Kris Nóva has died

https://nivenly.org/blog/2023/08/19/an-announcement-regarding-kris-n%C3%B3va/

by chrkl • 3 years ago

865 106 3 years ago

nivenly.org

Djle2• 3 years ago

I'm very sorry to hear this. My she rest in peace.

milesward• 3 years ago

Oh no :(

voigt• 3 years ago

I’m really sorry to hear this. She did so much for the community and was an inspiring personality. All the best to her family.

donutshop• 3 years ago

Nooo :(

pimeys• 3 years ago

Oh no! I never used their server, but I followed them and was very impressed about the work they did and the community they created. All the best to their family.

leetrout3• 3 years ago

I think this should get a HN black bar

altairprime• 3 years ago

You can email the mods at the Footer link and ask them to do so.

bcantrill• 3 years ago

Gutted to hear this. We had the privilege to speak with her late last year on the work she had done on Hachyderm -- and to get her perspective on the Mastodon and the Fediverse more generally.[0] She was a great presence and technologist, and inspiring to many people. It is tragic to have lost someone so young; RIP.

[0] https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/mastodon-wi...

aberoham• 3 years ago

Tragic news. I had the privilege to catch Kris at FOSDEM 2020[0][1]. Such a force. RIP Kris.

[0] https://mirror.as35701.net/video.fosdem.org/2020/K.1.105/kub... [1] https://archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/kubernetes/

kraig9112• 3 years ago

What from :(

abathur• 3 years ago

I don't know, but she did enjoy mountain climbing, and she's seemed to be in good spirits lately (https://krisnova.net/posts/ego-death/) so I'm guessing a climbing accident until we hear more.

SideburnsOfDoom• 3 years ago

Climbing accident has been mentioned: https://hachyderm.io/@quintessence/110922746691596046

"@nova died unexpectedly late Wednesday in a climbing accident."

barathr• 3 years ago

It appears it was a climbing accident: https://hachyderm.io/@quintessence/110922746691596046

kraig9112• 3 years ago

I know it's insensitive to ask but from her recent streams she was so full of life. I've really enjoyed listening to her these past few years.

ec109685• 3 years ago

https://twitter.com/jbeda/status/1693290822370787697?s=20

mbStavola• 3 years ago

This is incredibly depressing news. Kris Nova will be missed dearly and remembered fondly.

bhouston2• 3 years ago

Damn that sucks. She was running the mastodon instance with competency and openness and low drama. Seems like what all great engineers should embody.

sp3322• 3 years ago

She created the Nivenly Foundation to run it, and removed herself from the admin position a few months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRxRNe6yeg0&t=1237

de6u99er3• 3 years ago

https://nivenly.org/projects/

predictabl3• 3 years ago

I always figured I'd bump into her again and reconnect. Kris was unlike anyone I've met before. "infectious energy" exemplified. Big ideas and the determination to chase them. I still remember some words of encouragement she gave me, seemingly so easily. :( RIP Kris

toomuchtodo• 3 years ago

https://krisnova.net/

bhouston2• 3 years ago

[deleted]

leetrout3• 3 years ago

I read that this morning. She said she was pretty happy at the start of her most recent stream

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1884973353

Said she was running and climbing and the happiest she's been in her life.

holoway• 3 years ago

Awful news. RIP Kris.

zegl• 3 years ago

This really saddens me, RIP.

MadAitcH• 3 years ago

I used to watch some of her streams. RIP

jcastro• 3 years ago

I was lucky enough to work with Kris Nova. I was gutted when I heard this and I'm still in shock. She was in the middle of doing the hachyderm thing and I was struggling with some other stuff and we ended up just happening to meet at a restaurant. "Fuck what people say and think, do you what you want, that's what I'm going to do."

Here's a segment from one of her recent streams. This is how I will remember her:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1884973353?t=1238s

Nóva was a great friend and an asskicker, she loved being a hacker.

CharlesW• 3 years ago

Heartbreaking. That is a person who is living her best life.

kmbannerman• 3 years ago

Well said <3

johnklos• 3 years ago

I was supposed to climb a mountain with her. There really aren't that many people in this world to whom you can say, "let's do a (slightly out there) thing", to which they say "yes" without hesitation and with 100% certainty.

RIP. I'll be thinking of you on the mountains.

mgerdts• 3 years ago

Some context from someone close:

https://hachyderm.io/@quintessence/110922746691596046

The person I cherished more than any other, @nova , died unexpectedly late Wednesday in a climbing accident.
I have no words, only despair. The light in my soul is gone.
Joe Beda @jbeda and Nivenly are posting announcements. Others will also.

de6u99er3• 3 years ago

That's brutal because it was unexpected, and her loved ones could not say good bye.

plaguuuuuu• 3 years ago

Awful, scary. My son loves climbing things. I enjoy a bit of indoor bouldering, I'd love to get him into it, but I'm terrified of him deciding to do silly shit like free soloing.

thorin• 3 years ago

I've been climbing on and off for 30 years. Most people are not "free" soloing as it's called in the US (just soloing in the UK). If he's the sort of person that's attracted to those kinds of things he'll find other dangerous stuff to do anyway like sky diving, riding motorbikes. Most climbing is relatively safe although accidents do happen from time to time often due to complacency.

