God what a great article...

I miss reading his articles and sending him emails talking about his latest.. Emailing about the Apple Store at the MoA..

You're right, he would have loved the irony of that.. Laughing his ass off .. I know I am, shot coffee out of my nose for God's sake!

Remembering him and his writing makes me want to get my act together and start writing again.

Thanks for this great article.

I often wonder, 'what on earth' is driving the supremacist to such hatred.

I remember watching a documentary on Nazi Germany - and the explanation given was that the supremacist always seeks to talk about the ones that they are supposedly better than in terms of, 'unless we get rid of them, they'll overrun us!' i.e., they talk about them in terms of both possessing more power than themselves as well as being like rats in order to demonise them. It's ironic...

Our natural reaction seems to be to return the favour. When doing this, however, we show that we are equally ignorant.

Hysterical. Thanks for this, made my night. They truly do live on

He really was a thoughtful, enlightening and highly entertaining fellow who certainly did "think different!" The link story is brilliant, of course. And I like TMO's columnists in general (except for John Kheit (sp?) when he occasionally avoids shedding light on issues and focuses too much on antagonizing us all!) but Mr. Lain was and is irreplaceable! May he continue to inspire us, here and elsewhere!!

[One final note: depression is a terrible disease, and it is tragic when it takes anyone, but particularly such an outstanding person, away from us all!! Mac users (and even PC weenies), take care of yourselves and each other, and get help if you or people you know are faced with depression!!]

I remember Rodney. I was just starting researching iMacs and I found my way here. I remember reading one article of his then going back and reading every article he had written. Then I linked from his forum post to his personal website and read that too. He was a great writer, with a unique personality and interesting viewpoints. Even though I never "really" knew him, it hurt to hear of his death.

R.I.P. iBrotha

(pours a little OE out of a 40)

Depression is a little worm that slips in and whispers lies in your ear in the middle of the night. Depression makes you believe that the unthinkable is acceptable. Depression wants you to believe that the world you see through its gray joyless goggles is real.

No matter how isolated you may feel. No matter how pointless it all seems. No matter what you think you know, don't let the depression win. Rodney forgot that for a minute and then it was too late. Ten minutes later I'm sure he would have made a different choice. He didn't get that chance and we all lost a friend.

If you are depressed, or think the you might be dealing with depression, or even don't know what's wrong but just wonder if you should just give up, get help. Look at the outpouring of feelings about Rodney. He wasn't as alone as he thought he was. Neither are you.

Don't let the B*st*rd win.

Geoduck, that is an amazing description of depression, and one that I will have to remember for a long time. Having never dealt with clinical depression, your description evokes what I would imagine it is like for me.

Thanks for the visualisation.

Jason

I never got to read the iBrotha back when, I joined TMO a few months after he died. But I can at least see what I missed out on.

As much as I would love to snort coffee out my nose and ROFL about the Vanguard site, I can't. Living in the rural Southeast US, there are far too many people around me who may not be out-and-out white supremacists but sympathize with their views. The amount of willful ignorance out there is simply breathtaking.

A girl (girl heck, she's 18 now) at the church I go to has clinical depression and other mental health issues. The good thing is that my son shares her musical tastes; he'll go and talk to her when she's withdrawn and will usually get her to open up. I don't think he knows how much good he's doing there, but I hope he finds out some day.

I had the opportunity (I won't say 'privilege') to correspond with Rodney years ago over some of his comments. I was shocked to hear of his death, and the tragic way he died. I learned to respect his right to speak his mind, even though I did not aggree whith his methods.

I'll drink one for you this weekend, Brother.

--Gordy

I had the great pleasure of meeting Rodney on a couple of occasions a few years ago at the Micro Center in suburban Minneapolis where he moonlighted. He was a true, down-to-earth guy with a quick wit and open nature.

I think the last time I saw him was just a few weeks before he left us. If my memory serves, it was at the Mall of America Apple Store waiting in line for MacOSX 10.0.0. He was laughing and joking with everyone in line--a minor celebrity for that crowd.

My heart sank when I heard of his passing.

Echoing what many others have said in this forum, we all touch other people's lives in ways we can't know, and often don't know. We all create ripples in the pond. Each ripple touches other lives. Without everyone's ripples, the world is diminished.

Take heart, Rodney. You're still making waves.

I was shocked when Bryan called to tell me of Rodney's suicide two year ago. I didn't realize I was in the middle of my own long-term depression, which grew to full force over the past nine months as my marriage went to pieces. Like Rodney, I thught about suicide. Like Rodney, I got some therapy. Like Rodney, I got on meds.

