This is probably the last picture ever taken of our house in Santa Rosa, California. The time was 11:30PM Sunday and a neighbor had just pounded on our door. Fifty mph winds had been blowing all day but nobody expected fire. Yet the glow you see is from burning houses behind and beside ours. They, too, are gone.
We left with what clothes we could grab. I forgot my computer. I’m still blind and awaiting surgery so Mary Alyce drove one car and we left the other to burn.
By 8AM we were on the Mendocino coast with crappy Internet service and this iPhone. But we were all safe.
Certainly I’d been stupidly feeling a bit sorry for myself, but that ends now.
The schools are closed so with Fallon at my side we’ll buy a notebook and resume writing. Look for my next column as early as tomorrow.
EQUIFAX — But right now I want to tell you something I just heard about the recent EQUIFAX hack. According to sources involved in the investigation the break-in came from China and is presumed to be state-sponsored.
What would China do with 134 million USA identities?
You tell me.
Finally, about the headline, my old neighbor Ella Wolfe complained to her doctor once that she was suffering all the trials of Job from the Bible (Ella was approaching 100). “You have no boils,” said her doctor.
Neither do I.
Wow Bob. Be safe. Things can be replaced.
Glad you are safe … Remember how the book of Job ends
Amen to that…thanks for the post Bob. So glad you and your family are safe.
Really badly for the wife, kids, and all those around Job. The Book of Job does NOT indicate how much Job did to save his family. You are doing way better there.
And although Book of Job was testing a Null Hypothesis, the clinical trial was flawed by being open-label, without a control group, and woefully underpowered. No, the forces just mess with us without any inherent good.
Tragedy does allow us to learn and move in positive directions.
Meaning IS, literally, Pain and loss. outlined here:
https://www.nerdpocalypse.net/meaning.html
You DO know you could get free column transcription services for free by just emailng an MP3 to any of your many fans on this site, right?
My condolences to you and your family on the loss of your home. Stay safe (and boilless)
Sorry to hear this – your voice is missed and needed.
Peace be with you brother. You and your family are in my prayers.
I don’t know what to say. The fire is a tragic event. But when it is personalized it takes on a different meaning. The important thing is you are all safe. If there is a way to help you let us know. Peace and blessings upon your family!
Bob, so sorry you lost your home, but very glad that you and your family are safe, everything else is just stuff.
I am so sorry for you and your family but glad that you are all safe – too many people have died in this fire-storm and the rest of the nation seems to be ignoring all the natural disasters recently. It’s been a bad year but Washington hasn’t noticed.
As for Equifax, I suspected a nation-state from the beginning because nobody seemed too worried about it. I would imagine it was simply opportunistic – part of a continuing attempt to build a database of everyone in the US so that you can trace relationships and behaviors … all useful if you want to compromise someone or gain access to their friendship. I expect that the NSA maintains similar databases on citizens worldwide.
Stay safe and best wishes.
We had a house fire that kept us out of the home for months while repair were made. Arriving home to find the town’s firefighters inside our blackened kitchen caused panic to set in. However, after hearing that all our pets were safe we were able to relax and get to the business of putting our lives back together. Material stuff can get replaced, but lives are all that really matters. I am glad you are all safe.
It’s one thing to watch “California on fire” on the TV news, from the other side of the Atlantic…
… and yet another to see it happen to someone you’ve “known” (in a way) for like 20 years…
Glad you and your family are safe though !
Jebus. Be well, Bob. Glad your family’s OK. And thank you for the reality check. No boils here, now.
Bob, Adka and I were saddened to hear about your home, and our thoughts and prayers are with you. But, I am not worried for you, because you are a survivor, and will always remain our hero.
Happy to hear you and your family are safe. Things can always be replaced.
.
Hey, on the bright side, all of those pesky mineservers probably burned down in the fire and you can put this terrible venture behind you. Shall I update the KS page or would you like to? …
Asshole!
Why is the website mineserver.com still taking orders?
Are imaginary things flammable? 🙂
They were all packaged and ready to ship too.
You fucknuckles are just too much. You crack me up.
Get a life – or download one from Youporn…
Apparently you believe him blindly (no pun intended). If it is true I hope he and his family are safe and they get over the loss of the house and the scary situation it must’ve been.
On the other hand, here’s a man known to lie about the mineserver project, making false promises and he’s near blind, lost his home to a fire, had to flee the area, hasn’t written a column in almost 2 months (last was 25th of August), and in the midst of all this turmoil that turned his life upside down promises to write another column “as early as tomorrow”. That tomorrow is now 4 days ago. See the pattern?
This is Hans From SwissRE confirming your insurance payout for the Mineservers and the laser cutter you bought has been approved. Now you can finally refund all the people you ripped off!
“Almost all insurance companies have a reinsurance program. The ultimate goal of that program is to reduce their exposure to loss by passing part of the risk of loss to a reinsurer or a group of reinsurers.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinsurance .
.
“See also List of investors in Bernard L. Madoff Securities” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Re ! 🙂
After the stress and mental anguish subsides, I’d be interested in seeing a column about how you’re rebuilding your digital life from cloud backups, etc. What worked, what didn’t, etc.
Thank goodness you and the family are safe!
We, your readers and admirers, are filled with hope, care and understanding as you navigate through everything you and your neighbors are going through.
I’m glad you and your family are safe. Stuff matters but it can be replaced.
I’ll echo Rick in an interest in your restoration process… what worked, what didn’t, things to improve for next time.
So sorry to learn of this, but definitely relieved that you and the family are safe.
