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Update on Jason Haas Car Accident
kTag sent us a page of daily updates from the wife of Jason Haas, LinuxPPC developer. For those who hadn't heard, Jason was in a bad car accident a bit over a week ago. Keep Jason in your thoughts. Any e-mail addressed to him will be forwarded.
First of all, I want to encourage all of you who know, might know, have heard of, would like to know...of Jason to take a quick minute or two and send him your best wishes. It will mean more to him and his loved ones than you will ever know.
How do I know this? Less than a month ago, my 28 year-old brother was killed in a one-car accident. His work brought him in contact with people all across the U.S. There was not enough room in the church for all the people. I can't tell you how comforting it was for us to know what a difference he had made in so many people's lives.
Take a minute to send a note. It doesn't cost anything, and your Karma points will soar!
And who says that geeks suffer from a total lack of social skills. :-(
OK. I am not a neurologist. I have, however, seen brain-injured people in my travels, and the one thing that's clear from those experiences is that you can see a wide variation in the rate and amount of recovery of function.
The fact that Jason Haas has already shown some improvement is encouraging, but it will take a while before anybody really knows what to expect in the long term.
The "word salad" character of his utterances is interesting because this kind of symptom sometimes does resolve fairly well. In particular, stroke patients who have lesions to parts of the temporal lobe can be really out there for some time, but within six months, most of them will have improved quite a bit, and will generally suffer primarily from, um, gosh; what's the word for it? Oh yeah: anomia (word-finding problems).
Head trauma isn't exactly the same thing, however.
It also looks like he's suffering from a pretty dense retrograde amnesia. As is often the case, this is temporally graded: it's much worse for relatively recent events (e.g., his marriage 4 months ago) than for relatively distant events (e.g., he seems to have a better idea about his long-time family members). It was unclear to me from these reports whether he had any anterograde amnesia (crudely, can't form new memories). Again, amnestic syndromes can improve with time, although there is a good chance that his memory for experiences immediately (or not so immediately) before the accident may never be quite the same.
Babar
You're right in one regard: Shit does happen and good people get hurt. But you are gravely wrong elsewhere.
Everyone is something special. Every single person that dies needlessly makes each of us that much poorer. Every single person has inherent worth, if not for what they are now, for what they might become. Maybe one day you'll understand; I just hope you don't have to go through something similar to what Jason is before you start to get it.
Your inability to show compassion for a stranger who has been hurt speaks poorly for you. Try looking beyond your immediate surroundings at the bigger picture, hey? There's more to the world than your immediate circle of friends.
Would you start caring if this Jason fellow had just figured out how to cure your mother's cancer just before the drunk driver scrambled his mind? In order for you to care, his continued health has to have a direct beneift to you personally? That's just the thing -- it does benefit you, only you're too blind to see it. His health benefits you, if for no other reason than his existence increases the number of minds out there working on the problems that affect you daily.
Even the bag lady on the street corner just down the road from your place benefits you. How? She inspires people who care to seek solutions to the problems that put her on that corner....problems that might have a bearing on your life as well.
-- WhiskeyJack, who sees no greater tragedy than wasted potential.
I'm not sure what else I can add to the conversation, except for the little bit of Jason I knew.
I met Jason Haas and Jeff Carr at LinuxWorld Expo in 1999, in San Jose. They were there to represent LinuxPPC, I was there for AbiSource. Our booths were about 30 feet apart. On setup day, they were nowhere to be found, and I wondered if their flight had been delayed. By the first day of the show, however, they had everything setup and a good crowd in their booth.
Through Jason and Jeff, LinuxPPC was even willing to lend AbiSource an iMac (running LinuxPPC, of course) to demonstrate AbiWord in our booth. Our little green iMac drew lots of attention those two and a half days. Later LinuxPPC donated a dedicated build host to AbiSource for automated builds and releases.
During a lull in the crowds (or near lunch, I don't remember), I wandered over to the LinuxPPC booth just to see what they were doing. It was there I spotted some of the portable Apple hardware running LinuxPPC, and was pretty impressed. I remember talking to Jeff and Jason about the video display, the PowerPC processor, the trackpad, external USB, and the battery life as they patiently fielded questions from other booth visitors--I didn't own a laptop, and at this tradeshow, one in two people had one. I wanted one, and these guys seemed to have an excellent plan.
So it turns out the PowerBook I'm using to type this comment came to me in large part because of Jason. It's an odd connection between the keys my fingers now touch, the smashed up cars in a junk yard in Wisconsin, and Jason, who probably doesn't yet remember LinuxWorld, August, 1999.
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I am glad this was posted. I was always under the impression that Slashdot was a community that may bicker and argue, but was still a community with a common good. After reading a bunch of the "why should I care" and "so what" comments along with the other negative crap, I am starting to doubt that. You all know if your beloved Linus had a misfortune like this, everyone would be acting a bit different. This is a person, and if you can't say something supportive, do your self and everyone else a favor and neglect posting.
