Auto Accident at SANE Conference Kills One 542
Several people have submitted news from SANE 2004 that a car crash involving several Free Software developers has killed one and injured two others. Richard Stallman was in the car earlier but apparently had been dropped off prior to the accident.
Simply one thing to say (Score:5, Insightful)
Somebody dies in an accident (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd like to joke about this, but (Score:2, Insightful)
Now post a story I can make fun of, quick!!!
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:1, Insightful)
That's nothing; what's really something is if it had been Bill Gates instead of Dick "-smoker" Stallman those jokes would be +5 right now instead of -1 troll.
Condolances (Score:5, Insightful)
It's always sad when people die, but when they're connected to you in some way (even an abstract way), it hits a little harder. Any Christians (or other faiths, for that matter) should say a quick prayer for everyone involved.
As for the
Re:Condolances (Score:5, Insightful)
Some people deal by making jokes. That's quite normal.
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:1, Insightful)
RMS & comp. (Score:5, Insightful)
P.S.
Deepest condolences...
A request for /. readers: take the high road (Score:5, Insightful)
Please do not make any snarky comments about RMS getting out of the car before the accident. Regardless of your personal feelings, a person escaping potential serious injury or death should not be joke fodder - contrary to the first several posts.
Condolences to the family of the deceased.
Respects and sympathies to the family... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't understand (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course you should have heard about . [stallman.org]
But anyway, this article isn't about him. Someone of our community just passed away, and we mourn him as one of us.
Re:FAA? (Score:2, Insightful)
THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY???
Wake up, go outside, and maybe you'll realise that this isn't the kind of thing to joke about.
And whoever modded the parent funny is fucked up.
Well you see buddy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot has a strange focus on issues of free software, an accident that killed one developer and could have potentially killed one of the founding fathers of the movement (Stallman aka Mr. GNU, Mr. GPL) makes it news. Even though Slashdot isn't generally an obituary site, I'd like to question why the person would have to be "important" for you to mourn them, a man with a girlfriend and a family passed away tragically. Do you need to know anymore to feel a pang of sorrow? Does he have to be a celebrity to make it important?
Sorry for the moral/ethical tirade, but maybe it'll give the moderators of this post and the poster himself something to think about.
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:5, Insightful)
But I can understand. My first reaction to bad news, once the shock begins to fade, is to crack jokes. That's my way of dealing with stuff like this. My brother was in a horrible accident and I was the first person to find out and meet him at the hospital. The first words out his mouth, while lying on the emergency room table, were "Sorry about your car, man."
Yes, it's sad. Yes, it's awful that such things happen. But laughter is another way of coping with tragedy... don't rush to condemn the jokes.
Re:A request for /. readers: take the high road (Score:2, Insightful)
Prayers (Score:2, Insightful)
"God, I ask you bless and comfort those who are grieving in this time of loss. I ask you bless the Bakker family, and be with the those who have lost a good friend. Allow the loved ones to seek closure for Mr. Bakker. In Jesus name, amen"
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't understand (Score:2, Insightful)
Sympathies to all involved (Score:5, Insightful)
For what it's worth : It wasn't your fault Mr. Stallman, so don't blame yourself. And my sympathies to the families involved.
Paypal fund (Score:4, Insightful)
BTW, does anyone know whether they were wearing seatbelts? Just just curious.
Re:FAA? (Score:5, Insightful)
People die every day. Seriously. Many of them children. Many of them after living lives of such desperate poverty that most of us cannot even imagine it except in vague abstract terms.
In my mind crocodile tears over people who you do not know, and whom you only care about because they're linked to a famous person are far more patronising and -frankly- downright insulting to the very real, very person suffering and grief that they are going through than if I had made a beowulf cluster of first post jokes about how the OSS movment will start wearing tin-foil hats and start looking for MS-assasins behind every grassy knoll.
Their suffering is real.
But your outrage is contrived and your "grief" is a grief of convience.
If Dick Stallman's name wasn't linked to this; no-one would give a shit --and that's the only reason this is on
Re:Condolances (Score:1, Insightful)
Sicker than using it to push religion?
Re:RMS & comp. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't understand (Score:3, Insightful)
These are all great tradgedies but if everybody was going to mourn every death that was barely tangental to their lives we'd never do anything but mourn. All due sympath to the family of the deceased but this is 'Slashdot News' because RMS was almost one of the guys.
Re:Condolances (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally I would rather have someone make an innocent joke at a time like this than ask me to "pray." Different things offend different people. I personally find public displays of religion offensive (seriously), especially if it's stated that others should join in, as you did.
Re:Condolances (Score:4, Insightful)
Take a look at -1. Those aren't people dealing, they're people who don't care about the lives of other people.
Re:Condolances (Score:5, Insightful)
And some people are just irreverent, insensitive dorks. That's quite normal as well, but its normalcy doesn't mean we should encourage or otherwise condone their social incompetency.
