People get passionate about things they belive in and do tend to be a bit strong-worded (I’m one to talk, heh). But that’s no cause to set aside our objectivity.

Maybe I’m must not convinced that the Tux500 was malice. Incompetence, maybe. But not malice. After all, even Penguin Pete, who’s site KMalinda linked before on Prosenjit’s blog, had second thoughts on the matter.

So it’s entirely reasonable to take the matter with a grain of salt. But maybe not so resonable to call it a hornswoggle.

I can attest that it’s maddening to be accused of something you didn’t do and to be doubted thereater to eternity for the same incident. So maybe there’s plenty of misunderstanding to go around?

I was referring to the fact that Helios chose to avoid the recent teacher issue and instead berate KMandla about tux500.

Do you honestly think Kmandla was the only person to refer to this incident and perhaps show disbelief?
After a day or two of that, let’s see you hide your irritation.

damaged justice, I was referring to the fact that Helios chose to avoid the recent teacher issue and instead berate KMandla about tux500. It is certainly irrational to me to focus on what happened in the past instead of the current situation–and furious because of hyperbole like ‘preaching’ and ‘grain of salt’.

teknologist: it’s too bad you have to be rude about it. I did not personally attack Helios, as you did to me.

Seeing your response here makes me think that people need to insert their foot in their mouth more often are more prolific than I originally thought.

The response you reference seems pretty normal to me. Perhaps your mental laxative isn’t as effective as it needs to be…or maybe you need some mental fiber.

Let’s exlude the Tux500 mess from it for now…

I understand most teachers do their level best with the resources available and you certainly get my respect for being of that profession. But being realistic, a lot of teachers are far too concerned with protecting the school and their own repuations.

Let’s face it. To a teacher, reputation and trust are the real heart of the matter. Without either, a teacher’s qualificaiton won’t mean much, especially in the eyes of parents. If even a hint of illegality is present in a classroom, the teacher and the school bears responsibility. Even if it’s more than their fair share of it.

A parent would be far more inclined to forgive an ineffective teacher than an unscrupulous one.

Isn’t it possible that a teacher (being only human) would have overreacted somewhat? Teachers aren’t immune from ego and feigning knowledge of Linux is entirely possible. Teachers aren’t saints.

It might have been possible that she did try Linux in the past and did see what it was capable of back then. But as Ken points out Linux isn’t the same beast it was even a few years back.
It’s even banging on Mac OS X’s door!

And “Open Source” and “Free Software” weren’t prevalent terms back then.

I’m a programmer now, but just 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of it. And that was also due to a teacher.
To paraphrase her :

You’re a disaster! You’ll can’t work with computers because you fiddle around with what you don’t understand and ruin the system.

. And this was back when Win 95SE was all the rage.

I understand now that she was upset at allowing some punk ruin a perfectly good system. If the damage is irreperable (I.E. warrant a reinstallation and she didn’t have the install disk) then it would have been partly her responsibility. A teacher who can’t even keep her eye on a handful of students is a detriment to the school… As her inner voice would say.

It happens. Maybe not often, but it does.
To me, the teacher’s response is more that within the realm of possibility.

Of course, my impression could also have been coloured by my own experience.

Now let’s add the Tux500 point back in…
If you weren’t a teacher and you came across this same blog post, knowing HeliOS’ past what would your impression of the situation be now?

hornswaggle – Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

36 Moby Thesaurus words for “hornswaggle”:
bamboozle, beguile, betray, bluff, cajole, cheat on, circumvent,
conjure, deceive, delude, diddle, double-cross, dupe, forestall,
gammon, get around, gull, hoax, hocus-pocus, humbug, juggle,
let down, mock, outmaneuver, outreach, outsmart, outwit, overreach,
pigeon, play one false, put something over, snow, string along,
take in, trick, two-time

No, anyone can have their doubts…and I sit here and almost laugh at the situation I am in. I’m fairly well screwed and I didn’t see it coming. Damned if I do…sort of thing, ya know?

I’m just saying that when a person devotes their life and soul to something, they might find a bit of anger floating up when those efforts are questioned as less than honorable and honest.

Again, it’s funny in a cosmic sort of way…

I’m sure that when a bit of time passes, I’ll be “cosmic” enough to laugh.

Ken