I don't know Jason, but I have always respected his hard work. I wish him and his family a speedy recovery and good fortune.
Who is the master of foxhounds, and who says the hunt has begun? -Pink Floyd
My girlfriend's sister went through a similar accident several years ago. Similar situation, drunk driver in a pick-up ran a light and hit her broadside. A few months before her high-school graduation, her life nearly ended.
She survived, and in time she got better. There is a scar on her thigh that she keeps as a reminder, and there are slight traces of the head trauma she suffered - a little slur when she speaks too quickly.
She graduated HS on schedule, thanks to aggressive rehab and the help and support of friends, family and classmates. She went on to college and finished on schedule, with a dual BS in Education and Spanish.
Things may hurt a lot now, and there is a lot of fear now. But, it WILL get better.
Jason, I have never seen your work and I do not know the person you are. But I know that you make a difference. Not only to your immediate circle and loving wife, but to a community spread the world over. I hope that the people whose lives you've touched let you know this, over and again.
As for those out there that have ever driven drunk... Fuck You! You may think you're in control enough to drive, but that sort of arrogance just shows how out of control you are. Think twice, then think again. The cost of a cab or a phone-call to a friend (or a cop; it's not a crime to be drunk, only to drive drunk; they will help you get home) is much less than that of a life (yours or that of someone else).
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Though I don't know Jason (actually I've never heard of him before (I've never dabbled with Linux PPC)), I wish him well and hope he recovers fully.
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What strikes me about the articles are 3 things:
1) Cassie seems to holding up very well under the circumstances. Congratulations on handling what must be a very difficult situation remarkably well. I was amazed that Cassie still has the power to have some humor as she descibes her/Jason's situation.
2) Things like this should remind all of us how fragile our existance is. One second you're busy building cool software (or whatever else it is you're doing), caring for your familily, enjoying the good things in life, and the next you're in the hospital, your body and mind rearranged in very unpleasant ways. I think it's good to step back from time to time and realize how empty life would be without the people you care about (and how care about/for you). I'm as much as a computer geek as the next guy (maybe even more so), but it's things like this which from time to time makes me step back and look at my life, trying to figure out what's essential and what's not. Most the time it seems my software/technical side is essential and define who/what I am, but events like this one have a remarkable ability to make me doubt that. I guess what I'm trying to say is that no matter how fascinated with technology you are, don't loose sight of the fact that it's just one part of your existance. In the end, life is about (sharing it) with (other) people (and even animals).
3) I can't help but feel a dark fascination with the fact that such an accident can leave you seemingly lucid (ie: intact speech and vocabulary) but yet somehow detachted from reality. I think this in one way or another says something (interesting) about our cognitive processes.
Finally, this servers as an example what drunk driving can lead to. Just don't do it. Get on a bike or bus instead
Good luck, Jason; get well
Drunk driving is preventable. Jason's accident could have been avoided.
Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) accepts tax-deductable web-donations starting at $10. While I don't completely agree with everything they do, I support their primary mission of education and responsibility. I made my donation in honor of Jason Haas, LinuxPPC and Slashdot.org. There didn't seem to be a way of just tagging the donation with a name, so I sent an acknowledgement to:
(The MADD form requires something in all fields, so put something in the last name)MADD's donation page: http://www.madd.org/donations/
1998 Factoids: (from MADD's site)
I want to dedicate this small piece to his wife Cassie.
I did not know Jason very well, I saw his name a couple of time, but that's all.
What touch me in this story, is you (Cassie)... You seem to be a very strong person. It must be a really difficult time that you are going through. In one of youre e-mail you said that you need support. I'm sure that the community will do it's best to support you.
I know that it will be difficult for many month to come. I hope that the rehab will go well and that Jason will recover quickly.
When youre mood will be really down, don't forget that you have familly, friends and an entire community that is willing to help you.
Things will never be the same for you, I just hope that however different things are now, that they will increase in joy and happiness. You deserve this!
Hi. This is Jason's wife. Jeff Carr told me that Jason had been slashdotted (a fact that would have him bursting with pride, if he understood what it meant right now) and I've been reading everybody's comments. I just wanted to thank *everyone* who has posted their good wishes for Jason's speedy recovery. And for everyone who has complimented me on my fortitude and humor, thanks also. ;-) The fact is, I'm stubborn and prideful and I'd rather laugh than cry. For the person who made a donation to MADD in Jason's name, thank you for putting your principles in motion. I've considered sending them photos of the Civic for a promotional campaign, if they'd want to use them. I'll pass everyone's good wishes on to Jason. I fully expect him to recover, but it will take a long time and a lot of patience from the both of us. But I *did* promise him "in sickness and in health" and I meant it. -- cassie
Married to a Linux geek. Not Linux. Per res adversas firmitas.