family & friends

Happy Birthday, Michael Hart

March 8, 2012
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Books prices plummet. Literacy rates soar. Education rates soar. Old structures crumble, as did the Church. Scientific Revolution. Industrial Revolution. Humanitarian Revolution. Inventor of the electronic book and my dear friend Michael S. Hart would have been 65 today. Each time I say or think that – “he would have been 65 today” – the [...]

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My Eulogy For Michael Stern Hart

September 14, 2011

I promised I’d see him through to the end. He wasn’t there any more, but being a pallbearer was my way of keeping that promise. In case I tripped and fell while carrying the substantial coffin, I asked our friend Ben Stone to be on standby. Ben, “Surprisingly, they’re not that heavy. The important part [...]

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Michael Hart Remembered Online – UPDATED

September 8, 2011

This post serves as a roundup of good online articles on and tributes to Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg and close friend, who passed away two days ago. If you come across any that are not here, please link to them in the comments. So much love ad respect out there for Michael; [...]

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Michael Stern Hart, 1947-2011

September 7, 2011

Founder of Project Gutenberg, Michael Hart, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Urbana, Illinois yesterday. The world has lost a true renaissance man, the one who first gave us the gift of electronic books (eBooks). I have lost my oldest friend and confidant in these United States. Read Michael’s obituary, wonderfully written by Greg [...]

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Ge(neal)ogist

June 20, 2011

While talking with my dad yesterday, he mentioned that now that both of his parents have passed, he often performs a Hindu ceremony called Amavasya Dharpanam in their and other ancestors’ honor. This ritual is conducted on the day of a new moon, and to keep a long explanation short, is the equivalent of the [...]

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“Neither Bad Nor Good, But It Is Real”

May 6, 2011

Two relatively young New Orleanians I knew slipped, fell and died. As they lived alone, both of their bodies were not discovered for days. One in the Marigny, the other Uptown. One last month, one this month. Death can happen to anyone at any time. Numbers all around me are being called, just ask. But, [...]

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Instead Of Merely Holding Conversation, Hold Me Tight

April 2, 2011

That hollowed-out feeling right after you have thrown up. For a little while, you live in a thin, gray space right between collapse and revival. You’re not happy, sad, tired or revving up. You just are, for really low values of You. In truth, it is. It just is. It goes on. I don’t know [...]

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Thai Poosam

January 20, 2011

  My mother’s family started and has sponsored the annual celebration of the Hindu festival Thai Poosam in the temple at Vadapalani since the late 1930s. It’s a great thing which I witnessed once – the hustle and bustle of religious activity over days, walking everywhere on the temple grounds and my parents, aunts, uncles [...]

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Les Squeals De Noël

December 30, 2010

Just look at them. My godsons: 1) are the squishiest little booger monsters ever, 2) rock the Ramones hats we got them (that I hope they hang onto long enough to grow into), 3) are in the will for at least $50 for being fans of the “Green Packers” (makes me shed tears of godmotherly [...]

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Life’s Not Long

December 20, 2010

People die of illness and accident all the time. But to have five people you know pass away in the span of a month. This is all too much. Betty Ann Davis, friend and partner of Morwen Madrigal, passed away last night after a long illness. Sweet, quiet Betts, until she got behind a pool [...]

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