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Hemos is Homeless
So just as proof that life doens't stop when you go to a conference, Hemos got email this morning from nate informing him that
his house burned down [?] last night. Now some rooms are missing and there is extensive smoke and water damage. Now the geek compound is 25% smaller. On the plus side, both Nate and hemos are safe and insured. Update: 10/16 11:05 by H : And to make matters worse, Chris DiBona threw my cell phone in a bucket of water. On accident. But it's pretty ironic.
Yeah, I used to code by candlelight, too. I used
to have a massive candelbra on the top of my
monitor. Had to give it up, though. Hot, dripping
wax and CRT's don't mix too well.
So much for ye olde romantic age. (When
men were men, women were women and penguins
just ate herring).
If you're going to get a fire safe instead of using an offsite safe-deposit box, be sure you don't cheap out. Most of the ones in the department stores and home centers are rated for one-half hour -- in a lot of places, it'll take that long just for the fire department to show up. One- and two-hour fire safes are expensive and a little more difficult to find -- try the larger home improvement warehouses like Lowe's and Home Depot.
Besides, safes with a longer time rating will keep things cooler inside the safe for a short time -- after 45 minutes, a two-hour safe will be a lot cooler inside than a one-hour safe.
I wonder what would be more survivable, CD-Rs or tape media?
30,000 people lost their lives in Turkey after massive earthquakes there, 3,000 people lost their lives in Taiwan... Sure a house fire sucks, but please excuse me if I don't exactly feel sorry for you...
Tom Petty's house burned down around 10 years ago -- taking his music collection, a lot of guitars, his studio, all sorts of tools of the trade. Yea he was insured, and yea he was rich, but it still really sucked.
So, his first gig after the fire, in LA, the lights go down, he comes out on the stage, the spotlight is on him, and he says:
They burned down my house. (holds up guitar) But they didn't get this. And then the band starts into an incredible set of deliverance.
In your case, your house is burned down, but slashdot.org is acccepting connections -- may it be your own deliverance.
If this incident doesn't convice everybody of the dangers inherent in fru-fru scented candles and bath beads, I don't know what will.
Don't even get me started on the dangers that lie beneath the plush exterior of every stuffed animal. They are killing machines!
Seriously though, glad no one was hurt. Things can always be replaced...
Yes it has to be. Damn you Bill Gates!
Chris logging in from the slashdot booth at als
i feel really bad for him and all, but donations? isn't he pretty well off with /. and all? iw ould rather donate my money to a homeless shelter where people have no place to live, rather than someone who does have a house with a few burned up rooms...
Check out who made the match. "Thank you for choosing Microsoft for your fire needs. We hope you will find our product to be one of the finest available. WARNING! This match is incompatible with users of non-microsoft software! If used such a person, their house may burn down. Also exercise etreem caution around Java based matches."
They will be up later on.
Yeah, I'm that guy.
Nope - all of the computers are in the office *whew*.
Yeah, I'm that guy.
I don't know what experinces you have had with the
red cross but everything I've heard about them
(except for their TV Commercials), says that
their a money grubbing instution that takes advantage of Natural Disators.
First Off I have been told by many people in the
medical profession that when you donate blood
to the red cross they sell it and make quite a
large profit off of it.
Another thing which I have been told many time
is that when you are a Volunteer like my grandad was and they show you reciving drinks, food etc as a volunteer they charge you high prices for them. Of course they don't show that on T.V.
It isn't like the red cross needs to rasie that much money. Everything the recive are donation and they don't pay volunteers for their time. I will be the first to admit that the money they make
probably dosen't go into the pockets of the heads of the companys but would some one please explain to me where it does go then?
I don't really know if the other stuff I have heard about them is true so I won't bothering posting it. But I beleive that those two things
among themselves are bad enough.
(Before I say what I wanted to, my condolences to Hemos and Nate... may you find shelter with a computer running linux with a relatively fast internet connection soon.)
Nate: I burnt half the geek compound down.
Hemos: Oh my God! All my source code - it's GONE! Burned up with my Harddrive!
Oh wait, all my stuff is Open Source (tm)! It's quite a possibility others have downloaded a recent version of my source code from my computer!
Ahhh... thank god for Open Source (tm)!
* Hemos smiles at the screen with a thumbs-up.
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
Good luck rebuilding! Every home is filled with memories, knick-nacks and "stuff" that make it unique. These are the things that are hardest to replace in a disastor like a fire. No money will recover them.
So please accept the Blessings of Oak and Maple; Oak for strength, and Maple for renewal, and it's side benefit, something sweet.
ttyl
Farrell McGovern,
Druid, The McGoverns.
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
Yes, there are some people who have no real humanity. IT is best to learn to determine the 'worthwhile' people and hang around them. Luckily (at least in this part of the country) there are a lot more worthwhile people than heartless bozos.
I think you are wrong. /. over other sites is the sense of belonging to a community it transmits to the readers. ... are people they know personally.
