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Rob Levin, lilo of FreeNode, Passes
Posted by
kdawson
on Sat Sep 16, 2006 04:54 PM
from the rest-in-peace dept.
from the rest-in-peace dept.
sneak was the first of many to tell us of the death of Rob Levin, known as lilo, the head of FreeNode and of its parent organization, PDPC. A transcript from the channel: ".:17:18:40:. [freenode] -christel(i=christel@freenode/staff/gentoo.christe l)-
[Global Notice] On the 12th September Rob Levin, known to many as Freenode's
lilo, was hit by a car while riding his bike. He suffered head injuries and
passed away in hospital on the 16th. For more information please visit
#freenode-announce
17:19:39==> Topic for #freenode-announce: Together with the PDPC board we are
currently preparing a general announcement, please also feel assured that we will
continue working with PDPC to ensure continuous service on freenode, in line with Rob's
mission." Richard Hartmann writes, I just wanted to add that we of FreeNode will create a condolence book. All wellwishes can be sent to condolences@freenode.net."
[Global Notice] On the 12th September Rob Levin, known to many as Freenode's
lilo, was hit by a car while riding his bike. He suffered head injuries and
passed away in hospital on the 16th. For more information please visit
#freenode-announce
17:19:39==> Topic for #freenode-announce: Together with the PDPC board we are
currently preparing a general announcement, please also feel assured that we will
continue working with PDPC to ensure continuous service on freenode, in line with Rob's
mission." Richard Hartmann writes, I just wanted to add that we of FreeNode will create a condolence book. All wellwishes can be sent to condolences@freenode.net."
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[+]
IT: Freenode Network Hijacked, Passwords Compromised? 414 comments
tmandry writes "The world's largest FOSS IRC network, FreeNode, was hijacked (for lack of a better term) by someone who somehow got a hold of the privileges of Robert Levin, AKA lilo, the head honcho of FreeNode and its parent organization, PDPC. To make matters worse, the passwords of many users may have been compromised by someone posing as NickServ, the service that most clients are configured to send a password to upon connecting, while they reconnected to the servers that hadn't been killed. Of course, if someone was able to nab lilo's password, every user password may have been ripe for the taking. The details are still unknown, but these events raise scary questions about the actual security of FreeNode and other organizations like it."
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RIP lilo (Score:2)
Re:RIP lilo (Score:5, Interesting)
I did respect him, and the work that he's done. While I disagree with a lot of the way he managed things, there's no doubt that he did what he did with the best of intentions. He will be missed as both a leader of the community and a human being.
I wish the staff well in the upcoming days and weeks -- It will not be easy. I would urge complainers, sycophants and jerks to back off for a while. Best wishes to his family and friends.
Emmett
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Rest in Peace :-( (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Rest in Peace :-( (Score:4, Informative)
Rest in Peace, lilo (Score:4, Insightful)
RIP (Score:5, Insightful)
My Condolences go out to his family.
RIP lilo
RIP (Score:3, Insightful)
WHAT (Score:2)
Just announced in #freenode-announce (Score:5, Informative)
'Passes' too bland a euphamism (Score:5, Insightful)
I've always despised death euphamisms, though. Trying to tone the tragedy down doesn't make it any easier to deal with for friends, families, or looker-ons. It also takes away from the importance of the death itself.
He's dead. The man was killed in an auto accident. It's a sad, tragic ending, but it's the truth.
Freenode has been a great asset to open source (Score:5, Insightful)
As a legacy, I'd say that's a pretty good one to leave.
"Passes"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I have heard "Passed away", but never passes.
Passed? (Score:5, Insightful)
But when it comes to journalism (or the slashdot equivalent), it comes off as silly at best and offensive at worst.
Rob Levin didn't pass. He didn't "Pass", pass on, nor pass away. He DIED, and he was KILLED. This isn't just death, but death in a horrible, violent, disturbing way.
Getting your head smashed in by an automobile and living for painful hours in a hospital critical care ward isn't gentle. It's horrible, and cruel, and ugly. Using gentle words to describe it doesn't make it any less so. It does us all a disservice by belittling the tragedy of what has actually happened.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm an atheist, but I have no problem with death
Re:Passed? ... obscure meaning (Score:2)
I thought it was referring to some sort of network bootstrapping using freenode. You soon realise the error, but then why have a title. "Died" is surely not of
Another one? (Score:5, Informative)
As a bike rider myself the first thing I thought of was the death in March [netbsd.org] of Richard Rauch.
