chizumatic.mee.nu

October 14, 2016

Board up the windows, 'cause they's a storm coming!

Or so they're saying. The remnants of a typhoon which hit the western Pacific circled up and came all the way over here and it supposed to hit us tomorrow. We've had a bit of strange weather already; a tornado touched down in a town on the coast doing minor damage. We had a forecast for high winds a couple of days ago but I didn't notice anything.

The warning was for the entire PNW, so it doesn't necessarily apply invariantly to the entire area. And the prediction is for high winds tomorrow night, mainly on the coast.

I just received an email from XFinity, my internet provider, saying we may get outages but they're ready to work 24-hours to get it fixed, in case. (Xfinity? I thought my provider was Comcast. Oh, well. Maybe we got sold, the way my landline phone provider got sold, or maybe Comcast just changed brand names.)

Regardless, it's possible I'll be out of contact for some period over the weekend

/images/10075.jpg

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Daily Life at 04:43 PM | Comments (78) | Add Comment
Post contains 176 words, total size 1 kb.

XFinity is the brand that Comcast uses for their cable box services. I got the same e-mail at around 1600.

It'll be interesting to see if it actually materializes. I drove up to Joint Base Lewis-McChord earlier today to outprocess from the Army, and discovered on my arrival that they had delayed opening most of the offices to 10:00 because of a purported storm, which didn't happen. JBLM was a little bit cloudy with a few spots of drizzle, but the drive back was terrible. We'll see if that moves further south.

Regardless, I've made sure that I have gas for my grill and my burners so I can cook if we *do* get hit.

Posted by: CatCube at October 14, 2016 05:20 PM (vFfuK)

2 Are you OK?

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at October 17, 2016 06:21 PM (cpmkQ)

3 Ok, now I'm starting to get worried, too. Is there anyone in the immediate area who can physically check on him?

Posted by: Brett Bellmore at October 20, 2016 01:32 AM (l55xw)

4 Agreed... but I'm in Houston. Does anyone even have a backup email, like to his brother or someone close by? I emailed him directly this morning.

Posted by: ubu at October 20, 2016 05:38 AM (SlLGE)

5 IIRC, while the pages are stored on his host's servers, the images in his top rotation should be running from Steve's private server. I am still having no trouble seeing the top rotation.

Posted by: cxt217 at October 20, 2016 12:55 PM (Ka15s)

6 Which is why I don't think the problem is the storm....

Don managed to find an old phone number that probably belonged to his brother ten years ago, and I tried it, but it was disconnected.

Posted by: ubu at October 20, 2016 01:39 PM (SlLGE)

7 The top rotation images are served by mee.nu, but the anime review index is on Steven's own server, and that is down (or at least unreachable).

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 20, 2016 02:03 PM (PiXy!)

8 I find that somewhat reassuring to hear, as it suggests the problem is electronic, rather than... biological.

Posted by: Brett Bellmore at October 20, 2016 02:13 PM (l55xw)

9 I emailed him directly this morning.

I e-mailed him four days ago. On those occasions I've written him in the past, he's never taken more than a few hours to write back... overnight, at most.

Steven come home! Steven come home!

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 20, 2016 03:40 PM (vZvpB)

I actually *do* live in the immediate area, but I don't know exactly where Steven lives.

The storm didn't amount to much, so if there's technological problems, I don't think that was it.

Posted by: CatCube at October 20, 2016 04:49 PM (vFfuK)

11 It is disturbing that we haven't heard from Steven in over a week, I don't see any comments from him in any of the usual places either. I live only a few miles away, but like CatCube, I don't know his actual address or have any other contact information. The storm wasn't very bad at all here, though it could have conceivably taken down some of his electronics. We can only hope for the best.

Posted by: David at October 20, 2016 05:35 PM (9UHFZ)

12 I heard that there were a lot of power outages and the Willamette valley was mentioned. I wasn't alarmed until I saw that all power had been restored. The fact that his server is down seems to indicate a power issue though. It may be that there are still pockets with no power &he may have another power company. PGE reports some outages still along the Willamette albeit in Portland proper.

http://brickmuppet.mee.nu/images/PowerStaveMabye.jpg

Let's hope.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at October 20, 2016 06:27 PM (KicmI)

I have to wonder if something related to Comcast got fried in the process and The Evil Empire(TM) is taking their time to repair it. I heard enough firsthand stories to consider it a serious possibility.

On other topics...Since this year is turning out exactly as many people predicted it would as early as May, I expect to see a surge in firearms and ammo sales soon.