Part of the appeal of
One of the best ways of achieving this is make the readers feel that CmdrTaco, Hemos,
Therefore a few articles about their personal lives only adds to that atmosphere, and is quite usefull in that sense.
"holy smoke!"
-lee
I had something similar happen about two years ago. Good to hear that no one was hurt.
Some advice: a lot of hotels will let you stay
for a week or two at a reduced rate. I lived
in a hotel for about two weeks while we cleaned up
the mess. It's still no fun, but at least you
don't have to crash on someone's couch until the
place is liveable again. And insurance will
usually cover at least part of the hotel costs.
Every geek compound must have a digital camera because it's cool. Surely with the flat panel displays and gadgetry in the geek compound you've got a digital cam. Why not use it to show us the damage?
You're obviously well-meaning but a question like that is probably too personal and none of our business to be asking of our Slashdot hosts at a time like this. I can only imagine what a hassle it must be for Jeff... and I hope I never have to go through something like that. Let's stick to wishing him well but not trying to pry too deep, OK?
, Past that If Larry would like to change my job description to read like that, I'd be totally cool with that. Larry?
Chris
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
Who's the dumbass? Both the comments you referred to were posted BEFORE Hemos let us know he was insured. Flamebait stinks. bradley
Does it? I'm buying meself a sack of onions and a bunch of Thomas Hardy novels extra quick, then... :)
"Be nice, veer left, and never stop thinking" Iain Banks - Walking On Glass
Hay (alfalfa and grass) and mulched grains are put into the 'cigar tube' silos.
More typically stored in bunkers of a sort- three tall walls filled with a mound covered with a plastic type tarp, a loader drives in, scoops what it needs and goes to feed the critters (animals).
Of course, this is possible region specific, to Michigan.
Also, grain dust explosions is due to the fact that flamable materials are made into tiny particles, increasing the burn surface area.
Moist hay can heat up and spontaneously combust if it isn't ventilated, due to decomposition. Two different phenomena.
No need to wrap this up in fluff. Subject says it all.
/* MAGIC THEATRE
ENTRANCE NOT FOR EVERYBODY
MADMEN ONLY */
Do you have pictures available so we Nosey Parkers can see how bad it is?
Good luck. Hope that the insurance adjustor gods are kind to you.
I've seen Halon installations (at one wire-pulling job, a very large PBX switch with battery pile had a hard-piped Halon setup: "no smoking in here, gents, unless you want to walk out through an oxygen-free cloud.."), but it's less appropriate than you'd think for computer equipment. Quite aside from any effect on the ozone layer, the stuff can delaminate circuit boards. Computers don't run so good that way.
And, Nate, now you know why even nonsmokers should carry lighters.
Ok Mark this post down if you want. #1 It sux to lose your stuff like that....sorry to hear about it #2 It shouldn't be posted here for sympathy? If that wasn't the motivation what was?
======== In the future, everything will be artificial. ========
There is no reason to ridicule them for being unable to do anything when they're not even there.
To clarify, I didn't intend to ridicule or suggest that they were posting instead of calling the fire department. I did find it striking that one of their immediate after-disaster priorities was adding the datum to Everything.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
People, please leave the residents of the geek compound alone for awhile. half their house just burned down! And don't complain if in the next few days submissions get processed alittle slower.
Gee, I don't know about that. It looks like they posted to Everything while waiting for the fire trucks to arrive.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
This is a really bad thing. I think its completely retarded how half of the posts on any serious topic here on Slashdot, even VERY serious ones like this, try to be witty and clever. Quit trying to get those Funny points and quit posting for the hell of it.
Nothing like a big pair of black steel-toed size thirteen stompers, I think.
But anyway, I hereby add my voice to the sympathetic crowd. Sorry bad stuff happens to good people. If ya need 'em, Hemos, I'l loan you a pair of my boots. (never underestimate the importance of proper footware!) And my copy of Micromachines 2 to run on all the 386's people are offering you.
Leapfrog (who's bored, at work, in the middle of nowhere Iowa, at 18:30 on a Saturday.)
It's just one of those things. Everyone takes less care than they should at some stage. Hope you didn't lose too many personal items.
That sucks. At least no one was hurt. Now, let's hope you had replacement insurance instead of normal insurance, because then you'll get almost nothing for your trinkets (e.g., CD's). Yet another advantage to using MP3's: just back up your collection in someone else's house. =)
--
Kyle R. Rose, MIT LCS
[ home ]
Anyone who lives next to the MAE East and has a 9 to 5 job is a nut. Rush hour begins at 6AM, is impassible until 10AM, lunch hour makes the area impassible from 11AM-2PM, then impassible again from 4PM-7PM. That whole part of Northern Virginia is one large traffic jam.
I encourage Northern Virginians to move to Laurel, MD, the "Silicon Trailer Park."
Looked around, I somehow managed to find Hemos' web page.
/. your bank account...
http://hemos.net
...click on the 'write' stuff at the bottom. Nifty.
