October 24, 2016
..brilliant, insightful, inspiring and ALWAYS RIGHT.
Named after a character in Mahoromatic, Chizumatic was one of the oldest anime blogs.......
.....From the beginning, Chizumatic offered a strong editorial voice for the most competent direction and the cutest girls, as well as an excellent understanding of the classical blogging, which Steven brought with him from the political arena. Explanations and WMG were another hallmark. Did you think too that the crow in Haibane Renmei represented Rakka’s dog? We aren’t getting such insights anymore and animeblogging has become poorer for that.
We shall not see his like again.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
01:23 PM
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Posted by: StargazerA5 at Mon Oct 24 14:12:40 2016 (5YSpE)
Posted by: Roger Simon at Mon Oct 24 16:54:45 2016 (FthRF)
Posted by: mac at Mon Oct 24 17:02:57 2016 (eI49Y)
Posted by: Travis at Mon Oct 24 17:05:46 2016 (AvzDP)
Posted by: Bart Calder at Mon Oct 24 17:09:43 2016 (zzFQG)
Without Steven, I'd likely have never discovered anime. From there, manga and visual novels. Thus, I'd never have become a writer in my dotage. His effect upon my life is incalculable.
USS Clueless and Instapundit were the two pillars of the dextrosphere in the early days. Chizumatic and Glenn's site have been daily reads of mine for over a decade. In the coming storms of the West, his wisdom and intelligence shall be sorely missed.
+May Almighty God bless you and take you home.
Posted by: Clayton Barnett at Mon Oct 24 17:10:43 2016 (ug1Mc)
Posted by: William O. Blivion at Mon Oct 24 17:13:20 2016 (YfNDp)
May the Lord watch ever over him, and his family be given peace.
Posted by: nbpundit at Mon Oct 24 17:23:54 2016 (DPeBZ)
Posted by: Steve DiSciullo at Mon Oct 24 17:26:58 2016 (3myMJ)
Posted by: Peter Burke at Mon Oct 24 17:27:51 2016 (qCPlA)
Posted by: Nancy Gee at Mon Oct 24 17:31:51 2016 (EvFB4)
Thank God I have the complete archive of the USS CluelessMay I forward your e-mail address?
If so, someone may be contacting you soon.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Oct 24 17:33:15 2016 (KicmI)
BW
Posted by: Bill Whittle at Mon Oct 24 17:38:10 2016 (eOjzd)
Posted by: CGHill at Mon Oct 24 17:38:40 2016 (TkuZj)
Was amazed later when I found USS Clueless, and found he had additional depths and insights not apparent in the surface contact from a work setting.
RIP, Steven
Posted by: PlainBill at Mon Oct 24 17:54:25 2016 (t4cn6)
Posted by: Dan Schalk at Mon Oct 24 18:09:26 2016 (1yx5a)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Mon Oct 24 18:17:46 2016 (PiXy!)
He will be missed - and I hope there's some way to get that archive back up. It was on a personal server at his home, IIRC.
I suspect his brother might be amenable to shipping it somewhere.
Posted by: Kathy Kinsley at Mon Oct 24 18:25:38 2016 (c4lKd)
(give something for Insta to aspire to...)
Posted by: Thomas Roberts at Mon Oct 24 18:31:23 2016 (BCHQJ)
You will be missed Steven.
Posted by: SPQR at Mon Oct 24 18:47:38 2016 (dW1Y+)
This, on top of everything else, confirms that this is a cursed year.
Posted by: Bill Peschel at Mon Oct 24 18:55:52 2016 (SHTHL)
I read him regularly in the very early days, and it would always brighten my day to see him leave a comment somewhere for me to come across unexpectedly more recently.
May he finally have time to watch every episode of every series that he was interested in, and for him to understand them without subs or dubbing.
Posted by: koa at Mon Oct 24 18:56:37 2016 (2sH9z)
Back in the early 2000s, when he still lived in San Diego County, I tried to convince him to talk to one of my TV news station's reporters for a story we were doing about blogging. Those were the early days, and blogs were still a novelty. Den Beste declined, citing his health. I didn't fully realize, back then, how precarious his health actually was.
USS Clueless was so important to the early blogosphere.
Farewell, Captain.
Posted by: L at Mon Oct 24 19:00:18 2016 (v9mey)
What the man wrote and posted on U.S.S. Clueless had such a profound effect on so many.
Thank you for sharing your towering intellect with us, sir.
You made a difference and your life made the world a better place.
Posted by: Aether at Mon Oct 24 19:01:07 2016 (Nw2ea)
RIP, Steven.
Posted by: Civilis at Mon Oct 24 19:04:50 2016 (mtf6N)
Damn. Sad news to hear.
God Speed.
Posted by: exsanguine at Mon Oct 24 19:07:29 2016 (QJ3mM)
Posted by: ClydeS at Mon Oct 24 19:25:18 2016 (xeajn)
Posted by: pawn at Mon Oct 24 19:30:25 2016 (vMllE)
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Mon Oct 24 20:09:57 2016 (jS1F0)
Posted by: Dr. Stephen J. Krune III at Mon Oct 24 20:11:18 2016 (3u2M9)
Posted by: joemack at Mon Oct 24 20:49:25 2016 (lCc6O)
Even if there's no public funeral, I wish there could be some sort of memorial service. Maybe there could be some kind of scholarship or something fitting, so that his name would live on.
