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Look, these intellectual property companies are job creators. I'm sick of all you hippies who want free access to a timezone database. As long as they keep up
by jbooth 15y ago
Look, these intellectual property companies are job creators. I'm sick of all you hippies who want free access to a timezone database. As long as they keep up the lobbying and donations, they're doing a lot more for the world than silly concepts I've never heard of like "unix" and "java".
- marshray 15y agoYeah, they teach us in business school that "time = money". Only a pinko commie would think that privately-owned intellectual property like this should be free.
- tomp 15y agoMafia and drug cartels create jobs as well. That doesn't mean they are good for the society, and that the people employed by them could not produce more value doing something else.
- jbooth 15y agoGuess I needed the snark tag. Thought the unix and java line would be a dead giveaway.
- aw3c2 15y agoI missed it too and so I downvoted your post. HN being a site full of entrepeneurs I often see concepts about society and rights where I feel sick in my stomach, so your post did not seem very unusual to me.
- wladimir 15y agoYes, I'm sorry I downvoted you too before I realized you were making a joke (no way to undo it, though I upvoted this post to make up for it). I guess it wasn't over-the-top enough, there are people that would mean that seriously, and defend copyright and patent trolls.
- lanstein 15y agoYou can't be serious.
- tomp 15y agoI wasn't :)
- sliverstorm 15y agoI'm sick of all you hippies who want free access to a timezone database Seriously. Who came up with the moronic idea that people somehow "deserve" to know what time it is?
- Duff 15y agoRight on! It is about time that computer users buck up and take some personal responsibility. It's not like you can just look up at the sky and figure out what time it is! The hard work of innovators who figure out complex issues like the time need to be compensated!
- Cushman 15y agoIt'd be funnier if it weren't so, so true.
- sliverstorm 15y agoIndeed. It's not like knowing what time it is, is not valuable. Just think of all the interviews you could make on-time! Of course, if you want to show up on time, on the correct day, you'll also need to license out access to our date server, in addition to the time server.
- kapitalx 15y agoWe can totally crowdsource time. If everyone inputs what time they think it is by looking at the sky, we could just take the average of all those inputs and know the absolute time [wisdom of the crowd]
- DenisM 15y agoKindly lay off sarcasm. I understand the temptation, but succumbing to it will cause HN to become a place for wenting anger. I mean just look at the thread of comments below yours. Is that what you want HN to be? Let's make it a place for civilized discourse instead... shall we?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- sliverstorm 15y agoI don't mind the occassional visit to sarcasm and humor on HN, especially when it is relatively high-brow, poignant, and relevant. Not that I would claim I always manage to instill poigniancy into my jibes.
- cosgroveb 15y agoIs satire, which often makes very heavy use of sarcasm, to be considered uncivilized?
- kelnos 15y agoIn this case it just wasn't funny. (Yes, I know, subjective, blah blah blah. I don't care.)
- moultano 15y agoUnless it's exceptionally good then we're better off without it. The problem with sarcasm is that it insulates you from having to make an argument yourself. All you have to do is mimic your opponent and make them sound ridiculous. It's almost inherently a straw man fallacy unless it is exceptionally careful. If you can't use sarcasm you're forced to state what you believe in positive terms, which makes for much more fruitful discussion. It's like the "passive voice" of argumentation. There are some cases where you just have to, but your writing gets better if you categorically avoid it.
- MrMan 15y agothere is no room for satire on HN.
- derleth 15y agoSarcasm and satire only work when you aren't saying something you might actually believe.