A member of our community is missing, help find him

http://blog.izs.me/post/72990767417/a-member-of-our-community-is-missing-help-find-him

by mcgwiz • 13 years ago

594 65 13 years ago

blog.izs.me

8ig8• 13 years ago

Please read this. It seems to be the source of the original post and provides additional details (news articles). It is also easier to read.

http://findluk.com

Edited to better describe the link.

prezjordan• 13 years ago

This page also prints to a flyer - easy to share and distribute.

thisishugo• 13 years ago

Isaac isn't just some guy who read a website and made a blog post, he has been at the forefront of the search for Luke, and is (rightly!) using his profile as the maintainer of Node to call attention to the dedicated website that has been set up.

tensafefrogs• 13 years ago

What's the deal with the creepy hookah/booze bottle picture at the bottom of that page?

cleverjake• 13 years ago

its a tumblog of isaacs. it changes every page load.

bazzargh2• 13 years ago

Hope Luke turns up ok, here's a story of someone local to me who disappeared but came back: http://thepopcop.co.uk/2013/12/the-boy-who-went-missing-from...

The point being (as Tom says in his story), if you feel alone - talk to someone. It's ok not to feel ok.

Snail_Commando• 13 years ago

Asking for a friend, what do you do if you don't have anyone to talk to? I feel like the answer should be obvious, but I have no idea what it is.

chad_oliver• 13 years ago

There are quite a few hotlines which have volunteers who are willing to listen. I'm not sure if that's the sort of thing your friend is looking for, but it's certainly better than nothing.

abstractbill• 13 years ago

There's a YC startup for everything these days: http://www.7cupsoftea.com/

bazzargh2• 13 years ago

In the UK, there's the Samaritans helpline, which is completely anonymous; the NHS also help, you can talk to your GP in confidence.

I don't know exactly who to call elsewhere, but as chad_oliver says the helplines are there. http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/ lets you search for a local support group in the USA.

It's always going to be difficult to pick up the phone the first time, but it is worth it.

uptown• 13 years ago

This directory should provide a place to find someone to talk to no matter where you're located.

http://suicideprevention.wikia.com/wiki/International_Suicid...

wavesounds• 13 years ago

I find it hard to believe your friend doesn't know a single person who will listen to him talk. I think more likely he is afraid to show vulnerability to people he knows.

In my experience I've always become better friends with someone who has shared with me or who I have shared something personal with. Through showing vulnerability, which takes courage, we build strength.

I've also been surprised at how accepting people are when you confide in them. People are much more sympathetic then we think.

I'm not usually a fan of Ted talks but theres a good one on this subject, you might want to show him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o

That being said here is the national suicide prevention hotline 1-800-273-8255 just incase its an emergency. I know people who have called before it's not a big deal they don't send out police to your house or anything like that, if anything you may have to wait on hold for a while, but the people who work there are saints

cpayne• 13 years ago

MKP is another support group (for men). Here's a link to the Australian chapter: http://mkpau.org/

mct• 13 years ago

You don't need to be suicidal to call the SF Suicide Prevention line. From http://www.sfsuicide.org/get-help/call-us/: "Trained volunteers are available 24 hours, 7 days a week to listen and help you sort things out. You do not need to be suicidal to speak with us." I don't know for sure, but I suspect other prevention lines are similar.

harshreality• 13 years ago

Join a group/club. Book club, sports club, some sort of tech-related local meet-up group, game club, etc.

Joining an active development community for some opensource project that has primarily online interaction is not as psychologically beneficial, but might be sufficient depending on level of depression/isolation and how it affects you.

protomyth• 13 years ago

Its not really obvious. If you're religious, the local priest / reverend is not a bad bet. They tend to have a training and know a fair number of people. Otherwise, the suicide prevention hotline works for those moments of "I'm alone".

Some of the danger for people is the thought of attracting attention from authorities that could make it all worse. The two suggestions above shouldn't have that effect.

jacquesm• 13 years ago

Ominous title on that last twitter picture.

ITS THE FINALE

https://twitter.com/luk/status/418306940662321152/photo/1

gojomo2• 13 years ago

That's not really suspicious in describing a new-year's-eve fireworks photo. That tweet was followed by a few more innocuous tweets, and one of the other links posted suggest Arduini was last seen the next afternoon (~12 hours later).

So those words are only 'ominous' with some straining, in retrospect... and are unlikely to be relevant to the disappearance.

