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Unix Guru Evi Nemeth Missing, Feared Lost At Sea
14erCleaner writes "Retired Colorado professor Evi Nemeth has been missing between New Zealand and Australia since June 4, along with six others on their racing yacht. Nemeth, 73, is known as the primary author of the definitive Unix systems administration guide and for other works on Unix and Linux system administration and cryptography."
I'll get my coat
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Must have found Jurassic Park and forgot his Unix book :(
I'll have a yacht.
Anyway personally speaking I'd rather go out with a smile and a laugh than sobbing hordes.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Missing ].
Thith ith in very poor tathte. I'm tho very thorry.
..... to the fithes!
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
she finds out I used to write marine GPS software...
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Really - I can't be the only one.
Have they tried putting a picture on milk cartons?
find /ocean -name *evi*
Perhaps she's trying to actually read the UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (which, ironically, has a picture of an overburdened sailing ship on the cover... foreshadowing?).
I'd probably be missing for a few weeks, too.
All kidding aside, I hope for the best, and if the worst be the case, I hope she went smiling.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
That really sucks.
I'm currently doing Systems Administration in Antarctica. I got my first professional network administration job in Boulder, around the time that the "Yellow book" came out (2nd Ed. of the "UNIX Systems Administration Handbook," Nemeth, Snyder, Hein, et al.). The book got me boostrapped for work in NeXT and SunOS administration. I've been to six continents, and have worked in IT for 20+ years. I owe a lot of my life's earnings and experiences to what I learned in Nemeth's texts.
Godspeed, Evi.
When working on Unix systems, it is easy to get lost at C. Let's hope she'll hack her way to the coast.
Video of some good progressive thrash music
a 3-hour tour
Aliens picked them up and took them to a better place.
Someone not aware of Gilligans Island?
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
According to the (poorly written) Wikipedia article she taught at my Alma mater. Must not have been around my time - a class with her would have been awesome!!
So her and Jim Gray?
WTF, Computer Science?
No, it's a reasonable assumption given the actual Unix writer demographics and given the somewhat non-descript first name.
But absolute proof that a poster hasn't clicked on any of the links in the story --- all three of which describe Evi as female and the Wikipedia bio including a photograph.
It is pretty clear that it is a she. Evi is the familiar form of Eve (Évi and Éva with Hungarian spelling). That her names is Hungarian is clear from her last name Nemeth, which is a common Hungarian last name, corresponding to an archaic spelling of "german". (Németh, originally from "néma" or "mute" in Hungarian).
The last time I was in her office (which was many years ago) I noticed the sign on her desk:
Don't postpone joy.
She didn't. From the gusto with which she threw herself into her work to the whimsy that led her to recycle a jet fighter's cockpit canopy as a window in her improvised mountain home, she never hesitated to find a smile or a laugh.
So if we've lost her -- and I hope we haven't -- then we've not only lost someone who's been the mentor to an entire generation of system admins, we've lost a unique, wonderful, fascinating person.
p.s. I'm well aware that there are co-authors of those books. I'm equally well aware that Evi did the heavy lifting.
And I admit, I also thought she was a guy. She probably has baskets full of letters and emails with "Dear Mr Nemeth, ...".
Evi Nemeth, we owe you!
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
You repeat yourself.
Wikipedia is one of the worst parts of the standardization/normalization of the web.
Futurist Traditionalism
Wikipedia says her luxury yacht was named "Nina", which might sound something like "Minnow".
Although I hear that she pronounced it Throat-Warbler Mangrove.
#DeleteChrome
Evi has been my closest contact at CU over the years. She was always a good friend and administered the scholarship I set up there. I am very sad but hoping to hear good news from my NZ friends. Evi was a very important person when it comes to Unix and Internet routing.
OK a new size TV
Very sad. Gay "marriage" gone terribly wrong. My heart goes out to all the lesbian community, and all others who enjoy the strap-on lifestyle.
C. Her name is Evi. All politically correct folks no that evi is a woman's name. However, you will note that she is
1) old
2) white.
Therefore the Canonical Insitution of insane political correctness has determined her life is meaningless, and she is in fact evil.
She also spent her life doing nerdy things. How gay is that. The correct life that she should have led would to have been born black. If she could not manage that she at least should have allowed herself to be impregnated by multiple black men who would subsequently abandon her, and allow her to raise her kids on her own. This would help to mitigate to overwhelmingly hostile environment that poor inner city black youth have to cope with today. The only good cracker is a dead cracker. Or a cracker pregnant with a superiour (black) offspring.