I'm sorry to hear this much loved person has died. RIP

blackkettle2• 3 years ago

I know this terror as a parent now, and recognize just how scary it must have been for mine. I was one of these kids growing up; I didn't free solo but I found plenty of cliffs to jump, steep hills to bomb, and difficult dangerous things to do in the ocean beyond the watchful eyes of my parents. I don't believe there was anything they could have done to prevent this. I also think that they recognized this, because while they always cautioned me to be careful, instead of trying to prevent my adventuring they consistently prepared me with training, information and opportunities to (semi-)safely test my limits.

I recognize myself in my son now, and while I also am sometimes terrified of what that might mean, I think my parents took the right tack and I'm trying my best to do the same. I'd rather he's a strong swimmer, a trained climber, a confident adventurer, than an adolescent just taking risks in defiance.

leetrout3• 3 years ago

Joe Beda posted more info ~20 mins ago

Last Wednesday evening Kris Nova had a climbing accident and died.

All of us that loved her are heart broken and stunned. She was an amazing person that lived out loud and built connection and community wherever she went. She will be horribly missed.

https://twitter.com/jbeda/status/1693290822370787697

jxf• 3 years ago

This absolutely sucks.

Kris and I worked together only briefly on a small hack project, but everything about them was exactly what you'd imagine in a forward-thinking community leader and technologist.

I'm deeply saddened for those who knew Kris well, and hope some solace is found in knowing that their contributions left the world a brighter place.

yewenjie• 3 years ago

Her recent project - https://github.com/aurae-runtime/aurae

de6u99er3• 3 years ago

I hope this will continue somehow!

bbgm• 3 years ago

Kris and I got to know each other a bit over the years. I still remember our first meeting vividly. We met for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Capitol Hill and spent the evening talking containers, Linux, Kubernetes, and Open Source. This is a tough loss. I will take small in the fact that it happened doing the thing she loved.

djhworld• 3 years ago

RIP Kris.

She was one of my favourite people to follow on Twitter, and for understandable reasons she left there to start the mastodon instance but I didn't really use it much.

Really shocked to hear the news, she was very influential.

zan5hin• 3 years ago

Truly stunned and saddened to learn of her death. By happy accident I discovered Hachyderm soon after I started really using Mastodon. I was very impressed with the space Kris created and the community she fostered there.

My heart breaks for those who knew her personally, and for her family and loved ones.

RIP Kris

mongol• 3 years ago

I have seen her name but I don't know what she is well known for. My condolences, it is always sad when people pass away much too early.

turntabler46• 3 years ago

Flip. I am actually gutted, at the moment. We have never crossed paths but I remember watching her ECHO episode with Liz Rice a few days ago. Listened to her on Hanslemann's podcast too. Seemed like such a great soul

0ct4via• 3 years ago

Kris was a talented engineer and an amazing person. She was doing something that she loved.

Kris recently said how she was feeling the healthiest and happiest she had ever been.

The loss is gutting to those that know her, or only know of her.

For those that don't know, Kris created Hachyderm[1], which had incredible growth[2] after Elon Musk's Twitter takeover. She also created the Aurae runtime[3], and went on to create the Nivenly Foundation[4].

In Kris' own words,

"Fuck the internet, I'm gonna go climb mountains. If you can - if you're lucky enough - please also get outside, if you can."

If you can, take a break. Get outside, and just... take a moment to just /be/ outside.

RIP Kris <3

[1] https://hachyderm.io/

[2] https://thenewstack.io/how-hashyderm-scaled-up-after-elon-mu...

[3] https://aurae.io

[4] https://nivenly.org

oaf357• 3 years ago

I am deeply saddened by this news.

dredmorbius• 3 years ago

A self-authored bio of Kris for those unfamiliar with her, here:

<https://krisnova.net/bio/>

pcthrowaway2• 3 years ago

I found some information about her background that I thought was interesting here as well: https://hackingcapitalism.io/why/

(this is also authored by Kris)

carapace• 3 years ago

A cosmic ray in a cloud chamber. R.I.P.

hnarayanan• 3 years ago

I had only begun following her and her work since the creation of Hachyderm, and so sad to hear about this.

jaylittle• 3 years ago

I only recently became aware of her, but she was awesome. She'll be missed.

hobo_mark2• 3 years ago

I lost colleagues and an acquaintance to mountaineering accidents and I do not understand what makes people risk their life doing that.

ocdtrekkie• 3 years ago

Simply put: They enjoyed doing it. I wouldn't do it. But I would say I definitely see why someone would rather leave this world doing something that brought them joy over something like cancer.

j45• 3 years ago

It doesn't have to make sense to others.

