Paul Allen Panks' Obituary
Muffy St. Bernard
appears to be legit:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?n=paul-allen-panks&pid=129569950
S. John Ross
> Panks has tried to pull off some awkward stunts in the past, but this
> appears to be legit:
>
Damn, that's too young :(
Poster
<14d54e55-0aa3-45e6...@k1g2000yqf.googlegroups.com>,
Wow. It's really strange to think of Paul Panks as dead. I can't say
that he was ever great at writing games (but hey, I can't say the same
about myself either). At least he tried, you know? It would be cool if
we could pool our money and make some kind of memorial gift.
Thanks for bringing this up.
--
Poster
www.intaligo.com I6 libraries, doom metal, Building
sturmdrangif.wordpress.com Game development blog / IF commentary
Seasons: fall '09 -- One-man projects are prone to delays.
Werner Punz
first message, is weird, I feel sorry for his family, now being a parent
myself I only can vaguely imagine how it must be to lose one of your
children.
Anyway what really would interest me is what the cause of his death was,
the description sounded a lot like an accident, and his age is quite
unusual for dying.
George Oliver
young indeed.
Muffy St. Bernard
>
> Anyway what really would interest me is what the cause of his death was,
> the description sounded a lot like an accident, and his age is quite
> unusual for dying.
He was apparently taking medication for the hallucinations he always
talked about, he mentioned several suicide attempts, and he'd had some
health problems related to an allergic reaction a few years ago...but
that was all self-reported and Panks was hardly a reliable reporter.
The fact that his parents want donations sent to a behavioural health
services program, however, speaks volumes.
As for how he died I don't know. He didn't sound physically OR
mentally fit.
DanSolo
> Panks has tried to pull off some awkward stunts in the past, but this
> appears to be legit:
>
>
> Muffy.http://dangermuffy.blogspot.com
This seems to be just getting to the CBM guys now. His favourite
platform to program I'd say. RIP Paul. If God loves a trier you're
certainly in the door.
Stephen Jones
access UNIX system from about 2003. I know he did cause a bit of trouble
occassionally on USENET by posting from our network, but he was generally
a good guy and certainly a creative author and programmer.
His website http://panks.freeshell.org will remain up for those who find
it useful.
Robert Bernardo told me that Paul had plans .. or on going plans .. or
fantasies about running a family restaurant and video arcade with old
coin-ops. Sounds like fun.
R.I.P. 'panks'
Jacek Pudlo
will call their shrinks yelling "I told you so! I told you so!"
Paul's tragedy is not that he died at a Christological age, but that he
never had his I-told-you-so moment. Paul was always wrong. He was wrong in
his vision of interactive fiction. He was wrong in his puzzle design. He was
wrong in his choice of IF language. He was wrong in his choice of titles.
For the man who wrote _High Level Assembly Adventure_ in High Level Assembly
to ever be right, the world would have to be populated by talking dragons
and space aliens.
dott.Piergiorgio
[snip squalid jackal nonsense]
I should have done this many times ago....
*PLONK*
Dott. Piergiorgio
P.s if trolls should be not feed, what one should do with squalid jackals?
Conrad
Well, he will trouble you no more.
Conrad.
S. John Ross
> Paul's tragedy is not that he died at a Christological age, but that he
> never had his I-told-you-so moment.
I think you're projecting.
Poster
"Jacek Pudlo" <ja...@jacek.jacek> wrote:
You're right. It is a shame that he died before experiencing that moment
of triumph. I would have gloried in it with him, as I suspect, would a
few others that the "community" has maligned over the years.
Autymn D. C.
> Panks has tried to pull off some awkward stunts in the past, but this
> appears to be legit:
>
>
> Muffy.http://dangermuffy.blogspot.com
My guestbook entry, doubtful it'll be published:
Why is your name familiar? Oh, dunric—I never wrote with you [much],
or knew any of your IF games, but I will download some of them now.
Slay some monsters and come back, okay?
And don't heed the comments of cretins from northern Arizona, Texas,
or Pakistan—there was no Jesus: http://google.com/groups?q=Autymn+-autumn+Jesus.
O wait, there's your email address; we did talk one time—(puts in
[much]).
How did you die? Your obituary didn't say.
prayers = liars
Jacek Pudlo
"And don't heed the comments of cretins from northern Arizona, Texas,
or Pakistan"
Nobody makes it through life alive. You people are simply bemoaning your own
impending deaths. I doubt there's a single person here who sincerely laments
Paul's demise.
I especially enjoyed the guy who compared Paul to his own little kid. On the
one hand, what a queer leap. On the other, how queerly accurate. That's Paul
alright. A six-year-old with a receding hairline.
"How did you die? Your obituary didn't say."
You come here with your quirky crackpot routine and then you ask a pod
people question like that. Paul died while taking a bath with his favorite
hairdryer. Now, tell us, how exactly will that little factoid enrich your
life? Gruesome enough for you? Would you prefer a self-defenestration?
