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Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 17:37:38 -0500 (EST)
From: Igor Pechtchanski <pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu>
Reply-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Obscene content in cygwin file.
In-Reply-To: <20050107150057.GE20046@trixie.casa.cgf.cx>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.61.0501071733010.22768@slinky.cs.nyu.edu>
References: <crjmkp$ftr$1 AT sea DOT gmane DOT org> <200501070212 DOT j072Cheq010403 AT mx1 DOT redhat DOT com> <20050107112542 DOT GA23589 AT cygbert DOT vinschen DOT de> <20050107150057 DOT GE20046 AT trixie DOT casa DOT cgf DOT cx>
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On Fri, 7 Jan 2005, Christopher Faylor wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 07, 2005 at 12:25:42PM +0100, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
> >NB: Did anybody read "Fahrenheit 451" from Ray Bradbury?  It's not about
> >    jokes in the first place, but somehow this discussion reminds me
> >    of the book in a fatal way.
>
> I read the book but I don't remember it too well.  I've never been too
> impressed with Ray Bradbury as a writer, though.

He has some good bits.  Fahrenheit 451 was more Orwellian than the rest of
his novels, FWIW...

> Somehow, I don't think the book was about people insisting on the right
> to store their books in your house where you might happen to trip over
> them and see things that you don't agree with.
>
> As I've said, this isn't about political correctness to me.  It's about
> people's right to be offended and our responsibility not to unduly
> surprise anyone.  I don't mind surprising people when there is a good
> technical argument for it.  I don't think that cygwin's goal should be
> to desensitize people to what is generally agreed to be bad language.
>
> Maybe it's a slippery slope.  Maybe if this was a bunch of Hindus
> complaining that fortune contained jokes about cows I would feel
> differently.  I just don't think it is a good idea to surprise an
> innocent person who is taking a casual stroll through
> /usr/share/fortune.

I agree.  One example where it could affect someone's workplace is the
fortune X screensaver, which prints random bits produced by invoking
'fortune'.  This can make any unencrypted joke visible to pretty much
everyone.

Most agree that it's a packaging bug in fortune, and that the limericks
file should be renamed limericks-o and ROT13'd.  End of discussion.
Let's just watch the thread die down now?  Maybe roast some marshmallows
on the sidelines?  Anyone got long sticks? ;-)
	Igor
-- 
				http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/
      |\      _,,,---,,_		pechtcha AT cs DOT nyu DOT edu
ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_		igor AT watson DOT ibm DOT com
     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		Igor Pechtchanski, Ph.D.
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"The Sun will pass between the Earth and the Moon tonight for a total
Lunar eclipse..." -- WCBS Radio Newsbrief, Oct 27 2004, 12:01 pm EDT

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