Hemos - don't let it get you down. If you need donations, I'm sure we can
- Darchmare
- Axis Mutatis, http://www.axismutatis.net
- Jeff
...But sometimes it's easy to get worked up - these people are soiling the rest of our gene pool.
;>
I can definately see where fire might be of use in some cases, though.
- Darchmare
- Axis Mutatis, http://www.axismutatis.net
- Jeff
We had a fire on Christmas one year. Faulty electrical wiring behind the stove lit it up, the house was totaly destroyed. We were off at relatives at the time. I can't believe it but the firemen risked their lives to throw presents outside trying to save our Christmas. I can tell you though that nothing in my life has been more heartbreaking than sorting through all of those presents and trying to clean them up so my four year old neice could have something. Yes, they are life changing experiences -- if you think you're paranoid about security on your Linux box then well, you've got nothing on those of us who have had fires in our homes. We all seem to turn into Fire Marshal Bill.
:/)
Hemos & Nate: I don't have much, but I've got some boards, ram, duplicate Floyd CD's, books, etc. It's a bitch starting over, but you get there, I'm sure the community would respond if you have any specific requests, especially for those things that insurance can't replace (I lost my PDP/11 programming manual (among other things), just try to find one of those
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.
You know, I think most people know who you are by now. You can change your sig now. ;-)
What do you mean, 'Grow as a person?' If you asked Hemos, he would probably tell you that he would much rather his house had not burned down, and he would gladly trade his newfound 'growth' for the possessions he just lost.
I could be wrong, and I don't speak for him. Just a hunch.
*cuts off your legs, arms, other extremities* - Let's see you lift that rock now, eh? Or anything at all for that matter...
Beware Bromides. Getting your house burned down sucks, plain and simple - there's no positive side to it. Insurance skyrockets, valuables are lost, effort has to be wasted rebuilding.
It wasn't marked down - it was posted by an AC and hasn't been moderated at all (at least not as of when I'm typing this)
God does not play dice - Einstein
Not only does God play dice, he sometimes throws them where they
--
--
The Internet is the Suppository of All Knowledge. You get it in the end.
A candle? Do you code by candlelight? What century is this again? :)
Any geeks, male or female, feeling homeless or just traveling through the midwest lemme know and you can sleep on the sofa bed in my living room. I love having visitors from all over. :)
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Leaders of the Geek News....
I feel sorry for your loss. I have had relatives and friends in the same postion and it is not a good one. The only saving grace is that you had insurance. Not that it will get your stuff back (and all the memories they had) but you will not be homeless.
Good Luck,
Scott
Scott
C{E,F,O,T}O
sboss dot net
email: scott@sboss.net
Scott
janitor
sdn website family
email: scott at sboss dot net
Yeah..how about donating to me? My house hasnt burnt down due to stupidity and the company that bought my "simple-in-concept" web site isnt about to put out an IPO nor did they pay me oodles of cash just to keep misspelling common words or post stories that dozens of other web sites have already posted.
Hemos, get a new roommate. A smarter one.
It's not that hard. There were several people at work who have "accidentally" flushed their pagers down the toilet. I can't imagine how that could happen. ;-)
TSIA.
Wires Central is the name of my workshop. In 1992 my workshop burned to the ground and my home was damaged. The city condemed it and the people who were dealing with the insurence didn't folow through :(
:)
The short version of the story is 4 months later I got an appartment. Thankfully my friends helpped me through it all.
Anyway thats sad to hear...
Everybody lets comfort Hemos and help him through this....
Hugs and best wishes to Hemos from Das evil Felinoid type person
I don't actually exist.
As a 5th-year architecture student , I hereby offer my design services free of charge. Of course, you'd need to pay my way from VA to MI, and I can't actually get licensed for another 3 1/2 years, but that's beside the point. ;)
Seriously though, I'm sorry to hear about your house. Good luck getting things sorted out.
Man I hope you truly have insurance, but at least everyone's ok.
:).
Maybe someone has an extra PC you could curl up with
Tadghe
Bugs Bunny was right.
just post and let us know. We can donate hardware and corn chips :)
Only yesterday they had a fire safety prevention at our "All People Meeting". Among the tips: "Watch what you throw in the trash."
No, I'm not trying to be funny. I think its just a little ironic, with October being "Fire Safety Month" and all...
BTW--I agree with what some other folks have posted. Stuff like this doesn't seem to belong on Slashdot...it seems a little, well...personal. But I guess what you decide to post is your choice...
My journal has hot
if you need anything, let me know.. or any of the /. crowd for that matter.
my thoughts are with you,
~mina
I'm out of my mind, leave a message.
But remember, Hemos:
Only a ninja can kill another ninja.
That really sucks, Hemos... but the same thing happened to my girlfriend 2 summers ago, and while it was really tough on her family (especially since she has an autistic brother), once the insurance money came in they got everything back and more... now their house is much nicer than it was before, and everything in it is brand new... including the 2 home theatre systems with Dolby 5.1 surround :-)
The only problem with it was that they had to live in a trailer that the insurance company put up in their front yard for 6 months.