As someone who lost his house without warning (sinkhole took mine and the house had to be torn down in 24 hours) I can sympathize with what you are going through but so happy to hear that you and your family are safe.
Godspeed Mr. Cringley.
Désolé pour ce qui vous arrive, Bob et ta famille. Notre meilleur soutien de France !
Sorry for what’s happening to you, Bob and your family. Our best support from France!
Be well Bob and your family too. Your great attitude will carry you forward.
I’m down in San Mateo. The fires have been discussed heavily down here. My response: I have online backups, everything else can be replaced.
The best to you and your family.
Both a most distressing and uplifting tale all at once.
It’s troubling that disaster could be upon you and your neighbours so quickly, while uplifting that your family is safe.
I hope your neighbours were equally spared.
I look forward to any missives you are able to post as even when blind you seem to see things more clearly than many partisan commentators.
All strength to you and your family
All week I’ve been thinking I didn’t know anyone in the path of those wildfires, now I see I was wrong. I’m so very glad you and your family are safe and unhurt!
Bob…
So VERY SORRY to hear about the loss of your home and those homes around you. GLAD you and your family are safe and best wishes for your recovery from surgery. Please DO let us know how we can help (gofundme, etc). We anxiously await your return and recovery !!!
So glad to hear that you and your family are safe! Wishing you all the best.
Sorry for the loss of your home, it must be a difficult time for your family. But thank God you all are safe.
P.S. I thought you’d have gone in for the surgery by now. What’s causing the delay?
So glad you and your family are safe and intact. I just want you to know how much I have appreciated your writing and insights over so many years (starting with Infoworld). Wishing you the best as you move beyond this apparent tragedy.
All I could say when I saw you column was “oh my God, nooooo!” Thankfully you and the family are safe. Best wishes on putting the pieces back together again.
Glad to hear you and your family are safe… and boil free!
Glad to hear you and family are all OK.
Maybe you would like to devote a future column to healthcare in this country?
Waiting so long for cataract surgery, a pretty standard procedure, is really unacceptable.;
Ian
Bob, so sorry to hear your unfortunate news but glad to hear you and your family are safe. Sending best wishes!
Wow, that’s rough. Losing the house and everything in it is awful.
For everyone wondering about the delay in the cataract surgery, I think some of you are only looking back to the July column. He first mentioned needing the surgery in a column published in October of LAST YEAR.
https://www.cringely.com/2016/10/15/losing-sight-news/ That’s a pretty intolerable delay for such routine surgery.
depends. I was dreading cataract surgery for almost a year. then one day, I had to scout a number of home centers for some stuff for rebuilding DeBasement from the block out. I could not freaking see a thing in the glare. called the eye doc, who had said “call when you’re ready,” and told him it was time. one month later I was in the theater, telling the nurses, “be careful here, stuff around you could poke an eye out.” so they put me under and did the deed.
depends on your local health care system. I think you could blow through St. Paul Eye before you had time to take your hat off, and be enjoying a fine hotel room for several days before flying to what is temporarily home.
Sorry about your loss Bob, I am also in the Santa Rosa area and the fire came close to my house to. It’s scary times here in Sonoma and Napa County. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
Bob, I have enjoyed your columns a lot over the years and thank you for them. Much sympathy to you and your family over the loss of your home!
Happy all are safe, you will rebuild in time.
Sorry to learn of your loss but happy to see you and the family are okay.
All the best in the coming days and weeks.
Wow! Glad you’re all safe. As someone else wrote, this makes the far-away fires much more personal. There’s still a chance your home was spared.
I’m sure you have good backups, so the computer is no big loss (apart from sentimental value,) but I think it will be some other item you’ll regret not saving.
It’s surprising there was so little warning to evacuate, despite all the modern technology which could have been used tracked the fire and inform the population.
Bob, you wrote a column years ago about the data backup systems you used. Could you please give us a little update and share what kind of processes you were using to back up your stuff this time around? I remember one thing you used to back up off-site was a Pog or something. Thanks!
So glad you and your family are safe! My prayers are with you and yours! Stay positive as you always are!
I am so glad that you are safe, and sorry about your house——-have been reading you since the print version.
But don’t feel stupid about realizing the loss; it is a loss, and stressful.
BUT DO feel STUPID about still being blind—-it is a simple little operation, and though they say that you will see better tomorrow, or the next day, in reality walking out the door of the surgery center you can tell.
I have had both done, one at 50 or so due to chemical burns (I guess) and though they are required to tell you the potential side effects, they are in reality about zero. NOT zero though, so only do one at a time.
AND while one prefers the ins to pay for it, it is not really expensive like some things could be. And don’t let the doc or the ins tell you that you should wait months. That is absolutely fucking stupid unless you have an undiscussed health problem that you haven’t mentioned.
DO IT—DONT BE a FOOL. What do you want Fallon to think 10 years from now? happy to gei ni zhao gu, dan wei shen ma baba yao?
The main side affect is u loose accommodation, which is less of an issue as u get older
Also inflammation can be a side affect, but u take drops and monitor for that, so the retina does not inflame
my sister had one done… diabetic complications galore, and in that circumstance there is threat of retinal detachment. three shots in the eye to go.
anybody in good health, really, it’s serious but goes fast and nothing to worry about if you behave and follow directions. dissolve out the old lens, suction, inject the wonderlens, which unravels and the little filaments catch the end of the muscles and you’re in like Flynn. and the drugs only let you see a couple little flashes.
I’m so glad you all are safe. I’m so sorry that you and your family are going through all this. What a hard year for you. Sending lots of prayers your way to successfully navigate through the challenging days ahead while you rebuild your lives.
