadowed chair, a pair of Giorgio Armani glasses gleamed in utter silence.
"Indeed I do." There were a few more soft taps, then a final tap, and the laser sights on the agent began to wink out. "Fair enough, agent. Good try, at least. And good recovery."
"Thank you, sir." The agent let his breath out slowly.
"Yes, I like to think I learned a few things from Steve, before he died." The chair began to turn again. "The receptionist will have your payment. We'll have use for you again, I'm sure."
The agent nodded. "Thank you, sir." He turned sharply on his heel and left the room, closing the door behind him. At the desk, the chair slowly turned to face the Redmond skyline.
"Another time, Richard."
[End Of Line]
No. But you don't cut off a hearse or piss on people's graves do you?
Sure, if he didn't build GCC, emacs or the gpl, no one would give a shit. But he did. So people care.
Show some goddamned decency.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Yes, let's show some goddamned decency. After all, RMS has never, in your parlance, cut off a hearse to piss on someone's grave:
Nope, Stallman's a complete class act. He'd never do anything like that, he's too goddamned decent.
I'm posting this on an iPad for god's sake.
And of course the iPad is running iOS and apps build with XCode wich uses gcc as the compiler backend. No GNU, no iPad.
Stephan
So do I. To a large part I think he's lost touch with reality and is busy tilting at windmills that nobody else can see. Yes, I use Linux on my computers because I don't see any reason to pay for an OS, pay for applications and then pay a different company for more applications to keep my computer free of malware, especially when I can get an equally good OS and applications for free. But unlike some people, I'm not a fanatic about it. I'm not going to try to push anybody else into Linux unless they're already interested in it. If asked, I'll tell them that whatever OS does what they want the way they like it is the best one for them. I can't imagine RMS doing that, and that's one of the things I don't like about him.
Having said that, I was saddened to hear that he's sick and I hope that it's nothing serious. 59 is much too young for us to lose him, because even though I don't agree with him, he keeps saying things that need to be said and bringing up ideas that need to be discussed.
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As someone who has met RMS personally (if briefly), I can confirm, without any joking around or (too much) trolling that he is indeed a fat, smelly, angry hippy prophet. Mad love to the guy, but I did wonder at the time how long he could go on like that.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Yes, I use Linux on my computers because I don't see any reason to pay for an OS, pay for applications and then pay a different company for more applications to keep my computer free of malware, especially when I can get an equally good OS and applications for free. But unlike some people, I'm not a fanatic about it.
What you clearly don't get is that much of the reason you can get a good OS and applications for free is the GPL, for which you can thank RMS. I remember what it was like to install *BSD before the various BSDs were shamed into modernity by Linux. No thanks, you can have that.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"