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A better quality photograph will be
posted shortly
Lament for a man I never met
I speak
fairly candidly about my memories of
Michael. I sincerely apologise if any
of my comments are deemed inappropriate
or insensitive.
Michael Vaughan was someone I knew entirely
from conversations over the Internet.
But even so I was fortunate enough to
glimpse the spirit of a great man. I
was shaken and felt wounded at the completely
unexpected news of his death. He was
only 41.
Michael was something of a legend on
The Internet Chess Club. He was a blindingly
fast chess player, his final bullet
rating (where you have 60 seconds to
make all your moves) was a staggering
2233. For those who are unfamiliar,
just think of it as being insanely high.
(By comparison, my own bullet rating
is half that, 1162). This is one of
many signs that Michael lived much faster
than most people.
On ICC Michael would take time to chat
in the politics and religion forums,
amongst others. His comments were an
absolute blast. He had a penchant for
making controversial points (which often
coincided with my own views) that were
usually unblunted by the softness of
diplomacy. He was also very funny. He
was extraordinary in his ability to
express his strong views in a lighthearted
way: this is one of the many reasons
I do and will always miss the guy. His
humour meant that he argued not in a
bombastic, pompous fashion, but with
the touch of one who knew what he was
talking about, and realised the absurdity
of the whole matter - he understood
to the core.
And Michael would chip in to a debate
with his easy authority:
CunningLinguist(103): HOMEOSTASIS
does not mean that
CunningLinguist(103): denying
evolution is like denying gravity
And here is an example of his famous
mischievous side:
CunningLinguist(103): christians
believe they are all descended from
a homosexual
The above are just an appetiser. I wish
I had his best lines at hand.
One of the owners of ICC jokingly suggested
Michael be put in charge of controlling
the havoc that is the ICC politics channel.
I for one would have been in favour.
LateKnight(*)(97): make cunninglinguist
moderator!
I humbly propose that Michael be made
honorary moderator.
Michael and I shared contempt for a
horrible ultra-leftwing, pain in the
proverbial called "pin", who is infamous
for making death threats against other
channel members: on this occasion against
me. Michael was not impressed.
CunningLinguist(97): more death
wishes spew forth from the pin sewer
Once I spoke to Michael on Yahoo. He
was chatting on a machine that happened
to have Yahoo Messenger and a webcam
installed, so I literally saw him for
the first - and last - time. This event
occurred July 27 2002, I know this from
the date of a file he emailed me, which
I saved. It was great to see him. i
remember him typing LMAO in response
to something I said. But he wasn't laughing,
upon his face their played a wry smile
played. He was immensely charismatic.
He smoked as he typed. I remember thinking
how he was killing himself with the
ciggies! At the time he knew he was
dying, but I didn't know this.
During our Yahoo chat Michael sent me
an MP3 music file of a track his band
recorded. He played bass and backing vocals.
It's a very fun rock track. Slightly disturbingly
in retrospect, chorus lyrics are "die,
yuppy die!", which of course,
as backing vocalist, he was belting out.
That Michael chose to send me that track
was either a coincidence: it was the best
or only track he had at hand; or, more
likely, it was an example of his dark
sense of humour. It is my guess that the
irony appealed to him. You can download
this MP3 file here
(3.3 MegaBytes).
The views and impressions I have presented
here are of course incomplete, as I
did not meet the real Michael Vaughan
in person. Who was the real
person? We all have many dimensions.
At work we present a different side
of ourselves than when we are with friends
or family, or indeed when we are online.
For Michael I have been able to describe
only one aspect of the man, but it has
been great fun. I can only imagine how
much of a laugh even a single a night
out with him would have been. It is
a pleasure I shall never experience,
alas. My heart goes out to his family
and Dawn, who must miss him infinitely.
Jim Eadon (aka eadon-com)
P.S.
Eddie has contributed
this CunningLinguist tell made to the
ICC politics channel. It is funny if
you are an ICC'er
CunningLinguist(97):
(told styler, who has been idle for
36 years)
If you would like to add anything to
this page, please contact
me - Jim
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