Build Date: Fri Jun 6 06:40:49 2025 UTC
You can't drink in parks around here; so I don't even know how to get to the parks. They might be nice, but I'll never know.
-- S. Dallas, Esq.
MB: Right. Got it. So, uh, how do you, how do you spend your time now? You probably spend a lot of time evangelizing --
RS: Management.
MB: Yeah?
RS: Basically talking with people about what work needs to be done. And asking people to do things.
MB: What do you -- what kind of projects are you working on? Like, when you sit down and actually start hacking?
RS: For programming, it's Emacs.
MB: Yeah. Like, I mean, what are you programming? You actually program Emacs?
RS: Emacs. That's what I work on.
MB: All the time?
RS: When I'm programming, I'm programming on Emacs. [I still don't know if he got what I was saying. I meant, what the hell were you WRITING?]
ES: You don't use vi when you're writing Emacs, do you? RS: I've never learned vi. ES: Umm... How do you keep from getting burned out? You've been doing this for a loooong time. RS: Idealism. ES: Idealism. OK. RS: It's my refusal to _quit_. ES: We were speculating that you still hacked on, like, Lisp machines or something. RS: No. No, I stopped doing that. I stopped writing for Lisp machines when I started the GNU project, and I stopped using Lisp machines once I had GNU Emacs to edit with. Before that, I used to do my editing on a Lisp machine. Cause, that way I had Emacs. I wasn't going to learn vi or ed to do my editing. MB: So, uh, so you spend a lot of time evangelizing like this. Like, about a third of the year your actually traveling -- RS: Of course, I do my ordinary work when I'm traveling. I can't let up on it because it would pile up. ES: Do you always stay with guys like Nick and Rick? |
![]() Richard Stallman, Dance Machine |
RS: Well, sure, yeah. I try to avoid staying in hotels because they're no fun and they cost money.
MB: So you're kind of like, almost, like an itinerant preacher, you know, moving through the --
RS: Yup.
MB: -- going from house to house of the faithful and kind of spreadin' the word.
RS: Yeah. It's a strange faith for an atheist.
MB: So, what do you do when you're not hackin', or spreading the word?
RS: I read. I eat. Occasionally I dance, although I have an injury from doing the kind of dancing I really love.
MB: Which is...?
RS: International folk dancing. Mostly Balkan.
MB: Crazy! Wow.
RS: I really love Bulgarian dancing.
MB: How'd you pick that up?
RS: [Ignoring me] Why I don't do it now is it hurts.
MB: Why Bulgarian dancing? Where'd that come from?
RS: I started doing it and I loved it. It's very exciting. Have you ever seen any?
![]() Stallman invades my personal space. |
MB: Uhh... My family's Greek, actually. So I've seen a lot of -- RS: I like Greek dancing, but not quite as much. MB: Yeah? How are they different? RS: I don't know how to describe it in words. But I could show you some of each. MB: Cool! Yes! Sure! Um, could we take a picture? RS: Maybe. I can't show you much of either of them, though, especially the ones that involve the vigorous jumping that I like. MB: Yeah, that's kinda tough. ES: ...kicking your heels in the air... RS: Well, it's gonna _hurt_, is the problem. MB: Well, OK, but don't hurt yourself. RS: I can do a tiny bit of that, you know, carefully chosen. MB: OK. Could we do it? Could we, could we snap it? Is that OK? RS: Doing it in here might be hard. MB: OK, All right. Well maybe later then. |
NM: Maybe in the other room. [CoffeeNet's front room, with lots of tables and hapless victims.]
RS: There's no room in there, and too much pressure.
[Garbled debate about where in CoffeeNet to do violent, acrobatic Bulgarian folk dancing. I can't follow it, really.]
MB: OK, maybe we can save that til the end, then.
RS: Yeah.
T O P S T O R I E S
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
Delusional rich man tries to fire town staff
"I'm mayor now" said write-in mayoral candidate and founder of Pirate’s Booty Snacks Robert Ehrlich after losing the election for Mayor of Sea Cliff, NY. Then he tried to take over the Village Hall and fire everyone. (More...)
Musk claims Xitter security is staffed by idiots
Earlier this month Xitter experienced a massive outage. In an interview, Musk told Fox Business that he believes the attack came from "IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area." (More...)
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Ideas have taken horrifying shape and rooted into our modern reality. (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
It was early in May last year when I first heard about Spock Mountain Research Labs. I was working on a story about a Hungarian scientist's new approach to nucleopeptide synthesis when I got a call from my friend Albert. (More...)
The Deep Dark Underbelly of the Star Wars Myth, or Ramayana Remembered
It's a fact: Star Wars is a blatant plagiarism of an ancient Asian legend, and the long lines of devout Star Wars freaks are really unscrupulous Asian copyright busters. From Indonesia to Thailand to Nepal, videos are available for sale or rent before they're even released in the US and UK due to this nerdy camcorder-clutching bunch. (More...)
High Availability Guinness Stress Test
All too often we forget the incredible depth of technology behind the weekly ritual of TNiPN@*. We tend to only become aware of the strategy of High Available Guinness (HAG) when it rises to the forefront during a complete and utter venue failure. Yet we should all be super grateful that this system exists. (More...)
Juggler Vain attempts to wrestle with the issues around the KPFA shutdown; Big-time wrestling ensues. (More...)
Australian Troops Set for Days of Debauchery to the Tunes of Kylie Minogue
This weekend Australian troops in East Timor will be able to put their feet up and push all the images of mass graves and charred remains from their minds as they relax to the giddy melodies of Kylie Minogue - including exclusive unplugged performances in the militia-ravaged and blood-spattered border towns of Balibo and Suai. (More...)
Patient Joab's scientifick editorial discusses aspect of the space-time-beer continuum never before processed by sub-bush-robot minds!!! Too fabulantastic to contempulate! (More...)