Obviously, I'm too late to the party since everyone is fighting (you should have saved some of the nice Scotch for me). But a few things have jumped out at me:

Kathy Sierra feels threatened, and apparently involved the police. She has cancelled a professional engagement due to the threats.

Others assert that the threats she received either weren't death threats or should be ignored.

In her post about the threats, Kathy Sierra named people she believes are responsible. Some have apologized, some have denied responsibility, and it is unclear who the threats actually came from at this time, although it seems clear that the online forums where these threats took place were unmoderated and allowed for anonymous commenting, so placing blame for the comments with the sponsors (short of removing space -- which eventually happened or requiring signing in) isn't terribly clear.

In reading Ms. Sierra's post on the issue, I was unable to determine exactly what the police were investigating, and was unsure whether I would consider the threats in question death threat. I may have missed something, but people wrote horrible things with horrible illustrations but those statements, to the best of my recollections did not say: "I wish she were dead and I have a plan" or "this is what I plan to do" (vis a vis the illustration). Nonetheless, even though I didn't perceive them as "death threats"*, I have enough empathy to understand that a reasonable woman would regard these posts/comments/insults/whatever as very frightening.

Should she stay home? Beats me, but she was scared enough to call the police. Seems reasonable, feeling that level of threat, she'd want to rethink her behavior and schedule for a smidge.

Is she a big baby for being surprised that being a professional woman who keeps a work-related website with contact information (oh, I don't know, for clients?) on the web, especially given that she works in the computer industry? You're kidding, right?

If women lawyers, CPAs, doctors, other professionals can't keep online presences without wearing veils or pretending they are men to avoid pictures being gagged with underwear, the online community has a bigger problem than it perceives and the issue of misogyny should be obvious to the dimmest of bulbs.

I'm not too worried about this situation -- she's sought help, she's publicized this. I wish hyperbole had been avoided by the accused and the accuser. There was a real threat, and this was ugly. No, the argument that computer people can't learn minimal social skills really isn't an acceptable response.

Yes, there are bigger worries (legislation in North Dakota keeping pregnant teens from prenatal care springs to mind) in the wonderful world of woman-hating. But know it when you see it don't belittle the harm that it does.

*I did perceive that as beyond rude, mentally unbalanced, and really despicable, and yes, I did perceive them as threatening.

...gee, I thought equality was something to be sought after. A partnership based on one party owning your nuts and you owning their heart. I can see, now, how foolish I have been.

Okay, Bennie, I think a few points of order are called for.

First of all, growing up jaded didn't do much for my health. Moving to Texas to have my ass summarily kicked up between my shoulder blades did. I also appreciate my hometown much more than I ever could sans the experience of meeting my equal(s). I s'pose I could have met them somewhere near my hometown, but there's a power that comes from being where your roots are. Sometimes a different culture full of people who are so full of themselves that they can't see their shoelaces is a necessary requirement to adding some happy years to your happy ass.

Sort of like looking in a mirror. Without the roots staring back at you.

Secondly, while it's true that some people have more than others at different points in time and space, the world as you have manufactured it contains one big, ugly flaw: you're all that's in it. Just you. Everyone else is either chattel or some sort of animated hologram designed for your temporary amusement. And the amusement is always temporary, isn't it?

I'll skip the details and just remind you that "Scrooge" is an archetype and archetypes are there for a reason. When true tales from the crypt won't move your ass from Jump Street, mythology will. However, if you're too driven to pay attention to mythology and avoid the open manholes, you might want to work on some yoga. It develops flexibility. You're going to need flexibility because you will be the only one left willing to kiss your ass, "ba'bye."

My point, and I do have one, is that equality isn't something that human perception is going to be able to render all by its lonesome. Inherent in how perception works is inequality. If everything was always the same color, you could do your own laundry and not have to bother with servants. Stubbing your toes on furniture might still be an issue, but everyone needs servants for something after all, right?

Equality is something you either believe in, or you don't.

What you believe in WILL STILL have consequences, sometimes severe ones. "Thou Shalt Not Take The Name of the Lord, Thy God, in Vain," is because thou canst not. Whomever or whatever your guiding light is is responsible for every thought you think and every breath you draw.

Beliefs are powerful things because a)they constantly prove themselves to be that way and b)they can be absolutely bass-akwards from reality. Not that you'll ever notice...you'll be too busy explaining to yourself why everything is temporary and unworthy of you to grasp that the fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings.

I'd recommend you move your hard-earned cash to an overseas trust where you can't easily get to it and start off living in a po-dunk efficiency on the shitty side of town. It will make life much more interesting and your ability to appreciate what you have much more gratifying.

Continue on this path and not only will everything you do be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but you'll never know squat about real life and really living.

We're all equal because we all end up just as dead and live just as disappointed by that fact as everyone else. If you think winning is so f*king great, try being the loser you manufacture with every one of your silly-assed wins. And if winning is all you give a shit about, why not just be a serial killer like Bundy or Dahmer? People died today, some of them wholely innocent, because you got to eat a few good meals and drink some really good vino.

So what are you really doing with all that flesh and bone collecting in your conscience, Bennie?