"Software is like sex- the best is for free"
Damn, this is ironic. Look at this post from Hemos last night:
gampid writes "The BBC has a story about the Casino-21 project which is running a SETI@home type program for climate prediction. " I'm a booster of Distributed.net, but this looks pretty cool as well. I dunno global warming just gives me the creeps anyway and I'd like to know if my house will be underwater.
Sorry 'bout that, I just thought it was ironic that he would post that last night.
"Software is like sex- the best is for free"
Hemos-- very sorry to hear of the damage to the Geek Complex. Perhaps you can attempt a Beowulf cluster out of all the old stuff people want to give you. It might not be worth it, but it's a heck of a lot better than doing nothing while waiting for rebuilding. ;]
;]
Slightly offtopic...What goes into a Geek Complex, exactly? My friends and I have a half-baked idea to make one. We're not sure why. We never are. We can't afford it anyway. What's it like living with three or four geeks? How much do you spend on junk food a week? Do your cars cost less than half what your computers do?
If any efforts are organized to help out, I'd be glad to pitch in any way I can.
Can't sleep, the clowns will eat me...
Not to mention some of you losers overloading the ... oh no, wait, that's me, sorry.
poor elderly power circuits in your apartment building with four computers, five monitors, an air-conditioner, scanner, hub, modem, powered speakers, toaster oven all from one wall outlet near the phone socket
Chris
This situation makes me wonder (as an admin in job-life) about the importance of things like off-site storage multiple redundant backups and the like for home data. It seems to drive the point home that we may have just as much important information on our home pc's as at our jobs.
Of course, having not scrolled through the complete list of responses, some four people probably already mentioned this. So I guess I should just go stuff my head up my $ORIFICE.
Oh, and sorry to hear it guys.. but I must admit i laughed damn near to urination reading the blurb in blockstackers. nice to see a sense of humor in such a situation.
-fester(ing)
-'fester
Ah okay, I was not aware of that. I knew why grain silos explode (the same reason taco bell creamer will give you seven foot flames). I just had never heard of hay spontaneously combusting, wierd.
The whole hay thing might be region specific , no clue. I'd just never seen heard of hay silos.
I thought it was dust that caused explosions et. all? Or is that just grain silos? Hmm.....
Of course Hay silo sounds kinda silly, Maybe hay barn? Or grain silo?
Usually you get that sort of thing from the people who are atheist to "get back" at some vague (society, god) or specific (their parents) target. The people who are atheist because it makes the most sense to them usually don't, because they know that they have no material in particular to argue _with_, other than that other religions don't have any material either. So no, I don't respect rambling atheists ;)
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
Hemos is Homeless, His house Burned Down. (Point at him and laugh)- Sign By a collection plate at the /. Booth at ALS.
Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est
I'm glad that no one was hurt. I can't say I know how it feels, but hopefully nothing irreplaceable was lost (pictures, keepsakes, etc.).
Hope everything works out as well as it can for you Hemos.
"I swear I won't break you if you let me take you where the willows never weep" -- Switchblade Symphony
I am sick and tired of atheists ranking on religion whenever a tragic news story is posted to slashdot.
User: "I pray for the victims of that terrible accident."
Atheist: "Nope! No prayer for me! No God for me! You must be a fool with that prayer stuff -- I don't believe in God! Don't pray; it's stupid!"
I have no problem with you being an atheist, but for our collective sake please don't be an anti-theist (sp?). Religious flame wars like this are the worst of all.
For more information, click here.
i don't know about you but no house i've lived in has had sprinklers. maybe apartments do though?
I took it apart, and left each of the boards on a vent for a few hours. Didnt help any..
/. poster #104543567
-stax
I dropped my nokia in the toilet once. Sent it back to nokia and they replaced it for free. didnt tell em about the toilet part though. (no, there was not anything but water in the toilet, thanks for wondering though)
/. poster #104543567
-stax
are there any pics of mae-east? i'd just love to put one up on my dorm room next to the TWO crashed seagate harddrives(brand recognition folks!!!) and my other amusing stuff :)
-niteq
Hey, if you would like some help with cleaning up i'm stuck over at gvsu with absolutely NOTHING to do. Drop me a line if you want.
-niteq
If I had a nickel for every time I dropped something electronic (phone, gameboy, portable cd player, etc.) into water and then was able to fix it with a hairdryer I would have...well at least $.25 or so. Before coughing up the dough for a new phone, see what you can do with it. Most electronics are waterproof, as long as there isn't any water-soluble glue or structural cardboard in it chances are pretty good that it will work again.
--
Win98 sux without these 1337 toolz !!
Does nate smoke grass :)
:)
Does he have any pets?
My old flat saw the wrath of a wild candle, I had to make the choice the pet or the laptop.
The chinchilla lived (he is sleeping right now, hes sooo cute) and I (*thankfully*) dried-out a wet IBM HDD which also lived its saved life, in a replaced laptop
The old XPi-CD survied from a slight rear melting and still lives to this day!
ells
(who knows what the insides of a crispy DELL CPi looks like)
Err, that's FUD about vegetarianism, I think you should know. Carl Lewis (e.g.) is a vegetarian, and he's one of the greatest athletes of all time.
