This discussion of hackers starts off with a seriously flawed argument that differences in wealth distribution becoming greater and greater are due to more productive workers on computers. I almost put the essay down at that point.. That the wealthy mostly get there by merit is completely untrue. And how many great hackers in life do we hear about dieing poor.. seems like everyone except Edison.

Never the less, Paul Grahm goes on to provide a glimpse of what it is to be a really good hacker

Note: this article is NOT about computer crime.

Since IRC evolved out of college UNIX nerds into the average PC user, many of the customs of IRC were overwhelmed by new users who simply didn't know the culture around IRC.

One of the results are little annoyances when sub-groups came up with their own rules which conflict. One example is the question "Can I PM you?", or strangers trying to chat with you in PM who could be talking in a channel.

IRC, unlike IM clients, is built around channels. As a general rule, conversations should be carried out in channels. Private Messages (PMs) should be reserved for when you have some 'need' for secrecy, or if the conversation you’re having would be inappropriate in the channels you share with your target. So instead of asking if its OK to PM someone, use your own judgment. If you find a PM is necessary, asking is not necessary.

Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.

"For every 150 downloads of a song from those albums, sales increase by a copy, the researchers found."

"From a statistical point of view, what this means is that there is no effect between downloading and sales,"

So the line we gave from the beginning, that allowing me to download music actually increases my awareness of bands and would tend to increase my buying of CD's (if i wern't boycotting the major labels) turs out to be true, and the recording industry lied.

First, check out The #Afternet live social network, a PieSpy generated map of who is talking to who in channel #AfterNET on irc.afternet.org.

Then, some lame comicstrips generated by content suspected of being funny.

Aint the internet grand?