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Auto Accident at SANE Conference Kills One
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.
Shit. I know one of those guys. It's messed up to read something like that on /.
Yesterday I was demonstrating on the dam square in Amsterdam with some of the people involved. I want to express my deepest respect...
It's really very sad and depressing to find that the first ten or fifteen comments of this article (yes, I browse at -1 level) are all offtopic and attempts at first post.
My deepest sympathies to the family of that person killed.
This is very sad and my sympathy goes out to the family but I don't understand why this is news? Were these important people or people I should of heard of? I'm not trying to sound trollish, I genuinely don't understand why this is news or what influence these people have as to why we should mourn them. Could someone enlighten me?
What a terrible loss. My deepest sympathies to the bereaved family, and hope the survivors return to health quickly.
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
Too true. For a period in the early 1990's at my old job, I was part of a core of 4 key people (company even had 'key man' insurance on each of us). No more than 2 of us were allowed to travel on the same flight on business trips.
Knowing hans since 1999 this is a real shock :( Condoleances to everybody who knew him :(
We'll miss you!
-- Cliff Albert
In 1980 I remember my computer science professor saying his profession was the safest in the world - since no Professor of Computer Science in history had ever died. I believe it was true at the time.
I regretted using the words why should I mourn this person, I mean why is this one slashdot and not say kids in iraq or sudan, or the guy who was shot in the park the other day etc. And I don't mean that in these people aren't more important than others tone either, I just don't know who these people are. Its like if you burst into a room and said Fred Smith died yesterday!!, you'd probably be met with blank stares and then asked, just who was Fred Smith? I think it was a reasonable question, just maybe a little poorly worded.
At 11:32 CEST i read a message on IRC from a friend that our buddy Madeddie was taken into a hospital in France. At that time i though it was a sick/silly joke, to realize 4 hours later that it wasn't a joke and that one of a fellow IRC regular was involved in the accident and died. I only hope that Madeddie and Webmind both are ok and back home soon. Madeddie, if you read this ... BETERSCHAP!
My condoleances to Hans Bakker's family and gf.
I didn't know Hans well but we hung around in the same IRC-channel. My deepest sympathy goes out to the family and friends that suffered from this tragic loss.
Also a get well soon for the other guys in the car...
/(bb|[^b]{2})/
Hans Bakker was the organizer of several NE2000 camps. Ne2000 is a yearly event where about 200 people show up with their tents/campers/caravans and plug into the network, it's a fairly open source oriented happening. I've seen and spoken Hans around there although I wasn't a close friend of him or anything. He has also participated in several open source projects.
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.
I hate these kinds of comments. Something bad happens and someone points at something slightly relevant but totally random thing that could with great effort be interpreted as... well... dunno what you'd call it.
Is the ad there because of it being related to an auto accident, or because it's about Free Software?
- These characters were randomly selected.
This is Slashdot - we well know the power of distributed community. Accidents like this are very costly ordeals, typically even with insurance. Can someone with the ability to make disbursement to these individuals (and the family of Mr. Bakker) set up accounts via PayPal (many mixed opinions, I know) or bank local to their residences for contributions and post the details?
Any spoon would be too big.
I never met Hans, however, after hearing this I browsed his website. It feels like going into someones house after they've died. Very sad. You know that that "under connstruction" banner will stay there forever.. I hope archive.org will pick up the site before the ISP drops it in the coming months (if they do... who knows who's hosting the site).
Thanks for WAN, thanks for NE2000, thanks for your company on all LAN parties we shared, and your company in the Beiaard. And not to forget, IRC.
Rest in peace.
I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
So many people die every day in tragic circumstances that bear no comparison to this like sudan. I felt more pain over this than I did over sudan, and I don't even know what project this guy was involved with.
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.
Photos.
Let me introduce you to my family...
/.er on here that is happy because this event happened and of the few jokes I've seen have none have been negative/insensitive.
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
Blessed be he who reads this post, Cursed be he who tells my boss.
It's a good question, and I think the answer lies in how much of your life was tied up in the life of the other person.
." .....
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 or various other locations shown by google
blog.sam.liddicott.com
What a fitting tribute to someone who was a big part of our community... on the day of his death, we slashdot Hans' personal web space.
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
It used to be (before a new workload came crashing down on everyone) that occasionally a large group of us would go to lunch together in one guy's Suburban (nicknamed the War Wagon). The head of the division (who knows the network back and forth and one of two people with access to the firewalls and high-level ACLs), the head of security (the other guy with access to the firewalls and high-level ACLs and backup IDS man), the primary IDS guy, the head of the networking team, the head of the database team (and the only one who knows some of the more archaic systems), and the head of the remote access team, together with a couple of us peons, would all load up in the War Wagon. One day, the driver had to swerve to avoid what could have become a very bad accident, and we spent the lunch wondering how the rest of the division would recover from the loss of seven or eight people, five of whom were key to operations.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
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.
"The Milliard Gargantubrain? A mere abacus - mention it not."
However, with all of the SUV bashing you see on this site, it should be mentioned that they are the safest vehicles on the road.
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.
Hans was my friend. I knew him in real life. /. eventhough he is not here anymore and unfortunatly it is not a positive way to be on /.
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
However, with all of the SUV bashing you see on this site, it should be mentioned that they are the safest vehicles on the road.
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
First, let me say that your post re: religious comments within this story's thread was about the fairest of those objecting to such comments.
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.
"I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
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.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Troll -1, Here I Come!
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)
"" How about taking the safety labels off everything, and let the stupidity-problem solve itself? """
I don't see any now. Your moderation system at work. It's not immediate but it does it's job very well.
A Biblical explaination can be found if you do a search for Intercessory Prayer.
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.
I strongly agree. In meta-moderation I have a much higher bar for 'funniness' than I do in real life only because of the problem you mentioned. I was afraid my concerns about "funny" moderation being too easy to obtain were only minority concerns, but you got +5 by voicing yours. That makes me want to step forward also.
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