Nerds in Mourning: A friend, father, and founder leaves us
Most of you probably don't know of the organization called The Nerdery (http://www.nerdery.com). They're a group of 120 nerds in Minneapolis who are technological wizards - building mobile apps, web apps, legacy apps - any app you can imagine - they've probably built it. And you've probably also seen their work out there in the interwebs, too.
They're also the creators and sponsors of The Overnight Website Challenge (http://overnightwebsitechallenge.com/), where once a year 10-15 development teams of 10 people each gather together to donate 24 hours of their time to build websites for local non profits. That's well over 2500 hours of hard core hacking, donated for FREE, to groups in need, every year. This organization has done good - a lot of it.
Most of you didn't know Luke. Some of you did. Some of you might know someone who worked at or works at The Nerdery. Some of you might actually still work at The Nerdery. Either way, Luke was a guiding force that made, makes, and will continue to make The Nerdery an awesome place to work for people who love code, technology, and all things nerdy.
To quote my friend and former colleague @malbiniak: "He proved that you can build a successful business, based on passion, and maintain decency in the process. The more sincere the effort, the more genuine the return. Best. ROI. Lesson. Ever." That defines Luke, and the team at The Nerdery.
I'm a relative newbie here, and realize I run the risk of getting flamed for this post. There are other tragedies in the world, all deserving of our attention - not just this one. But the dev community in Minneapolis is mourning right now, and so are members of this (Hacker News) community, and I don't really give a shit if posting here pisses someone off.
If it's your thing, head over to http://blog.nerdery.com or http://www.lukeandginger.com/, or follow the conversation on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23LukeComeHome.
Also, please take a moment to read the thank you messages for the search and rescue teams involved in this effort: http://thanks.lukeandginger.com/
I run the risk of getting flamed for this post.
This seems to me to be a perfectly appropriate place for a memorial.
Apropos of which: Is it inappropriate, in a memorial for a wonderful hacker, to point out that the web is obviously incomplete because it doesn't yet contain an obvious, recognized spot for memorializing wonderful hackers? Or, for that matter, memorializing anyone else?
Since I myself would be honored if people spent a portion of my memorial service in a design debate, preferably one fueled by high-quality pizza and beer, I'll go ahead and plant this idea here. May someone wiser than I make it work.
An online memorial site is a pretty tough challenge in social media design. It poses big moderation and privacy problems, and it would have to be monetized... delicately. Very delicately, lest the ghost of Jessica Mitford haunt everyone involved.
http://www.mitford.org/nytimes.htm
Because different people grieve in different ways, and I suspect a non-zero number of "us" will want to know more about the incident, I offer the following two resources, not for macabre voyeurism, but for those who want to perhaps understand more of the technical details. I know that these sites have been helpful to me in the (fortunately very few) times in the past when I've lost pilot friends of mine.
The FAA site will likely have the basic data posted tomorrow: http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/prelimina...
The NTSB will have a preliminary report in a few days, and a final report will be months in coming: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/AccList.asp?month=10&year=2010
If those resources are helpful to just one person close to Luke and family, it was worth the 5 minutes it took to post this.
http://blog.nerdery.com
http://www.lukeandginger.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23LukeComeHome
http://thanks.lukeandginger.com/
I am sorry for your loss. It sounds as if the world has lost a decent person who used his gifts to give something back.
As I am sure many here will agree, it is always a tragedy that someone so talented should pass before their time, especially under these circumstances.
My condolences are with the family and friends, for all their losses right now.
Seeing your reply reinforces what I've observed in amazement today.....we're all connected in some way, just trying to get by, do good work, and offer a helping hand whenever we can. It's a small world, indeed. Thanks much Rand - I'll pass this along.
I hope his family finds solace, and strength. My heart goes out to them.
Thank you for posting, and sharing this tragic piece of news. I know everyone at HN will appreciate it.
to the HN community in general, please use this as an opportunity to keep things in perspective. we're all out trying to do amazing things, and those things can pull at our resources -- time with family, friends, and other things that keep us centered. luke was incredible about supporting our life work balance, and i hope you guys and gals on the front lines remember to do the same. take care of yourselves.
last, to your point about the thanks site, this one really stuck out: http://thanks.lukeandginger.com/index/detail/id/324
Thanks for the support, HN.
I had not heard of Luke or The Nerdery before but reading about both now is quite inspiring. Sounds like a fantastic company ran by a great guy.
http://blog.nerdery.com
http://www.lukeandginger.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23LukeComeHome
http://thanks.lukeandginger.com/
R.I.P Luke you were an inspiration.