Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: snowballs (Anti-Microsoft sentiment)
Author: Dave Rogers Posted: 9/21/2000; 11:02:41 AM Topic: Debunking the OSS Bazaar? Msg #: 21599 (In response to 21563) Prev/Next: 21598 / 21600
I am sorry that I have made this thread digress into this discussion. The responsibility is solely mine, and for that I apologize.One of the things that I believe is that words are a form of currency, and to know their value, one should know something of the person who utters them. Reasonable people may disagree.
But I read in the post above about the value of experience, and I share that value.
I don't claim any particular special value to my experiences, save to me, and to me they have been invaluable. But I will offer some of them here because I want you to know something of my experience in life.
I'm 43, graduated from the Naval Academy in '79 with a BS in Ocean Engineering. I'm a Commander in the US Navy. In my time in the Navy I've been all over a pretty fair portion of the world. I've spent time with the very rich and the very poor and I've known something of the world of each.
I've seen men die at sea, and I've lost friends and shipmates in combat, though I have never been engaged by hostile fire.
I'm the oldest of seven kids. I grew up in a small rural town in upstate New York on land that was formerly part of my grandfather's farm. My other grandfather died when my father was 10, but he was a sawmill blade sharpener. My father served in the Navy for 23 years and retired as an enlisted man, an E-6. He worked as a salesman after retirement, eventually becoming the vice-president of sales in small office supply company in Syracuse, New York.
In 1997, on my 40th birthday, I donated my left kidney to my brother Mark.
I'm married, though now separated and I have two children living at home, though I helped raise my stepdaughter who is now living on her own.
I've been an Assistant Scoutmaster, a homeowner's association president, a volunteer instructor for the Presidential Classroom for Young Americans. I've been a division officer, a department head, an executive officer and a commanding officer. I've participated in international peace-keeping operations, and operations which helped reduce the level of violence in the Persian Gulf in the late '80's.
I'm a graduate of the non-resident program of the Naval War College.
I've succeeded at many important things, and failed at many more.
I make no claim to special wisdom, and I am acutely aware of the limitations of my intelligence and my experience.
I have been very fortunate in the last year or so to learn a great number of important things, sometimes for the first time, sometimes they were lessons I'd learned long ago but forgotten. I'm sharing many of them, hopefully with good humor, through the courtesy of Dave Winer's Edit This Page service, where I post my little ruminations at Time's Shadow. There you can learn far more about me if you care to.
So that's a little about me.
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