This is sad news. My sympathies to his family.
Rest in peace, Levin (Score:2, Insightful)
Rest in peace.
He leaves the legacy of being a man who started and ran the IRC network that is by far the most popular network for free software developer communication, and an invaluable asset to the entire community. We thank him for his contributions, an
Why car drivers suck (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry for the strong language, but as a bike rider car drivers in America for the most part just totally piss me off. I have to spend my tax money attacking some random oil rich country so you can drive your SUVs, but you get all in a tizzy when I want a bike path so I don't have to worry about you hitting me even though I have as much a right to the road as you do.
Ignorant car drivers disgust me.
Roads more than drivers (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not just the drivers. Many roads seem to have been created with no real thought for cyclists. While this is particularly true in big cities (like SF, where the roads are insane for anyone traveling on them), even nice crunchy places like Santa Cruz make bicycle commuting a risky proposition, because they don't see cyclist-friendly roads to be a high enough priority. I can't tell you how many times I've nearly been annihilated because on-street parking forces me almost into the auto lane. Potholes, poorly-designed merge and exit lanes, and fast traffic signals turn a ride to work into a dangerous proposition.
Until there are more people commuting in bikes rather than cars, I don't see the situation changing for the better.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think it takes more people on bikes than in cars to change things -- there are plenty of places around the world where lots of cons
Re:Why car drivers suck (Score:4, Insightful)
It goes both ways; I've seen plenty of asshole drivers, but I've also seen lots of cyclists who insist on ignoring traffic laws. Just yesterday as I was driving home from work, sitting at a stop sign, a cyclist came up behind me and went through the intersection without stopping -- quick reflexes on the part of the driver who had right-of-way were the only thing that stopped the cyclist becoming a stain on the pavement. Moral of the story: no matter what sort of vehicle you're operating, when you're on the road the laws of the road apply to you, and you need to be cautious and observant.
Re:Why car drivers suck (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've also ridden bikes in Europe and the US, but noticed that in Colorado it's not too scary. It breaks down to this: if people have ridden bikes before, they pay more attention while driving. I currently live in a place where the roads are very narrow, t
Re: (Score:2)
They do this becasue the cell phone users are usually driving in the bike lane
I'm so glad California finally banned cell phones withou
Actually, there are more bikes. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
What he had to say about himself on Wiki. (Score:5, Informative)
User Rob Levin [wikipedia.org].
As the cars get bigger, bike riding is scarier but remains my only convenient daily exercise.
Gas Prices (Score:2)
requiescat in pace (Score:2)
What, no jokes? (Score:3, Funny)
Too bad he wasn't taking performance enhancing drugs.
Did anybody remember to delete all his child porn?
Personally, I liked grub better anyway.
RIP (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Mod Parent Human Trash (Score:2)
More Info (Score:5, Informative)
christel> Ok, first off, this is not a hoax
christel> Rob was riding his bike on tuesday when he was hit by a car, he has spent the last few days at the neuro trauma ICU at a local hospital
christel> where he has been in a coma
christel> the news reached us this morning that Rob passed away early today
christel> Rob is survived by wife Debbie and son Benjamin
christel> and we ask that you all respect their privacy at this difficult time
christel> Robs funeral is most likely to be monday afternoon, although we have yet to get confirmation as Debs is waiting to hear from the MEs office that it can go ahead as planned
christel> and for those local, wishing to show their respects at his funeral, we ask that you email staff@freenode.net and we will try direct you as we can
christel> We will take some questions now and try answer them in channel, it would be appreciated if those with questions message beu, and we will answer on channel
christel> thank you
christel> the first question we've had is "What happens to freenode?"
beu> to answer the "who verified this?" question, members of freenode staff have been in contact with Rob's family over the past few days
christel> it is Debs wishes that freenode keeps running as close to normal as possible, and we will be working with the PDPC board to ensure that the network keeps running
beu> we are currently formulating an announcement and hope to have it online soon, in addition to an online "book of condolences"
christel> it has also been asked why lilos client is still connected
christel> i am sure you will all agree that at this point in time, we feel uncomfortable killing his client and find the mere idea rather morbid
christel> Robs nicknames will be quarantined to prevent abuse.
christel> A lot of people have asked how they can help
christel> Debs requests has been that people who knew Rob could donate to PDPC in his memory, or those wishing to make a more general contribution could give something to a bicycle safety campaign in their area.