Posted by: cxt217 at October 20, 2016 07:09 PM (Ka15s)

14 The denbeste.nu is down, FWIW. Maybe the poor Cobalt Qube gave up the ghost due to an outage.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at October 20, 2016 08:29 PM (XOPVE)

15 Quite possible, the Qube must be 15 years old by now.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 20, 2016 08:47 PM (PiXy!)

16 He did say it was getting wonky. I'm hoping that's all it is and he'll be back on soon, griping at all of us being nosy and intrusive.

Posted by: ubu at October 21, 2016 05:56 AM (SlLGE)

17 I've pulled some strings and someone with access a phone number sent him a text this morning. No response as of yet, but it was only a couple of hours ago as of this message.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 21, 2016 11:09 AM (vZvpB)

18 Thanks Wonderduck. Hope everything is okay.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 21, 2016 05:52 PM (PiXy!)

19 I guess the next step is to contact local police or social services, and ask for somebody to look in on him.

Posted by: Brett Bellmore at October 22, 2016 02:48 AM (l55xw)

20 Pixy is his host... Pixy,you got better contact information than his email?
Wait, I remember -- RACS has his real address, and Robert was going to forward cards last time he was ill. Shooting them a mail.

Posted by: ubu at October 22, 2016 07:22 AM (UlsdO)

21 Ubu, Robert was the string I pulled on for the text. If he does this for us, I suggest everybody buy something from him ASAP.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 22, 2016 09:04 AM (vZvpB)

22 D'oh. Yep, I should have realized that.

Posted by: ubu at October 22, 2016 08:33 PM (UlsdO)

23 You thought to get his address for a possible look-in. It's a great idea.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 22, 2016 09:17 PM (vZvpB)

24 Assuming that we haven't heard anything, and an equivalent step hasn't been taken, get me his address, even just the apartment complex information, and I can swing by and ask the manager to look into things. deastman@email.com

Posted by: David at October 22, 2016 10:48 PM (9UHFZ)

25 I'm officially worried now. I've called his landline but gotten no response. Assuming my number is still good (it was in an old phone) RACs probably needs to just call the police.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at October 23, 2016 07:15 AM (KicmI)

26 I've called his landline but gotten no response. Assuming my number is still good (it was in an old phone)
Didn't he switch to a cell phone after the stroke (I believe he blogged about it a few times), or is that what you are referring to?

Posted by: StargazerA5 at October 23, 2016 09:09 AM (5YSpE)

27 I sent David where I believe his apartment complex is, given some of Mr. Den Beste's posts in the "Daily Life" category.

David replied that the location appeared reasonable and said that he would call or drop the manager's office sometime today.

Posted by: Mark A. Flacy at October 23, 2016 09:23 AM (w0U7L)

Didn't he switch to a cell phone after the stroke (I believe he blogged about it a few times), or is that what you are referring to?

Not that I know of. The number I have was good before the stroke though.
I just left a comment on Instapundit. Despite my best efforts, it ended up being 5th in the thread.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at October 23, 2016 09:24 AM (KicmI)

29 I went there and voted it up.

Posted by: Brett Bellmore at October 23, 2016 11:56 AM (l55xw)

30 I tracked down his City via the first six digits of his phone number and called the police. We should know something soon.

I can't believe it took me that long to figure that out.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at October 23, 2016 06:03 PM (KicmI)

31 Thanks Brickmuppet.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 23, 2016 07:08 PM (PiXy!)

32 A few minutes ago I was contacted by the Beaverton police. My information was quite limited and so there were three addresses that could have been Steven's. As it happened, the second was Steven's family. The officer had offered to escort them to Steven's house, but they said they would handle things in the family and declined further assistance. That is all I know at this time, and, as I'm not family, it's all I am likely to discover.
It does not sound at all good.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at October 23, 2016 08:06 PM (KicmI)

33 This probably doesn't need to be said, but... given the information Brickmuppet's just presented to us, I think it would be best if we suspend our direct investigative efforts and hope that Steven or his family lets us know what's going on.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 23, 2016 08:21 PM (vZvpB)

34 Thanks Brickmuppet. I didn't know he had family that lived locally.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 23, 2016 08:23 PM (PiXy!)

35 He had made reference to his brother that assists him with things occasionally, but it wasn't clear just how close or far away the brother was, I was assuming he lived somewhere in the greater Portland area but that was it.
But more importantly, if Steven has been incommunicado for over a week now, and his brother wasn't already aware and involved, that's not good news at all. I really, really hope he's just having network issues and this is all a horribly misunderstanding, but it's not much of a hope now.

