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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.

23 of 460 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds like he is going to GNU/Hell

  2. Anyone else wonder who... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Richard Stallman Falls the 3rd is?

  3. Falls Ill by Twinbee · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    --
    Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
    1. Re:Falls Ill by KingSkippus · · Score: 4, Funny

      I scratched my head over it for a minute, too. I was thinking, "Geez, this is the third time he's fallen? They've started numbering them? It's the sequel to the critically acclaimed Richard Stallman Falls II: New York?"

      On a more serious note, I hope the guy is okay. RMS rocks.

  4. technology isn't that good for your health by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:technology isn't that good for your health by evil_aaronm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Speak for yourself, you insensitive clod! I play semi-pro box lacrosse, race bikes, occasionally coach wrestling, and chase my grand-daughter around on the playground for kicks.

      Yeah, I do spend a lot of time on my butt-tocks, but I make up for it by doing other things outside of work. Having said that, my younger brother falls more in line with the stereotype: he's fat, can't run 20 meters without stopping, and thinks walking over to the vending machine to get some Cheetos is exercise.

      In between those poles, you'll find other people involved in technology. In my office, we have all kinds. It depends on your mindset: you either want to stay active and healthy, or you don't. That goes for any segment of the populace regardless of career.

  5. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by KingSkippus · · Score: 4, Funny

    "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.

  6. On the scene by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Stallman on the stretcher https://twitter.com/#!/Cribstopper/status/200641059389313024/photo/1/large

  7. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by TheSimkin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  8. GNUmonia? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    He probably has GNUmonia.

  9. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
  10. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  11. Gosh, is the Slashdot audience really that creepy? by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Informative
    Whether you agree with him or not, I think that everyone can acknowledge that RMS has devoted his entire life to something that has done many people very much good.

    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.

  12. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  13. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
  14. Re:Gosh, is the Slashdot audience really that cree by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 4, Informative
    Of course I worked with Steve for 12 years, and despite his reputation he was always nice to me - even the time I put him on the spot about something in front of the entire Pixar staff.

    So, I was offended by those comments, too.

  15. Re:Gosh, is the Slashdot audience really that cree by bziman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not everyone on /. is like that. Many of us quiet readers idolize folks like RMS and you, Bruce.

    -brian

  16. Just to stir the pot... by gr8_phk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, he has spent his life picking up his toys and going to play in a corner. And he has been freeriding the open source "movement" ever since. I won't argue the impact GPL has made, or the merits it may have - but how many of that *popular* GPL-licensed software was actually done by him? Not much. And how well is that software supported in "non-free" operating systems? Well, at least *BSD ports keep their patches for a given application off the official sourcetree :P. Talking about hipocrisy...

    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.

  17. Re:Let's have some perspective. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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:

    Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died.

    As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, “I’m not glad he’s dead, but I’m glad he’s gone.” Nobody deserves to have to die - not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs’ malign influence on people’s computing.

    Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, will be less effective.

    Nope, Stallman's a complete class act. He'd never do anything like that, he's too goddamned decent.

  18. Re:Sad that /. is nothing but trolls. by steelfood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You must be really new here.

    This is par for the course. In fact, it's better than usual. Had this exact same story appeared a few years ago, there would've already been beard jokes, free as in beer jokes, GPL v3 jokes, and a whole conversation consisting of nothing but puns.

    --
    "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
  19. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by Stephan+Schulz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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

  20. Re:Sad that /. is nothing but trolls. by Dave+Cole · · Score: 5, Funny

    Having a low UID does not mean you have anything meaningful to say.

    A case in point.

  21. Re:Putting his money where his mouth is by techno-vampire · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I disagree with this end game, and most of his ideology.

    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.

    --
    Good, inexpensive web hosting