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For those who don’t get the lawnmower reference, take 5 minutes and have a hearty laugh: https://youtube.com/watch?t=1980&v=-zRN7XLCRhc https://youtube.com/watc

For those who don’t get the lawnmower reference, take 5 minutes and have a hearty laugh: https://youtube.com/watch?t=1980&v=-zRN7XLCRhc https://youtube.com/watch?t=1980&v=-zRN7XLCRhc (Start at the 33 minute mark if it doesn’t jump you there.)

pcl 2y ago
PSA: it’s a link to Bryan Cantrill ranting about the Sun / Oracle acquisition. I couldn’t make it through 5 minutes of his ranting to get to an accurate summary of the joke though.
- stavros 2y ago
  > You need to think of Larry Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it'll chop it off, the end. You don't think 'oh, the lawnmower hates me' -- lawnmower doesn't give a shit about you, lawnmower can't hate you. Don't anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don't fall into that trap about Oracle.
  - robjwells 2y ago
    > "Oh they wanted to kill OpenSolaris!" No, the lawnmower doesn't care about OpenSolaris, the lawnmower doesn't think about OpenSolaris, the lawnmower _can't_ care about OpenSolaris. The lawnmower can't have empathy.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- whstl 2y ago
  The lawnmower joke is here: https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?feature=shared&t=2303 https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?feature=shared&t=2303 at the 38:23 mark.
toyg 2y ago
That rant is famous, but I always wonder at the naivety of Cantrill and friends. Ellison was already known for being a shameless shark since the '80s, 20 years before the SUN acquisition. Believing he would leave your little blade of grass untouched was always going to be fanciful - particularly when they were a loss-making part of the company with no-future already.
- Macha 2y ago
  I think there's plenty of people who the internet or gossip circles hate where that hate is unjustified. At the same time, a lot of the worst people are initially quite personally charming and keep that face even as they screw you over. And I think when people come into contact that they've only heard about in gossip in person, there's quite often an attempt to be like "well that's the caricature of Larry Ellison, maybe he's not actually that bad". Face to face contact can weight quite heavily compared to "people on the internet". Combine the two of them and you get a recipe for people to give Larry Ellison the benefit of the doubt, taking a "well we're adults, let's handle this more maturely than immediately doubting our counter party" stance, even as people who by their own accounts had heard otherwise. Ultimately in this case, Cantrill's experience proved "the internet" right, but I think even that might not prevent someone else repeating the same situation in the future.
  - dijit 2y ago
    This is extremely well articulated, and is exactly true in my experience. People take gossip as "gossip"- an unrealiable approximation and gross-oversimplification of an individual. Thus give people with poor reputations the benefit of the doubt, believing themselves to be open minded. (which is true). When they are shown just how 1-dimensional some people can actually be, and that the gossip depicts people precisely, it can be jarring. Especially as, like you mention, many people are very personable, charismatic, charming etc;
    - hinkley 2y ago
      I joke that Larry is from that evil Star Trek universe and somewhere in the multiverse a clean-shaven, teddy bear of a man is trapped in a universe full of assholes because he was tricked into swapping with this Larry.
lordfrito 2y ago
"Don't anthropomorphize Larry Ellison" Funniest thing I've heard in a while!
bmacho 2y ago
Or don't waste 5 minutes on this for that. Direct links pointing closer, and the transcript are available in this thread. (At the bottom, for some reasons.)
- throwanem 2y ago
  Hardly a waste, unless you hate to be entertained.
- spacemadness 2y ago
  Counterpoint: That was an excellent use of my 5 minutes.
sidewndr46 2y ago
Larry Ellison is the only person I can think of that I instantly know what video is being linked when someone shares a link.
hinkley 2y ago
You grow up an Ellison, I figure you either end up just like daddy, a social justice warrior with means, or like Mary Trump, a psychologist. Just so you can unpack your fucked up family and help others.
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Or like Abigail Disney
  - hinkley 2y ago
    She seems to be leaning toward the sjw trope. And then there’s Sarah Winchester, who instead of becoming the psychologist, became a case study in psychology.
6c696e7578 2y ago
I should have read this thread, it would have saved me the couple of minutes to get the exact same link you just did! I named my lawnmower Larry.
mooreds 2y ago
"Don't make the mistake of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison!" bahahah

pcl 2y ago

PSA: it’s a link to Bryan Cantrill ranting about the Sun / Oracle acquisition. I couldn’t make it through 5 minutes of his ranting to get to an accurate summary of the joke though.

