bascha

916 points
User profile image.
Red Hat HQ

Editor, writer, and developer. I wear many hats, including the red one. Graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism; long-time interest in all things geeky. Editor of Red Hat Magazine and grizzled industry veteran, including time as an archivist for SunSITE UNC (now ibiblio.org) and ten-plus years at my current gig. I love:

  • vidya games and other dubious online experiences (Second Life, WoW, DDO, Rift--started out with Zork, IRC, and old-school BBS and MUDD/MOO/etc. groupings... old school nerd!)
  • cooking, crafting, and creativity
  • smart people
  • openness, transparency, honesty, and trust
  • coffee in all its delicious forms

I loathe:

  • giving the web a version number
  • social media "experts" (who send me spam)
  • proprietary thinking about thoughts and ideas
  • soggy cake or bread
  • greed, selfishness, and a lack of humility

Authored Comments

Any system is only as fair as those who it set up.

A meritocracy, where the concept of "merit" is an ever-moving target, determined by the non-standard practices of whoever is in power? Not any different than any other political arrangement, at the heart of it. Democracy, monarchy, dictatorship--those things don't matter as much as the hand holding the power. And there is /almost always/ a hand. Somewhere.

What matters is how fair, honest, and above all consistent that hand is.

IMNSHO, of course. ;P

Futurismic looks awesome, Paul. :) I know what I'm adding to my vacation reading list...