Sympathy for the devil
Wednesday, 29. April 2009, 18:56:16
This is a work in progress, and probably will be for some time. How do you write about over 50 years of a person's life? Even though the life in question is complete, I can't say that what I say will ever truly capture it ...
We lost a good man ... well, almost a month ago now, though I only found out about it last week. He hadn't been in good health really for the last couple of years. He liked to imagine that he'd someday be like he always had been, but I guess time doesn't work like that.
He always aspired to be a "dirty old man", though Janet would have killed him if he tried.
He imagined that he was the bogeyman used to keep little kids in line. "You better behave or Mikey will get you!" Since you've probably never heard of him, I guess he didn't succeed at that one - yet anyway. He probably does scare government agents - they probably believe this is all a cover for his latest nefarious scheme
I've never met Michael Shirley in person either. I first encountered him online maybe 15 years ago, back before the Internet was a big thing. There were a large number of local computer BBSs, where people would go to chat, play games, or download stuff - in that sense it wasn't all that different from today, except this wasn't broadband. If you were writing to someone on the other side of the world, it would take a few days to get there. Your local BBS contacted his hub at least once a day, that hub contacted other hubs - and everything was a 14.4K, so it just took time. But the BBSs were part of one or more networks, the biggest was called Fidonet. Their version of forums were called "echoes", and they had echoes for everything imaginable - flying, history, math, programming, ... you name it. Mikey was involved in several firearms and military echoes, and also history and who knows what else.
In real life, he was a security guard and later a computer consultant. Yeah, he used to carry around a shotgun while patrolling warehouses or apartment buildings, but that really doesn't give him the credit he deserves. Mikey was also a military genius, who could teach general Petreus (however that's spelled) a thing or two. He would design bombs or rockets on the back of napkins while on break - and he had enough training both from the military and studying on his own that they would probably work. Well, if he'd had the money and materials to build them, hydrogen bombs are not cheap.
For some unexplained reason, Mikey always seemed to have connection problems. He'd lose his connection for a couple of days, and then everything would be back to normal. It always seemed to be while he was in the middle of a "sensitive" topic, so he always blamed it on his "handlers". He liked to imagine that there was a group of government agents out there monitoring his communications, and that if he said something they didn't want getting out they'd pull the plug for a few days. Given what he knew, that's quite possible, though it must have been a rather tedious job most of the time. And yes, when I say he knew that stuff, I mean he proved it to me. I knew more science than he did (though I'm not a rocket scientist), I could verify most of what he said. Okay, he wasn't great as a rocket scientist either, that came later, but I believe that his bomb designs would work as intended.
We're not completely clear on what he died of, officially. Janet says he was on his way to the hospital, but ... well, you can understand if she has a hard time talking about it yet - or for that matter we have a hard time asking her. Oh yeah, "we" ... when the BBS netowrks finally shut down, a group of us who'd been in more of a chat echo took our conversations to an email list. Since the echo was named "GUNS" (all echo names were in caps those days), we named the list "Fidoguns". There's maybe a dozen of us at the moment, just sit around and talk about politics or target shooting or military affairs. Most of them are former military, all would fit the description of "radical right wing gun nut" ... though really they're all harmless, even Mikey. Mind you, if I did get in some sort of a fight, I'd gladly take any of them at my back (and they'd gladly do it, even Vern who isn't talking to me just now). It's amazing how a group like this will get all choked up when trying to talk to Janet to find out what happened ...
A few years ago Mikey found out that he had diabetes. No, he never even suspected, but he went to the hospital because he had a fever and found out he had "flesh eating bacteria" because his diabetes had weakened his immune system. Oh yes, they saved his legs, but he was pretty well bedridden for about 6 months. Yeah, of course we know he didn't really stay in bed as much as he should have, Janet did her best to keep him honest. Diabetes is not something to be taken lightly. Mikey still thought of himself as the security guard doing alarm response, or even as the kid he'd been in the military - but he wasn't up to it now and probably never would be again. So while we might never know what the doctors say he died of, I'm pretty sure that in the end it comes down to the diabetes and that he never really came to grips with it. (I ran into someone in town the other day who made a comment about wondering if he had "a touch of sugar", I told him there's no such thing - if you have any diabetes at all you have to take care of it constantly.)
Recently Mikey had been saying that this world is just too crowded, that we needed to build rockets and build habitats in the asteroids where people could live as they wanted instead of having the government tell them what they can and can't do. Having never seen him in person, I have to wonder if his own frailty wasn't making him wish for a place where gravity wasn't so much of a burden. I mean, he's right, government and all the other busybodies spend too much time trying to protect us from ourselves, telling you what to eat and what car to drive and even what to think, if we were out in space and the nearest government was millions of miles away then we could be free.
Well, Michael Shirley is free now, he no longer has to worry about busybodies or his handlers or even human frailty. I will probably write more later, but this seems like a pretty good place for now.
Oh, the title? "Sympathy" is rather obvious, and as I said he always wanted to be the bogeyman used to scare little children and government agents - a role which the devil has in many Christian circles.
We'll miss you, Mike.
