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.
I'm shivering... (Score:5, Interesting)
My condolence to the family... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sigh. (Score:3, Interesting)
My deepest sympathies to the family of that person killed.
I don't understand (Score:1, Interesting)
Deepest condolences (Score:4, Interesting)
This is a time to think about how much all of the wonderful work in the free software world is based on the unselfish actions of precious individuals. Perhaps someone would like to post an accepted, confirmed email or physical address for people to send condolences or offers of assistance.
One question to slashdot, I did not see anything yet about drinking and driving. So maybe the "turn down a glass department" byline is, while a good idea in general when you are the driver, in this case perhaps inappropriate.
Matthew Rosin
Re:RMS & comp. (Score:2, Interesting)
A great friend left us in a brutal way :( (Score:4, Interesting)
We'll miss you!
Safe professions (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I don't understand (Score:5, Interesting)
There's a good chance that 1 slashdot account will never be used again, which is a sad thing for us all. Not to mention that the individual that died wasn't just a member of the community, he was a contributor... something that makes him stand apart from most of us.
Re:Well you see buddy... (Score:2, Interesting)
Eddie (Score:3, Interesting)
shock (Score:3, Interesting)
Also a get well soon for the other guys in the car...
For those of you wondering... (Score:5, Interesting)
The people involved in this car accident are all from the same fairly big group of "young" open source fans in The Netherlands that keep contact with each other over IRC and also IRL. Therefore I'm not surprised that this story was submitted by several readers. I hope this explains why it is important, I know I was shocked and saddened by the loss.
Re:sick ad... (Score:2, Interesting)
Is the ad there because of it being related to an auto accident, or because it's about Free Software?
Support funds? (Score:4, Interesting)
Surreal.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Thanks, Hans (Score:4, Interesting)
Rest in peace.
It's identification (Score:3, Interesting)
Somehow, a man whose life was somewhat more similar to mine (ok, judging from his site we have vastly different personalities) than a sudanese victim has more impact on me. If anyone with a psychology background would help explain why this is I'd like to know why.
Re:Condolances (Score:4, Interesting)
My grandmother recently passed away. While at the funeral home reviewing the work of the embalmer (or whoever puts on the makeup/etc) the funeral director asked what they thought. My Mother made the comment that they had done an excellent job and that she looked wonderful. My Uncle said, and I'll never forget it...
"Yes, she looks great. So great that I'm thinking of bringing my wife down here."
Sometimes you just have to make light of the situation if you're going to try to get through it. I don't think there's a single
Re:Deepest condolences (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think the byline "Turn down a glass" refers to drinking and driving. If you're at a restaurant where all of the glasses you may use for the evening are there (water, coffee, wine, etc), you turn down a glass (flip it over) to show that you won't be drinking any of it tonight. For example, I would turn my coffee cup over to indicate to the waiter that I'm not interested in having any coffee with my meal.
If someone had a place reserved at the table for them, and they aren't able to make it for some reason, you turn their glasses over to show that they won't be drinking that evening (or rather, they won't be there at all). In this case, the byline indicates that there is a loss of someone close. You were expecting them to show up at the dinner table and they can't make it, so you turn down their glass.
maybe why, Re:Well you see buddy... (Score:5, Interesting)
For some insight into this you might want to read this extract of chapter 21 of "The Little Prince"
"What does that mean--tame?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."
"To establish ties?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . .
if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . . "
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please--tame me!" he said.
You can read more at http://students.washington.edu/yana/LP.htm [washington.edu] or various other locations shown by google [google.com]
Fitting tribute (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:RMS & comp. (Score:5, Interesting)
Sorry, better formatting (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a lovely poem, by Eden Philpotts. I think it makes a very appropriate dept.
GHOSTIES AT THE WEDDING.
Turn down a glass afore his place;
Draw up the dog-eared chair;
For though we shall not see his face,
I think he will be here
Our wedding day to share.
Turn up the glass where she would be
And put a red rose there.
Her quick, grey eyes we cannot see,
But weren't they everywhere,
And shall not they be here?
Though them old blids are in the grave
And their good light's gone out,
We'd sooner their kind ghosties have
Than all the living rout
As will be there no doubt.
For some are dead as cannot die.
Some flown as cannot flee.
You still do fancy 'em near by.
'Tis so with him and she,
At any rate to we.
Re:I am deeply sorry for the loss of life (Score:2, Interesting)
Really? I've heard a lot of people come off a lot worse after colliding with them than they would with a normal car.
So next time you see someone bashing an SUV for gas mileage, just remember the person who died today.
And remember all the people who are being killed by pollutants.
The only person an SUV is safer for is the driver. And that's assuming you discount the increased risk of actually being involved in an accident. The stopping distance in the things suck, and so does the steering. The safest cars are those that can avoid accidents.
Get a minivan, which has all the claimed benefits of an SUV, better fuel efficiency, and is safer.
Re:I don't understand (Score:3, Interesting)
This is Slashdot news because a sizable fraction of the Slashdot community is aware of, or has benefited from, these people's work. RMS being almost one of the guys is of interest to some, but even if he had been uninvolved I suppect this would have made the cut.
Hans would be honered (Score:1, Interesting)
I spoke to him some weeks ago. I think he is proud now that he is on
If heaven had e-mail, I would e-mail you!
bye m8
Alexander den Engelsman
Re:I am deeply sorry for the loss of life (Score:5, Interesting)
Bullshit.
While it's true that if you are in a huge SUV and hit a car, the SUV will come off better, the overall safety picture is not good for SUV drivers.