Jeremy
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, Slashdot isn't the real world. None of the things you say in these forums are ever supposed to have actual consequences anywhere. People online aren't really people.
Re:FAA? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Condolances (Score:3, Insightful)
If I can't find some way to joke and laugh about things, they really pull me down in a depression.
For that reason I want the people that know me to have a good laugh and party when I die, and not mourn or feel bad because I should be at a much better place.
Besides, they'll just be too happy to finally be rid of me anyway.
Re:FAA? (Score:3, Insightful)
How the story got onto
A Thought and A Proposal (Score:4, Insightful)
This is what I love about the OSS community; it's a community! People drive each other from and to places, stay at each others', and when something unfortunate like this happens you truly feel that it's a community where people care about their own.
Here's what I feel we need to do; we need to put up a fund (donations) and a website to commemorate the OSS community members, and part (if not the vast majority of it, deservedly) of the mission/website fund ought keep their personal homepages and accounts on notable community portals (e.g. slashdot) alive, and be linked to from the website. Hans' personal homepage should **never** disappear due to lack of payment or activity, and it should not be left to his family members, hit by grief and possible loss of income, to do ensure that. Possibly too, condolences may be posted to one list that can be sent to his surviving folks. OSS members make personal sacrifices to be active members of the community and it'd be a nice tough to let their family members, who have likely been compromized financially by the opporutnity cost of their breadwinner being an active OSS member, ought to be let known that many many others care and are thankful for their contribution, whether it was code, logistical (hey, driving RMS is a big deal!), or even in spirit and enthausiasm.
Re:Prayers (Score:5, Insightful)
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
-Isaac Asimov
In this case his transition was swift and for that I am happy. My condolances to his family and the community for our loss.
Re:this is where (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Open Source and accidents (Score:2, Insightful)
What's up with open source and accidents? I'm thinking it's all because of the community spirit. These are people that are part of a global community. They are a part of everyone who uses Free Software and Open Source stuff. They are a part of the world, always believing in keeping things Free and Open to everyone. This affects everyone who believes in the same ideals.
Whereas if someone died in Microsoft, those who would know about it would be those close to that person, and those in Microsoft. They would hurt the most. There are probably a few Microsoft people who have been killed, but have only affected those in the company and immediate family.
I'm not trying to say anything against Microsoft here. I'm just saying since Free Software coders are a worldwide bunch, it will be news to the entire worldwide bunch, not a limited corner of a country. It's news like this that saddens me, but also shows that we're part of a group that encompasses the entire world.
I hope I put all those words correctly and not offend anyone.
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:5, Insightful)
- George Bernard Shaw
I'm not defending morons, just trying to lighten the heavy mood.
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:1, Insightful)
Slashdot has more double standards than my ex-girlfriend.
Re:Sorry for the coincidence, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Prayers (Score:1, Insightful)
-Isaac Asimov
In this case his transition was swift and for that I am happy.
We only wish it could have been many, many years from now.
Re:A great friend left us in a brutal way :( (Score:3, Insightful)
I felt a little strange visting his personal site and reading his diary and seeing pictures knowing that those would be the last entries.
Cheers to his life and the contributions he made to the world.
Re:Condolances (Score:2, Insightful)
1. You misused "quotes". I believe I may have spelled "condolances" wrong, so I'll ignore this.
2. Mentioning that people of faith should pray is not a public display of religion no more than mentioning homosexuality is a public display of man on man or woman on woman relationships. It's a public comment about a private activity.
3. You'll note that I said "Christians" or people of other faith. If you are neither, then the comment didn't really apply to you and you shouldn't feel like I was trying to push religion on you or whatever you think my purpose was.
4. Many of the jokes were not innocent. They were insensitive. I have no problem with people using humor to cope with loss, but that wasn't the case here.
Freedom of religion goes hand in hand with freedom from religion, so your comment about public displays of religion strikes me as offensive. What gives you the right to say what I can or cannot do when it comes to religion (as long as I'm not forcing it on you)? Just like I can't force you to "pray".
I have no problem with people that don't believe in God (dated an atheist for 2 years), or don't practice religion actively. I only have a problem with people who try to make me feel bad for saying something heartfelt that they can just ignore if they don't like. Go back under your bridge.
Re:Condolances (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sympathies to all involved (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bollocks. Thousands of people die, every day. (Score:1, Insightful)
I will blatantly state that people who are close to me in social networks that matter to me are people who's deaths affect me more and I'm more concerned with. I don't like that people die in general. I don't like that they all too often die because of the willful actions of another human being. But, when push comes to shove, the people who are close to me in social networks that matter to me are people who's deaths I'm going to actively mourn.
I've met RMS personally. It's quite likely that I know several people who are friends with the person who died. His passing saddens me.
It upsets me that people in a forum devoted to the community those people were a part of make crass jokes about the situation and people involved. It's rude and insulting.
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:2, Insightful)
I know what you're saying, but fortunately I broke myself of that misconception 25 years ago. I met my wife on line 25 years ago, and I'm constantly reminded of just how "real" online people are.
