Fame is not always kind to those it visits. In fact, sometimes it is just plain rude. Take the case of Linus Torvalds, for example. I sent him an email this morning with a subject line of “5th?” and a terse message inside: “Slackard!” was all it said.
Linus clearly didn’t understand the reference and asked for background.
I wrote back to explain that Silicon.com had picked him as the fifth most influential man in the tech world.
He replied:
Oh, ok. You wouldn’t believe it if you saw me, sitting here in front of the computer in my bathrobe, hair standing up every-which-way, the first (of many) lattes down but still barely functional.
I feel a bit sorry for #6-#50.
Linus
You can almost feel the noblesse oblige seep into him, can’t you. Don’t be fooled, it’s probably the latte.
Joe Barr has been writing about personal computing for 10 years, and about Linux for five. His work has appeared in IBM Personal Systems Journal, LinuxGazette, LinuxWorld, Newsforge, phrack, SecurityFocus, LinuxJournal.com, and VARLinux.org. He is the founder of The Dweebspeak Primer, home of the official newsletter of the Linux Liberation Army, an organization in which he holds the honorary rank of Corporal-for-life. No IBM money-trees were killed in the preparation of this bio.
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