I point this out just so that people won't see your comment and, lacking context, jump to premature conclusions.

elwell2• 13 years ago

His last tweet just says "Ok." [0]

[0] https://twitter.com/luk

imdhmd• 13 years ago

is it possible to find out what location he tweeted from?

jpiasetz• 13 years ago

Yes but that one doesn't have one:

    {
        "contributors": null,
        "coordinates": null,
        "created_at": "Wed Jan 01 21:42:33 +0000 2014",
        "entities": {
            "hashtags": [],
            "symbols": [],
            "urls": [],
            "user_mentions": []
        },
        "favorite_count": 3,
        "favorited": false,
        "geo": null,
        "id": 418497499427393536,
        "id_str": "418497499427393536",
        "in_reply_to_screen_name": null,
        "in_reply_to_status_id": null,
        "in_reply_to_status_id_str": null,
        "in_reply_to_user_id": null,
        "in_reply_to_user_id_str": null,
        "lang": "und",
        "place": null,
        "retweet_count": 0,
        "retweeted": false,
        "source": "<a href=\"http://twitter.com/download/iphone\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter for iPhone</a>",
        "text": "Ok.",
        "truncated": false,
        "user": {
            "contributors_enabled": false,
            "created_at": "Fri Oct 03 00:19:22 +0000 2008",
            "default_profile": false,
            "default_profile_image": false,
            "description": "computers",
            "entities": {
                "description": {
                    "urls": []
                },
                "url": {
                    "urls": [
                        {
                            "display_url": "luke.xxx",
                            "expanded_url": "http://luke.xxx",
                            "indices": [
                                0,
                                22
                            ],
                            "url": "http://t.co/oDe3EQ10AH"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            },
            "favourites_count": 1660,
            "follow_request_sent": false,
            "followers_count": 957,
            "following": false,
            "friends_count": 135,
            "geo_enabled": true,
            "id": 16569603,
            "id_str": "16569603",
            "is_translator": false,
            "lang": "en",
            "listed_count": 37,
            "location": "oakland",
            "name": "luke arduini",
            "notifications": false,
            "profile_background_color": "131516",
            "profile_background_image_url": "http://abs.twimg.com/images/themes/theme14/bg.gif",
            "profile_background_image_url_https": "https://abs.twimg.com/images/themes/theme14/bg.gif",
            "profile_background_tile": false,
            "profile_banner_url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_banners/16569603/1388423699",
            "profile_image_url": "http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/416404684014776320/ua8US-XB_normal.jpeg",
            "profile_image_url_https": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/416404684014776320/ua8US-XB_normal.jpeg",
            "profile_link_color": "009999",
            "profile_sidebar_border_color": "EEEEEE",
            "profile_sidebar_fill_color": "EFEFEF",
            "profile_text_color": "333333",
            "profile_use_background_image": true,
            "protected": false,
            "screen_name": "luk",
            "statuses_count": 16273,
            "time_zone": "Eastern Time (US & Canada)",
            "url": "http://t.co/oDe3EQ10AH",
            "utc_offset": -18000,
            "verified": false
        }
    },

ricardobeat• 13 years ago

That's not really suspicious, someone answered "thanks for coming", this was right after he was last seen in public.

His friends have stated that later on he communicated in private, with something that got them worried (not publicized). The search begun just a couple hours after that.

lexandstuff• 13 years ago

I think the "Thanks for coming. Ok." thing is an in joke. See @isz's Twitter profile.

https://twitter.com/izs

MojoJolo• 13 years ago

There are some inconsistency with regards to his tattoo in the blog and the website.

In the blog, it mentioned that the rm -rf / was in his left chest. And in the website, it was said to be in his right chest. This is also the case for his sacred heart tattoo. Based on the picture, sacred heart tattoo is placed in his right chest.

I hope Luke is fine and okay.

eXpl0it3r2• 13 years ago

It might just be an problem of perspective. In medicine when talking about body parts one refers to them from the person's perspective. Those that don't know that will most likely go with the more intuitive way of describing it from the viewers perspective. So the heart-style tattoo is on his right side (medical speaking), while when you look at him, it's on his left side.

gmrple• 13 years ago

I imagine that is probably a webcam photo, so left/right are backwards.

CanSpice• 13 years ago

If left/right were backwards, then the text would be backwards as well.

eXpl0it3r2• 13 years ago

Webcam image don't swap images around, if you take the image that is actually getting streamed/saved. The only time they are acting as a mirror is when you set them up and the reason is simply because people are somewhat familiar with setting up things in front of a mirror, so adjusting the camera is much more intuitive that it would be with the actual image. Just try it out once.

pjbrunet• 13 years ago

"rm -rf /" is pretty cool.