Hey this is completely unrelated and Im not sure if you’ll even see this however. If you plan on doing your Christmas Cards this year through Fedex Send them to any store via email try usa1972@Fedex.com and they can send them to the Charleston Store for you who would then have to accept them. Sorry you were uninconvinced. I would have cracked up had you come into my store but definetly printed them.
I’ve been reading your blog for so long now (through its peregrinations) that the terrible news about your house feels like it’s happened to an old friend. So glad everyone is safe, and I hope sight and sanity are restored soon. Best wishes.
I’m so sorry to see this. God bless you and your family and I hope that you and your neighbors can get your lives back together again as quickly as possible.
Pleased you got out. Something we in Britain cannot comprehend a Forest Fire blown by 50 Knot wind. Rains too much here. The very best of luck getting your peep holes sorted.
So sorry to hear that you’ve lost your home but so glad that you all escaped unharmed.
Good to hear that you escaped without injury, Bob. Take heart, all is not lost. Looking forward to reading your next column – as I have since 1998.
I’m very sorry about your loss but glad you and your loved ones made it out alive. You will live to fight another day.
Glad to hear your all safe
Wishes for safety, happy thoughts aside… let me know if you want some help actually rebuilding when the time comes.
Bob,
My mother-in-law died in a house fire a number of years ago. When it comes down to it possessions mean nothing and family means everything. I’m sure you will feel that as all your family is alive and well that nothing else really matters.
N
You and your family are safe. Best news ever !
So sorry.
Have been checking the column regularly in hopes of your return. Could not have dreamt of the way in which it has. Deepest condolences from Ireland, a land mercifully free of most of the extremes of natural disaster.
Wow – best wishes from NZ – going thru tough experiences. Good work by your neighbor and great everyone is OK. Your kids are certainly getting lessons on how to handle the xxxx life can throw at people…
So sorry to hear both of these things, both the house and the eyes. I’m glad you got out safely and I hope your surgery can be scheduled soon.
Another good column would be your interactions with your insurance carrier, not for the dwelling so much as for all your “stuff”. I recently became worried about all my “stuff” when Irma was approaching Florida and realized I knew what “stuff” I had but had no list. I found a neat app (name on request) allowing me to document it all in quite a short time. Without a really good inventory one might well be on the short end of the insurance claim. I really would like to hear how one comes out and you seem like a good one to tell that story.
I have relatives in Sebastopol and was worried for them. I forgot you lived in Santa Rosa and am thankful you and your family are safe.
In a total coincidence, the company that makes this app was discovered to have house burglars on their payroll.
a bucket of ashes is not going to get them much at the pawn shop.
I think the idea is to rob a house before it burns, but your idea of stealing ashes is intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Sorry about the loss of your home but very glad that you and your family made it out OK.
The stuff can all be replaced but it is a hassle. Don’t beat yourself up if you feel overwhelmed or down. Let those feelings happen. Then pull yourself up by the bootstraps and tell us all about the state of technology!
We’ll all be waiting to read your words of wisdom and experience – as always!
I’m very sorry to hear about your run of bad luck, glad to hear you did the sensible thing and just left quickly. Have been wanting to write in and thank you for your extensive number articles for some time. Particularly since your series on big data, but well before that too. There is nothing I have found to compare to them. So I think now is a good time to send you my best wishes.
Hope you get yourself settled and comfortable again as quick as possible, I’m sure you won’t have troubles with the basics and necessities. But I have no doubt some other things will be very hard.
Living in Australia, this is something you think about every summer. I am still trying to work out a quick way to rip out my hard drive and evacuate – but with children about the same age at yours the easier it is to grab, the more likely it will get lost as some stage.
So sorry to hear this Bob. At least your family are safe and hope you can get your sight dealt with soon. Take care.
Bob, it is amazing that the many people who follow you, care not only about what you have to say, but about you yourself.
Please write when you can, and update us on how you are doing.
Will this setback also delay the eye operation?
Ron
In the long run, material things don’t matter — for any of us. Bob, glad you and your family are alive.
Bob
I’m very sad to hear of your disaster. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family in this time of sorrow. You have given me much to think about and enjoy over the years.
I hope for a safe and successful recovery.
Bob,
So glad to hear your family is safe. At your age and my age – material-stuff just doesn’t seem as important as when I was much younger.
Like many other individuals who have commented – I would love to hear a blow-by-blow description of your family’s recovery. It seems to me that your point-of-view of such a process would be interesting.
Also, best of luck with the eye surgery. And sorry to be so redundant – but, your perspective on things are very interesting. Some day I hope you publish your experience with the medical world.
With a tragedy like this it’s hard to find the good news. The best news I can think of is everyone in the family gets a new computer, which doesn’t mean much when you’ve lost all your backups. One could say the good news is that you still have a perfectly good foundation to build a new house which neatly sidesteps the horrible reality of building a new house out of need, not out of a realization of a dream.
One thing I appreciate about you over the years is that you seem to find insight into an issue other people overlook. I look forward to your observations from this tragedy because I’m not sure my thoughts and prayers will fix much.
Good luck.
Charles Schulz’s widow fled her home in Santa Rosa which was destroyed along with a large amount of memorabilia. She is safe. I mourn her losses, not yours.
.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/12/peanuts-creator-charles-schulzs-widow-flees-santa-rosa-fire-home-destroyed/
And I hope your house goes up too you insensitive cunt!
Thinking of you and yours in your time of need Bob. You don’t deserve readers like this pile of toerags above…
From the news site link:
“Most of his collection of original comic strips, artwork and memorabilia featuring characters Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts Gang, is housed at the museum, which was __untouched by the fire__.”