Re:More Info (Score:4, Informative)
18:03:10 <+christel> the first question we've had is "What happens to freenode?"
18:04:09 <+christel> it is Debs wishes that freenode keeps running as close to normal as possible, and we will be working with the PDPC board to
ensure that the network keeps running
18:05:04 <+christel> it has also been asked why lilos client is still connected
18:05:28 <+christel> i am sure you will all agree that at this point in time, we feel uncomfortable killing his client and find the mere idea
rather morbid
18:05:44 <+christel> Robs nicknames will be quarantined to prevent abuse.
18:06:01 <+christel> A lot of people have asked how they can help
18:07:07 <+christel> Debs requests has been that people who knew Rob could donate to PDPC in his memory, or those wishing to make a more general
contribution could give something to a bicycle safety campaign in their area.
18:08:32 <+christel> we will also try to coordinate so that we can get some things together for Debs and Benjamin, but at this point in time she
has no particular wishes in that regard. Those wishing to help his family however, are encouraged to get in touch with us per email
(again staff@freenode.net) and we will try connect you with those in the area that are coordinating support.
18:08:53 <+christel> "Should lilo's fellow Jews sit shiva for 30 days as is tradition?"
18:09:17 <+christel> I am not jewish, and I dont know much about jewish traditions, so i will leave that up to each and every one of you
individually
18:09:25 <+christel> "Where, as in city and state, would the funeral be?
18:09:37 <+christel> Rob lived in Houston, Texas and the funeral will be held there
18:10:08 <+christel> "was lilo wearing a helmet and was the car driver responsible? if they are responsible will they be charged?"
18:10:33 <+christel> lilo was not wearing a helmet, we are unsure at this point about what will happen wrt the driver of the car
18:11:30 <+christel> from what we know, it was a hit and run
18:11:37 <+christel> and the driver has not yet been found
18:12:51 <+christel> Any other questions?
18:15:14 <+christel> I am recieving a lot of priv messages, and I am afraid I can't quite manage to reply to each and every one of you at the
moment, but I would like to thank you for the support and condolences
18:16:36 <+christel> "will the name lilo still be in use on the server? be it as a bot, or otherwise?" We will q-line the nick to prevent it
from being used.
18:20:48 <+christel> it has been asked why lilos client is idle only 27 hours, the reason for that is most likely scripts running
Please wear a helmet (Score:4, Informative)
This is not to blame lilo in any way for not wearing a helmet, but please, let's learn from what happened here. Always wear a helmet when riding a bike. The speed you are going doesn't matter, it's the distance from your head to the ground, which is the same on a bike as it is on a motorcycle. My life was probably saved once because I was wearing a helmet when I hit a pothole after coming off a long hill. Bike helmets nowadays are light-weight and not at all dorky looking.
Again, the driver is to blame for this, not lilo. Doubly so as they fled the scene, when perhaps if they had stayed and summoned help immediately, lilo might have survived.
Rest in peace, lilo. My condolences go out to his family.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
WTF?
I don't see any informations on the circumstances of the accident, nor what happened to the car's driver. For all we know it could've been a mechanical issue with the car, or the driver didn't pay enough attention and is in jail, or anything.
I know t
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Who hit him? (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope the police are, so they can arrest you. What's missing in all of this are the details. Maybe Rob went down an embankment that was too steep and his brakes failed, causing him to veer into oncoming traffic causing an unavoidable accident for the unfortunate motorist who happened to be there. Perhaps Rob wasn't wearing a bicycle helmet, further complicating any head trauma. Maybe he was wearing dark clothing and cycling at night without any lights or reflective gear.
It's amazing that we live in an age where we have access to computers and, through that, to some of the world's best accumulated wisdom and knowledge. And yet there are still some shits like you who want to pick up the pitchforks and torches to arrange a lynch mob even when you likely don't possess any detailed information on the circumstances. But even if you were there and know everything firsthand, I still find your reaction a little too stuck in the dark ages.
Re:Who hit him? (Score:5, Informative)
BTW I don't agree with the GP, I just don't think "to err is human" applies here.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Probably people who read the subject 'Opportunity from Tragedy' - there's no opportunity from such a tragedy.
Re:Helmets & Accidents (Score:2)
hile I largely agree with your point about helmets, I was really surprised to see this research [bath.ac.uk], which showed that drivers in the study drove closer to the cyclist and generally increased the likelihood of a collision when the cyclist was wearing a helmet.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
More Bike Tips (Score:3, Informative)