If I was to imagine what I didn't know about mountaineering, it might be about working to see views that I couldn't have imagined.

dijit2• 3 years ago

To be perfectly fair with you, it's less dangerous than driving.

https://www.summitpost.org/mountaineering-accident-statistic...

kelnos• 3 years ago

I don't think those statistics mean what you think they mean. And those two activities are not directly comparable in that way.

ghaff3• 3 years ago

Raw numbers don't mean much unless you normalize to the number of participants in some way and, really, to the level of the activity. Not a lot of people are killed flying in wing suits but that's not because it's such a safe activity.

To be clear, I think mountaineering is a perfectly rational activity for people to pursue so long as they're going into it with their eyes wide open. I've certainly done activities in that vein that some reasonable percentage of people would probably consider excessively dangerous for various reasons.

I wouldn't personally do many of them but I'd hesitate to criticize people in general for pursuing activities that have greater than typical day-to-day danger associated with them.

slimsag• 3 years ago

I didn't know Kris, but we had bumped into each-other at various times through open source work. I recall her being a very kind and also deeply technical. Once she was supposed to give a talk in Phoenix, and I was stoked to get to meet her in person finally, unfortunately it got cancelled due to COVID and so I never had the chance.

Rest in peace. I hope her loved ones are able to take the time to grieve and find solice

a_hoglund• 3 years ago

I worked with Kris on a project at GitHub this past year. She was always a pleasure to work with, this is such shocking and sad news. Will be praying for those closest.

RA_Fisher• 3 years ago

So sorry to read this. I'm thankful for the positive example she set for all of us. Gone but not forgotten.

eddie_31003• 3 years ago

Rest In Paradise friend.

jaydestro• 3 years ago

Rest in peace. Best wishes to Kris’s friends and loved ones.

sabin1001• 3 years ago

She helped me get my current job. Thank you Kris for helping me and please rest in peace.

cbm-vic-20• 3 years ago

This is sad news. Her most recent Twitch stream, from a few weeks ago. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1884973353

jonahhorowitz• 3 years ago

RIP Kris. I only met her a few times but she was *ing amazing.

joaquin2023• 3 years ago

I first came across her words in the book Cloud Native Infrastructure, and she had a way to say things concisely, things I had always wanted to express, but never had the words. I was an instant fan. I ran into once at Salesforce Park in SF, and told her about how I followed her and loved her works. It so happened she was talking to a VP at the time, explaining the importance of social media in tech, to that worked perfectly for her. I'll never forget her, and cherish her forever.

ashleymcnamara• 3 years ago

Kris was more than just a prominent figure in our industry; she was a beacon of inspiration in open-source. Her passion wasn't just about writing code, but about bringing people together, breaking barriers, and making technology accessible to all. Kris's vibrant personality and dedication to collaboration will be deeply missed, but her impact on the world of open-source won't be forgotten. She has left a personal imprint on many of us, and her spirit will continue to inspire those who believe in the power of community-driven innovation. I will miss her so much. She was truly one of a kind.

jasoneckert• 3 years ago

Beautiful tribute! And when those entering the industry explore the open source world, they'll see her front and centre among the other greats at https://www.facesofopensource.com/kris-nova-2/

theacodes• 3 years ago

I only ever directly interacted with Kris once, and that's all I needed. She was so kind to me when I reached out for advice and support during an extremely difficult time in my life.

She will be missed so much.

efm• 3 years ago

I also only spoke with Nova once. She was kind and helpful beyond what I could have hoped for.

Her energy and enthusiasm for life shone like a bright star.

She will be missed.

replwoacause• 3 years ago

She looks like a cool fucking person. I just watched 10 minutes of her Twitch stream and can tell she is smart and interesting just from that alone. I’ll have to take some time to learn more about her.

What a terrible loss indeed.

blstech• 3 years ago

Kris was a friend, Inspirer and all around great human being. She taught me so much and was loved by everyone in the community. Her contributions will not be forgotten or missed.

-- Brian S.

ewindisch• 3 years ago

Wow. I'm not sure what to say. She and I had a lot in common, both personally and in our interests. I hope she's at rest.

sp3322• 3 years ago

I don't think anyone has mentioned her self-published book, Hacking Capitalism. I haven't even finished it because I keep having to set it down and think. It's not only insightful about how tech workers fit into big companies, but specifically gives advice about how to get ahead in the system without losing yourself.

the-rc• 3 years ago

So incredibly sad. No more arguments over the pronunciation of "kubectl". RIP.

minedwiz• 3 years ago

I find myself unable to think of "systemctl" pronounced as anything but "system-cuddle" since watching her stream.

jgavinray• 3 years ago

Terrible news, my thoughts are with her family.

birdiesanders• 3 years ago

None of you here know me, and Kris did not know me before we did this very personal podcast with Rich. This is about both our times as homeless tech people. She was the reason I am who I am, and we didn't know that until we did this. https://kubecuddle.transistor.fm/episodes/dave-fogle-and-kri...