Hope he's not in trouble.

__matt• 13 years ago

i think he is suicidal, do the math. if that is his most recent tattoo..., otherwise just a cool guy.

mcantelon• 13 years ago

according to another person who worked with him when he lived in New York, he disappeared for 5 days once there. So hopefully he'll turn up.

bhartzer• 13 years ago

Seems as though he was in the SF area. For those of us who are not in California is there anything we can do? I'm in Texas...

dutchbrit• 13 years ago

Share the message. And keep your eyes open :)

gotrecruit• 13 years ago

sorry i can't be of more help, but i'm curious as to why the fact that he "has travelled to Thailand" is relevant...

steveklabnik• 13 years ago

It's possible that he knows someone there, or is at least familiar with the place, and so might turn up there again.

watson• 13 years ago

I'm in Thailand - don't know if I can be of any help?

dynjo• 13 years ago

Also in Thailand, eyes peeled

aestra• 13 years ago

He is familiar with Thailand and might go back there.

jaseemabid• 13 years ago

Hey Luke,

I hope you are ok and is reading HN right now. Come back, the world is missing you.

industriousthou• 13 years ago

Hope the guy's okay and he turns up. It's sort of touching to see his coworkers come up with this. I wonder though, if he had issues with anxiety or depression, if the attention could push him away.

VMG2• 13 years ago

Reminds me of this guy: https://twitter.com/mauricemach

Could never figure out what happened to him

dudurocha• 13 years ago

could you expand on the history? As a fellow brazilian I'm curious.

VMG2• 13 years ago

He is the initial creator of https://github.com/mauricemach/zappa, but his online activity stopped late 2011

failho• 13 years ago

I'll share this - not that I'll be any help (no where near you). Hope he turns up ok!

My friend disappeared before and it's amazing to see how many people we reached with just facebook and twitter. In my case it sadly didn't have a happy ending - but the support you receive from complete strangers is just mind blowing!

dhimes• 13 years ago

Beyond giving my heartfelt wishes that he turns up ok, I have to give kudos to Yahoo for hiring a private investigator to try to find him.

SG-• 13 years ago

what if he doesn't want to be found?

jheriko• 13 years ago

it would be nice if this could somehow be a banner across the top of HN...

hope he is found soon.

ballard• 13 years ago

    echo 'Amber Alert' | sed 's/Amber/Luke/'

duffdevice2• 13 years ago

I don't mean to be callous, but what exactly are you asking for help with? He's not a 4 year old child, he's not an elderly person with dementia. He's a grown man. If he can't be found, apparently he doesn't want to be found. Are we concerned that he is somehow wandering around town without access to any means of communication? I don't get this.

MarkPNeyer• 13 years ago

He's not a 4 year old child, he's not an elderly person with dementia. He's a grown man.

He could be a grown man suffering from psychosis.

moocowduckquack• 13 years ago

Grown men, despite what you may have heard, sometimes need a little help too.

duffdevice2• 13 years ago

Obviously this is true, but rarely do they need help being physically located. If he needs psychological help or emotional support, clearly that is a different matter, and not something that can be provided by rallying as many random, well-meaning strangers as possible...I still fail to see what is being requested here.

rpicard• 13 years ago

This is what I was wondering as well. If someone that understands what's going on could better inform me, I'd appreciate it. Was he last seen going hiking or something? Has he just not been on the internet in a while?

Are we supposed to call the police if we see him in Starbucks?

gojomo2• 13 years ago

Without knowing him or his details specifically, but considering the range of possibilities generically:

A person in such a situation could be the victim of a crime or accident, or of a health episode – physical or mental – that's caused temporary incapacitation. That incapacitation might mean they're still ambulatory, but confused and in need of help, or alternatively trapped/disabled/unconscious somewhere – perhaps even not far from help, if people were just perceptive enough to notice.

Consider, for example, the case of the patient lost and deceased in the stairwell of the SF General Hospital last year: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-S-F-General-lost-t...

A slightly more thorough search, rather than the assumption "she's an adult, she must have wandered off the grounds for her own purposes", might have discovered her unconscious in time to save her life.

Of course, if in any such case the person truly is a competent adult devoutly not wanting to be found, they won't be. But if friends/family are concerned, it's better to trust their particular knowledge.

A member of our community is missing, help find him

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