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The real value of munition t-shirts (Re: CJR returned to sender)
On Tue, 24 Oct 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
> I won't belabor the point that the t-shirt is _at best_ comparable to a
> book, which generally needs no CJR (*), and _at worst_ is an illegible,
> confusing "work of art." (I personally am miffed at the imprecision of the
> "This shirt has been declared to be a munition"--or whatever, as I don't
> have one handy to check--and the language of the sales advertisements.)
<snip>
>
> No offense intended to all those who think a CJR for a t-shirt is a worthy
> cause, but I think it's a pointless diversion.
>
<snip>
I've found that the real value of my shirt is the fact that it's
a valuable cypherpunk detector device for strangers who have come
up to me and said,"Wow! Is that the shirt I've heard so much about.. are
you really a cypherpunk... hey there nice perl... " etc. etc. etc. I've
been approached about it at a Taco Bell, at the movies, and
at a favorite coffee house of mine (several times, in fact). One night I
wore it to a dance club here in Baltimore, and no less than 6 people, all
of whom I had never met before, approached me about it and wanted to talk
about cypherpunk issues. None of them were on the list.
Furthermore, it's an excellent conversation starter among friends and
acquaintences who don't know anything about crypto or ITAR. It's an easy
segue into a topic that really needs to be talked about, IMHO (and
probably in your humble opinion, too).
To me, the price of the shirt is well worth the interesting discussions
I've had with people I'd never talk to about crypto or at all otherwise.
[email protected] http://zeus.towson.edu/~kelli/
Diverse Sexual Orientation Coll.Towson State University [email protected]
"There's a word for people who have
solved the riddle of the opposite sex: gay."
-Pateric J.