Peter Pears
> or Pakistan"
>
> Nobody makes it through life alive. You people are simply bemoaning your own
> impending deaths. I doubt there's a single person here who sincerely laments
> Paul's demise.
Yes, that's a usual post to see in a thread like this. It always comes
up, and is the product of cold rationality. Which is not bad per se -
but these threads are no place for rationality.
Yeah, on one hand, we are bemoaning impending death. On the other
hand, we are not so insentitive as to be unable to relate to the guy.
33 is just way too young. He's someone we knew, even if from afar, and
he died too young. Heck yeah, it makes us more aware of death. It's an
emotional response, and that doesn't mean it's any less worthy. On the
contrary, if we were to just go "Ho hum, he died, too bad, life goes
on", we'd be just cold heartless bastards. And he wouldn't have liked
to know, in life, that we would behave like that. And we wouldn't like
to have such reactions to our deaths, either.
In general, death rattles us. We don't want it to happen to anyone.
When it does, we have to take it out, so that life *can* go on. That's
why these threads exist. You can call it anything you like, but you
won't manage to cheapen it - so if that's what you're trying to do,
you might as well give up.
> "How did you die? Your obituary didn't say."
>
> You come here with your quirky crackpot routine and then you ask a pod
> people question like that. Paul died while taking a bath with his favorite
> hairdryer. Now, tell us, how exactly will that little factoid enrich your
> life? Gruesome enough for you? Would you prefer a self-defenestration?
That's funny, you start your post with cold rationality and end in an
emotional response. :) Liked your reply there, btw.
rgrassi
http://ifwiki.org/index.php/Jesus_of_Nazareth
I've laughed for hours.
Rest in peace, Paul.
Rob
Richard Bos
> > "And don't heed the comments of cretins from northern Arizona, Texas,
> > or Pakistan"
> >
> > Nobody makes it through life alive. You people are simply bemoaning your =
> own
> > impending deaths. I doubt there's a single person here who sincerely lame=
> nts
> > Paul's demise.
>
> Yes, that's a usual post to see in a thread like this.
No, it's a usual post from Puddle-Duck. Pay it no heed; it can do no
better.
Richard
Poster
"Jacek Pudlo" <ja...@jacek.jacek> wrote:
> Autymn D. C.
>
> "And don't heed the comments of cretins from northern Arizona, Texas,
> or Pakistan"
>
> Nobody makes it through life alive. You people are simply bemoaning your own
> impending deaths. I doubt there's a single person here who sincerely laments
> Paul's demise.
I wouldn't go that far. I'd say that there are very few. Why that is, is
its own little tragedy. And you know, despite the cat-o-nine-tails that
you (and I) have wielded on this, that has proven wholly insufficient to
remedy the underlying problems. IF needs more than eloquent flaying to
fix. I wish that was not the case, but it is.
It is my sincere hope that the next time that this happens, we won't be
repeating this thread. Maybe we can learn from this and treat each other
a little better while we're here. I'm not saying wear kid gloves 24-7 or
to be blind to our differences, but just to start from the understanding
that we are all in this little slice of the world together.
Conrad
>
> .. And you know, despite the cat-o-nine-tails that
> you (and I) have wielded on this, that has proven wholly insufficient to
> remedy the underlying problems. IF needs more than eloquent flaying to
> fix. I wish that was not the case, but it is.
"More than" - interesting assumption. Is there any evidence or reason
whatever to believe that verbal flayings, eloquent or otherwise,
improve things or serve to create benefits of any kind?
> It is my sincere hope that the next time that this happens, we won't be
> repeating this thread. Maybe we can learn from this and treat each other
> a little better while we're here.
Actually, I don't think it's too bad here. There's logical
snarkiness, but it rarely goes beyond that. Other forums I've been on
seem far worse, I would guess because in those forums, most of what's
at stake rests on evidence which is difficult to evaluate; which is
not mostly true in a programming forum. And it seems that people here
are at their meanest when talking about issues without clear
evidential grounding, such as what is or what makes a good game.
Evidence: it makes people civilized.
Conrad.
Paul E Collins
> I didn't know Paul personally, however, he was a user of the SDF public
> access UNIX system from about 2003. I know he did cause a bit of trouble
> occassionally on USENET by posting from our network, but he was generally
> a good guy and certainly a creative author and programmer.
Blimey... I remember Panks, mainly for his unintentionally hilarious post "I
talked to God on a Commodore 64". Pity to hear about this. He wasn't exactly
the most sparkling IF author, but I remember enjoying his Web pages and
writings on retrocomputing.
Eq.
WayneMiller
"dott.Piergiorgio" <dott.Pierg...@KAIGUN.fastwebnet.it> wrote in
message news:rv5am.6449$vm5....@tornado.fastwebnet.it...
chipschap
> I doubt there's a single person here who sincerely laments
> Paul's demise.
Completely and utterly wrong, and I am far from the only one. I
corresponded by email with Paul for a brief period when I was running
my old-school telnet BBS. Yes, he was different in his approach and
we should celebrate those differences. I was glad to know him even if
only at a distance and for a short time.