At least some good news.
The planes dropped Phos-Chek on the grass and bushes and trees and the fires’ embers quickly blew over the Phos-Chek lines. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of Phos-Chek were dropped this way and did nothing to stop the firestorm.
An old firemen once told me that Phos-Chek was supposed to be sprayed on buildings, not dropped from planes onto grass, bushes and trees where it “would do nobody any good” (his words).
See all those planes dropping those thousands of gallons of red colored Phos-Chek? See all those firemen shoveling dirt, then retreating, then shoveling another fire line, then retreating? All for nothing.
Maybe if the planes and helicopters dropped the Phos-Chek on top of the houses and buildings, that would have made a difference.
That old firemen, he saved his house because he had his own supply of Phos-Chek and he soaked his house and roof. He knew what he was doing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phos-Chek
Glad to know you are fine, and I like your positivity.
If America can’t fight these fires, what will happen if or when they become a worldwide phenomenon?
Ouch. I hope all turns out well (well enough, anyway).
We had a house fire in our home March 18, 2010. An electrical short or a bad appliance (was not able to determine which), caused an oil diffuser to catch our kitchen on fire. We sustained a complete meltdown of the ductwork and electrical in our home, to the point where the call was made by the insurance to tear our house down to the studs and rebuild it. All items in the home were heavily smoke damaged, more or less destroyed. We lost a cat. We lived in a Homewood Suites for 2 weeks, then a 3 bedroom condo home for 8 1/2 months while our home was rebuilt. You have my email from this site if you need tips on managing the fallout from the fire. Your first priority is finding somewhere safe to live for a few weeks, we chose Homewood Suites because they provide breakfast every day, and dinner 4 nights a week (Mon-Thu). A 2 bedroom worked nicely, even with 3 children. That way, we did not have to worry about the basic stuff. Then came replacing clothing. Then came visiting the old home to salvage what we could (we literally dug through the contents of the kitchen in our back yard to find the remains of silver sets and such). Then we found more permanent housing, and the process started to rebuild our home and lives. We had a lot of “traps” show up along the way, but I think we had a good outcome (we rebuilt our house effectively new), and over the next 2 years replaced everything we lost. Going back to the homesite will be very emotional, but you will need to do it to get closure. And email me if you want to have a more personal conversation about this.
Another person mentioned it on the site. Start making a list of all the stuff in the home. It is your best hope of getting the maximum for your personal belongings. It almost needs to be a game. Walk in a room, close your eyes, talk about what “was” in the room while someone is making notes. When you get back to the home site, you will do even more of this. Everyone in the family needs to inventory their room in their mind with someone else taking notes. Best chance at getting the maximum insurance for your belongings.
Don’t forget those boxes and boxes of old computer crap that were in a closet or basement or garage somewhere. My computer closet had mainframe IRMA/EXTRA computer cards, old modems, you get the idea. I had probably 4 “prior generation” computers, including one of the first real HP “laptops” (still weighed 7 lbs + adapter). If you have “digitally saved” pictures from past holidays, birthdays, or just cameo pictures (probably on MySpace, Facebook, etc.) then those can help insurance with verifying that you are telling the truth and not scamming them. Gather those up as your “evidence” that you had the items. Some of the key things with insurance 1) don’t get a lawyer involved, it will hold up your settlement, and the lawyer will end up with 1/3-1/2 of your payment (we managed to avoid this one) . 2) the more you can convince them that you are not going to lie, cheat, or steal from them, the smoother your rebuild and replacement will go.
@FormerTXIBMer – in other words, don’t let your insurance company anywhere near kickstarter.com
@FormerTXIBMer Unfortunately most of Cringely’s life over the past many years is built on lies so his credibility is shot with thorough documentation.
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On the brightside, Cringely has managed to keep his kids out of the KS website and from reading the comments on his blog (HA!) so maybe he can do the same with the insurance claim folks. Pulling for your Bob! Happy you and the family are safe.
Unrelated news, Elon Musk claimed they would achieve speed of 1m/s on the assembly line. Touted by Bob as meaning 5 million cars per year on one assembly line and he is revolutionizing the car industry and the world.
Last quarter, Tesla shipped less than 1000 cars. So instead of jumping 20x from 5cm/s to 1m/s, he has reduced production by a factor of 20.
Come on MikeN! Bob’s home burned down, show some damned respect. People like you are what’s wrong with the internet! … or at least I think that’s what I’m supposed to say when people mention anything other than Bob and how much we love him. Am I doing it right, guys?
Elon Musk lied. It was a lie that Cringely should have been able to spot. Instead he fell for the lie and repeated it. In an application to the state of California for sales tax exemption, Elon Musk projected an average of 226,563 vehicles per year for the next five years.
https://www.treasurer.ca.gov/caeatfa/meeting/staff/2017/20170117/4a3.pdf
As I read it, he says “over a five year period”, without mentioning which five-year period.
It is not that he will not reach this number in the next five years(though he won’t), but that his public claim is to be more than double that number in 2018.
Unless he is claiming 2015-2019, his numbers are way off.
226k in filing to gov in 2018, Elon claims 500k to investors.
The application says they expect deliveries to start in late 2017. So 2017-2021 is their prediction range.
The official investor statement is 10k cars per week in 2018, and about 50k cars in 2017.
Even if they claim they meant from start of project, that would be 2016-2020 over which they told California they were planning to produce approximately 1132815 cars, while investors were told 1610000 cars, 2130000 for 2017-2021. We can reduce by about 40k for their updated guidance through the end of the year if they bother to deliver it.
