[LUAU] Hello - My Name is Scott

Jim Thompson jim at netgate.com
Fri Mar 28 01:56:53 PDT 2008


On Mar 27, 2008, at 11:05 AM, Angela Kahealani wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-03-27 01:30:13 Jim Thompson wrote:
>>
>> This is a general spirt, hackers program because programming
>> challenges are of intrinsic interest to them.  Problems related to
>> programming arouse genuine curiosity in the hacker and make him eager
>> to learn more.   The hacker is also enthusiastic about this
>> interesting thing; it energizes him.  From MIT in the sixties until
>> now, the classic hacker has emerged from sleep in the early afternoon
>> to start programming with enthusiasm and has continued his efforts,
>> deeply immersed in coding into the wee hours of the morning.
>
> hey, I did go to sleep at 6AM today! :-) Yes, I'm a hacker.

I only lasted to 5:15, getting old.... sigh.

>> Moreover, in the center of hacker ethic is information sharing. It is
>> held as a duty to share interesting information with like-minded
>> people.
>
> welcome to the GNU generation -- credits due to RMS

It actually started before rms, rms was shattered when he saw it  
ending (at MIT), and thus "Project GNU", after a stint of slapping
Symbolics around by single-handedly re-implementing everything they  
were doing, and handing it to LMI.

>> There is also a whole world of non-Christian theologies and
>> traditions which place human creativity at their core which I could
>> mention, such as Harold Bloom's cry for an American gnosticism in
>> "Omens of Millenium".  That's just waiting for Richard Stallman and
>> his cultic robes.
>
> but it won't fly until it is renamed with a recursive acronym :-)

OOM isn't good enough for you?  :-)

>> Though I have many disagreements with ESR, I do like this quote from
>> "The Art of Unix Programming":
>> ---
>> "To do the Unix philosophy right, you have to be loyal to excellence.
>> You have to believe that software design is a craft worth all the
>> intelligence, creativity, and passion you can muster.
>
> of course, in the early days of little memory or disk, this was
> necessary, not just a nice ideal.

Sloppy programming existed even then.   Consider the many programming  
shops who would design screens individually,
one at a time, and then attempt to hook the back-end DBS into same,  
rather than taking a data-driven approach with templets and
the like.

That software works is the worst thing you can say about it.

>> Software design and implementation should be a joyous art, a kind of
>> high-level play. If this attitude seems preposterous or vaguely
>> embarrassing to you, stop and think; ask yourself what you've
>> forgotten. Why do you design software instead of doing something else
>> to make money or pass the time? You must have thought software was
>> worthy of your passion once....
>> To do the Unix philosophy right, you need to have (or recover) that
>> attitude.  You need to care. You need to play. You need to be willing
>> to explore."
>
>  i.e. good hacks come from hacker mentality and lifestyle.

Good hacks and much more.

>> It doesn't "cost $0", thats a large part of the issue.
>
> the issue being HOSEF's operations in e-cycling
>
>> Another issue is that Scott has made many statements of late about
>> "focusing on my [his] charity" in reference to HOSEF.  Its not "his",
>> and it can't be for it to remain a 501(c)3.  Most of the issue that
>> has caused all this turmoil is that Scott is all too willing to
>> behave as though he is all that is HOSEF, and the rest of us are
>> merely props for him to move about the board.
>
> well, since the actual power is in the board,
> surely this can be remedied?

Attempts are being made.

>> Its not even working in the long term.  HOSEF has lost many of the
>> "school labs" it installed.
>
> Lost? how? why?

Because the tide turned.

> So, should HOSEF go door-to-door, ignore the no-soliciting signs,
> and proseltyze the business owners to adopt FLOSS?

unlikely that this would do anything but decrease the average  
waistline of the group.

>
>>> What might be useful is to emphasize the FREEdom aspect of it.
>>> Steve MacJobs and Bill Monopoly Gates haven't learned how to
>>> maintain committed relationships, they always break it off after 3
>>> years, whereas FLOSS will actually keep your hardware running until
>>> it dies,
>>
>> As long as you don't use the "--force" flag to rpm, I guess.  :-)
>
> eeuuwwwhhh... RPM? I've been to dependency hell and back already,
> I saw the light, and was converted to apt-get^H^H^H^Hitude.

Ya, me too.

>>> Kids and underfunded schools simply have more open minds,
>>
>> it has yet to be shown that access to computers improves young minds.
>
> after all the stuff you quoted about the wonders and joys of hacking?

Yes.  When I said "young" I meant roughly elementary / middle school  
age (and younger). while speaking directly to literacy and numeracy.

The value of creativity, imagination and critical thinking over  
"information" access is self-evident, you'd think. But an alliance of  
convenience between technology vendors, who want to stuff more  
unwanted computers into classrooms, lazy governments, for whom IT is a  
way of appearing "modern" while cutting education budgets, ensures the  
issue doesn't stay in the headlines for very long.
Schoolchildren are developing a "problem-solving deficit disorder",  
and losing the ability to analyze.   Creativity is being lost, and the  
best remedy for this is to turn off the computer and stimulate  
childrens' imaginations.

The pervasive use of advanced technologies and their low cost have  
reduced hands-on experiences for children, including the simple but  
overwhelmingly rewarding experience of taking things apart and putting  
them back together. Without this, technology becomes a mystery,  
leading to a perspective that might well be called 'magic  
consciousness'.  This consciousness is a perversion of the magical  
enchantment that naturally pervades a child’s world and is too quickly  
destroyed by adult insistence on viewing the world mechanically (and  
to get back to PowerPoint, linearly.)   Meanwhile, we've replaced the  
richness of observing manipulating real world objects with simulations  
of same, but these simulations are almost hyper-real.  HD television,  
television programing with high production values, intensely  
interactive computer games, etc.


I see this with the Scout groups I work with.  Most of the boys are  
not filled with wonder at the natural world, last week in Volcanos  
N.P. they were not agog at the lava flows, nor the events at Halemauau  
(we were camped 1/2 mile from the Jagger the night the gas vent blew  
rocks all over 20 acres.)  Few, if any, have had the experience of  
tearing something to pieces, and then attempting to put it back  
together again.   This is the essence of the reason why I think  
"Computer Guts" is a good thing (its also not targeted at elementary  
school aged children.)

>> On the other hand, access to music programs, leaning to garden, being
>> outdoors, learning to play well with others, etc... does.
>
> (at lest some) Charter Schools are excelling with a wholistic  
> approach.

Now go back and look at the "problem solving" evident in the  
activities I listed.  :-)

jim





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