In an era of generative texts and humanity pushing the bounds of what to do with them, how does one verify the authenticity of something like this? Does it matter?
Sorry to be dense, but can someone explain why this is on the front page? Obvs sad for this person, seems like she had a fun time, but that's true of millions of people. Take this as "Help me see what I'm obviously not seeing", not a complaint.
Hey friend, I just lost someone close to me from Parkinson's coincidentally the same exact day as the woman in the story and just a few miles from her. If you have any servers you want to keep running for a while or any EOL tech logistics your family won't understand I'd be happy to help. I can post your memoriam page wherever it belongs. My email is in my profile.
Thank you for that incredibly kind offer. I've spent the last year or so automating everything I can. I've made peace with letting go. You spend your entire life accumulating "stuff" to only realize none of it matters.
The same reason some political posts end up in HN. Nothing to do with tech, nor startups, nor anything related to them.
This page is just a curated American news outlet, with a decent comment section.
Edit: I'll obviously get downvoted for this, but that's my point of view. I'm from Europe.
Framingham is a Boston suburb. Boston is maybe a #4-5 tech hub in the US, so there are a fair number of Massachusetts folks on here for whom it'll be a local story. I've seen non-tech Boston area stories on the front page once in a while.
Also when I first saw the headline, I (incorrectly) assumed it was an auto-posted obituary and clicked to see the tech. I could see in this scary political climate, with US morality on the rise, and a few prominent new "DeathTech" startups, this audience might be curious about tech for EOL planning. Long time HNers (the ones who are more likely to vote on articles) are aging and that cohort are now in their 40s–50s and increasingly aware of their mortality as they themselves, family and friends confront challenging medical issues.
ALS is such a cruel disease. Cognitive recognition of a one way trip where all your functions shut down one by one. Highly recommend the book "I Remember Running" by Darcy Wakefield, which she wrote one finger tap at a time on her phone.
I read a good chunk thinking this was a case of the telegram in The Master and Margarita:
"Have just been run over by tram-car at Patriarch's Ponds funeral Friday three pm come".
She sounds like a wonderful person.
Funny enough, I died in 2015. Well, I thought I was clever, I added a sort of obituary on my blog's RSS to publish only if I don't write for a whole year. In php I used strtotime(+1 year) , but for testing I tried +1 minute. I forgot to adjust and deployed. So in 2015, the top post on my RSS was that I was probably dead and someone should check on me.
I wonder if she helped them write it or if it was done by her alone before it progressed far enough that she couldn't anymore, or if they just did it for her with advice from her family?
> A celebration of life will be held at The Verve Hotel, 1360 Worcester St. Natick, on Monday, September 29, 2025 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. Please join my family to celebrate my life, have a glass of wine…some tasty nibbles… and don’t forget to bring your dancing shoes and your favorite story to share about me and my shenanigans! This is a great location for out-of-town guests to stay in a hotel as well.
I'm glad that this works for some people but in the west we have this extremely odd prejudice towards real grief. I'm convinced that it isn't healthy and not acknowledging that someone dying is extremely sad for them and their family doesn't allow for real healing.
I think this is true when someone dies young or unexpectedly. After a long illness though, the family has likely already done a lot of grieving, and may even be feeling something more like relief than grief.
I know my dad felt that when his father passed. I did too, but not as much as he did, because my dad was taking his dad to doctor's appointments and caring for him after surgery and generally seeing him in very vulnerable circumstances.
I just don't at all think that this is equivalent to not acknowledging that someone is dying.
I lost my wife earlier this year. She died unexpectedly in her sleep. I wish so badly I had something like this from her. Knowing that she considered her life well lived would mean the world to me. But of course that’s not possible, or highly unlikely, when someone dies suddenly. I guess that’s the trade off for not having to see her slowly waste away from a degenerative disease, for not having all my recent memories of her set in a hospital.
But fuck, I wish I had that. This was so nice to read, and must be a great comfort to her family in the midst of devastation.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 53.7 ms ] threadIn an era of generative texts and humanity pushing the bounds of what to do with them, how does one verify the authenticity of something like this? Does it matter?
~1500 people (US) die of this per year.
Edit: I'll obviously get downvoted for this, but that's my point of view. I'm from Europe.
Also when I first saw the headline, I (incorrectly) assumed it was an auto-posted obituary and clicked to see the tech. I could see in this scary political climate, with US morality on the rise, and a few prominent new "DeathTech" startups, this audience might be curious about tech for EOL planning. Long time HNers (the ones who are more likely to vote on articles) are aging and that cohort are now in their 40s–50s and increasingly aware of their mortality as they themselves, family and friends confront challenging medical issues.
"Have just been run over by tram-car at Patriarch's Ponds funeral Friday three pm come".
She sounds like a wonderful person.
Funny enough, I died in 2015. Well, I thought I was clever, I added a sort of obituary on my blog's RSS to publish only if I don't write for a whole year. In php I used strtotime(+1 year) , but for testing I tried +1 minute. I forgot to adjust and deployed. So in 2015, the top post on my RSS was that I was probably dead and someone should check on me.
that reminds me, i still need to revive mine...
I'm glad that this works for some people but in the west we have this extremely odd prejudice towards real grief. I'm convinced that it isn't healthy and not acknowledging that someone dying is extremely sad for them and their family doesn't allow for real healing.
I know my dad felt that when his father passed. I did too, but not as much as he did, because my dad was taking his dad to doctor's appointments and caring for him after surgery and generally seeing him in very vulnerable circumstances.
I just don't at all think that this is equivalent to not acknowledging that someone is dying.
But fuck, I wish I had that. This was so nice to read, and must be a great comfort to her family in the midst of devastation.