This is what happens when you put a Hindu in charge
Discussing transexuals while the country burns
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/portugal-s-government-faces-no-confidence-vote-after-forest-fires-kill-41/story-mJwVtMrdhhSIVW4UiquR8N.html
Like most racist bigots, Emacs is not much interested in facts.
Although of Indian decent, Portugal’s Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, is a Catholic, as were his father and grandfather.
Perhaps what’s really making Emacs feel embittered is that the Portuguese economy has improved under a Socialist Prime Minister of Indian origin. The GDP is up, exports and investment have improved, and the economy has gone from deficit into surplus. The June 2017 IMF report says, “Portugal’s near-term outlook has strengthened considerably.”
Sorry about bringing inconvenient facts to your attention, Emacs, but I’m sure mere facts won’t affect your prejudices, sexism, anger, fear, and arrogance.
I agree it’s a racist comment, but the fact that a Hindu is now a member of the Catholic religion shouldn’t matter. The word “Hindu” doesn’t necessarily refer to a religion: “Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu . So I would interpret it as a racist comment about South Asians, not necessarily adherents of the Hindu religion. Perhaps Emacs should be more specific.
Y is it racist ? He’s done a terrible job
The US economy is suffering from hordes of Hindus taking American jobs
The numbers are good in America too for the rich, not for Americans forced to give their jobs to imported Hindus on h1b
https://www.europe.easybranches.com/portugal/Portugal-s-fires—President-tells-PM—enough-is-enough–73629
Y is it racist ? He’s done a terrible job
The US economy is suffering from hordes of Hindus taking American jobs
The numbers are good in America too for the rich, not for Americans forced to give their jobs to imported Hindus on h1b
https://www.europe.easybranches.com/portugal/Portugal-s-fires—President-tells-PM—enough-is-enough–73629
The US economy is not suffering from Hindus taking computer jobs with H-1B visas. About a million people have no job or less wages because of it, but it isn’t hurting the economy.
To answer Emac’s question it’s racist because of this phrase: “when you put a Hindu in charge”. You did not say when you put the wrong Hindu in charge, you said basically that any Hindu would be wrong. Lumping all Hindus as all bad, or all good, for that matter, would be racist. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism
If you’re white male everything is racist, even protecting your profession or country
If your black like obama and u want to food the market with Hindus, that’s fine that’s not racist
The Portuguese pm wanted to flood the market with Hindus too, I’m sure that’s not racist either
Hypocracy of slavery and apartheid for profit, wrapped in political correctness
H1b slavery was abolished in Europe it’s no longer in fashion
US is still a slaving colony
If you’re agaibst slavery you’re a racist in the modern George Orwell world, only in America
Hi Bob, sorry to learn about your loss of property but Happy to know all are Well.
All the best in the upcoming days , write-on!! God Bless!
The Book of Job in a nut shell: Suffering is part of the human condition > some folks more than others (i.e., long suffering medical conditions, denizens of NK, etc) and some terribly / horribly more than others (i.e., The Holocaust, outbreaks of genocide & severe oppression, etc) and often for reasons that simply elude human understanding. Still, finding true (& sustaining) Faith, Hope, & Love to continue our Journey and help others along The Way > making the Real Connection & compassionately accepting Life & All as Amazing Grace! > to quote Leonard Cohen, “Hallelujah!”
For Mark Stephens and his entire family, a priestly prayer:
“May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord let Her/His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
May the Lord look upon you very kindly and give you (true) Peace.” Amen.
Numbers 6:24-26
Good measure & overflowing Bob!
++ Religion because this blog didn’t have enough flame wars going on. Good work. Your god vs. mine, let’s throw down.
Not sure about religion in general, but Bob did mention Job in the article we’re all commenting on: “trials of Job from the Bible”, so comments along those lines should be expected.
The Book of Job in a nutshell. God doesn’t give a reason for suffering, he’s God. You will have stupid friends who come and try to tell you who God is or what the suffering means, Job had three. Because the author wanted a happy ending, he wrote one. And the ending is a long statement from God saying he doesn’t need a reason. I used to think this book was profound, but there’s too much bad on the world that goes on because of human will, and tragedies like this fire are just an opportunities for good people to help each other out and show the good in the world, while bad people just want to take what you have and punish you some more. There you go, decide which side you want to be on.
Is it bad to not want to help a bad person? If I see someone stealing from those less fortunate then himself and then he crashes his getaway car, would God want me to give him my car or call AAA to help him on his merry way so he can get away with the money?
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If so I think your God may be a part time criminal and your religion intrigues me, otherwise please step down off your cloud and stop condemning those with opinions that differ from your own. He didn’t steal from you, he stole from us. We see karma, you see a martyr. Agree to disagree.
