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Microsoft's Bangalore office was stoned yesterday (not the fun "hey guys, hey guys, let's make ads with dinosaur heads and then grab some munchies" way but the "oh shit they're throwing pieces of the landscape at us" way) when the city broke into riots. A Bangalore-born actor's death sparked pandemonium in the streets. But before saying "That's what you get for globalizing," remember the many riots that rocked Silicon Valley in the past century:

  • 1944: Larry Ellison born of a virgin in Bethlehem.
  • 1985: Steve Jobs kicked out of Apple. Men on fire walk the streets; thunder and lightning strike.
  • 1997: Internet Explorer for Mac burned in effigy.
  • 1999: Pre-Y2K venture capitalist riots carry on for weeks, with no one able to stop the grotesquely overpowered bodies of "young buck" VCs fresh out of the business-school gym.
  • 2003: Steve Ballmer, on vacation in San Jose, snaps in the middle of the street and causes $3 billion in damage before riot police can contain him.
  • 2006: The great Web 2.0 gang wars. Blackberry users shot in "Treo country."