Constantly.
Re:Condolances (Score:2, Insightful)
(Sarcasm) But it's ok - Stallman lives! (Score:5, Insightful)
fame != importance
For my funeral (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, for people who don't really know the deceased to make such comments, it just isn't appropriate. It also depends on the character of the person involved in the tragedy. A joke should bring light smiles and help offer some balm to the wounds of those affected, not simply be the attention-seeking acts of immaturity we unfortunately tend to see online.
This article is incredibly distasteful (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:5, Insightful)
To everyone who is using 9/11 as some kind of emotional excuse I say, "Fuck you!"
Unless you were actually there or lost someone close please shut the fuck up about it scarring you mentally or some bullshit like that. I lost friends and co-workers and damn near fucking died.
Find some other buzzword to cling to and stop using others pain for your own personal ends.
Re:In case of /. effect (Score:4, Insightful)
Recently we had a story about a camera technology that could see even through smoke [slashdot.org] and there are places online [thinkcycle.org] where we can work on an open source solution to this problem that would be more likely implemented than if some company sold them exclusively.
A majority of people on the planet live near water and a cheap enough technology or system that could help people drive safer could save hundreds of lives per year.
Re:Prayers (Score:5, Insightful)
-Volcan Proverb
Hans Bakker's Life was not a waste. My sympathies.
Re:FAA? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not many clue in to this pattern, even as they help to shape it. Go look at the stories from 9/11. Same threads, different (in some cases) posters. Slashdot is a COMMUNITY of people, not a uniform voice. I see people on all sides of every controversy here deriding the "slashdotters" or "slashbots" or whatever term they can think of. But, if you're posting here, THAT'S YOU you're talking about (hi, I'm in camp #4, good to meet you).
Some of us are flamers and trolls. Some of us are the innapropriate joke-makers. Some of us are suits with pointy hair. Some of us are late-night coders. And today, one of us is no more. If you're a regular, come in, sit down and have a drink. We'll toast the honored dead, maybe share a story or two, and the guy over in the corner will spout an embarassingly rude comment every few minutes. I just hope that when my time comes, he thinks of something really funny to say about me, and that (behind the masks of indignation), my friends smile just a little bit and remember me....
Peace and long life.
Re:FAA? (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you cry for each one? I doubt you do - don't act like a hypocrite.
And do you crack wise at every one? That's what the poster was talking about after all. There was no false grief, just asking why some people can't have the decency to show some minimal measure of respect.
I don't think you know what hypocrisy really is.
Re:Condolences (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem with exhorting people to prayer in a public forum like this is that (1) it's pointless, and (2) some people who are still alive here find it offensive. It's pointless because if we think that prayer will help, and we have the capacity to do a sincere prayer on behalf of Hans, then we will do it whether or not we are exhorted.
It's offensive to some people for a variety of reasons - I will say for myself that I used to be offended by overt mentions of Christianity because I felt very judged by people who had blind faith and felt that I was defective because I didn't have the capacity to have blind faith. It doesn't offend me anymore, because I understand the problem better, but I think it's worth being understanding toward those who do have this problem, and examining ones' own actions to see if one is doing anything that would tend to engender this sort of feeling.
The job of a religious practitioner is to succeed in his or her practice, and it is through this that they may help others - any activity that projects one's religious beliefs outward is very risky, and needs to be undertaken with great seriousness, and probably not on a forum as public as slashdot.
This is not to say that you should shut up entirely, but I do urge you to consider your audience!
Re:Condolances (Score:5, Insightful)
Which is fine. Except that's exactly what you did - try to make someone feel bad because of what they said. Maybe they meant to be cruel, maybe they were trying to lighten the mood, maybe that's their way of dealing with sadness. Whatever - it's not your place to judge. Freedom of expression is just that, and it applies to all people and all messages.
If you want the freedom to ask others to pray (which I, although a devout atheist, support), then you have to allow others the freedom to make bad jokes.
Re:In case of /. effect (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Condolances (Score:3, Insightful)
And some people are just irreverent, insensitive dorks. That's quite normal as well, but its normalcy doesn't mean we should encourage or otherwise condone their social incompetency.
And there are also dorks of a different kind - they storm to offer public condolences because an OpenSource (ah!) developer, whom they neither know nor even heard of before, rode in a car with RMS (oh!) and lost his life to a car accident. If you are such a good hearted person, go and email relatives, don't show it off here.
Every death is tragic, but it barely makes sense to make it a discussion topic. Seems to me that
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:3, Insightful)
I heard firetrucks scream down Broadway. I saw dust-covered firemen drive out silently an hour later.
I didn't lose anyone personally on 9/11, but it doesn't mean it didn't affect me.
Get some appreciation for empathy, you Coward.
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:3, Insightful)
Your 9/11 experience is not the baseline against which all other 9/11 experiences are measured. The severity of your trauma does not render trivial the experiences of those who suffered less than you. You are not the center of the universe.