kicking off the season

I had the honor of seeing the whole thing when it was new. Here it is in condensed form. (It's much better this way.)

cool bike frame tech

Check out this article on a cool idea for making a lighter frame.   

longstinger, 1941-2007

At some point during my adolescence I remember asking my father if he ever had a nickname. He said some guys used to call him "Longstinger" when he was in the navy.

Gary K Longsine, born on December 21, 1941, had a passion for technology from a young age. His education in electronics came from serving. He spent some time on The Hornet, and yet more time in Hawaii. He was a "radio man", maintaining equipment used for secure communications.

Later he would spend some time in New Orleans, flying out in a helicopter to oil rigs in the gulf to install and maintain their radio equipment.

After that, he settled down in Podunk, Nebraska working for the phone company. My first memories of him are of watching star trek on his lap some evening after work.

Over the years I visited him at work every once in a while. The the sound of the electromechanical switches are one of my ancient memories. I found an excellent sample online:



My dad had a very keen ear. He could listen to that cacophony and detect when someone in town was dialing our home phone number.

Eventually, these old machines would be replaced by racks of digital equipment, quiet humming, and whirring of fans. Dad kept pace with the change, setting an excellent example of being a life-long-learner.

Dad had the vision to invest in a personal computer when they were very new and not very affordable. Machines back in those days didn't come with anything fun, and so I learned to program.

Both of his sons went on to be techies, and the three of us loved to talk about the computer industry the way many like to talk about football games — except with us it was one, long game being played over the course of decades.

He lived to buy an iPhone, and on his last day held a copy of Leopard in his hands.

Not long after Holloween midnight, as he lay in bed in a hospice facility, he quietly passed — his body giving up the fight against pancreatic cancer and a host of ailments brought on by adult-onset diabetes.

My brother and I knew him by the nickname "Yopa" — as in "your dad".

Rest in peace dad, and thank you for this life.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, to make a donation to the Johns Hopkins Research center to support pancreatic cancer research. The tax-deductable contributions can be made to:

Ralph H. Hruban, M.D.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
401 North Broadway, Weinberg 2242
Baltimore, MD 21231-2410