Bob Cringely is not Job. Job is a made-up person in a Bible story meant to make a point that God doesn’t need a reason. I do not wish suffering on anyone, unless they have committed physical violence against another person, then I’m pretty harsh about it. As for conmen, liars and thieves, I think 90% of America has a bit of that blood in them, and then the remaining 10% whine about it, saying how unfair it is. Sorry I’m not more positive on the “human condition” but there it is. And you wonder why America is in the sorry state it is today. You typically reap what you sow. Just about everyone lies or at least leaves out some of the truth. I give to people and causes that I believe are doing good. I did not invest in his Minecraft startup. My eldest son built his own Minecraft server from a Raspberry PI and Ubuntu, and had it running in about 8 hours of effort time. My youngest son used to run Minecraft on his Windows tower we built when he was 12, but he’s now 17 and is more interested in getting into a top college than Minecraft, or Overwatch, or whatever people are playing these days. The difficult part, and probably what really sank the venture was the fact that it’s much more difficult to open up firewall ports on thousands of home routers when 1) Bob doesn’t want that liability for him or his kids if something goes wrong (lawyers) 2) parents don’t want kids creating vulnerabilities in their home networks, and most don’t understand it and “just say no” like Nancy Reagan 3) there are 100’s of different network configurations for these home networks and no solution would solve them all 4) cloud is a better option than hosting at home because then 12 year olds don’t have to go around trying to figure out how to open a hole in the firewall for their Minecraft server, and likely some company has already done it, and Bob has neither the expertise or scale to do such a venture. If you care that much about having a Raspberry PI/Ubuntu/Minecraft server, then maybe I should send you the recipe. It really isn’t that hard. But it’s not about that. It’s about vilifying a guy who tried to start a business with his sons, attempting to ruin his reputation (which by the way, he’s a writer and embellishes a lot, and if you believe everything he writes about as fact, then you’re pretty dumb), and then you’re just being plain old hateful. Just stop. If his insurance pays out well, then maybe he should just refund the 10 people on his blog their “investment”, if they promise to shut up about it.
@FormerTXIBMer As with most Cringely supporters and KS boo-hissers, you clearly haven’t been tracking this for any period of time if that was the conclusion you drew. Instead you likely read 1 or 2 comments, think you understand the situation, and start preaching about what whiners the KS backers are. It’s a broken record at this point and we’ve gotten used to repeating ourselves, but here goes anyways…
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Just so you are aware, 95% of the KS backers for this project don’t care that they haven’t received the project and have declared it dead. The issue, as has been the issue for over a year now, is that Cringely keeps roping everyone in telling us it is NOT dead but then going radio silent for 6+ months at a time. He’s not embellishing the truth as writers do, he’s flat out lying saying he’ll update us “in a few days” and then disappearing for months. When he does write something it’s usually telling us that we’re finally on the right track but offering no evidence that anything is moving at all. Most details he offers don’t check out when people fact check them, and he has the audacity to, like you, condemn the backers as though they are a nuisance that won’t get away.
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Honestly, the only one he has some ground on is the last one – we are pests that won’t go away, I’ll admit it; As many people have already said, however, he made us the monsters that we have become. We haven’t killed or committed any violence, so I appreciate that you will support of us and have our backs. We don’t want the server, we don’t care about Minecraft anymore (nor do our kids) – we just want some damned closure!
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If that’s too much to ask then I guess I must just be an idealist. Cringely could end this war within a 1 minute with a quick message – “It’s done guys. I took on more than I could chew, and it didn’t work out. There will be no refunds, I’m sorry.” People may be upset for a hot minute, sure, but they will move on. Instead he has shown us over the course of 2 years that we aren’t worth that 1 minute of his time and continues to lead us on this horrible journey with his carrot on a stick every 6+ months. So don’t blame us, blame your fearless leader.
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(also to top it all off, Bob is still accepting payment for Minecraft servers via his website (http://mineserver.com/) for a product that doesn’t exist. Swindling like a boss…)
@ Falling on Deaf Ears: Great post, great title!
Glad you made it out safe. May you continue to be a tech prophet and stay two steps ahead of the Reaper.
It may be interesting if Bob would do a comparison of how his cataracts might have played out in terms of time to surgery and cost to patient in another locale : e.g. Canada, UK, .. Russia, Gaddafi’s Libya
The American propaganda is that it’s worse abroad
But it’s exactly the opposite
Not to mention cost, free social healthcare in other countries even for the elderly
@Karel – As is usual with any of Mark’s “stories” there are multiple points that he isn’t revealing. He already said that his medical is from Kaiser Permanente. I also have Kaiser and a few years ago I went from diagnosis to cataract surgery in less than one month for the first eye and then three weeks until the second. That speed was considered normal by my doctor. So, there has to be something else going on if Mark’s surgery has really been delayed this long.
Do not expect to just pick up where you left off.
There are consequences to what you and your family
have just gone through.
It’s called PTSD these days, but it’s real.
So be as loving and supportive to each other as you can for now
and ‘count your blessings’ – you and yours are alive and safe
Such a heartbreaking story, Bob, my heart goes out to you and your family. I am glad you are all safe. The devastation is unbelievable. I have been following this story closely, my brother lives in Santa Rosa and my daughter teaches at the Junior College.
I hope you and your family regain your footing soon.
Good to know you and your family are safe. My nephew attends Sonoma State and he too is safe. I also have friends and family in Las Vegas who were not harmed. That one shook me.
Karma is a bitch eh Bob. I hope you do get boils you crooked swine. You epitomize everything that’s wrong with America. I hope you get your sight back so you can read he subpoena you will be getting from the DoJ for fraud. Yeah that’s right. I’m gonna kick you when your down…until you’re out. There are lots of excuses, but none just justify being a piece of shit.
Oh give it a rest. You expected kid to deliver on a business?
Bob is not a kid, it was Bob who made the promises in this column, not the kids.
Fair enough. Keeping mineserver.com running and still taking orders is a bit much.
“You expected kid to deliver on a business?”
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No, of course not… that’s why Kickstarter requires an adult to run the project **and be responsible for it**. Further, while he certainly milked the “ah, cute kids!” factor, it was clear all through the project that Crookely was the driving force behind getting the project done.
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So, no, I don’t expect the kids to follow through on their own — I expected (expect?) Crookely, as the real project owner, to follow through and, as a parent, to make sure his kids live up to their responsibilities. (I can tell you that if my kids ran a kickstarter project, you can bet your bottom dollar I would make sure they saw it through.)
