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RIP EHK


EHK for Darwin

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Jezus fuck. Just got home to this. Floored.

An icon for sure. Nothing the man couldn't argue about, including champagne. And a grand person in real life in addition.

I am very sorry for your and your families loss, Chris.

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I'm not eloquent enough to speak. I saw the thread yesterday and couldn't bring myself to post.

All I can say is that any Chicago-landers who think they might make it to the funeral might want to take a print out of some of the words here, just to let those who knew him outside of a computer realize the breadth of his influence on these sometimes silly forums. I don't know if Chris or anyone else in the family would be back here to hear our words otherwise. I doubt it will help in any way with their loss, but they might like to know the degree to which Tom's virtual friends spanned the globe and grieve him.

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I am appreciative that I had the chance to read his posts these past years. He had a style that always made me laugh and it will always be missed. What a loss -- I wish the best to his family and friends.

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man this sucks, EHK was probably my favorite boarder to read. He was brilliant and some of his rants are for the ages, I know several times I've snipped out bits and quoted them elsewhere on the nets because they were so damn good. most recently from the Sarah Palin thread, re: liberal media.

This is awful, he was my brothers age. *kicks Death* That was mean!

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All I can say is that any Chicago-landers who think they might make it to the funeral might want to take a print out of some of the words here, just to let those who knew him outside of a computer realize the breadth of his influence on these sometimes silly forums. I don't know if Chris or anyone else in the family would be back here to hear our words otherwise. I doubt it will help in any way with their loss, but they might like to know the degree to which Tom's virtual friends spanned the globe and grieve him.

Yes, this. Ro, I know you contacted Chris about the arrangements. Was any thought given sharing our thoughts and feelings and condolences with Tom's family?

I wish I lived near enough to attend the service myself.

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Yes, this. Ro, I know you contacted Chris about the arrangements. Was any thought given sharing our thoughts and feelings and condolences with Tom's family?

I wish I lived near enough to attend the service myself.

On this note, I am mulling sending a donation to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation in his name. I imagine EHK would approve, and I think he would see a kindred spirit in the org's founder, Mikey Weinstein.

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I'm not eloquent enough to speak. I saw the thread yesterday and couldn't bring myself to post.

All I can say is that any Chicago-landers who think they might make it to the funeral might want to take a print out of some of the words here, just to let those who knew him outside of a computer realize the breadth of his influence on these sometimes silly forums. I don't know if Chris or anyone else in the family would be back here to hear our words otherwise. I doubt it will help in any way with their loss, but they might like to know the degree to which Tom's virtual friends spanned the globe and grieve him.

Chris left an email address in his post. What does the board think about emailing this thread to him?

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When I met him he was passionate and intense and irreverant and fucking hilarious. He burned and then he coughed and fell over but the next day he was burning again. I was taken aback with how intensely he communicated. The more he drank the more he ranted and the funnier he got. Fuck Ryanair! Fuck this! RIP Tom.

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Some more pics, if people are interested.

My favorite is this one, where he's happily smiling and drinking away with Lyanna.

Another where he's sitting next to GRRM, looking very skeptical.

There are others in there. But they're shit. They're shit because they don't capture what it was like to hang around him. They don't show him happily drinking and getting animated about Erikson books, or desperately wanting snack food in Amsterdam. They don't show the silly practical joker or the way he kinda laughed about people that he didn't know, or the way he rocked it at cards.

I'm very lucky to have met him and traveled with him. I'm sorry I don't have more.

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Guest thebadlady
Yes, this. Ro, I know you contacted Chris about the arrangements. Was any thought given sharing our thoughts and feelings and condolences with Tom's family?

I wish I lived near enough to attend the service myself.

I like the idea of emailing the thread to Tom's family.

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I hardly ever recall agreeing with EHK on anything, but I always respected him for the strength of his opinions and his lack of reserve in putting them forward. And he was always so deeply here.

QFT

I wrote a big thing to put here but Eloisa has summed it up

I rarely agreed with EHK and he often enraged me. But hell, that's what he did - got your attention and made you engage with what he had to say.

And he always made you think.

I regularly would log off and hours later would find myself thinking about something he'd written. I probably didn't agree with it and often I would be angry about it but I'd be mulling it over. I can still remember, in detail, things he wrote more than four years ago and yet I can't remember what many boarders wrote last week.

RIP

edit for clarity

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In a world full of complacent pussies too afraid or unable to voice dissent or anger at the mountains of bullshit that life, society,government, religion, etc. etc. daily forces down our gullets-- here was a man that was not afraid to speak his mind and fight the good fight. We need more people like him in the world, and he will most definitely be missed. An angry, intelligent, young man at the peak of his powers, so much potential.... his death at only 29 years of age... is the very definition of tragedy.

Sadly, I never met him in person. I guess it's easy on a board like this to just think of people as random avatars and user names, and though you may know the posting style & personality, you may forget from time to time that there is a real, breathing human person behind it all. With thoughts, friends, and feelings all apart from this thing of ours. Something like this reallllllly fucking shatters that illusion. Death, thou art a real asshole.

There was and is no boarder like him, and there will be no replacing him. He was the kind of poster that if you saw him monitoring a thread, you made damn sure to proof read your own post at least three times to make sure you didn't say anything stupid or illogical, because you knew he would seize on that like a godamn bulldog, and pwn you. Tenacious is one word of many to describe EHK. Again, our board is diminished. There is no replacement for what he supplied, what he gave us. Only if we stuck Jaime L. in a cage for a few years, and repeatedly jabbed him with a stick until he was aggro enough...only then would we possibly have anyone that MIGHT compare to the righteous, scary, and intelligent fury that was EHK.

But lest we grow, greedy...we have to remember that most of us only knew him from the board. The true sufferers are those that met him and more importantly his daily friends, co-workers and family- that knew him in the day to day real world. Their's is the true loss.

My condolences and sympathy to them.

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Okay, I feel odd posting this since I barely post here, but EHK's posts were some of the main reasons I'd avidly follow the political/religious threads. The animation and strength in his own opinions clearly set him apart and made him such a compelling person to read. His posts rarely, if ever, failed to make me think or laugh. I'll miss him, and my condolences to his family and everyone who knew him better than I

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Damn. Why is it seemingly the best and brightest whose light vanishes all too quickly, leaving the rest of the world a little darker? First Lord Manwoody, now EHK... :(

I didn't always agree with EHK, but I knew I could always count on his posts being well-explained, detailed, and passionate. He was one of the posters who gave this board its own unique character, particularly where politics were concerned.

He will be missed. My condolences to his family and friends.

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Every time I read the boards I always hit General chat for EHK rants. Didn't always agree with what he posted, but respected his passion and point of view. He's one of the boarders I looked forward to meeting face to face, and to hear one of his rants in person.

RIP EHK

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does anyone here have any website building skills? im thinking of a memorial page for Tom, pictures, quotes, what have you. something semi permanent in this online world of ours. let me know, ill gladly throw man hours or money or whatever is needed to back the undertaking.

send me a pm.

RIP EHK

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