
Fans raise cash to help phone phreaker John Draper, aka Cap‘n Crunch - stillmaned
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/09/fans-raise-cash-to-help-phone-phreaker-john-draper-aka-capn-crunch/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29&utm_content=Netvibes
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en4bz
For those interested he's currently doing an AMA on reddit.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2hpje1/im_the_person_w...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2hpje1/im_the_person_who_showed_steve_jobs_the_blue_box/)

~~~
patio11
His answer to "Are you wealthy?" is sobering, as I would not naively have
expected destitution for someone with his technical ability or status as an
early Apple employee.

We're presently in the best market of the history of ever, but I think young
engineers should be prudent about recognizing that we too will eventually be
old some day. Make sure you've got a plan for it.

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bcl
" Draper himself doesn't even know who started the fundraiser, but the money
is intended to help with his medical bills"

If he doesn't know who started it, how do we know the money will actually get
to him?

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ck2
So glad we got that healthcare problem all buttoned up in America over the
past six years.

Would anyone have to have a fundraiser in any other "1st world" country for
medical problems?

But hey let's go spend billions on more wars, bomb the billions in equipment
we bought for Iraq and then buy more equipment to replace it for Iraq.

ps. it is funny how people forget Steve Jobs started out committing felonies
without ever getting prosecuted

pps. apparently what he really needs is a fundraiser to publish a book he has
been working on, including a chapter on Woz

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cbd1984
> So glad we got that healthcare problem all buttoned up in America over the
> past six years.

"Politics is the art of the possible." — Otto von Bismarck (attributed)

When one side is opposing a plan it originated, how can anyone make progress?

> But hey let's go spend billions on more wars, bomb the billions in equipment
> we bought for Iraq and then buy more equipment to replace it for Iraq.

This is only relevant if you have to placate deficit hawks who don't put a
priority on medical spending.

~~~
a_bonobo
Fun coincidence: Bismarck implemented the first welfare state in the history
of the world, with sickness, accident and disability insurance and old age
pension.

To quote:

    
    
         The real grievance of the worker is the insecurity of his existence; he is not sure that he will always have work, he is not sure that he will always be healthy, and he foresees that he will one day be old and unfit to work. If he falls into poverty, even if only through a prolonged illness, he is then completely helpless, left to his own devices, and society does not currently recognize any real obligation towards him beyond the usual help for the poor, even if he has been working all the time ever so faithfully and diligently. The usual help for the poor, however, leaves a lot to be desired, especially in large cities, where it is very much worse than in the country.

~~~
a_bonobo
Sorry for the formatting, here is the quote without that scroll bar:

The real grievance of the worker is the insecurity of his existence; he is not
sure that he will always have work, he is not sure that he will always be
healthy, and he foresees that he will one day be old and unfit to work. If he
falls into poverty, even if only through a prolonged illness, he is then
completely helpless, left to his own devices, and society does not currently
recognize any real obligation towards him beyond the usual help for the poor,
even if he has been working all the time ever so faithfully and diligently.
The usual help for the poor, however, leaves a lot to be desired, especially
in large cities, where it is very much worse than in the country.

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xtracto
I hope he is considering Fecal Transplant for his C.Diff infection.

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eclyps19
He joined my Cards Against Humanity game in Burger King a couple years ago at
Defcon. Definitely an interesting guy... He had lots of stories and was pretty
open about everything.

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new299
The qikfunder project was previously in the top five on then HN front page but
even though it was well voted, got buried after an hour or so.

Not sure why, but glad the Ars page is now on.

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kylelibra
Maybe someone can clarify, the Ars article doesn't mention this, but wasn't
there another effort to fundraise for him and help him out? I thought there
was a similar attempt a few months ago, but I can't seem to find any info on
it.

Maybe I'm mistaken, either way, it is good to see people coming to his aid.

~~~
dalke
Yes, there was. I searched HN and found
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1993898](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1993898)
from 4 years ago, titled "John Draper Donation Drive Verified". More details
at [http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/blackhat-
lounge/26...](http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/blackhat-
lounge/261835-save-captain-crunch-john-draper.html) . It's also mentioned
fleetingly in [http://www.webcrunchers.com/friends-of-
crunch/](http://www.webcrunchers.com/friends-of-crunch/) .

