Re: [9fans] Boyd's autopsy ...

[Uriel <uriell@binarydream.org>]

"The Great Man ... is colder, harder, less hesitating, and without
respect and without the fear of "opinion"; he lacks the virtues that
accompany respect and "respectability", and altogether everything that
is the "virtue of the herd". If he cannot lead, he goes alone. ... He
knows he is incommunicable: he finds it tasteless to be familiar. ...
When not speaking to himself, he wears a mask. There is a solitude
within him that is inaccessible to praise or blame."

He fought for what was right, now it's up to us to keep up the fight.
Next time we consider compromising, we shall remember and say "screw
em", and do the Right Think, even if it pisses of a bunch of shit heads.

I got a bottle of kernel hacker's Jack Daniels in storage to drink to
his memory if anyone drops by, Old Shand and the Glenda gang at WTH
already have tasted it, and I promise to bring it along when I go on a
US/OZ/JP gig.

I had a fantastic time in Paris, thanks Dave, Shand and everyone else
that made it possible, those days were some of the most special in my
life, I will never forget them.

Here is a photo from the first time I saw boyd, it will always make me
smile(and he was _really_ good with the yoyo! since then I always wanted
to buy him one, sadly I never got around doing it):

http://www.sslug.dk/moede/hygge/2001-09-08/pix/index?viewone=69

I remember to sit down with Rob was having hamburger, and when I asked
him about installing Plan 9 on a laptop without floppy(this was back in
3rd ed times) he said "I have a friend that is moving to Sweden, he is
around here, he can help you out, we setup some stuff for him to install
on his laptop that had the same problem, it's that guy with the military
jacket and the NSA cap", and I said "oh, _that_ is boyd?! I _knew_ it!"
"yea" "boyd  is a genius" I think rob disagreed on that last point :)
but I still think boyd was a genius in his own category.

Many people didn't like boyd, they didn't like him because he would not
take their bullshit, or simply because they could not understand him;
boyd and I were very different(I still remember how amazed he was when I
told him I didn't drink alcohol :)), but I like to think I understood
him, understood his pain and suffering because the world won't care for
doing things properly, and that I shared at least part of his
uncompromising spirit.

Shand said it best: boyd was boyd; and I will miss him, but his memory
will make me strive to be better and to try to be worthy of his
friendship.

RIP


P.S.: Sorry for the offtopic ramble, boyd always has been one of my
greatest inspirations, I always feel very proud that he considered me
his friend. I have been thinking a lot about him lately, the idea that I
failed to convince him to come to work with me, which maybe could have
avoided his fate, will haunt me for the rest of my days. So I just
wanted to share this with all 9fans.

http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/boyd/
http://www.cat-v.org/boyd/