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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Missing ken
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Organ Builder
Shipmate
# 12478
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Posted
The Facebook Memories feature blindsided me today, reminding me that ken died three years ago today.
When I was active on the Ship, ken was one of the most active posters. He was one of the few whose posts I would read on threads which otherwise held no interest. He was brilliant, witty, and sharp. If you disagreed with him, you needed to put your arguments on solid ground, because his counterarguments would be.
As with many Shipmates, I came to appreciate him even more once we became Facebook friends. The forum showed a softer, less edited side of a man whose insatiable curiosity continued unabated to the very end.
We never met in real life, but three years after his death his memory brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye.
We didn't share the same taste in beverages, but when I have my Friday ration of gin tonight I'll be thinking of the joy his mind gave me through the years and hoping he can still be raising his favorite pint.
The world sucks a lot more these last three years, ken.
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How desperately difficult it is to be honest with oneself. It is much easier to be honest with other people.--E.F. Benson
Posts: 3337 | From: ...somewhere in between 40 and death... | Registered: Mar 2007
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Organ Builder:
When I was active on the Ship, ken was one of the most active posters. He was one of the few whose posts I would read on threads which otherwise held no interest. He was brilliant, witty, and sharp. If you disagreed with him, you needed to put your arguments on solid ground, because his counterarguments would be.
Agreed.
I miss him every time there's a UK politics thread.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
I hadn't realised it was three years to the day that he died. I was reminiscing about him to a work colleague this evening because the last time I was on the route we were travelling was visiting ken in hospital.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
R.I.P., Ken
![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Qoheleth.
Semi-Sagacious One
# 9265
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Posted
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The Benedictine Community at Alton Abbey offers a friendly, personal service for the exclusive supply of Rosa Mystica incense.
Posts: 2532 | From: the radiator of life | Registered: Apr 2005
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Indeed.
I wonder what his take would be on Brexit, Trump, BoJo the Clown etc.? Worth reading, I bet.
RIPARIG.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Gracious rebel
Rainbow warrior
# 3523
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Posted
Greatly missed. Due to various factors I have been spending less time on the Ship in the past couple of years ... and I am sure that one of the reasons is the lack of Ken's contributions - basically it just isn't the same without his wit and wisdom.
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Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website
Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
Ken became a good RL friend over the years and I was honoured to be invited to present him with his blue scarf when he was licensed as a Reader.
I still miss him
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Ah yes, a Blue-Scarfed Menace par excellence...
![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Organ Builder
Shipmate
# 12478
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Posted
It couldn't have been 4 months before his death he posted on Facebook about attending an American Shaped-Note Singing meeting. He had never been before, found it fascinating, and wanted to go again.
I found his post interesting because I had not realized Sacred Harp societies existed outside of the US. We had quite a nice conversation on the subject, totally out of the blue. He didn't post on Facebook nearly as much as he posted on the Ship, but that was the sort of thing that made his updates a lot more interesting than those whose posts consist of one stale meme after another.
The internet is an odd thing. Before its existence I would have thought it pathological to consider someone an acquaintance or a friend without actually meeting them or corresponding for years. I think ken touched more lives than he realized.
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How desperately difficult it is to be honest with oneself. It is much easier to be honest with other people.--E.F. Benson
Posts: 3337 | From: ...somewhere in between 40 and death... | Registered: Mar 2007
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
The mix of people at his funeral was amazing, they knew him through his many different interests: Labour party, computer groups, work, church, of the people I talked to, and I didn't talk to many, most had never met before.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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busyknitter
Shipmate
# 2501
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eutychus:
To me Towards a New Railway History of Middle Earth is ken at his best.
Mild Cheddar is my favorite, but I've just checked his old Rant of the Month page on Cix and it's gone......
Just so happens I'm seeing Persephone Hazard tomorrow, I'm fairly sure she archived his writing.
Anniversaries don't really jog me into remembrance. But I could be watching the news, trying to identify a flower, or listening to a 90 year old folk singer warbling about the precise Brighton suburb we lived in as kids....and ken isn't there to share it ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
FWIW I don't think he'd have been the slightest bit amused by the current political situation.
Posts: 903 | From: The Wool Basket | Registered: Mar 2002
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
Three years. Goodness me. I really do miss him.
Ken on the subject of Bach makes me smile even when I just remember it. When I read the original, I still laugh out loud: quote:
Originally posted by ken:
And why do foolish people say Bach is emotionless or mathematical? He's a screaming world of stuff compared to Mozart's mild-mannered slightly snooty uber-cool not-quite-frivolity.
Mozart's music so often says "aren't I clever? Isn't the Kaiser a nice bloke? Aren't we all rather clever together for liking Me? Would anyone like to commission a quartet? What are you doing after the party? Oh, no-one goes there anymore Darling! Yes, tedious, isn't it?"
On the other hand Bach's music typically says: "Glory to God in the Highest! And Peace to his people on Earth! And Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory and honour and power! And isn't creation wonderful! And there is all this stuff going on in my head! Talking of which I've been up all night and could do with a coffee. No, make that a beer. In fact I want a double coffee AND a pint of lager. And shoot that bloody piano player. AND WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PAY ME YOU TIGHT SAXON BASTARDS????"
Trust me, its all in there somewhere.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
I met Ken once for a pint. Which turned into about three pints each. He was great company. I remember him and miss him often.
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
I met ken at a meet 9 or so years ago in London. Very fond memories of him. And of his posts.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
After consultation upstairs, I'm moving this thread to a permanent home in Glory.
Piglet, AS host
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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