Posted by: David at October 23, 2016 09:27 PM (9UHFZ)

36 Here's hoping Steve is alright. I agree with Brickmuppet tho, it does not sound good at all.

Posted by: Jaked at October 23, 2016 09:39 PM (qERvg)

37 Steven DenBeste has passed away. I just received a call from his brother. I have no other details.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at October 24, 2016 08:58 AM (KicmI)

38 This is horrible news, and he will be sorely missed.
Thanks, Brickmuppet, for letting us know.

Posted by: bloatboy at October 24, 2016 09:16 AM (ldlZp)

God bless, and R.I.P.

(Even if you were an atheist Mr. DenBeste, I'm sure God believed in you.)

Posted by: ubu at October 24, 2016 09:40 AM (SlLGE)

40 Oh, no. Not exactly unexpected, but still terrible. Goodbye, Steven.

Posted by: Ben at October 24, 2016 09:52 AM (S4UJw)

41 God bless, and R.I.P.

It was a pleasure reading him all these years.

Posted by: Civilis at October 24, 2016 10:12 AM (UkqiM)

42 Thank you to all the contributors in this thread. I've been reading Steven since the very early days of USS Clueless, although I rarely actively interacted with him, not wanting to trigger his prickly response.
I'll miss him.

Posted by: bkw at October 24, 2016 10:15 AM (9hXCR)

43 I expected that we would lose him sooner rather than later, given his declining health, but it's a shock nevertheless. Still, we are fortunate that he was with us as long as he was.

Posted by: Don at October 24, 2016 10:23 AM (0kRhp)

44 Aw damn.

Posted by: Will at October 24, 2016 10:47 AM (IFtiv)

45 Steven,
You brightened a lot of lives and gave us much to think about. May God welcome you home. Rest in Peace.

Posted by: StargazerA5 at October 24, 2016 10:59 AM (5YSpE)

46 Always had to double-check my (rare) comments to be sure nothing looked like a suggestion. Always enjoyed reading what he had to say.
Rest Well, Sir. You will be missed.

Posted by: Douglas Oosting at October 24, 2016 11:49 AM (sdWdc)

47 Very sad news to hear. Not being surprised by it too much still does not lessen the impact. RIP.

Posted by: cxt217 at October 24, 2016 12:15 PM (hlTo6)

48 Godspeed, Steve, wherever you are.

Posted by: Canthros at October 24, 2016 12:51 PM (G8KKQ)

49 Rest in peace, Steven. You go where we all will follow.

Posted by: Brett Bellmore at October 24, 2016 01:36 PM (l55xw)

50 Rest in peace. I've probably only made a dozen comments or so over the years, but Steven's blogging has been part of my daily life since the USS Clueless days. He will be missed.

Posted by: Aaron Nowack at October 24, 2016 02:31 PM (APFEn)

51 A tremendous loss, to our little anime community, and to the country as a whole. What a mind; what a teacher. Rest in peace.

(Of course, he's looking down at this thread from the real Top Rotation, saying "someone should close that for topic drift...")

Posted by: Mikeski at October 24, 2016 02:54 PM (xBtcS)

52 Those of us with blogs, we need to post cheesecake in his memory. I think he'd like that.

Thank you, Steven.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 24, 2016 03:36 PM (vZvpB)

53 Godspeed Steven, and thanks for all the recommendations and suggestions (I surely appreciated yours all these years). You will be missed.

Posted by: mearendil at October 24, 2016 04:22 PM (1C29M)

54 Over the last few days I was hoping against hope.

Farewell, Steven.

I regret never having the chance to meet him in person, but it was a pleasure to interact online.

Posted by: Boviate at October 24, 2016 04:24 PM (XRvFv)

55 Damn. This is terribly sad news.

I didn't comment here much, or at USS Clueless, but Steve was one of my very, very favorite bloggers. He was so damned smart, and Lord knows how many anime series he turned me on to!!

Steve, thanks so much for all the wonderful things you have written. I hope they all get preserved for posterity, as an exhibit on just how good blogging could be.

RIP, friend.

Posted by: Tex Lovera at October 24, 2016 04:33 PM (8MFrj)

56 And Wonderduck, the cheesecake idea is excellent.

Posted by: Tex Lovera at October 24, 2016 04:34 PM (8MFrj)

57 Steven was the ripple in two pools that turned into quite a wave for me.

On one side he led me to Ace, Allahpundit, and Instapundit.

On the other he led me to one of the few styles of entertainment I have. Anime. Reading him here led me to Don, The Duck, Brickmuppet, Pete and all you other folks far smarter than I.

When I first started watching anime, I used his reviews as the guidepost.

I owe him a lot and will sorely miss him.

Posted by: topmaker at October 24, 2016 04:45 PM (6stZH)

58 Damn. Steven was one of the first bloggers I started reading back in 2001. I can't believe it's been that long. Godspeed.