stavros 2y ago
> You need to think of Larry Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it'll chop it off, the end. You don't think 'oh, the lawnmower hates me' -- lawnmower doesn't give a shit about you, lawnmower can't hate you. Don't anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don't fall into that trap about Oracle.
- robjwells 2y ago
  > "Oh they wanted to kill OpenSolaris!" No, the lawnmower doesn't care about OpenSolaris, the lawnmower doesn't think about OpenSolaris, the lawnmower _can't_ care about OpenSolaris. The lawnmower can't have empathy.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
whstl 2y ago
The lawnmower joke is here: https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?feature=shared&t=2303 https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?feature=shared&t=2303 at the 38:23 mark.

toyg 2y ago

That rant is famous, but I always wonder at the naivety of Cantrill and friends. Ellison was already known for being a shameless shark since the '80s, 20 years before the SUN acquisition. Believing he would leave your little blade of grass untouched was always going to be fanciful - particularly when they were a loss-making part of the company with no-future already.

Macha 2y ago
I think there's plenty of people who the internet or gossip circles hate where that hate is unjustified. At the same time, a lot of the worst people are initially quite personally charming and keep that face even as they screw you over. And I think when people come into contact that they've only heard about in gossip in person, there's quite often an attempt to be like "well that's the caricature of Larry Ellison, maybe he's not actually that bad". Face to face contact can weight quite heavily compared to "people on the internet". Combine the two of them and you get a recipe for people to give Larry Ellison the benefit of the doubt, taking a "well we're adults, let's handle this more maturely than immediately doubting our counter party" stance, even as people who by their own accounts had heard otherwise. Ultimately in this case, Cantrill's experience proved "the internet" right, but I think even that might not prevent someone else repeating the same situation in the future.
- dijit 2y ago
  This is extremely well articulated, and is exactly true in my experience. People take gossip as "gossip"- an unrealiable approximation and gross-oversimplification of an individual. Thus give people with poor reputations the benefit of the doubt, believing themselves to be open minded. (which is true). When they are shown just how 1-dimensional some people can actually be, and that the gossip depicts people precisely, it can be jarring. Especially as, like you mention, many people are very personable, charismatic, charming etc;
  - hinkley 2y ago
    I joke that Larry is from that evil Star Trek universe and somewhere in the multiverse a clean-shaven, teddy bear of a man is trapped in a universe full of assholes because he was tricked into swapping with this Larry.

lordfrito 2y ago

"Don't anthropomorphize Larry Ellison" Funniest thing I've heard in a while!

bmacho 2y ago

Or don't waste 5 minutes on this for that. Direct links pointing closer, and the transcript are available in this thread. (At the bottom, for some reasons.)

throwanem 2y ago
Hardly a waste, unless you hate to be entertained.
spacemadness 2y ago
Counterpoint: That was an excellent use of my 5 minutes.

sidewndr46 2y ago

Larry Ellison is the only person I can think of that I instantly know what video is being linked when someone shares a link.

hinkley 2y ago

You grow up an Ellison, I figure you either end up just like daddy, a social justice warrior with means, or like Mary Trump, a psychologist. Just so you can unpack your fucked up family and help others.

selimthegrim 2y ago
Or like Abigail Disney
- hinkley 2y ago
  She seems to be leaning toward the sjw trope. And then there’s Sarah Winchester, who instead of becoming the psychologist, became a case study in psychology.

6c696e7578 2y ago

I should have read this thread, it would have saved me the couple of minutes to get the exact same link you just did! I named my lawnmower Larry.

mooreds 2y ago

"Don't make the mistake of anthropomorphizing Larry Ellison!" bahahah