"Oh, I hope he doesn't give us halyatchkies," said Heinrich.
Old houses tend to have problems with wires inside the walls where theres lots of dry wood. The only
way to prevent that is to make sure the fuses and circut breakers are correct and are in good working order. Houses in the late 1940s with the seperate wires wrapped in cloth need about 5 or 8 map fuses. The slightly newer wiring with is rated at 10 amps and most places with grounded outlets orignaly installed (1970?) use mostly 15 amp circuts. (ok these numbers are for the US 120V system, not the Euro 220 or the Oz "fry'em 240 +/- 20%")
There is a good book called "The National Electrial Code" in libraries for thouse hackers that want to play with more than 3.3v.
A few years ago on one of the news groups there was an off toptic posting from someone whos washing machine started a fire. He tired to put the fire out with a gardent hose but as soon as the hoses to the washer got too hot, they burst giving him no pressure where he needed it. He recomneded putting a shutoff valve where you can get to it if you need it. Hopefuly no one will ever make use of his advice but there are a few houses now that have this little feature.
If you write for slashdot I guess getting Flamed is par for the course ;)
"Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Haha dont burn yer house down but we got neighbors like that and they got no mufflers on their cars. 1AM down the road and they say they can hear my mp3s.
Think like a person of action, act like a person of thought. --H. Bergson
I believe what we see with that is similar with some of the more derogatory ramblings of theists. Though I am an atheist, it is not my duty to convert others, and therefore I rarely have debates about it (and when I do they are calm and constructive, not angery). Indeed, religious discourse is a truly evil thing, and some atheists get it into their head that because they aren't religious then their form of antireligionism is not an evil thing.
There are people on both sides that are unable/unwilling to think very deeply.
(Quick explanation: the kicker of the movie takes place when the main character's apartment blows up and he ends up homeless. But there's more spookiness, which I won't spoil here.)
"There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."
Hemos, did you lose any computer equipment or gadgets? If so, my condolences.
If not, look on the bright side: it could have been your COMPUTER man!
"...there is no such concept as God."
There may be no proof of his existence (none that I know of) but there is no evidence that She doesn't exist. No need to flame his religion.
Disclaimer: I said there MAY (Might) be no evidence. I don't know of any. No need to flame me for being uninformed.
My thoughts will be with you, Hemos, as you recover from this very sad event. Godspeed in putting this terrible event behind you and moving on with your life. Once again, I wish you the best of luck.
--
Scott Brady
--
Scott Brady
Hemos, you're welcome to come live in my dorm room. Your choice of the bathtub or curled up under my desk. Either way I'll think we're gonna have a great time.
Sorry to hear about the house and the phone Hemos. I hope you can get things sorted out pretty quick.
You didn't insult any strange voodoo women lately?
Which reminds me - many a hay silo has been known to spontaneously combust due to the high temperatures of rotting with nothing to check their increase. Now that's vegetable danger. :)
I eat vegetarians.
OFTC: By the community, for the community
Ok I won't complain. :)
:)
I'll just note that the five topic icons at the top are for articles 7,8,9,10 and 11.
OFTC: By the community, for the community
Sorry dude. That's a loss I never want to have to face (part of house). But don't you have a regulation sprinkler system? :)
OFTC: By the community, for the community
You've obviously never heard of a forest fire :P
OFTC: By the community, for the community
But you gotta be not-too-smart to throw matches in the garbage before they cool properly. I learned that one pretty early.
TheGeek
Geekrights.org
TheGeek
http://www.geekrights.org
Kill the monkey
Condolences. Glad no one was hurt. Here's hoping whatever you get into next is five times as cool. You could stay with us until then if you need to--just say the word.
Sorry about the fire, Hemos. This is very sad news, and thankfully no one was hurt. Wish I could help.
Nitrozac
Nitrozac
Well, what's the punch line ??!!
What did the priest say when he saw the church was on fire?
Sorry to hear about the house, Hemos. Glad you guys are okay, though. I'll gladly donate a partition of my Linux box if you guys need anything mirrored or served.
--Idjit
GET FREE APPLE STUFF!
I've never had it happen to me before, but one of the kids in our band did. He would just go to sleep where his room used to be, looking up at the stars... :)
Good luck with this one. If you need any help, I can't give much, mebbey an old 486dx processor is all
Target
There's a 68.71% chance you're right.
dude, hasn't this happened to hemos before?
is he just a walking fire attracting geek or what?
ERROR: Keyboard not attached. Press F-1 to continue.
And me too. And guess what, the socket has no ground... and the computer is networked to the whole house. Fatalities so far: One Matrox G200, destroyed by being zapped by the VGA cable. I also get zapped myself everytime I connect the stereo to the soundcard - its a wonder that both are still un-fried.
