General

A Eulogy for John Martin Heneghan

We buried my father last Thursday. At the grave side, my brother Patrick (the youngest) delivered this eulogy:

 

The life of John Martin Heneghan

Early Monday morning, we lost a great husband, brother, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend to us all. While John had made peace with the terminal nature of his illness, the presence of four generations of family, with his wife by his side, offered him comfort and assurance in his final moments.

The life of my father, John Heneghan, cannot be described in a paragraph, a page, or even a book. His life can best be illustrated by the influence he has had on the lives of others. While he was not a man of many words, his character spoke loudly to everyone who knew him. Dad devoted his life to service, to faith, and to family.

In 1945 my father enlisted in the navy, he would eventually retire as a Commander from the Naval Reserve. This was the start of his public life. Dad worked tirelessly on behalf of others. Dad worked for a union after graduating from Iona, he also taught college courses, opened Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Offices in the South, directed civil rights activities for the Maritime Administration, and directed enforcement laws for the entire Federal Government from within the Department of Labor. Dad worked hard to improve labor conditions for workers and he challenged existing laws and practices in pursuit of equal rights for people who were discriminated against based on many factors, including race and gender. Dad brought change to the world by pushing industries and companies to recognize the inequality and the injustice of their practices. It is quite fitting that he should have passed on Labor Day. He rallied against what he believed was wrong and stood up for what he believed was right. He stayed true to who he was.

Dad led a faith-driven life as a Catholic. He shared his faith with his family not only through his career of service and social justice, but also through prayer and worship. He attended mass regularly, participated in religious study groups, and began every family meal with a prayer. Dad felt it was important for his children to learn his faith and made sacrifices to send them to Catholic schools. Not one for lip service, he was active in community service organizations and the church throughout his life. He worked with So Others May Eat, Meals on Wheels, and numerous other organizations that provided relief for the less fortunate. He continued serving until recently when he was no longer able to meet the physical demands of his service. This concern for his fellow man and devotion to God were not lost on his family.

In 1946 my father met my mother through New York’s Gaelic Society, where they attended ceilis and Irish events. Mom and Dad have been dance partners ever since. They were married for 55 years and together they raised 12 “special” children.

Meal times at home were always a big production. We would sit down, say Grace, pass the food around the table and then the conversation would begin! It was during these mealtime discussions where Dad would teach his children important life lessons:

  • Form your judgment based on your own personal interactions. Do not prejudge, people or events.
  • Do not have an opinion on matters you haven’t investigated thoroughly.
  • You don’t need to have an opinion on everything.
  • Be strong in your beliefs. Stand up against what you believe is wrong and stand up for what you believe is right.
  • Always be curious—Interact with the world and the people around you.
  • And lastly, enjoy life.

Often dinner was followed by an evening of games. Dad really enjoyed these times to bond with family and friends. Some of his favorite games included Poker, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit—he never missed an opportunity to move his piece to a yellow space where he could test his knowledge in the History category.

His influence reached far beyond his children to the long branch of extended family and friends. Mom and Dad have welcomed countless family members, friends, and friends of friends into their household. Whether providing lodging for a friend or relative in need, hosting regular poker games, or entertaining family gatherings, their house truly followed the expression “céad míle fáilte”, a hundred thousand welcomes.

Dad was immensely loved, respected and admired by his family and friends. He will be greatly missed, but he will be held close in our hearts. The qualities and the virtues for which John stood will be carried with us always. He will forever be present in our words, thoughts and actions.

fandom, General, science fiction

Going Down?

I was checking out of the Bubonicon hotel this morning and boarded an elevator with an elderly couple. They must have both in their 70’s; he was walking with two canes.

She saw my badge and asked if the Klingons were still around. I immediately flashed back to the masquerade MC’s (Victor Milan) comment the previous evening about an older mundane couple that had that “deer caught in the headlights” look after getting onto a elevator full of Klingons. (Bubonicon is known for having a lot of hall costumers.)

Continue reading Going Down? →

Geek Stuff, General

Let’s put on a show!

 I have heard that one of the primary problems with creating new media, either movies, TV, video, music, etc. is that once it is digitized then it spreads like wildfire across the internet and the creative people and the financial people don’t get a good return on their investment.  A legitimate concern.

Which got me to thinking.  There is this thing called microfinance.  Lots of individuals invest in small projects, where someone may only need $500 to get a fishing net or a few hundred euros for a loom. A small amount that the larger banks won’t cover, but where the collective can share the risk and the reward.

Let’s take this approach to the creative industry, especially one like movies or TV that require a lot of up-front capital to deliver a product that may or may not be worth it. Someone like Joss Whedon, a creative genius, may want to expand the Firefly universe with another season worth of shows. This will cost millions of dollars to produce. So, what if Joss put up subscription plan? If a million people put up 10 dollars each, Joss would have the startup money to get going. In exchange, the subscribers would all get digital copies of the finished product and 50% of any income associated with the project (sale to networks, etc), the other 50% goes to the talent. (I have heard about the byzantine accounting  methods in Hollywood, so there would have to be a fairly explicit contract written in support of this.)

The digital owners of the finished product may have their own incentives to share or not-share the content on the internet, but, big deal; everyone associated with the project has their primary return.

I would also consider subscribing to a Tarantino  project or a Weinstein Brothers project, or those guys that did “Fargo“.  Even if one $10 investment is bad, in the long run I would expect most to be worth the effort.

If the producer wants to develop a project and figures that it will take $200M to develop and can’t raise the $200M in subscriptions, then put it back on the shelf and give the subscribers back their money.

If you think about it a while, there may be a lot of ways to game the system. Safeguards will need to be developed with trusted intermediaries.  But this is also an approach to give support for projects  that you enjoy and that you want to see.

Just think of how much better the world would be if Mike Jittlov had the capital to do it right…

Geek Stuff, General, Liberating Thoughts, Politics

AT&T Silences Pearl Jam

AT&T Silences Pearl Jam; Gives ‘Net Neutrality’ Proponents Ammunition – Forbes.com

Almost perfect because what happened here was the act of AT&T as a content provider bleeping out content it was sponsoring and delivering—not depriving people of content someone else wanted delivered. (Yes, I know, if AT&T would do that to one of its own shows, just imagine … )

Carriers really shouldn’t be trying to bleep content.

The Thoughts and Luminations of Jack Heneghan