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Lead Developer of Yum Killed In Hit-and-run

An anonymous reader writes "Seth Vidal, a lead developer of Yum, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while riding his bicycle in Durham, NC last night." The Fedora Project posted a statement. Quoting: "Seth was a lead developer of yum and the update repository system, and a contributor to the CentOS project as well as the original Fedora Extras system. He worked tirelessly on the infrastructure for the Fedora Project to make all systems work well and consistently for our contributors around the world. He was a gifted speaker, a brilliant thinker, a clever wit, a humble and genuinely funny person, and a good friend. The Fedora community owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Seth's dedication to Fedora and other free software projects, his commitment to community values, and his passion for excellence in his work. To say he will be missed is an understatement." Update: 07/10 00:24 GMT by U L : Local news reports that the driver turned himself in.

13 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. When you ride at night, by Spy+Handler · · Score: 5, Informative

    wear white.

    1. Re:When you ride at night, by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Informative

      blame the victim. i guess you think women in short skirts are asking to be raped?

      He's not "blaming the victim," he's pointing out a safety tip for those of you who don't understand the basic physics of how our eyes work, you Fuck.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:When you ride at night, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No amount of high-vis can protect you from stupid drivers. Given that the driver did not stop, I think we can assume that they place no value on the lives of others.

    3. Re:When you ride at night, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      White doesn't cut it at night.
      Wear reflective.

    4. Re:When you ride at night, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      He was a black guy with a suspended licence.

      Citation, you racist ignorant fuck? (note, recind that last part if you actually *supply* a legitimate citation)

      http://www.wral.com/man-charged-in-durham-hit-and-run-that-killed-bicyclist/12644209/

  2. Very short history of yum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    here.

  3. Re:There have been so many... by sideslash · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's worse than you realize. In fact, 100% of people who work on Open Source Software die.

  4. Hit and Run driver turned himself in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They caught the guy who did this.

    http://www.wral.com/man-charged-in-durham-hit-and-run-that-killed-bicyclist/12644209/

  5. Re:This is why... by scot4875 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If someone on a bike runs a red light or stop sign and they get hit, that's their bad and that's on them; they'll get no sympathy from me.

    If you treat someone on a bike like shit because you saw a random biker run a red light or a stop sign once (or twice, or 1000 times, it doesn't matter), that makes you a dick, and that's on you.

    --Jeremy

    --
    Jesus was a liberal
  6. Hit and runs are NEVER "accidents". by CalRobert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you hit somebody and leave them to spend their last gasping breath in a gutter, it is not an "accident". It is manslaughter, or if a prank as described above, cold-hearted murder. I hate, hate, hate the US' auto-centric point of view. Tens of thousands of people per year are killed because of it. It needs to end. I hope I can get permanent residency outside of that cesspool.

  7. Re:This is why... by Antibozo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yea, OK, so if you and your cyclists buddies want to get together and raise the money to pay for dedicated bike paths, I'll support using public land to build them.

    However, if you're like many of the d-bags around these parts who want their private bike streets paid for with my road and fuel taxes... You can go piss up a rope.

    You know that most cyclists have cars, and drive, too, so they're paying fuel taxes right alongside you, right? But when they're riding their bikes, they're using up a lot less space on the roads, reducing congestion and leaving more room for you to get around. Compared with cars, bikes contribute virtually no wear on roads, and areas paved for bike traffic cost a fraction of what regular rated roads cost, because of the dramatically reduced load requirements. When cyclists get where they're going, they will lock up to a bike rack that fits 20 vehicles in the area of a parking space, leaving more parking for you to put your car in. They're also reducing gasoline demand, which might slightly lower the price you pay at the pump. As a driver, you stand to gain in numerous ways from others' cycling.