U will note that I mispelt almost every single word. This is in keeping with today enlightened view on grammer and spelllin (mainly that it is gay). Real men go to prison, not college.
Ohh yea. If you disagree with me, you are a racist.
-Y do i try?
James martin lost at sea as well, what is going on?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/28/james_martin_found_dead/
I read the first three words and I was like "aaah" but yes, sad story. Hopefully she turns up alive somewhere, she has written some great books.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
But would this submission have been successful if there'd been no opportunity for soulskill to mention his beloved Australia?
As notable as she may be, other people notable in the same fields die every day, yet we rarely see mentions on Slashdot.
If Nemeth had been lost at sea in, say, the Carribbean, or died in her bed at home in the USA (or wherever), we wouldn't be reading about it here.
Is this good or bad?
Linux System Administrator Guide put together by her among other people has been one of my favourite books during my teen years, and I learned quite a lot from it. Well written, funny in places, and explains how to do things really well.
People still go out on the open ocean in such small crafts without a distress radiobeacon. That's just not sane or responsible in this day and age.
I just googled a bit for further information about the ship and came across a rather interesting thread: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f121/schooner-nina-merged-3-threads-105498.html
It appears the ship is equipped with an EPIRB that hasn't been activated apparently. Perhaps they really are just offcourse and not lost.
John Galt got him.
I started CU at the tail end of Evi's career when she was, as she put it, "on sabbatical buying a boat." In five years in the classroom, I only got to hear one guest lecture from her. Yet through the passing interactions and from the smiles of respect every student gave her, I could tell Evi was a great person.
I remember an open meeting about improving things in the CS department. At one point, we decided to have a students-only brainstorming session for a while. "All the professors leave and come back in fifteen minutes. Except Evi, she can stay." That's the sign of someone with a lot of social capital.
Here's hoping a decade of sailing has taught Evi enough to get out of this jam. She's certainly taught many of us how to keep afloat in the cyber seas.
[previous post was accidentally anonymous]
I started CU at the tail end of Evi's career when she was, as she put it, "on sabbatical buying a boat." In five years in the classroom, I only got to hear one guest lecture from her. Yet through the passing interactions and from the smiles of respect every student gave her, I could tell Evi was a great person.
I remember an open meeting about improving things in the CS department. At one point, we decided to have a students-only brainstorming session for a while. "All the professors leave and come back in fifteen minutes. Except Evi, she can stay." That's the sign of someone with a lot of social capital.
Here's hoping a decade of sailing has taught Evi enough to get out of this jam. She's certainly taught many of us how to keep afloat in the cyber seas.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Gah! One of my other favorite professors from the University of Colorado is named Jim Martin. You had me very worried for a moment.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
I was in a NATO Navy for some years, and have seen more than one scenario like this one unfold. Although there definitely may be some individuals clinging on to a lifeboat for dear life, I would consider the Nina lost. Not implausible for such racing yacht in the roughness of the Tasman Sea in ( local ) winter. Reports mentioned rough seas of up to 8 meters. I guess in the front(s) the Nina has had to endure, gusts could have easily gone over 80 knots. Under such conditions, a racing yacht as low on the water as the Nina can go down in a matter of minutes... The Aussies and especially the Kiwi CG are doing all they can, but the Tasman Sea measures about 2,380,000 square miles... At this point, anything less than a miracle is to be ruled out, and any miracle highly unlikely. Rest to their souls.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
An Island lost at C, oh.
Anyone else read the title as "Unix guru evil nemesis missing, feared lost at sea"?
I had the good luck to be at CU in the late '80s when Evi was teaching the most important class of that time (IMHO). They used to call it a "weed out course". As a self taught computer nerd (TRS-80 color computer BASIC), her class introduced me to the reality of serious computing. She taught us how to make efficient use of the machine. From simple linked lists to binary trees through sorting algorithms to B+ trees. We wrote our own data independent data structures and algorithms and then would submit them to her for a pounding from all sorts of data. I liked her class so much I took it twice ;-)
I remember one afternoon sitting in her office debating the boundary conditions of one assignment and also having to go to the blackboard in front of a class of 50+ students and being asked to write the code for dynamically allocating a three dimensional array in C.
She really made an impression on me and I will always remember her brilliance and kindness.
Does anyone else remember her teachings at CU?
