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Linux Social Experiment…People have NO clue
lobby4linux.com — guy dressed as a bum gives out free GNU/Linux CDs, wants nothing in return
zagi1- 1619 diggs
- digg it
- imjustabill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Know what the most sup rising thing was? How much he made.
$144.09, 4 packs of smokes, and gift certificates Chili’s, Applebee’s and Logan's. Thats more than I make in a day. - EricTheGrey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0That's pretty cool. It kinda reminds me of the group of us who showed up outside the Denver center for performing arts, when MS was holding their big Windows 95 event. We stood at the corner and handed out Linux disks to anybody who wanted them.
Someone even showed up dressed as Tux and barged into the auditorium. He was promptly escorted out, but all in all, we gave away a lot of free software that day.
EtG - Milo_Hoffman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Cute story, short but cute.
- clayasaurus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0haha, that's great.
- burke, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0That's so awesome.
- persecuted, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0$140.00 in half a day of begging!!!!!!?????
Im going to cut off my leg, buy a wheelchair, and get to work!! - dropkick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, $144.09... maybe I should think about a career change?
- Odweaver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's nothing, here in Las Vegas they did a study, and had one of their workers dress up as a bum on a street-corner and he made over 300.00 in just a few hours...
- tzmguitarist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I think people should muster up more to say than "wow, that's awesome." I am under the impression that this is the very way that mankind was designed to take care of each other... after all, we're all part of one human race. We all need love and affection - and God forbid we actually take time out of our busy day to give it to another.
This story shows the importance of looking for opportunities in our everyday lives to be a light in someone else's darkness; regardless of why they are in that situation. Giving out Linux CD's may have been a contribution for the common good when it comes to offering the alternative to a corporate monopoly's operating system... but how much more life-changing to one man who has a chance at a new start?
Touching? This story is so much more than that. It should be an example to all of us.
Bravo. - fifrenzy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In the words of Carl, "Freakin' awesome!"
- tomkelleher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's really great, not only did he spread the word of Linux but did something great to help somebody out. Defiantly a digg!
+Digg - maks327, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7anyone thinking that somebody would have to be a COMPLETE moron to stick a burned CD into their computer they got from a scroungy guy on the street corner? Sure after reading the article we know better, but for the random joe, it could just as easily been a virus or trojan or the like.
- teh_toaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If more people did this, we could spread OSS to the communting masses AND help our fellow man. Better yet, give the Linux CD's to a homeless man and have him hand them out while you watch hime from your cozy office window.
- ramsinks.com, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Lack of humanity in people I see.
- carguy84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Lack of humanity in people I see."
He made out with $140, how is that a lack of humanity? - ph3rny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Very Touching...
$digg ++; - jamsea, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1:) What a nice story. It's little things like this that make you realize all the good in the world.
- Gargot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0+digg
- Sibertank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0:D, That story made me smile.. Touching, and as jamsea said "It's little things like this that make you realize all the good in the world."
- dbpigeon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0nice guy. i'm suprised he made that much money. musta picked a good intersection, lol. i wonder how much it cost him for the cds and how long it took to burn them.
- JazzSax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@ tzmguitarist
I agree whole heartily....well said. - burke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"He made out with $140, how is that a lack of humanity?"
Yeah, and then he gave it to a real homeless guy. How's THAT for humanity? - laughterkillsme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0good story, that's for sure. I'd digg it 5 times, but it wouldn't matter because stupid stuff like "network porn" would still hit the top.
- Fryth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.
- supergeorgina, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0That was wonderful.
- oceandead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I think the "lack of humanity" is more about how people want nothing to do with you if they perceive you as a "street person". They don't want to even bother to read your sign [they don't care what you have to say]. Some will give one some change just so that they don't have to deal with one, listen to them, etc..
This is the first story I've commented on and I've commented on it because it's a story that actually means something.
I think it would do humanity good for everyone to spend 24 hours homeless and broke. I don't mean with tent and sleeping bag, packaged food, etc.. I mean with only the clothes on your back. You will quickly learn why those who go without tend to spend time in or just outside of large public areas - train stations, bus stations, etc. Inside is warm, safe and you might be able to sleep for a short time there. Also, there are more travellers who might be a bit more willing to part with spare change since they don't live or see the less fortunate of society often (they're not yet as jaded). I was broke and didn't have a place to stay for two days - splitting time between Penn Station and the P.A.B.T.. It was not the best of circumstances. So, before you criticize or say "Yeah those people asking for spare change are getting a great deal!", try walking a mile in their shoes. - cyanidenfs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hmm...
lets all order free ubuntu cds and stand on streets...
PROFIT !!!
lol, j/k... - TKDWILSON, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There are new york city bums that make 6 didgits. There is a chance the bum just threw away the sack thinking it was a sack lunch. I would have donated the money to charity just in case.
Eric Wilson - rm999, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2im guessing that either the 144 dollars wasn't entirely his "begging' money, or people gave him extra money because they felt they owed him something for the cds. That's all i can think of - otherwise, no one gives beggars anything more than like a quarter...
