"Some men have this down well enough that they can make eye contact with a woman they've never met before, smile, say "You're very pretty." and make her smile back"
...
"Cathy: Try this on a stranger in an elevator, if you must, to minimize the fear level."
I honestly wish nothing Eric wrote would ever be linked on HN again. He had his hey-days, he grabbed enough asses at conventions and harassed enough unsuspecting girls and we should just never mention him again. This is not the 90s anymore and I just hope stuff that barely applied in the 90s is more than historic and dated by now and "geeks" and "hackers" are a TON more diverse than that by now.
When it comes down to it, he is a politician, a lobbyist and while these roles are arguably not without use I would rather not have someone like that lay down the law what I as a "hacker" should and should not do or how I am supposed to be more like him.