;-)
(i know, rant
-
__
Comment submitted. There will be a delay before you understand what you posted.
yes but since hemos is not dead (thank the prime cause) he now has the opportunity to grow as a person, thats the bright side of this. and a much more important one than any amount of stuff.
Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on earth.
his house burned, thats a fact. now because his house has burned hemos is better capable of mentaly dealing with any other loss that comes later in life. (and they will, life sucks, its not my fault) to understand the original statement you need to learn to think beyond your stuff, all one needs to live a happy and full life are some beans, a lantern, a cup, and a large peice of pottery to sleep in ( a barrell will work as well) the important things are friends and loved ones. and hemos didnt loose any of these ( thank the prime cause).
Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on earth.
what does not kill you makes you stronger,
(god i wish i know this in german)
Pound for pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on earth.
If there's anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm just glad nobody got hurt.
So /.ers...who has an old pair of bell bottoms to donate? :)
haha this is just a thought, wouldnt it had been funny if the moderators decided to get to this story because they simply didnt believe you !
Fair enough it was an accident, i think we all accept it but we all want to know this ! are you going to buy him a new phone ?
Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh nervously and change the subject.
..have too much faith in humanity (with regards to both compassion and intelligence). Don't get so worked up about it. Not quite worth it. Most sane people likely won't give a damn about such emotionless whelps, anyway..
~ Kish
I feel for you. My house burned down and the only possessions that survived were the shorts and t-shirt that I was wearing. What sucks the most is all the stuff you can't replace, let alone put a dollar amount on. Hopefully your insurance agent is as good as mine. He helped make the pain go away with a check that blew my mind.
I have a big bag full of two cents and I'm coming your way.
I hope Hemos didn't have a Compaq running some sort of Windows because I've seen those things spontaneously combust. No joke... one of my friend's network cards blew up while his machine was on... could've burned down the place if no one was home. =)
So, there I was, flood waters rising on the Red River, Dyke about to burst. Even though my apartment building was yards away from the dyke, I was on the third floor, so, i figured, ok...I'll load up my computer and a few choice belingings, just in case, and hop in my car and drive on out to my parents place where there is no danger and wait it out. Well, sure enough, the dyke busts and floods the downtown (Grand Forks, ND, remember the floods back in 97?), but it doesn't reach the third floor, of course. Whew, thought I, safe! And then the fire starts, burning my building to the waterline! True story, and a cautionary tale: renter's insurance is a Good Thing (tm), even if "It can never happen to me."
Excepting of course he was in a different state and his friend, Nate, burned his house down. Or are you too busy to read for comprehension?
Doesn't anyone have anything to say about the poor cell phone? Wireless data? The poor thing..
Someone mentioned that pictures of the house be added - why not add the choices of the females?
I have five boxen plugged into one outlet, but monitors? Why would I need monitors on my basement server farm? (all 3 BSDs and Slackware represented in the pile-o-boxes)
And the extension cord they're hooked through is 8 gage.
I thought the same thing. Instead of "Fight" Club, it would be more like "Geek" Club. He's already got tens of thousands of followers in Slashdot, now all he does is need to give us all homework assignments. Where's he going to find a Bob though???
Its karma, Kramer.
It says right in the news that he's insured
Sorry about your loss. Nothing like the smell of burning computers to make a person start to cry. Just remember.. It's ok to cry! Crying picks up chicks anyway... Nina
All big things in this world are done by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible. --Dr. F
I don't know you, except that you're one of /.'s founders. (BTW Thanks for that) Since I have experienced a home fire too, I empathize with your situation. I hope I can lend a supportive voice. I didn't lose my whole house, so I am not in any way trying to say "I know how you feel".
The carport outside my apt. was torched by an arsonist in 1990. The place went up really quick. I was all too tempted to run back in and grab the 386/25 (a killer system back in the day), which was on loan from a good client.
Thanks to the firemen, the apt. didn't burn down. I lost my car, and my high-school teachers' Altair 8800 that was in the storage locker. The car seriously needed to be burned down anyway. =) Then there were the items of sentimental value, geez, I don't really remember what they were any more. Maybe I'm not such a sentimental guy after all.
The Altair was, practically speaking, irreplacable. I always wanted to restore it till it could boot again, just like when it was originally loaned to me. Something my parents hardwired in me - return what you borrow in good condition. Because of the fire (and my unwillingness to kick down serious $$$), I have been unable to do that.
I moved away from that apt. the following month. I guess my point is that there was loss, and it was life altering, and I didn't like it one bit. Overall, the whole experience made me a stronger person, and I am glad for that. Today it is OK, and I am writing code on a much faster box in a much bigger house. Some good came out of it, like the new car, although it was very humiliating having to tell Mr. Geekteach that I didn't have his Altair 8800 to return to him. I guess I still have a few centimeters to go on getting over that one.
I dunno what else to say. I guess there isn't anything else - sorry for your loss (or is it just a change?).
Thanks - I've got my parents close by, so I might crash there. Until I wanna by on my own.
Yeah, I'm that guy.
