Punderings

Although I never met Dion in person, I knew him through various ASF mailing lists. May he rest in peace and may his family find some solace; there were many souls who appreciated his kindness and technical help in the open source world.

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I was reminded of Dion this weekend when my IM client started popping up “Add to contact list?” notifications from Dion’s hotmail account. It was already late at night, and I had been slogging through a very difficult set of email threads, so it was a very spooky experience to suddenly see him reaching out for me. The most likely explanation is the technical one: I had just upgraded to Trillian Astra, so in setting up my new contact list and notification preferences, it presumably found some long lost invitations Dion had sent me.

This brings up an interesting point, however. While there has been plenty of punditry about the longevity of online identities – sometimes surpassing human lives – how much concrete policy has been made about the issue?

Seriously – how many of those endless Terms Of Service agreements you click through when joining a new website, or making an order online address the subject of what happens to your online data when you die? How would a family member realistically go about presenting a certified death certificate to TheLatestSocialNetwork.Com to get the deceased’s page updated? What does it mean to the social networking connection hierarchy of “friend; family; best friend; no, really best friend who can share secret messages; co-worker; other” of link status when someone you know has passed away?

Heck, what should (in the geeky technical sense, not the legal or moral sense) happen to someone’s online data, presuming that they didn’t specify what they wanted to happen. There’s historical and social value in leaving URLs around, since someone somewhere will be looking for that data someday later on. Maybe some of Dion’s friends want to keep his name in their FaceBook friends list, as a way of remembering him?

Sir Arthur C. Clarke has passed away: sad news, truly. HT to JimJag.

I’m not quite sure what else to put here, other than what we’ve already put in the local papers where Fred was well known. Needless to say we’ve been rather busy, and I probably won’t have a normal schedule for at least another week after other family events. So sorry if I haven’t gotten back to someone recently!

Fred not only taught me about the outdoors – hiking, fishing, hunting – but also taught me to play cards, and almost more importantly (to me, anyway) taught me to appreciate good rock and roll. I also know that he was both a good husband and father, and even more so was a good stepfather.

Frederick A. Otto, 61, of Littleton MA and Randolph NH, died at his home in Littleton on Dec 3. He was born in Northampton MA on July 23, 1946, son of the late Ernest and Dorothy (Dahill) Otto. Fred grew up in Northampton and was a graduate of Northampton High School. Fred received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University and an MBA from Michigan State University.

Fred worked at GenRad for over 20 years and later QuadTech. Most recently Fred worked at Instron as a Vice President where he was held in the highest regard by colleagues who also became dear friends during his 12 year tenure. Fred was dedicated to his profession and will be greatly missed by his work family.

Aside from work Fred enjoyed the outdoors, camping, hunting, hiking and most of all fishing. From their Randolph home Fred and Phyllis fished many rivers together and achieved their goal of hiking all 48 of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s NH Four Thousand Footers. From their Littleton home Fred was a member of the South Fitchburg Hunting and Fishing Club and previously a member of the Harvard Sportsman’s Club.

Fred is survived by his wife Phyllis Curcuru, son Robert Otto, and a stepson Shane Curcuru, his wife Amy, and daughter Roxanne. He is also survived by a sister Susan Wight.

Visiting Hours will be held at the Badger Funeral Home, 347 King St. Littleton on Thursday from 11-1 pm and 4-6 pm with a Funeral Service at 6 pm. Burial will be at the New Cemetery, Randolph NH on Saturday at 1 pm.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Randolph Mountain Club as follows:
Randolph Mountain Club
PO Box 279
Gorham NH 03581
Please write “In memory of Fred Otto” on the check memo line

Thanks to the friends, family, and co-workers who’ve helped out along the way.

My condolences to the Jagielski family on their recent loss.

The sense of community and friendship at the ASF is one of the reasons I keep contributing there. I’m glad and honored to be part of the Foundation.