Additionally, I am very against begging. I think either:
A. they should get a job
B. the government should step up welfare to those who actually need to beg.
Most beggars in my experience (and don't flame me unless you know any better) are drug addicts, alcoholics, crippled, or schizophrenic/crazy. The government should be helping all these people out, for their sakes and for all of society in general. - n3tfury, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0good read. this better make it to the next diggnation. >:E
- mementh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wow.. its weird.. and i think the guy got more life lessons then anyone has :)
- fornulf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Welcome to the 21st century. Beggars can hand out state-of-the-art OS's and nobody even raises an eyebrow. Whatever happened to the proverbial a cup of pencils?
It's a strange new world. Feel good kinda story tho. - spyhunter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1$144 per day working 5 days per week is about $37,500 per year (and remember that's tax free). And he wasn't even *trying*.
Find the right location, get a good shtick going (injured war veteran or something), and I'll bet you could do six figures easy, working a normal 40 hour week. No tax, self-employed, flexible hours and locations.
Not that I advocate mooching off of society like that, but dang. - overclocker40, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow thats almost like 50k a year!!!
- CJHtxGeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I live in austin, would've liked to meet him. Interesting story and good read.
- waful, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Oh man what an awkward person, reading this entry made me pretty uncomfortable.
- optikburn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0$144? wow.. that's what I get from Yahoo Publishing in a month!.. Just like him, I carry around at least 5 sets of Ubuntu Linux CDs (I got 100 from Cannonical, and still waiting for another 100).. and I give it to anyone who talks to me anything about computers...
- KidVicious, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0$144 in a day and these people still live on the street? They deserve the title of bum. Any thought I ever had about giving those people any money is now totally gone, and replaced with the need to rid my streets of the homeless.
- ramsinks.com, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ocean has eyes.
- jk_baller23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0There is people in Greece that do this. Dress up begging for money, when actually they are well off. I am sure it might happen in other countries too.
- allthewhile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0These guys are better than the people I encountered in france. They accost you and weave a bracelet around your wrist and then tell you it costs 15 euros before you have the chance to protest.
- scbysnx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ok cool idea but.. and this is to all those who say "wow this guy is genious he saved many people from the corperate overlord" .. the people who had no clue what linux was.. will either have no clue how to install it or if it is a start up disc they will just go through the prompts thinking "that guy on the street seems to know more about computer then me so I'll try to run this" they will end up formatting their hard drive losing all their data and figuring out (assumably) that linux is a virus and the guy was just on that street corner today to screw people over. This is NOT genious people who don't know what it is aren't ready to use it and probably never will be because they don't actually know how a computer works
- ToadX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1That guy is an idiot. I bet 3/4 the people who took a CD never even put it in their computer, and 4/5 of the people that actually tried to use it never figured out how to get it to start. Who would trust a CD from a bum on the street?
Those CD's would've went to better use if he was standing at the corner dressed in a suit and giving them out. - bariswheel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why did this guy go out of his way and try so hard to look like a bum? If he looks like a bum on an intersection what does he expect people to do, kiss his feet? It seems like he really tried hard to victimize himself to ultimately prove his point that people are clueless...let's roll back the tape:
If he had dressed like a penguin, and had a replace your windows with linux for free sign - a nice sign, not black marker written on a cardboard - I think he would had gotten a better response.
I do agree that most people don't have a clue, but instead of reinforcing that by doing what he did, he should have changed the manner in which he did it. It's not WHAT, it's HOW.
If you look like a bum people will treat you like one. Don't expect them to stop in the middle of an intersection to talk to you, especially in this country where life goes 160 mph.
my 2 cents - bariswheel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1by the way i did enjoy the story, and respect him for taking the time and to support the cause. don't lash out at me all at once you linux lemmings
- greatdevourer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Heh, reminds me again of what we're going to do tomorrow. There's a big M$ event at the university for those doing ICT GCSE or A-Level, and we're all going with Ubuntu CDs, shirts with slogans like "If I wanted Windows, I'd punch holes in walls" and Adam may (if he can find it amidst his Pismo, PA and varoius SGis) bring in a small tux toy :p
- green1152, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow.. and he wasn't even asking for money..
- jpturner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1An office I sometimes work out of looks onto a McDonald's' parking lot. It is near a major intersection where there is a "beggar" rotation on every corner. The amazing this is that over the course of a day these gentlemen get given allot of burgers, soda, money, cigarettes (sometimes they just throw the food away - I kid you not). They make a point to stay away from luxury vehicles and like to target young people (who seem to take genuine and extra level of pity on them). The worst that happens is people say NO and perhaps tell them to "get a job". The amazing thing is that there is a guy in a blue van who shuttles these guys from intersection to intersection, area to area. Makes me think that Mr. Blue van and his crew have a business model at work!
- HeapAlloc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0What a retarded idea
- Sibertank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"What a retarded idea"
Did you even read the article? Read before you post man... -
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