1/18    Hey tom, you seem to know a lot about startups.  How many companies
        have you founded?  Have you worked at a lot of early phaase
        companies?
        \_ What gives you that impression, anonymous coward?  -tom
           \_ I don't know about the op, but that's one way to interpret your
              snipe at me on wall yesterday.  op's question aside, I'd be
              curious to hear your opinion regarding Slide in light of the
              smack you've talked in the past, and the round we just did.
              -dans
              P.S. Are you always this overtly hostile toward people when
              people inquire into your background?
              \_ My comment on wall was in response to your categorization
                 of LBL and Berkeley as "ivory towers."  As if cratering
                 a startup consitutes "the real world."  Here's a hint:
                 People do important things at Berkeley and LBL.  People
                 don't do important things at Slide.  -tom
                 \_ Heh.  Profs and researchers do important things.  I don't
                    think either you or psb do those things.  And, just
                    curious, how is growing the economy and creating jobs
                    unimportant?  Or do people not do important things at
                    Yahoo and Google?  What you fail to understand is that, if
                    not for an environment where people could take risks, the
                    spectacular growth engine that is Silicon Valley would not
                    exist.  Most startups fail.  You have a symbiotic
                    relationship with Berkeley and the academic world it
                    exists in, and I find nothing wrong with that.  What I
                    take issue with is that you presume to berate people
                    regarding areas you manifestly know little or nothing
                    about.  By doing so you discourage people from taking
                    risks, which is reasonable if you're trying to ensure that
                    a network or server stays up, but, in many other domains
                    is lame. -dans
                    \_ Growing the economy and creating jobs is not meaningful
                       in and of itself.  And there is plenty of evidence that
                       we're past the point of diminishing returns on growing
                       the economy.  And boy, if not for an environment where
                       people can take risks, we might not have a vitally
                       important tool like FunWall!  The world might come
                       crashing down!  And of course there are no risks in
                       academia!
                       I'm berating you for being an idiot, not for taking
                       risks.  -tom
                       \_ Creating jobs is not meaningful?  Past the point
                          of diminishing returns on growing the economy?  So
                          now you're an economist?  Your statements boggle the
                          mind.  You berate people because you are unwilling to
                          allow for the possibility that your base of knowledge
                          may have a priori flaws, be incomplete, or flawed in
                          its application.  This is why many people think
                          you're an overbearing asshole. -dans
                                 \_ What do you think "a priori" means?
                          \_ Why do many people think you're an idiot?  -tom
                             \_ Because they never met me in person, and
                                listen to third-hand reports from assholes
                                like you? -dans
                                \_ Occam's Razor disagrees.  -tom
                                   \_ bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha -dans
                                \_ I've met you and I think you are an idiot.
                                     -- ilyas
                                 \- i have not met you (or at least if i have
                                 \- i have not met yoyu, or at least if i have
                                    did make an impression, positive or neg,
                                    didnt make an impression, positive or neg),
                                    but *multiple* people have mailed me to ask
                                    in almost these exact words "do you know
                                    this dans@sloda dood? is he as much of a
                                    pud as he appears to be on first impres-
                                    sion?" --psb
                                    this dans@sloda dood? i was looking at a
                                    job at slide and was wondering if he is as
                                    of a pud/prick as he comes off" --psb
                                    \_ 'dood'.  What word choice. -dans
                                       \- it's an irish word. i am half irish.
                                 \_ I've met you and you seem like a perfectly
                                    reasonable fellow to me. -ausman
                                    \_ PS you're so hot, I want your
                                       ass now!!!               -!ausman
                                       \_ Not funny to sign my name to things
                                          I didn't write. -ausman
                       \_ Over 20 million people use FunWall, and that's
                          just one Slide application.  But, hey, you work in
                          a role that supports researchers and academics so
                          you must know more than all those foolish plebes!
                          At one point, people thought email was frivilous.
                                                                \_ frivolous.
                                                                   moron.
                                ----------------------------------/
                                \_ Ah yes.  Clearly typos and minor spelling
                                   errors are a good metric for evaluating
                                   intelligence and clue. -dans
                          Not so much anymore.  At one point people thought
                          that the web was a toy.  Not so much anymore.  Philo
                          Farnsworth, the inventor of TV, wanted it to be a
                          tool to educate and inform the masses.  It didn't
                          work out    that way.  I don't presume to claim
                          FunWall will someday be a valuable medium for
                          artistic expression or information distribution, I
                          merely allow for the possibility.  You presume to
                          write it off, and your knowledge of the domain is
                          guaranteed to be worse than mine.  Who's the idiot
                          here? -dans
        \_ dans? is that you?