Posted by: CatCube at October 24, 2016 05:27 PM (vFfuK)

59 Requiet in Pacem

Posted by: PatBuckman at October 24, 2016 05:42 PM (mBM4h)

60 (à²¥ï¹à²¥)
Thank you, Good night, Sleep well...

Posted by: Bear at October 24, 2016 05:46 PM (ArF+i)

61 @51, Mikeski, thank you for that. I could almost see the post with his name on it with words to that effect.

There will be something remaining of Mr. Den Beste in all of our memories.

I'm glad that he's gotten a couple of posts at Instapundit, as well.

Posted by: Mark A. Flacy at October 24, 2016 05:55 PM (w0U7L)

62 I've been at a loss for words the last few days; first, with mounting fear, and now, with grief. We all knew this day was coming eventually, and yet... we could never have truly prepared for it.

Steven, I know you never really seemed to care one way or the other if we prayed for you, so I have been, and if you still have no objections, I will, just one more time. I hope that my comments both here and at Clueless were on the balance more enjoyable to you than aggravating; I wish that I could tell you how much your writing--your thinking--mattered to me. Or just how much I am going to miss you.

The world is less thoughtful tonight, less eloquent, less sensible. It may be a cliche thing to say, but in this case, I am thoroughly convinced that it is also a completely accurate assessment.

I know that my life will never quite be the same without you, Steven. Goodbye, my friend.

Posted by: Big D at October 24, 2016 07:01 PM (VKO9N)

63 I never shared Steven's politics but enjoyed his rants nevertheless. As a fellow engineer I share a surprising number of his quirks, and share his enthusiasm for anime.

The picture accompanying his last post is kind of fitting, so there's that. I will miss the views from the window, the geese, and the beavers.

Farewell Steven, sorry you left us too soon.

Posted by: grepthis at October 24, 2016 09:32 PM (/etao)

64 Requiescat in pace

Posted by: Jaked at October 25, 2016 12:28 AM (hYYkX)

65 I was hoping it was just an outage or technical problems. RIP Horseman of the Blogosphere.

Posted by: muon at October 25, 2016 05:40 AM (vMYTH)

66 I didn't always agree with what Steven wrote. However, thanks to his clear prose, I could always understand the reasoning he followed to reach a different conclusion than me. The world is a darker, less enlightened place without him. He will be missed.

Posted by: Siergen at October 25, 2016 02:37 PM (fqStN)

67 Sad.

Posted by: johnmarzan at October 25, 2016 09:15 PM (2VmD+)

68 Well, damn. My deepest condolences to his friends and family.

Posted by: Cybrludite at October 25, 2016 10:29 PM (VX5mF)

69 Here's a long tribute on instapundit.

Posted by: muon at October 26, 2016 01:55 AM (vMYTH)

70 RIP to one of the Internet's first great thinkers.

Posted by: sqa at October 27, 2016 11:30 PM (uosuC)

71 So, is this site, too, going to be maintained as a memorial?
If possible, I'd like to obtain an offline copy.

Posted by: Brett Bellmore at October 30, 2016 03:29 PM (l55xw)

72 Yes, it will be maintained indefinitely.

It's slightly harder to archive it because it's a database-backed app rather than a traditional static web site, but I can do something about that. (I wrote and maintain the mee.nu software.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2016 06:58 PM (PiXy!)

73 Yes, it will be maintained indefinitely.

Thank you, sir.

Posted by: Mark A. Flacy at November 01, 2016 09:14 PM (w0U7L)

74 I am just finding out about Steven's passing. I am deeply saddened. As a long ago reader of USS Clueless I was delighted when Steven made a blog post about "fan service" when he discovered anime. His ensuing progression into anime fandom and blogging was great to watch. He will be missed. Rest in peace Steven.

Posted by: Doyen at November 02, 2016 01:25 AM (sKral)

75 Pixy, it looks like the inevitable spammers have shown up. Can you force-close all threads?

Posted by: ubu at November 09, 2016 07:49 AM (SlLGE)

76 My second thought last night was wondering what Steven would have said about this past election. I'm not sure, but I know I would have enjoyed reading it.

Posted by: topmaker at November 09, 2016 03:36 PM (6stZH)

77 I have admit - Steve was correct in his belief that Trump would win last night, and I was wrong in thinking he could not. It is still surreal.

Posted by: cxt217 at November 09, 2016 03:56 PM (3Ix1u)

78 There were a couple of really smart fellows that I enjoyed reading.

Mr. DenBeste was one.

Ric Locke was another.

Both gone, now.

Posted by: Mark A. Flacy at November 11, 2016 08:14 PM (ZBO0C)

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