Most geeks are already pale, skinny and malnurished as it is. If we all become vegetarins we will look like the people in Somlia. Besides I don't want to live with any one that has to eat
beans to stay alive.
Found it odd last night that Hemos' most recent post ended with "I'd like to know if my house will be underwater."
Well, anyway, best of luck to Hemos in rebuilding.
--
I had something similar happen about two years ago.
Good to hear that no one was hurt.
Some advice: a lot of hotels will let you stay
for a week or two at a reduced rate. I lived
in a hotel for about two weeks while we cleaned up
the mess. It's still no fun, but at least you
don't have to crash on someone's couch until the
place is liveable again.
Hemos, I hope you're insured and backed up. Let us slashdotters know if there's anything we can do to help you out.
bradley
Yes it did. Sometime during college. If memory serves me, it was the summer of 97.
He lost a hell of a lot in that one. Several computers and things.
I agree with you there. I lost everything in a fire about 6 years back: All of my artwork written words, films I hade made, music I created. It was such a big deal, that it sent my life into a tailspin for a long time (while I figured out why all the work that I spent my life thus far doing was destroyed).
During the fire, I spent my time risking my life trying to keep it under control while the fire dept got there.
A few months later a friend died while trying to rescue the people in his house when it burned down.
But I recovered, things are even better than before. Fire is the great cleanser, but it still rocks one deep to your core: for example you will never smell things burning the same way again.
The point is: lets try to have some compassion towards others. I know that in the 90's it is hip to be snide and cynical, but I just think (from experience) that it is a way to deal with what we are afraid of.
my 1/4 cent. thanks for listening.
Its nice having a home webcam to check on whenever out of town to know at least if the important connection is still up...
So, if his house is toast, he oughta travel the world in style and put on these conventions. The ALS once again had excellent accomodations... marble floors, grand pianos, limo service, free tshirts, and did I mention free stuff?
The people here at the ALS always do an outstanding job setting us up. Here's my thanks!
That's actually somewhat how Habitat for Humanities (I might have the plural backwards on that) works. People volunteer their time and a bit of money to all pool together and build a house for someone who desparately needs it. I think they tend towards helping people who have suddenly hit on hard times, such as, well, their houses burning down and their insurance not being able to get them back in a home again. Hopefully Hemos's insurance will cover the partial damage which occured, though.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Quine "quine?
Homeless... I thought his shell account got cancelled...
/me shivers at the thought
Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
Isn't it ironic that only a few stories ago Hemos was saying about the global warming distributed computing effort "global warming just gives me the creeps anyway and I'd like to know if my house will be underwater" ! (Unless he knew about at the time!)
rm -rf / is the evil of all root
it's not often that you hear about somebody's house burning down. Sorry hemos, nate. If you're looking for a place, there's a real nice apartment building here in VA next to mae-east. I figure you can put on your ninja clothes, and run some fibre in the dark of night. At least gigabit inernet will make you feel better.
-earl
After the Andover.net IPO, Hemos can afford a huge mansion.... perhaps like the one Bill Gates has. Just make sure the bathroom is Y2K compliant .
Seriously.... I hope everything turns out ok for you, Hemos.
Quoth the Penguin, "pipe grep more!"
>>I never heard of vegetable waste catching fire.
Obviously, you weren't quite the twisted pyromaniac I was in yougnger days.
The oil in orange peels burns like the bejesus.
Anal Correction Mode on.
Habitat for Humanity is not plural.
Anal Correction Mode off.
I have volunteered for Habitat near where I live, and they tend to build housing for those who cannot afford it, I'm not sure if they do repair work (although they do buy abandoned buildings from the gov't and fix them). I believe there is some income restriction to be elegible to buy it, but if you can it is a good deal. (If you call a required 400 hours of working on Habitat jobs good... I do.) Low cost housing, with no interest.
I would encurage everybody to volunteer to help out. Quit banging on a keyboard for a few hours, bang on nails instead.
Insert wit here.
If there's anything we can do to help, all you have to do is ask.
This is just yet another example showing the dangers of closed source house construction.
If this house had been constructed using open source development under the GPL, NONE of this would have happened.
After, NOTHING ever developed by the open source community has ever crashed and burned. Of course, you have to twist bare electric wires to turn your lights on and off, but think of the STABILITY and SECURITY of a home built using open source ideology!!!
(Yes, I'm being a sarcastic troll.
Sorry to hear that your house burned, Hemos. I've had it happen twice when I was growing up and lost my first computer and a ton of good books from the second fire. We lived in a VERY old house with bad wiring...
Just couldn't resist poking some fun at the OSS nazis after reading the response to the Loki contest.)
Past that the whole house thing -sucks- those pictures are heartbreaking.
Chris
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG
Co-Editor, Open Sources
Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
7) Port a Quake II client to a mobile robot platform, and network it to your PC.
8) Put 1 Kg high explosives in each room. Fires are put out by explosions. Deprives them of fuel and oxygen.
