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Came in here to post this. This guy is unhinged by the way. He came in to give a talk in a course I was taking at UC Berkeley and as he continued to ramble on h

by mbay 7y ago

Came in here to post this. This guy is unhinged by the way. He came in to give a talk in a course I was taking at UC Berkeley and as he continued to ramble on he noticed the students starting to glance at the clock on the wall above his head. He went off on a half-baked rant about how clocks don't matter and we should think for ourselves or something, then he stands up ON A CHAIR WITH WHEELS and pulls the clock off the wall. This guy is not young obviously - I was standing under him ready to catch him if he fell and the whole class was horrified.

jacobolus 7y ago
“Unhinged” is a pretty uncharitable description, and your “horrified” class sounds a bit closed-minded. Another way to describe the same is “excitable, passionate, and non-conforming”. But I would instead say “Cliff Stoll is a national treasure”. I’m super jealous of the middle school kids who got to have him as their science teacher.
- lagg 7y ago
  Well I mean I'd call it being dickish but that's just me. He's a perfect gentleman as far as I'm concerned. I aspire to keep form and force of character as he has this many years on. If anyone wants a pretty amusing documentary featuring him and a pretty good picture of his personality see The KGB, the Computer and Me. A scene of him sitting next to a guy being proper and having coffee while himself is sitting with feet on the bench and a big icecream shake comes to mind.
- rosser 7y ago
  > But I would instead say “Cliff Stoll is a national treasure”. Indeed. The man has more than earned a few eccentricities.
- wyclif 7y ago
  I feel like the world needs more people like Clifford Stoll. He represents one of the last vestiges of the "old, weird America", from a time when "Think Differently" meant something real and wasn't a marketing slogan. Sure he's eccentric, but that's what makes him unique, and I tend to optimize for uniqueness when it comes to things like art, literature, music, and even science. I read his book The Cuckoo's Egg when I was in high school and I found it vastly entertaining and enlightening. It's dated now but I think people could still get something out of reading it.
tptacek 7y ago
I saw him speak in the late 1990s. He was absolutely a character, but also a fantastic speaker. Nobody was looking at their watches at the (well-attended) talk I was at.
wglb 7y ago
I saw him speak twice. His sense of wonder is pretty unmatched.
inflatableDodo 7y ago
>He went off on a half-baked rant about how clocks don't matter and we should think for ourselves or something I had a conversation recently with someone who was telling me how visiting Cape Canaveral didn't convince them of the existence of space travel. This comment is eliciting a similar feeling of despair.

by mbay 7y ago

jacobolus 7y ago

“Unhinged” is a pretty uncharitable description, and your “horrified” class sounds a bit closed-minded. Another way to describe the same is “excitable, passionate, and non-conforming”. But I would instead say “Cliff Stoll is a national treasure”. I’m super jealous of the middle school kids who got to have him as their science teacher.

lagg 7y ago
Well I mean I'd call it being dickish but that's just me. He's a perfect gentleman as far as I'm concerned. I aspire to keep form and force of character as he has this many years on. If anyone wants a pretty amusing documentary featuring him and a pretty good picture of his personality see The KGB, the Computer and Me. A scene of him sitting next to a guy being proper and having coffee while himself is sitting with feet on the bench and a big icecream shake comes to mind.
rosser 7y ago
> But I would instead say “Cliff Stoll is a national treasure”. Indeed. The man has more than earned a few eccentricities.
wyclif 7y ago
I feel like the world needs more people like Clifford Stoll. He represents one of the last vestiges of the "old, weird America", from a time when "Think Differently" meant something real and wasn't a marketing slogan. Sure he's eccentric, but that's what makes him unique, and I tend to optimize for uniqueness when it comes to things like art, literature, music, and even science. I read his book The Cuckoo's Egg when I was in high school and I found it vastly entertaining and enlightening. It's dated now but I think people could still get something out of reading it.

tptacek 7y ago

I saw him speak in the late 1990s. He was absolutely a character, but also a fantastic speaker. Nobody was looking at their watches at the (well-attended) talk I was at.

wglb 7y ago

I saw him speak twice. His sense of wonder is pretty unmatched.

inflatableDodo 7y ago

>He went off on a half-baked rant about how clocks don't matter and we should think for ourselves or something I had a conversation recently with someone who was telling me how visiting Cape Canaveral didn't convince them of the existence of space travel. This comment is eliciting a similar feeling of despair.