I attended an RMS speech at the University of Texas many years ago. I recall him heckling students leaving in the middle of his speech. Instead of presuming that they had somewhere to be--an exam, a study session, etc., he called them out and made it look like they don't support free software.
Edit: Wow "Please don't be surprised if I pull out my computer at dinner and
begin handling some of my email. I have difficulty hearing when there
is noise; at dinner, when people are speaking to each other, I usually
cannot hear their words. Rather than feel bored, or impose on
everyone by asking them to speak slowly at me, I do some work."
Completely off the original topic, but I have the same problem with understanding speech at times. My hearing has been tested and is terrific, but my understanding of what people say in noisy situations or on the phone is not great. I can almost never understand words in songs on the radio either. I need to be one on one and watching the person speak. Is there anyone else who has experienced this and found ways to improve recognition?
Auditory confusion: This can occur when there is difficulty locating and isolating individual sounds in an environment where there are multiple sources of conflicting noise. “Cocktail party deafness” is one example of auditory confusion when background noise competes with foreground.
Auditory stimulus bound effect: Stimulus bound effect describes the ability to ignore irrelevant auditory stimuli in the immediate environment. Individuals who suffer from stimulus bound effect are easily distracted by irrelevant auditory stimuli.
I've got the same issue. Another poster mentions Auditory Processing Disorder, but I have no trouble figuring out the source of sounds or hearing them. The only part I have issue with is turning the sound of speech into actual words. I can only make it out if it's clear and I'm focused.
The radio is the worst. If I read lyrics I can get them memorized or sing along no problem. But I can hear a song 100 times and still not know many of the words. It still amazes me that people can actually hear all the words and make them out while I have absolutely no trouble remembering the notes/instrumentation etc...
To be honest, I find it more acceptable to pull out your notebook to work than to pull out your smartphone and…look at pictures of cats? Given that loads of people do the latter, the former doesn’t seem entirely inappropriate anymore, although the ideal solution would of course be a party where everyone can participate in the general discussion.
I don't understand how he plans to ever sway people to his views if he requires that all speeches he gives be set up in an environment that is completely supportive of his views.
Probably has to do with him not signing up for a debate by mob, rather a speech. I'm sorry, but how often does the TED audience challenge the frequent idiot on stage?
Edit: From the downvotes, I see that hosting someone with a requirements list that's north of a bunch of pages is not a burden for most. Still, though, in my book he's too spoilt of a visitor.
The sadistic side of me really wants to see someone set up a prank talk and explicitly do everything that Stallman says "DON'T do this ...".
E.g. People purposefully confusing Free Software and Open Source when asking questions. A broken air-conditioner in his room. Putting avocado in his food. Bringing him breakfast in bed.
So, being a dick for the sake of being a dick is funny to you?
Yeah, I get it - apparently RMS is enough of a dick to have a document prepared ahead of time to tell you what he likes and doesn't like, so you don't have to waste time preparing a bunch of stuff that's just going to cause problems as a host. Man, what a dick.
(I get it - I wouldn't particularly want to host for him, myself, but if I had to, it would be helpful to know in advance what works and what doesn't).