Posted on the cruisers forum:
Current from Australia Maritime Safety Information current at 300000 UTC JUN 13 Issued by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) Part 1. Distress, Urgency, CQ and Safety Messages: PAN PAN FM RCC AUSTRALIA 260143Z JUN 2013 AUSSAR 2013/4000 TASMAN SEA RCC AUSTRALIA REQUESTS INFORMATION REGARDING SIGHTINGS OR COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE WHITE AND GREEN 60FT SCHOONER RIGGED VESESL 'NINA'. THE VESSEL HAS 7 POB, AND WAS ON A VOYAGE FROM OPUA NEW ZEALAND TO NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA, LAST KNOWN POSITION 33-50S 169-41E 04 JUNE 2013. REPORTS TO THIS STATION OR RCC AUSTRALIA VIA TELEPHONE +61262306811 INMARSAT THROUGH LES BURUM (POR 212,IOR 312), SPECIAL ACCESS CODE (SAC) 39, HF DSC 005030001, EMAIL: rccaus@amsa.gov.au OR BY FAX +61262306868. NNNN
So this is why they're still looking in NZ. Last known position was north of the center of the storm which means she would have been initially blown east if she'd been dis-masted or her crew was otherwise set adrift on June 3-4th. One thing I don't understand is given this position, why would they have been guided to sail south, towards the center of the storm in order to "get out of this nasty weather"?
Notice that they aren't too far from an intense white spot (thunderhead?) in this photo. Could they have been guided from inside a relatively localized thunderstorm towards the eye of the storm?
I just noticed the date of the Pan-Pan alert. I wonder if the standard for PanPan broadcasts is Zulu time or local time and if so, what locale? Anyway by midnight June 4th Z, the storm was right over them and then sending them south should have reduced their time in the storm but it would have risked giving them a fierce headwind and driving them back to New Zealand if they were disabled.
Enhanced satellite image with last known position of the Nina on June 4, 2013. (Arrow drawn to approximate position.)
Not so. Did you not notice that you are commenting on a post by Steve Wozniak? Or do you not know who he is? And for him to say she is important? Do you have no idea who Evi actually is? How many lives she's touched through decades of teaching computing, mentoring system administrators (thanks, Woz), and traveling the world teaching system administration and networking? And those are just the people who know her personally. Then there are countless others who have relied on her many books and don't even know if she is she or he because they didn't get to hear her talk at a conference. Nonetheless, sites like slashdot don't function except by the graces of those who have probably used her books at some point.
Hopefully still is, shipwrecked on some island with her electronics dead, but it's not sounding good. I first met Evi back in the 80s at Usenix conferences, and she was an amazing person, as just about anybody who knew her will tell you.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I remember James Martin's seminars in the early 80s - hugely influential.
But while he drowned, he wasn't lost at sea; he was near his retirement home in Bermuda. Sad.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Too many years in sciences, I read Nina's last known position as decimal. I think the alert was in DD-MM so -33 Degrees, 50 minutes and 169 degrees 41 minutes which is -33.8333 169.68333. It also isn't as far south as in that photobucket image I posted earlier, but is very near the center of this MODIS image for June 4th. If you go to this website you can zoom in and out and change the date and be amazed at how rapidly this low forms a circular storm and moves east leaving a whispy trail of high-wind clouds. The best resolution MODIS imagery is around 250mm so little chance of seeing a boat but NASA/NOAA night imagery might be able to pick up ship lights if they are particularly bright.
Personally, I think he's being optimistic.
I would *like* to be optimistic.
- - -
The father of an 18-year-old on board the missing American schooner Nina believes it may be just days from making port in Australia.
Ricky Wright's daughter, Danielle Wright, is one of seven people on board the 84-year-old wooden vessel, which was on its way to Australia from Opua in the Bay of Islands.
The crew have not been heard from since June 4, when Nina was about 370 nautical miles west-northwest New Zealand.
Mr Wright told news website KATC that he estimated Nina was currently just four or five days from making port in Australia.
He based this on a satellite phone message from the vessel which had only recently been received because it took weeks for the US government to authorise its release due to privacy laws.
The message said Nina had passed through two storms in early June and had damaged sails from high winds but was still making headway at 4 knots per hour.
"My prediction is they are making 3 knots, and the storm pushed them north of where they thought they would be," Mr Wright said.
"The main search area was south of where they are."
Read more at: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/263599/missing-yacht-near-australia-father-says