9) Build the house underground. Underground fires are much rarer. :)
10) Buy up some SDI lasers, and target them at fire hazards. If any show thermic activity, vapourise.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Good point!
:-)
:-)
On the other hand, the last time I looked, there weren't any trees in the rubbish bin.
Although this wasn't intended to be serious, I guess propensity to catch fire is related to aeration and low water content, neither of which hold in the compacted and very wet environment of discarded vegetable trimmings.
Hey, maybe the Eat Healthy lobby should use this in their advertising: eat healthy or your house will burn down!
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
... because most junk food comes in paper wrappers. :-)
The moral of the story is, change your diet to a healthy one. I never heard of vegetable waste catching fire.
[Morgaine pushes pizza box deftly out of sight.]
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
They're at ALS damnit! Jeeze. They're great people. You should meet Taco and Malda in person. They were great fun to hang out with. No pretentions at all, they're just normal people trying to be friendly and run a good site for everyone. They were happy to chat with people and got annoyed when they were treated like celebrities. There is no reason to ridicule them for being unable to do anything when they're not even there.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Quine "quine?
Sorry to hear about the fire, boys. I'm really glad nobody was hurt.
On a lighter side there are several ways it could have been prevented (written in a manner to hopefully avoid hurting nates pride even more):
1) Cases of penguin mints. Can't start a fire while you're sleeping if you don't sleep.
2) Cases of Mountain Dew. Good for refreshment and dosing fires.
3) Eat only Peanut Butter M&Ms. Their wrappers are plastic and won't catch fire in the trash so easily.
4) Move from the Geek Compound into the Geek Fortress. An old missle silo would do - concrete doesn't really burn well.
5) Hemos. Oh wait, this isn't a poll.
Learning from other's mistakes is much less painful than learning fro other peoples, so /.ers might all take this as a reminder to check their basic fire safety - batteries in smoke detectors, extinguishers charged, outlets not overloaded by plugging six boxen and monitors into one outlet, and so on...reminds me that I've been wanting to set a fire safe to put backup tapes in. (Yeah, if I was doing really important stuff I'd have offsite backups, but like most of us I'm in good shape if I remember to have backups at all.)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
I'm somewhat afraid that my house will burn someday, with all the computers and peripherals plugged in. I did a little research and found out that the best way to reduce this risk is to make sure your computer, power strips, etc. are resting on some sort of non-combustible material (my stuff sits on a sheet of steel). A rackmount type rack would be most ideal, however those are a bit expensive (though they may be a good investment anyway). I also twist tie the wires and cables coming out of the back of my computer together and have them travel in bundles to a location. This way I hope to minimize any chance of dust collecting. Dust improves the change of a power arc from one line to another, which can start a fire. Anyone else have any suggestions?
Cute and elligible female to shack up with.
I just *KNEW* the slashdot flamewars would go too far one day!
That really sucks, and I'm sorry to hear it.
I know how you feel. About ten years ago, a roomate of mine and a friend (of his) were using a plastic bag as an ashtray. Burned out one room and destroyed most personal belongings on the top floor. The worst part: I was renting the condo from my mother.
Fortunately, while I lost every stitch of clothing except what I had been wearing, the computer and stereo, both downstairs, were unscathed. (I lost a record player, though, remember those?)
But in the end, it was probably good for me. It drive me to live alone for the first time in my life. It drove me to quite the job where they had troubles paying me on time Events like these can be learning experiences. They aren't necessarily all bad. (When it is just property that is lost.)
And now the real question. Is your insurance policy "Replacement value" or "Actual Cash Value"? That is one of the things I learned the hard way. For those who aren't in the middle of this, you want the former as it saves you huge headaches.
The cake is a pie
No one got hurt - and thank you for the kind words.
Yeah, I'm that guy.
When you rebuild/redecorate your house, how about making it open-source. Sort of like the Kasporov vs. The World Chess match - but instead, The World redecorates Hemos' house!
Just think of the opportunities: Slashdot green walls in the computer room, DustPuppy themed vacuum cleaner cupboard ...
On a serious note, I hope nothing irreplacable like photos were lost.
People, please leave the residents of the geek compound alone for awhile. half their house just burned down! And don't complain if in the next few days submissions get processed alittle slower.
--
Having experienced my house burning down, I find it suprising to read the remarkable calousness of some of these replies. I can say, confidently, that it altered the course of my life. In some ways, it was good, in others, simply tragic. By the age of 27 I'd built a library of some thousand books. Two thirds of them were lost, including a hand written journal covering about 5 years. My filing cabinet containing many, many documents that were, to me, priceless, gone. Keepsakes from my dead Grandfather. Furnature that I'd build by hand. Photo albums and personal drawings, all gone.
I suspect that most of the people replying here have not experienced a house fire, if they had, the tone of the responses would likely be very different.
Perhaps it wouldn't be too much to ask that people posting to this news take a minute to think over what their feelings would be if they lost their most cherished, most irreplacable keepsakes.
Take it from some one who's been there, fires build character, they steel you for the rest of your life.
pjr