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(Side note — I wonder if Crookely just assumes his kids are doing their homework and getting straight As without ever checking up on them and making sure they do them? What about chores?)
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Anyway, the comment you replied to was, in my opinion, rather harsh, given the circumstances. However, I’m not sure it wasn’t deserved.
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At this point, the best I can hope for is for Crookely to post (once the fire stuff is all settled!) to the Kickstarter project saying it’s dead and all the stock was lost in the fire. I think a lot of people would settle for that. I’ll note that this fire was some serious shit and it will be a while before he’ll be in a position to even *start* to think about doing the right thing.
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Cringely plans to start shipping Mineservers the week after Thanksgiving!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/583591444/mineservertm-a-99-home-minecraft-server/posts/1734026
Cringely claims that Mark Cuban nearly invested in this blog. That he spent 15k in legal fees to do it, around the same time that he started the Kickstarter for Mineserver. He also claims he chose to walk away after Cuban wouldn’t make a decision.
Was the Kickstarter really a way to raise legal fees for a scam with Cuban?
@@MikeN – This is also the same time frame in which Mark spent almost $50,000 in qualifying to fly the military jet that he also purchased.
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https://www.quora.com/How-much-would-it-cost-to-privately-own-and-operate-a-MiG-21
To be fair, that post discusses the cost for buying and operating that aircraft. It doesn’t state that it was actually purchased. “Shopped” is the key word.
While seemingly inappropriate to talk about considering buying such an expensive machine when under financial duress per the failed Kickstarter project, that post doesn’t indicate anything except a projected cost for doing so.
Speaking of what Bob states (or doesn’t), it’s never actually confirmed that his home burned down. He uses the words “probably” and “evacuated” but no confirmation that anything happened to his home. Then he jumps into an Equifax piece to try to stay relevant. Many people were evacuated during the fires, including my parents, who did NOT lose their homes and could produce similar photos with a blaze against the silhouette of their house.
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I’m not saying Bob’s home didn’t burn down, it very well may have, but if he comes back in a month or so stating that all is well, I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s kind of Bob’s MO; He plays the sympathy card nearly every other post, but clearly hasn’t read The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Perhaps the wolf finally came, but many of us stopped paying attention or caring…
Are you dumb? He’s saying that his neighbour’s houses are gone “too”. I believe it’s explicit – he is saying the home went up in smoke.
You mad mineserver bastards are some seriously single-minded dickheads.
“Are you dumb? He’s saying that his neighbour’s houses are gone “too”. I believe it’s explicit – he is saying the home went up in smoke.”
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Well, I doubt he stuck around long enough to be certain. However, he might be one of the lucky ones. If you punch in his address (1934 Los Alamos Road, Santa Rosa, CA) on this page: https://robinkraft.github.io/norcal-fires-imagery/compare.html you can see that his home may have actually escaped destruction.
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For his sake, I hope so. On the other hand, I know some folks who *did* lose their homes who I’d rather have had Crookely’s luck.
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“You mad mineserver bastards are some seriously single-minded dickheads.”
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Well, actually, my parents were married and I back all kinds of projects on KS. And no one has ever accused me of being serious.
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Pride Mountain Vineyards, which is less than a mile down the street from Mr. Stephens home, (as the bird flies) reports that their property suffered no damage from the fire, and furthermore, this map of the aftermath of the fire shows that Mr. Stephens home was miles away from the fire line:
https://robinkraft.github.io/norcal-fires-imagery/compare.html
Navigating the above map can be disorienting due to the false color, so to find Mr. Stephens neighborhood, open up Google maps in normal navigation mode (www.google.com/maps) then enter his street address (1934 Los Alamos Road), and then pan the two maps side-by-side to get your bearings.
Given the above evidence of what took place during the fire, one begins to wonder if the photo he published earlier was taken with a telephoto lens to compress the apparent distance from his home to the fire, or if the property shown in the photo was even the home of Mr. Stephens in the first place?
Good catch on the word “shopped” not meaning purchased. But this is also interesting: “Getting the LoA took 10 hours in an L-29 ($1400/hr), 10 hours in an L-39 ($1700/hr.), and five hours in the MiG-21, itself ($4500/hr.). Do the math and that’s $53,000 before your first solo takeoff.” So it sounds like he did spend at least that.
@Ronc
In this case “shopped” actually meant “bought.” Or at least it means “claims to have bought.”
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https://www.quora.com/Is-there-any-civilian-person-who-has-a-fighter-jet-as-a-private-jet
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See below, “shopped” meant “bought”.
Awful! I’m so glad you and family are all safe.
Hopefully Bob’s house is fine. Sounds like they left due to the nearby blaze but no confirmation of it getting burnt.
Bob needs to blame the fire for the failure of Mineservers.
Bob,
Sad news, the loss of your house. Here in British Columbia, North of the border we had massive fires as well that took out neighborhoods in a flash. It seems that every year the same event happens in California somewhere as well as in Northern BC. I’ve got an idea that could possibly save many houses in this situation and I’ve been meaning to look at a crowd funding project or some other venue to give it a try.
I’m assuming that the insurance companies would possibly back even a test of the process. Their losses must be staggering every year. Perhaps not the best timing to vocalize this, but enough is enough. When someone I have followed for 20 years or so is touched by this tragedy, maybe it’s time to stop sitting on my duff and give it a try.
All the best to you and yours.
@Sandy – Best wishes on you having a successful crowdfunded project. Please try to remember that your funders are there to “be along for the ride.” They realize that not all projects succeed but they expect periodic and detailed updates as the project progresses.
