The times, they are a-changin'
Jun. 1st, 2005 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jbsegalSo, there I was at Tech Squares last night, talking to a current MIT undergraduate about names.
We got to discussing my name and that there's neither a J nor a B in any of my given names.
She commented that I must really hate my given name. I said No, but that - among other things - having the initials "RMS" around here is not really a fun thing.
She looked puzzled.. Huh? Root Mean Square?
I said no, Richard M. Stallman.
She continued looking puzzled. Who?
The author of EMACS, the founder of the FSF?
Hm... never heard of him, says she.
- - -
I remain utterly weirded by this, even now.
We got to discussing my name and that there's neither a J nor a B in any of my given names.
She commented that I must really hate my given name. I said No, but that - among other things - having the initials "RMS" around here is not really a fun thing.
She looked puzzled.. Huh? Root Mean Square?
I said no, Richard M. Stallman.
She continued looking puzzled. Who?
The author of EMACS, the founder of the FSF?
Hm... never heard of him, says she.
- - -
I remain utterly weirded by this, even now.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 11:37 am (UTC)I watch his rantings on the MIT CSAIL list, and he is just not at home in the new building, nor in the new climate, etc. etc.
Then again, I hold very deep squick for him, regardless of his stature, because of forced social interaction with him in the '90s. I cannot eat at the Bertucci's on Main St., ever again, because of him.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 11:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 11:52 am (UTC)I'm just being nasty here. I'm sure he hasn't complained about any of this per se. But I don't see him working out at the gym there either.
Stata is just a completely different culture. i couldn't stand the old building.
*********
FWIW, Simson knows enough about how RMS's mind works that he can mess with it, by going, "Yes I agree with you, yes, yes, yes...but what about THIS!" "this" being the procedural/ideological curveball that sends Richard on a tear because it's so close to what he was hoping for from his former disciple, and yet so...incorrect.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 08:59 pm (UTC)*reeling from shock*
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:45 pm (UTC)Gehry should be banned from architecture, imho.
If he went back to sculpture, through, I'd probably be happy. (See: http://collections.walkerart.org/item/object.html?id=570 )
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-03 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 11:37 am (UTC)But really, she's better off that way.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 11:48 am (UTC)are you sure she was an MIT student and not a Johnson and Wales student crashing?
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Date: 2005-06-01 11:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:10 pm (UTC)NICE.!! its certainly better than FSCK or anything remotely related to mounting.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:22 pm (UTC)Although, honestly, I didn't have a clue who RMS was when I was a frosh (though I learned soon thereafter). And current undergraduates aren't coming to a computing environment with the proverbial blank slate they were a while back; they know all about computers. Computers run Windows or MacOS! (So I'd actually be more surprised if they had context for RMS.)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:35 pm (UTC)[crickets...]
Thought so...
("Would you like a grape?")
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:40 pm (UTC)Then again, I've never met him, seeing as I live 500 miles away.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:29 pm (UTC)I have, however, been hit upon by Eric Raymond ("Eric the Flute"), at
the height of his Red Hat fortune.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:36 pm (UTC)grape???
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Date: 2005-06-01 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 03:44 pm (UTC)He was traveling with a woman at the time, though, fwiw.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 04:16 pm (UTC)i may well be the anomaly that you seek. i worked for FSF for the better part of 6 years and to my knowledge, RMS never once hit on me.
then again, i'm notoriously oblivious to such things... ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-02 06:26 am (UTC)if he ever did, i didn't notice.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-02 11:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 12:35 pm (UTC)Of course, one person not knowing who RMS is shouldn't be too big of a paradox. More than one in that given area though, that'd be odd.
(oh, can i get you to punch the button for those domains i sent you the $$ for :) :) :)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:05 pm (UTC)There isn't a J or a B in any of your given names?
On the other hand, I've vaguely heard of Richard Stallman... but I wouldn't have known why the name was familiar if you hadn't said anything about EMACS.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 08:59 pm (UTC)But I am the creator/origin of "JB" ... mostly because I couldn't really wrap my head around dating (and later marrying) someone routinely referred to as Jailbait or 'bait.
Bunnylove :)
What's So Astonishing?
Date: 2005-06-01 01:09 pm (UTC)Re: What's So Astonishing?
Date: 2005-06-01 01:15 pm (UTC)I'm sure had it come up in conversation, she'd be utterly aghast that you don't know what it's like to be emo. Or something else that's totally ingrained in her culture that's not in yours.
Re: What's So Astonishing?
Date: 2005-06-01 01:31 pm (UTC)recently. There is less room for geeks, now.
ummm...
Date: 2005-08-27 02:12 pm (UTC)Re: ummm...
Date: 2005-08-27 03:50 pm (UTC)Re: What's So Astonishing?
Date: 2005-06-01 05:40 pm (UTC)She was perhaps, in her early 20's at the time (this was 1998 or so)
*boggle*
Although I would never dare compare RMS to John Lennon.
Although I suppose one could say that RMS is a bit like a rock star in the geek world - maybe like the um... David Lee Roth of the geek world?
Re: What's So Astonishing?
Date: 2005-06-01 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 08:58 pm (UTC)Kids these days...
Date: 2005-08-27 02:10 pm (UTC)