We lost a good man ... well, almost a month ago now, though I only found out about it last week. He hadn't been in good health really for the last couple of years. He liked to imagine that he'd someday be like he always had been, but I guess time doesn't work like that.
He always aspired to be a "dirty old man", though Janet would have killed him if he tried.
He imagined that he was the bogeyman used to keep little kids in line. "You better behave or Mikey will get you!" Since you've probably never heard of him, I guess he didn't succeed at that one - yet anyway. He probably does scare government agents - they probably believe this is all a cover for his latest nefarious schemeI've never met Michael Shirley in person either. I first encountered him online maybe 15 years ago, back before the Internet was a big thing. There were a large number of local computer BBSs, where people would go to chat, play games, or download stuff - in that sense it wasn't all that different from today, except this wasn't broadband. If you were writing to someone on the other side of the world, it would take a few days to get there. Your local BBS contacted his hub at least once a day, that hub contacted other hubs - and everything was a 14.4K, so it just took time. But the BBSs were part of one or more networks, the biggest was called Fidonet. Their version of forums were called "echoes", and they had echoes for everything imaginable - flying, history, math, programming, ... you name it. Mikey was involved in several firearms and military echoes, and also history and who knows what else.
In real life, he was a security guard and later a computer consultant. Yeah, he used to carry around a shotgun while patrolling warehouses or apartment buildings, but that really doesn't give him the credit he deserves. Mikey was also a military genius, who could teach general Petreus (however that's spelled) a thing or two. He would design bombs or rockets on the back of napkins while on break - and he had enough training both from the military and studying on his own that they would probably work. Well, if he'd had the money and materials to build them, hydrogen bombs are not cheap.
For some unexplained reason, Mikey always seemed to have connection problems. He'd lose his connection for a couple of days, and then everything would be back to normal. It always seemed to be while he was in the middle of a "sensitive" topic, so he always blamed it on his "handlers". He liked to imagine that there was a group of government agents out there monitoring his communications, and that if he said something they didn't want getting out they'd pull the plug for a few days. Given what he knew, that's quite possible, though it must have been a rather tedious job most of the time. And yes, when I say he knew that stuff, I mean he proved it to me. I knew more science than he did (though I'm not a rocket scientist), I could verify most of what he said. Okay, he wasn't great as a rocket scientist either, that came later, but I believe that his bomb designs would work as intended.
We're not completely clear on what he died of, officially. Janet says he was on his way to the hospital, but ... well, you can understand if she has a hard time talking about it yet - or for that matter we have a hard time asking her. Oh yeah, "we" ... when the BBS netowrks finally shut down, a group of us who'd been in more of a chat echo took our conversations to an email list. Since the echo was named "GUNS" (all echo names were in caps those days), we named the list "Fidoguns". There's maybe a dozen of us at the moment, just sit around and talk about politics or target shooting or military affairs. Most of them are former military, all would fit the description of "radical right wing gun nut" ... though really they're all harmless, even Mikey. Mind you, if I did get in some sort of a fight, I'd gladly take any of them at my back (and they'd gladly do it, even Vern who isn't talking to me just now). It's amazing how a group like this will get all choked up when trying to talk to Janet to find out what happened ...
A few years ago Mikey found out that he had diabetes. No, he never even suspected, but he went to the hospital because he had a fever and found out he had "flesh eating bacteria" because his diabetes had weakened his immune system. Oh yes, they saved his legs, but he was pretty well bedridden for about 6 months. Yeah, of course we know he didn't really stay in bed as much as he should have, Janet did her best to keep him honest. Diabetes is not something to be taken lightly. Mikey still thought of himself as the security guard doing alarm response, or even as the kid he'd been in the military - but he wasn't up to it now and probably never would be again. So while we might never know what the doctors say he died of, I'm pretty sure that in the end it comes down to the diabetes and that he never really came to grips with it. (I ran into someone in town the other day who made a comment about wondering if he had "a touch of sugar", I told him there's no such thing - if you have any diabetes at all you have to take care of it constantly.)
Recently Mikey had been saying that this world is just too crowded, that we needed to build rockets and build habitats in the asteroids where people could live as they wanted instead of having the government tell them what they can and can't do. Having never seen him in person, I have to wonder if his own frailty wasn't making him wish for a place where gravity wasn't so much of a burden. I mean, he's right, government and all the other busybodies spend too much time trying to protect us from ourselves, telling you what to eat and what car to drive and even what to think, if we were out in space and the nearest government was millions of miles away then we could be free.
Well, Michael Shirley is free now, he no longer has to worry about busybodies or his handlers or even human frailty. I will probably write more later, but this seems like a pretty good place for now.
Oh, the title? "Sympathy" is rather obvious, and as I said he always wanted to be the bogeyman used to scare little children and government agents - a role which the devil has in many Christian circles.
We'll miss you, Mike.
WIDGETIZE
Anonymous # 30. April 2009, 00:04
Steve, that was just the nicest post. Thank you.
Tamil # 30. April 2009, 10:52
Anonymous # 30. April 2009, 22:37
That's probably the finest piece of prose I've ever seen from you Steve. Thank you.
Steve # 30. June 2009, 05:09