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Bill Hicks on Freedom of Speech Feb 3 2013

Interesting to look back almost 20 years and see the late Bill Hicks brilliant response to a complaint from a priest about a screening of one of his live shows on Channel 4:

I myself am a strong supporter of the ‘Right of freedom of speech’, as I’m sure most people would be if they truly understood the concept. 'Freedom of speech’ means you support the right of people to say exactly those ideas which you do not agree with. (Otherwise, you don’t believe in 'freedom of speech’, but rather only those ideas which you believe to be acceptably stated.) Seeing as how there are so many different beliefs in the world, and as it would be virtually impossible for all of us to agree on any onebelief, you may begin to realize just how important an idea like 'freedom of speech’ really is. The idea basically states 'while I don’t agree or care for what you are saying, I do support your right to say it, for herein lies true freedom’.

You really have to wonder what he’d make of the day and age we live in right now though, where freedom of speech seems to have eroded away, and where if something isn’t censored or sanitized, it’s quite likely that it’ll be lambasted as not being politically correct. I think we can stand to learn a little from an excerpt such as this - just because we don’t agree with something, doesn’t change the fact that someone has the right to support it, so long as it’s not hurting anyone.

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Believing in Tim Tebow Jan 15 2012

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7455943/believing-tim-tebow

He might not have gotten it done in yesterdays playoff game, but it appears that Tim Tebow really is one of the good guys.

This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.

Isn’t that a huge distraction?

"Just the opposite,“ Tebow says. "It’s by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn’t really matter. I mean, I’ll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it’s to invest in people’s lives, to make a difference.”

Pretty refreshing to see someone famous like this donate their time instead of just their money. I’m not a Broncos fan, but I’m now a Tebow fan.

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The vim learning curve is a myth Nov 24 2011

http://robots.thoughtbot.com/post/13164810557/the-vim-learning-curve-is-a-myth

No one ever says “I’d love to learn Street Fighter 2, but there are just so many combos!” People don’t say this because learning a game is enjoyable. You start off with just the basic kicks and punches, and those get you by. Later, you learn more advanced moves, maybe even by accident.

Learning vim is like this.

Great article by the guys at thoughtbot about learning vim.

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Van Halen and contractual integrity Aug 5 2011

http://jimcofer.com/personal/?p=621

Fantastically interesting article about the rather strange contractual stipulation that the rock group Van Halen put in the contracts for their gigs back during their big tours in the 80s. With exceedingly complex stage setups, the group wanted to be sure that their extensive contracts were being followed to the letter, so that the shows would go ahead without any technical glitches. What better way to do that than to insert an asinine, arbitrary clause into the middle of an otherwise dull contract, and see if it was carried out or not? The following, taken from the article by Jim Cofer, outlines how it worked:

In case you weren’t around during the 80s, the rock supergroup Van Halen had a clause in their concert contracts that stipulated that the band would “be provided with one large bowl of M&M candies, with all brown candies removed”.

Here’s the thing, though: the band put the “no brown M&Ms” clause in their contracts for a very good reason.

The band needed a way to know that their contract had been read fully. And this is where the “no brown M&Ms” came in. The band put a clause smack dab in the middle of the technical jargon of other riders: “Article 126: There will be no brown M&M’s in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation”. That way, the band could simply enter the arena and look for a bowl of M&Ms in the backstage area. No brown M&Ms? Someone read the contract fully, so there were probably no major mistakes with the equipment. A bowl of M&Ms with the brown candies? No bowl of M&Ms at all? Stop everyone and check every single thing, because someone didn’t bother to read the contract.

What a brilliant idea, putting in something that doesn’t particularly involve a lot of work or added cost, but that does verify the attention to detail of the people they were working with, to ensure that their end product (the stage shows) were as awesome as they wanted them to be. Great thinking.

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