Having been through it, I wish Rodney had picked up a phone instead of a gun, or grabbed his car keys to visit a friend instead of pulling the trigger. But depression is overwhelming, and when your world is so dark, suicide looks like a wonderful release from your hell.

Rodney would have lived for the day white supremacists linked to his site, if only he'd known it would happen. All it takes is some hope to keep suicide at bay and make it through the depression. Without hope - and that's where Rodney was that day - despair wins, your friends lose, and the world loses another ray of hope.

Rodney, I hope you're at a Mac in heaven reading this column. Know that you were loved, appreciated, and respected.

Dan Knight, Low End Mac

I only knew Rodney through his writings, but they are really the only reason I ever started reading anything on the Mac web at all.

Like everyone else, I still see things happening and think, "I wonder what the iBrotha would have said about that?" And like everyone else, I'll never know.

I never met Rodney. But he was a very social emailer, and he always responded to my emails. Back in the day, he wrote articles that either really pissed people off, or motivated them and make them cry "hell yeah!". Bryan, I am glad that you finally cited his article as "...the nigger of the computer industry" rather than the censored version (the only version I've seen for the last couple of years). It's a small deal, but censoring the title dilutes Rodney's point, Rodney's edge, just a bit. He had something to say, and I for one listened.
We had some good email exchanges. He would often include in his articles words and grammar not used in every-day journalism, and once in a while I would have to email him to ask "what the hell did THAT mean?" He would always answer, provide links, and of course correct the grammar in my emails. We reached a point where I would send him drafts of my short stories and he would go through them with a red pen, telling me how to clean them up. Of course with his usual off-center humor. And we had several mutual acquaintances here in the northwest (Seattle, erm, Redmond) that we had a blast making fun of.
But then he got quiet, and didn't return any of my emails. I blew it off, figuring he was busy, and moved on. Six months later, I heard the bad news, and it struck me as if my best friend had killed himself in front of me. I don't know why, I guess I had just built a certain respect for him and I felt that we were close, even if we were 1200 miles apart. I just wish now, well, you know, I just wish. The good ones always die early.

Rest in peace, Rod. And always know that my grammar is better because of you.

rup

Any of you out there suffering from depression and thinking about taking medication for it please be aware of the facts, don't just listen to your gp. A friend committed suicide thirteen days after starting a course of drugs for depression - and everyone who knows him including his wife and kids could only attribute it to the drugs. Get all the info you can before taking any drugs - it's not just heroin that's a killer.

Please look up the term supremecist in a dictionary before abusing it. Then read a bit about the National Alliance organization at www.natall.com. You click on the heading "WHAT IS THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE?" I hope it's not too much to ask people in the information technology biz to get some information. Yes, I am a member of the NA. No, I don't "hate" Mr. Lain because he is a negro. I didn't know ignorance like this was still so widespread. So much for the information superhighway. Mr. Lain was obviously somewhat racially conscious and a intelligent man. He, like the National Alliance, recognized the racial differences among the human breeds. The National Alliance supports racial self determination for all peoples... even negroes.

Thanks for allowing this post.

Regards,
Joe S.
info@natallar.com

p.s. If the article was simply intended as a smear against our organization, please disregard this message.

I knew Rodney. In fact, he was one of my best friends. Myself and many of his other friends have worked very hard over the last few months to get Rodney's old site, iBrotha.com back online. This site was the central repository of his writting.

It was my hope that his legacy, his writing, would be available once again not only as a tribute to a great journalist and friend but also to keep his spirit of pushing buttons and provoking thought alive.

I too suffer from clinical depression and he and I supported each other in the struggle. I miss him deeply. I think of him daily. As great of a writer as he was he was an even better friend.

And in fact, it is now back. iBrotha.com

I've suffered depression for most of my life. Luckily, that past few years, the boughts have decreased.

Today, though, I sit here, about as deep in the sink hole as I can get.

This round has been going on for a few months. It seems like just when I'm accepting one tragedy, another one comes along. I've lost 3 very good friends (over 30 years worth of friend ship) to cancer this year. Another friend is dying of cancer now. Three weeks ago, I had to take my 15 year old dog to be put to sleep. During all of this, I have a bully boss that just keeps picking at me. The more depressed I get, the harder it is to concentrate, therefore, the more mistakes I make. I got a memo Friday giving me 30 days to correct a whole list of 'things done wrong'. Each day since, he has pointed out something I've done wrong, which makes me even more depressed. I'm sure getting fired is the next thing in line.

I wish I knew a way to protect myself, but I doubt there is anything I can do. If I get fired, that would be the final nail in my coffin.