Djle2• 3 years ago

Incredible. Thanks for posting. This is an amazing podcast episode. What a life she led that was cut way too short.

johnnyAghands• 3 years ago

Oh man, shocked. Sadly, never met her in personally, but have always admired her work in the field and for just generally being an inspiring person. Huge loss. My sincerest condolences to her family and friends :(

gwenshap• 3 years ago

She was such a kind and impressive human, and inspired so much of my career. I can’t believe she’s just gone. This is heartbreaking.

soneca• 3 years ago

Off-topic, but why this story is so low on the front page?

A ton of upvoted, not many comments (so no indication of flamewar), still is below position 25 for several hours (with much better upvote-to-hours ratio than most of stories above it).

Just weird.

ankurnet• 3 years ago

Shocked to hear this news.Still shivering.RIP Kris.

tetromino_2• 3 years ago

My sincere apologies to those who knew her: this is a question from someone who didn't, and in fact had not seen her name until stumbling on this thread. What is she so well-known for? Which communities was she a part of? I read this whole thread, followed some of the links, and still am mystified.

lproven• 3 years ago

I was in the same boat. Lots of people expressing grief but nobody explaining who she was. It seems to be one of those instances of "well if you know you know" which I personally find very irritating indeed.

I tried Googling her but it just results in a lot of people expressing sadness over her passing. I do not want to intrude on anyone's grief here, but I'd never heard of her before and I've not been able to find any solid info about her life or work.

In another place, someone said she did the best talk of FOSDEM 2023. I was at that event, but I'd never heard of her, nobody mentioned this talk, and he did not link it so I don't know for sure what talk it was.

I've googled that too -- this is way more work than I should have to do, frankly -- and I think it might be [this one](https://fosdem.org/2023/schedule/event/hachyderm/), but the blurb is fairly content-free and tells me nothing useful.

But the talk is also [mentioned here](https://medium.com/@dotdc/fosdem-2023-highlights-163cb96a190...) and that gives a little context.

Apparently she ran Hachyderm. I hadn't heard of that, either. Apparently it is a Mastodon instance -- I see little to distinguish these, TBH, and while I'm on Mastodon/Fediverse, I find it little to no use. But the second blogger there, David Calvert, said:

mostly known for hosting the tech industry at hachyderm.io since Musk bought the bird site.

That's more info than anywhere else in this thread.

Hachyderm is apparently

a safe space, LGBTQIA+ and BLM, primarily comprised of tech industry professionals world wide powered by Mastodon and ActivityPub.

hu32• 3 years ago

That explains a bit better what she did. Thanks.

I guess Mastodon is bigger than I thought since running an instance gives you so much recognition.

Perhaps I should seek openning an account there to get to know better.

_wf2l• 3 years ago

I do not want to intrude on anyone's grief here

while also saying

which I personally find very irritating indeed.

I don't think youre trying very hard with that "want", with the way you are speaking

acjohnson55• 3 years ago

I didn't know Kris, but I'm so sorry for a loss that has impacted a lot of people I do know.

Reading her last blog post is hauntingly ironic. She describes making a major change in how she directs get her energy, with climbing cited as more representative of her values. And then she died climbing only weeks later.

I wish that she had more time to live in her new outlook. I also hope that her impact continues to resonate. RIP.

https://krisnova.net/posts/ego-death/

delgod• 3 years ago

Kris, we really miss you

citizenC• 3 years ago

She was an incredible engineer and a very empathetic autistic person. She and I had many conversations about inclusion, accommodations, excelling in this field as an autistic engineer in some of the most challenging workplaces. She had a positive outlook to life. This news is too devastating to me. I am only glad that I had a chance to meet her and work with her in this lifetime.

orsenthil• 3 years ago

She left too soon. Lots of work for others to carry forward. Peace to her friends and family.

andypiper• 3 years ago

Incredibly sad news. Best talk I went to at FOSDEM this year. I was in awe of what she had done with Hachyderm and Nivenly - among other things.

A big loss to the community, and to her friends and family. RIP.

lsofzz• 3 years ago

RIP, Kris.

adamantinecog• 3 years ago

Medium has deleted her old posts, but many are archived here: https://archive.ph/p1sII#selection-1125.0-1131.348 and here: https://archive.is/https://medium.com/@kris-nova/*

Kris Nóva has died

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