I saw him live in a presentation he gave in Chicago, early 90s. He and his book are the cause of my switching from a very young PhD in thermodynamics career to going back to school for CS, then working in the latter field until retirement, years back. I also read his Silicon Snake Oil book, as soon as it came out, which he - himself - publicly claimed to have been in error, in parts, sometimes, but about which I now think - looking at X, TruthSocial, TikTok, etc. - that may, in fact, has been premonitory...
I watch a lot of videos at 1.5x. Older Cliff Stoll videos don't work at 1.5x. Cliff at 1.0x is already like other people at 1.5x.
I am so stoked to see Cliff at 1.0x in 2026 is still like other people at 1.5x. I am so glad to see Cliff still out there talking. "The Cuckoo's Egg"[0] was formative for me when I was a kid getting into computers. I am so happy that Cliff is out there making formative experiences for new hackers today.
Great talk, Cliff. (The "adjusted for inflation" quip about the budget made my day, too.)
"I bought this person's book too. I didn't know they were still alive. I really enjoyed reading The Cuckoo's Egg—it was such a fun read. They really have a way with words
Yes, thank you! Our whole family of nerds enjoyed it and I had to explain quite a few things to daughter but not the over head projector at least, she did bump into that tech in school for some art project.
She just installed linux on the laptop for university study and got to hear about what people used before "more" and "less" :-)
I saw him live in a presentation he gave in Chicago, early 90s. He and his book are the cause of my switching from a very young PhD in thermodynamics career to going back to school for CS, then working in the latter field until retirement, years back. I also read his Silicon Snake Oil book, as soon as it came out, which he - himself - publicly claimed to have been in error, in parts, sometimes, but about which I now think - looking at X, TruthSocial, TikTok, etc. - that may, in fact, has been premonitory...
I watch a lot of videos at 1.5x. Older Cliff Stoll videos don't work at 1.5x. Cliff at 1.0x is already like other people at 1.5x.
I am so stoked to see Cliff at 1.0x in 2026 is still like other people at 1.5x. I am so glad to see Cliff still out there talking. "The Cuckoo's Egg"[0] was formative for me when I was a kid getting into computers. I am so happy that Cliff is out there making formative experiences for new hackers today.
Great talk, Cliff. (The "adjusted for inflation" quip about the budget made my day, too.)
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)
[delayed]
"I bought this person's book too. I didn't know they were still alive. I really enjoyed reading The Cuckoo's Egg—it was such a fun read. They really have a way with words
Such a fun and enthusiastic guy. I’ve one of his klein bottles from like 20 years ago, think he still sells them.
You know, it just occured to me that technically we're all inside all of his Klein bottles. Or all Klein bottles, really.
Thanks @CliffStoll for the wonderful talk.
Quite welcome, Red Beard. I had fun doing that spoutathon. Meeting old friends at DefCon. Way fun.
You are on my short-list of people I look up to.
Thank you!
Yes, thank you! Our whole family of nerds enjoyed it and I had to explain quite a few things to daughter but not the over head projector at least, she did bump into that tech in school for some art project.
She just installed linux on the laptop for university study and got to hear about what people used before "more" and "less" :-)
Fantastic book, great story, awesome memories. Thank you, Cliff.
Did he really break the screen on someone's phone during the talk? He seems dangerous to be around.