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Below is an excellent example of how not to run a project. Too bad it was run by someone that has no skill at communications.
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/583591444/mineservertm-a-99-home-minecraft-server/comments
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Don’t pay any attention to the critics – don’t even ignore them.
-Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn is dead, shows what he knows…
Meanwhile Samuel L. Jackson, who is alive and well, produces words to live by: 100 Greatest Samuel L. Jackson Quotes
Sounds like the credit, or blame, belongs to his script writers.
Ok, I would love to help a little. Been reading your columns since the Info World days. I know you gave up on ads, but is there a way to send you $20?
There’s a donate button at the bottom of the column to the right>>>
Donate?
While it’s just lovely of you to show sympathy for any inconvenience his family may have experienced, con men and charlatans don’t deserve charity.
Besides, given Mr Cringeley’s (Mark Stephens) new source of income – accepting payment for products which don’t exist – it does not appear that he is in immediate need of your charity.
If you still feel the need to throw him some money, why not purchase a Mineserver?
http://mineserver.com/
There is no indication on his web site that the products don’t exist, nor that they aren’t shipping, so if you are feeling charitable (gullible?), his site will gladly take a credit card number and charge a payment of $99 (or $199 for the “Pro” version).
I understand that Kickstarter gets away with taking funds for “product lotteries”, but the Mineserver.com web site is an entirely separate thing, run on a WordPress page.
What’s the deal with that site?
Can someone please explain how taking funds outside of Kickstarter on his WordPress site, for products that simply don’t exist, is not outright fraud?
Mr. Stephens is about to start a third year with no credible explanation of what has happened to the funds he has taken in – does his web site continuing to charge credit cards constitute an ongoing criminal enterprise?
I was merely answering Eric’s question. You brought up another donation option, just “buy” a mineserver!
Crikey, commiserations on the loss of you house, Bob.
All the best to you.
Pride Mountain Vineyards, which is less than a mile down the street from Mr. Stephens home, (as the bird flies) reports that their property suffered no damage from the fire, and furthermore, this map of the aftermath of the fire shows that Mr. Stephens home was miles away from the fire line:
https://robinkraft.github.io/norcal-fires-imagery/compare.html
Navigating the above map can be disorienting due to the false color, so to find Mr. Stephens neighborhood, open up Google maps in normal navigation mode (www.google.com/maps) then enter his street address (1934 Los Alamos Road), and then pan the two maps side-by-side to get your bearings.
Given the above evidence of what took place during the fire, one begins to wonder if the photo he published earlier was taken with a telephoto lens to compress the apparent distance from his home to the fire, or if the property shown in the photo was even the home of Mr. Stephens in the first place?
It looks like all the streets are labelled on the map to which you linked. Where is Los Alamos Rd?
That’s the thing of it…1934 Los Alamos Rd is miles northeast of where the fire lines were located.
On the fire damage map, one has to zoom way out and then pan miles northeast to view the area of 1934 Los Alamos Rd, which sits just north of Hood Mountain Regional Park and just south of Pride Mountain Vineyards.
If you’re not familiar with the area, that location isn’t easy to find by zooming and scrolling, so open up Google Maps in a separate tab, and enter either the street address (1934 Los Alamos Rd) or Pride Mountain Vineyards, to get your bearings of where to zoom in on the fire damage map.
Also, the photo Mr. Stephens posted at the top of this article, doesn’t show the lush tree cover that appears over 1934 Los Alamos Rd. That tree cover still appears at that same address after the latest map update (after the fire), so why the discrepancy?
Where is the reporting or comments by other residents of that immediate area about loss of property due to fire damage?
Why have nearby neighbors, such as Pride Mountain Vineyards, reported that there was no damage in their area?
Why does the fire line appear to end miles southwest of 1934 Los Alamos Rd?
There are a few possibilities here:
1. Mark Stephens doesn’t live at 1934 Los Alamos Rd, despite that address being registered for “Mineserver.com”?
2. The photo Mr. Stephens posted above is not actually his home?
3. The map doesn’t show the fire damage at the specific location of 1934 Los Alamos Rd – and somehow his home burned down while all of the surrounding trees and other homes in that area show no damage for miles around?
One begins to wonder.
There is another possibility. You are so filled with hate and anger of what you perceive to be fraud over the minserver that your judgement is indeed clouded. Every article he posts on here you post the same crap in the comments section about being a scammer. Take it to the court and sue him if you think he is a fraudster, but stop spamming the dang comments section with your trolling.
Most of us began to wonder about Bob’s credibility about 2 years ago when he failed to meet his shipping deadline, while continuing to promote it on this column. Don’t pay attention to ZZ, I’m sure you don’t hate him any more than I do. We all continue to enjoy his column, while simultaneously being puzzled by the Mineserver issue.
My deepest condolences. Hope your recovery is speedy. :-/
The map from the LA Times http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-northern-california-fires-structures/static/img/big-tubbs-map.jpg
puts his home in the Tubbs Fire perimeter. Would appreciate some more blog posts, though, those I’ve read are interesting.
Yeah, checked another site: Hood Mountain Regional Park, right next to the address you gave, was 60% burned… http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7585492-181/fire-damage-to-sonoma-county Probably the map you were looking at was of a different one of the mutiple fires that were burning in that area at the time. The Tubbs fire is that one that got both Hood and Santa Rosa.
Hi Bob,
It’s been a while since this happened.
I’m sure there are a lot of us out here who would like to know the whole store and how you and your family are doing… Did you loose the whole house? Are you rebuilding?
Happy all are safe, you will rebuild in time.