    And fuel taxes don't cover the cost of the roads, anyway, mainly because they've been essentially stagnant while the cost of fuel increased fivefold. Drivers' use of the roads is heavily subsidized now by general taxation, so you don't get to point at cyclists and say they're the freeloaders.

    http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/01/23/drivers-cover-just-51-percent-of-u-s-road-spending/
    http://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/do-roads-pay-themselves

  8. you're victim-blaming as well. by SuperBanana · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's not "blaming the victim," he's pointing out a safety tip for those of you who don't understand the basic physics of how our eyes work, you Fuck.

    Yes, actually, the poster (we don't know it's a "he"...) is perpetuating victim-blaming of cyclists for their injuries and deaths. It's rampant in the US.

    1)The cause is unknown (ie, it's not known that visibility was the problem, so how he was dressed is moot) 2)The onus is not on cyclists to dress in a particular way, the onus is on people with the very nice headlights on the front of a very deadly machine to operate that machine properly and be able to avoid a 6 foot tall, 3 foot wide object in the road traveling in the same direction as them 3)In stories like these, people (especially those who don't cycle) take it as an opportunity to condescendingly lecture those of us who do, about how to ride our bicycles. Seth, for example, was apparently an avid cycling advocate, which means he was damn well aware of how to ride "safely", probably knew the laws better than most drivers, and almost certainly had lights, which means he was plenty "visible."

    In almost every story about cyclist injuries and deaths, the comments are hateful, vile, and portray the problem as being everything from cyclists merely being present, to how they behave (despite the fact that drivers are at fault in the vast majority of crashes, as numerous studies have proven), to, yes, how they dress. We're apparently at fault if we're not dressed like psycho day-glo clowns.

    Let's take a look at some of the comments on TFA, shall we?

    • "they don't belong on the roads."
    • "Riding a bicycle at 9pm on a major road is a statistic about to happen. How many people are going to have to die before laws are changed concerning cyclists?"
    • "Did the bike have lights? Was the man in night riding "bright" clothes?"
    • "If a bicyclist is going to be riding at nights - you need some kind of reflective wear so that the vehicles can better see them - I'm not taking sides, but I've driven on roads at night and have passed bicyclists and could barely see them"
    • "the car driver might not have been in the wrong...a bike, at 9pm is close to invisible, especially with glare of oncoming headlights."
    • "he should have been wearing reflective clothing too..I didn't see anything in the article about him wearing reflective clothing..."
    • "I hate seeing cyclists on the road! roads are too dangerous for bikes, period."

    Now do you understand why the comment wasn't appropriate? The comparison to rape victims is quite accurate; rape victims used to be blamed for going out at night, or not having a "friend" (male) with them, to not carrying self-defense devices, to being dressed "like that."

    I was just struck by a driver recently. The ER doctor finished up his exam by instructing me to "ride defensively" and "bike carefully." I had been operating legally and prudently, and the driver in a split second cut me off and stopped - blocking the road. There was nothing I could do. I was a victim. And the ER doctor was lecturing me, implying it was my fault for not being "careful" enough.

  9. about those taxes by SuperBanana · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dear Richard Allen Black,

    "my road and fuel taxes"

    There's no such thing as a road tax, and fuel taxes don't pay for roads. Not even close, because they haven't been adjusted for fuel efficiency nor for inflation since before you were born. In almost every country, roads are paid for by property and income taxes.

    Second, your car (especially if you drive an SUV or pickup) causes wear and tear on the road. My bicycle does not. Your state has one of the highest highway death rates in the country, so while my bicycle doesn't cause property damage, injury and death...your car sure as hell does, and at great cost to others and the state.

    Third, you live in Montana, which is in the top ten in terms of states which take the most in federal taxes relative to what the federal government spends on you. You're leeches, by a ratio of 2:1; you pay $4k in taxes and the federal government spends $8k on your stupid, ignorant ass. Those roads you drive on? You didn't pay for them, hick.

    Where's my rebate check from you and your road-damaging, federal-tax-leeching "d-bags"?