The additional mass also has downsides. In single vehicle accidents it's better to have less mass as there is less energy to dissipate. According to the NHTSA, single vehicle accidents accounted for only 18% of crashes, but 44% of fatalities.
Larger vehicles have longer stopping distances, increasing the likelyhood of a crash.
Also figures from the NHSTA show that SUV fatality rates are 11% higher than cars.
According to those statistics, the safest vehicles are minivans, with a fatality rate of 2.76 per billion miles travelled, 2nd were large cars, with a rate of 3.3 fatalities per billion miles. The largest SUV's came in 3rd with 3.79 fatalities per billion miles
time to adjust your review mirror methinks
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:3, Interesting)
I was once in a CS class where a student stated, in all seriousness, that "there were no home computers before the Internet because there was nothing to do with them". It turned out in the ensuing discussion that the majority of the kids in the class had never even HEARD of BBS's and were under the impression that the term "online" was synonymous with Internet. *sigh* Kids today...
Re:Condolences (Score:3, Interesting)
With that said, I'd like to respond to your comment.
It seems as though you're suggesting that anyone who may have certain beliefs should feel almost _obligated_ to think twice before publically asking for those of the _same_faith_ to participate in something like a prayer, only because someone who may "over-hear" their request are not comfortable with their own beliefs and/or confusions. After all, if you're not of the same faith, I'd argue you weren't part of the audience since the comment was directed towards those of the same faith. Yes, it's a public forum, but the post was directed towards Chrisitans, or those of similar faith, praying for the deceased and the surviving loved ones. Should he/she have bit their tongue before posting such a comment in a public forum? Of course not, it's a public forum. If you get offended by the mere mention of religion, even if it's not directed towards you, I doubt a public forum is where you should be until you come to grips with your own beliefs.
I also want to mention that I'm agnostic.
Re:I'm shivering... (Score:5, Interesting)
My mistake, we met 24 years ago, not 25. It was on the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium's (MECC) mainframe. It was a CDC Cyber 72 that was operated on behalf of all the schools in Minnesota. We had 110 baud modems with acoustic couplers and teletypes. Many (all?) of the community colleges, public high schools and even some of the elementary schools had a terminal or two tucked away in a math or science room somewhere. MECC also had an email application, and the "list" command would list all of the email accounts. (Just picture typing "list" and getting a list of all valid email addresses today!)
MECC was huge in Minnesota schools in the 1970s. Today, they're probably best remembered for having produced educational games such as Oregon Trail and Odell Lake. But back then, having computer access in public schools was a novel concept, and most of those of us who became computer nerds have all done quite well for ourselves. There are even a few MECCies here on Slashdot.
One day, I found an email from someone named "SWEETHEART" (we didn't have lower case back then :-) who found my username funny. We began exchanging emails, we moved our conversations to some of the "talk" programs (these programs were the great-grandparents of IRC, only with nicer interfaces) and exchanged phone numbers. Eventually, we met, started going out, and now we've been married 20 years with a 16-year-old hacker son to show for it.
It was a different time; definitely a more innocent era. The only people with access to the computers were students -- we didn't worry about predators or pedophiles.
Re:Condolances (Score:5, Interesting)
Any Christians (or other faiths, for that matter) should say a quick prayer for everyone involved.
Why? Being an outsider to religion, this is one of the notions about it that always seemed self-contradictory to me. The god as described by most religions wouldn't re-assign his distribution of benevolence based on a popular vote. To say that a lot of people praying for someone else has an effect on that person leads directly to the conclusion that god cares more about famous sufferers than anonymous ones. And that doesn't fit the personality most religions ascribe to their god. It just doesn't seem consistent at all to me.
Now, praying about other people's misfortunes might be a way to demonstrate to your god that you aren't selfish, but according to the tenets of most religions, it really shouldn't have any effect on them at all, but maybe it would have some effect on you, and make *you* feel better about it.
Showing Respects (Score:4, Interesting)
Reading 100's of strangers passing their respect to yet somebody they've never met dieing gives me a funny feeling.
How many people die each day? And of those, how many lead sorrowfull lives, filled with pain and suffering? How many of you pay a thought to them, and of those of you who do, are you willing to take a large dent in your own wealth to help them? Are you willing to spare your own time?
Its a common fact that people really don't care about strangers, but this shirade of caring when the opportunity arises makes me want to puke.
(To those who knew the victims, apologies for ranting, this was certainly not directed at you)
Re:Somebody dies in an accident (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Condolances (Score:1, Interesting)
For me it also comes down to the Golden Rule (do unto others...). Jesus' remarks in Matthew 7:7-12 are about prayer, and then immediately about the Golden Rule, which would imply that they're somehow (even loosely) related.
Re:The 'Funny' modifier.... (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to get moderator points somewhat regularly, and meta-moderated somewhat regularly. But since I started raising my personal bar for 'funny' or 'unfunny' on slashdot and meta-moderating appropriately, it's been over two years since I've had moderator points. (I look at the original post in context and see if it's currently +2 Funny or +5 Funny. If it's +5 Funny, and it isn't really that funny, then I vote thumbs-down. Only problem is, I can't tell what the score was when the moderator moderated it -- maybe they took it, appropriately, to +2, and someone else overinflated it.)
Has anyone else noticed this? Have any other multiple-year slashdot users adopted a similar meta-moderation policy and noticed the same thing? (That would make this seem like some kind of unwritten slashdot policy that we should know about.) Have other multiple-year slashdot users NOT done anything unusual with "Funny" moderation, and ALSO noticed the same thing? (That would suggest that mod points really are rare now, and I'm just imagining a problem.)
(People who share my problem will probably have to post instead of moderating, for obvious reasons.)
--Michael Spencer