[HN Gopher] Wikinews mourns loss of volunteer John Shutt
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       Wikinews mourns loss of volunteer John Shutt
        
       Author : slondr
       Score  : 184 points
       Date   : 2021-03-01 04:34 UTC (18 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikinews.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikinews.org)
        
       | foolinaround wrote:
       | too young to go... RIP
        
       | QuesnayJr wrote:
       | For HN readers, he's probably most famous as the inventor of the
       | Kernel programming language. We just had a thread about it two
       | weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26162673
        
         | oxymoron wrote:
         | I think this explanation of the core ideas in kernel deserves
         | more attention: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26170536
        
         | miloignis wrote:
         | Oh my gosh! I found his Kernel work so inspiring, I, like many
         | others, implemented a version in a hobby project. I was always
         | happy to see his comments when I was reading Lambda the
         | Ultimate, excited to see his always carefully thought out and
         | unique perspective. I'm sad I'll never be able to chat with him
         | directly about his ideas. Learning he was so prolific in other
         | areas isn't surprising, but it is impressive. RIP to a great
         | mind, and best wishes for his family.
        
         | bawolff wrote:
         | As someone who used to hang around wikinews a lot, its both
         | interesting and in a way sad, to only find out about Pi Zero's
         | other interests after he passed. I know we all have lives
         | outside of our screen names, but sometimes its easy to forget
         | that.
         | 
         | Anyways, in the capacity i knew him, he was always a kind
         | caring, rational voice. One which will be missed.
        
           | acagastya wrote:
           | Pi zero separated his wiki-identity and real life identity.
           | When his family told me about his death, I contacted a number
           | of people who knew Dr Shutt academically.
           | 
           | They were unaware of his work on-wiki just like most
           | Wikimedians didn't know about his work outsite Wikinews. It
           | was my fortune to have known about his work both on and off
           | wiki.
        
       | geoduck14 wrote:
       | Life is short. As you mourn John's passing, take a moment to
       | reflect on the relationships you have built over the years. Take
       | some time to reach out and tell someone you appreciate them.
        
       | tgbugs wrote:
       | I am greatly saddened to hear this. I came to know about him
       | through his work on fexprs (he was one of the world's leading
       | experts on fexprs due to his work on Kernel). His insights on
       | language design, his general willingness to share his own
       | learning process, and his seemingly unquenchable curiosity will
       | be missed. Of interest to those here might be his many posts on
       | LtU [0].
       | 
       | 0. http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/user/7549/track
        
       | spindle wrote:
       | I knew John Shutt from a number of email correspondences.
       | 
       | As someone who's taught foundations of physics at top
       | universities, I found his work in that area EXTREMELY impressive.
       | I haven't seen it mentioned in his obituaries yet.
       | 
       | He was also a lovely person.
       | 
       | I'm so sorry he's passed away.
       | 
       | Does anyone know how I can send condolences to his family?
        
         | acagastya wrote:
         | I have been speaking with family, and if you would like, I can
         | pass your condolences.
        
           | spindle wrote:
           | Thank you! I'm anonymous here - can I email you please?
        
             | acagastya wrote:
             | Sure. If you see the history of that article, you would
             | find my username. My userpage mentions my email id where
             | you can send it to.
             | 
             | (Not sharing my ID directly, to avoid unnecessary spam)
        
         | jessriedel wrote:
         | Can you recommend any particular references for his work in the
         | foundations of physics?
        
           | spindle wrote:
           | Yes, his blog: https://fexpr.blogspot.com. As far as I know
           | he never published his physics ideas anywhere else.
        
       | ignoranceprior wrote:
       | Didn't recognize his real name but once I saw his username was Pi
       | zero I immediately knew he who he was. He was one of the most
       | prolific contributors to Wikinews. Sad news for the project and
       | his family.
        
       | 5etho wrote:
       | damn, prominent wikipedists should be memorised by united
       | nations. Also imho wikipedia should be financed by united nations
       | or something like world bank
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-01 23:03 UTC)