And yes, I definitely hope that the HMS Clueless archives can be found and kept somewhere forever accessible to the world. They are a valuable part of history, as well as something we would like to be able to read and remember.
Posted by: suburbanbanshee@gmail.com at Mon Oct 24 21:01:23 2016 (S0Svy)
I guess it falls to the rest of us to see if collectively we can make up for the loss to the Anime blogging world.
If there's one lesson we can take from this, the Internet may SEEM to take care of all our social needs, but it can't be there for you when reality knocks on the door. We need people in our offline lives to see to our well-being as well. Hermitage is life without a net. And as much as our pride tells us we can go it alone, we need people in our daily lives.
And 'muppet, good on you for stepping up and calling in the rescue, even if, unfortunately, it was not a false alarm.
Posted by: Mauser at Mon Oct 24 21:08:40 2016 (5Ktpu)
I have missed your words for years but remember well how impactful they were.
To The Brickmuppet, thank you for this space to mourn his passing.
Posted by: Emily Bennett at Mon Oct 24 21:27:33 2016 (Ql7Qt)
Posted by: Saber Alter at Mon Oct 24 21:34:34 2016 (Z8ySM)
Those USS Clueless archives would be a treasure.
As was Mr. Den Beste, himself. We're beyond fortunate that the early 'net let such giants become known to us all.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Posted by: Jim at Mon Oct 24 21:42:36 2016 (v5iqM)
You'll be missed terribly. Godspeed, sir.
Posted by: Tex Lovera at Mon Oct 24 21:47:04 2016 (8MFrj)
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Mon Oct 24 21:59:30 2016 (/lg1c)
He will be missed.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at Mon Oct 24 21:59:32 2016 (AroJD)
A man in full and life well lived.
I loved your mind and your wit since 2001.
Posted by: Kimmon D. Johnson at Mon Oct 24 21:59:55 2016 (q5uid)
Posted by: Foodog at Mon Oct 24 22:07:23 2016 (0faRj)
Posted by: Darius J. Wolfe at Mon Oct 24 22:10:11 2016 (HAq2P)
Jason
Posted by: Jason at Mon Oct 24 22:11:43 2016 (6rHZ7)
I very much hope that someone will preserve a full archive of USS Clueless online for posterity. Few blogs deserve to be part of a permanent museum of the blogosphere, but USS Clueless is a must.
R.I.P. to Steven and condolences to his family and friends.
Posted by: Stakhanov at Mon Oct 24 22:12:15 2016 (K525C)
Posted by: David Wall at Mon Oct 24 22:22:31 2016 (FKCX6)
Posted by: Wonderduck at Mon Oct 24 22:39:33 2016 (vZvpB)
Posted by: Teri Pittman at Mon Oct 24 22:39:41 2016 (Lqy/e)
Posted by: Norton at Mon Oct 24 23:08:36 2016 (Kq7+h)
Posted by: Lewis at Mon Oct 24 23:16:49 2016 (PetUs)
Back in his USS Clueless days, Steven posted a brief autobiography, and while denbeste.nu is down, the Internet Wayback Machine has it preserved here. In his memory, I will note that this is a proper hyperlink instead of a URL just dumped into the comment, and that he was born in 1953.
Posted by: benzeen at Mon Oct 24 23:27:14 2016 (JpDcM)
Sadly, I'm pretty certain that most things that I had said in his blog, when weighed against the scales of "good comment" vs "bad comment", would have put me on the "bad comment" side. He did appear to be happy the one time I had posted that I didn't remember the contents of the post due to the fascinating images in the top rotation (cough).
Sigh. The world's IQ has dropped a bit with his passing. I felt the same when my father passed away.
Pleasant dreams, Mr. Den Beste. You have touched more people than perhaps you knew.
Posted by: Mark A. Flacy at Mon Oct 24 23:44:03 2016 (w0U7L)
Posted by: SundogUK at Tue Oct 25 00:19:10 2016 (SBDA0)
He was a great influence on everyone that read his writing, including me. He will be sorely missed.
Posted by: Erbo at Tue Oct 25 00:31:05 2016 (5yK0B)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Oct 25 01:33:46 2016 (PiXy!)
When I saw the post on SDB's passing at the Puppy Blender's site I felt my heart fall and fall and fall. USS Clueless was the first blog I bookmarked. SDB taught me how to sharpen the BS detector in my brain and his musings on energy and engineering were a master's course in critical thinking. Thank you Steven for the positive impact on my life.
Several posters have said they have the archive of USS Clueless. If anyone plans to get in online then a link would be appreciated.
Rest in peace Steven.
Posted by: Tom at Tue Oct 25 04:27:15 2016 (TMr+G)
Posted by: Mike at Tue Oct 25 05:34:33 2016 (uQC7i)
He was insightful, brilliant, and oh so right. Perspicacity became him, and I felt happier and smarter just to read him.
Thank you.
What a man!
Posted by: Orson at Tue Oct 25 06:51:47 2016 (fqmY9)
read him from the start, super-smart,
never forget his telling of how he got his last name.
See you again someday, Mr Den Beste!
Posted by: mccaff at Tue Oct 25 07:16:30 2016 (ve4ik)
May he rest in peace. My condolences to his family and friends.
Tom
Posted by: Tom Burroughes at Tue Oct 25 07:31:58 2016 (XsY8/)
Posted by: Perry de Havilland at Tue Oct 25 08:03:37 2016 (EaVcu)
Why? Because I'd like to get some of USS Clueless published.
Posted by: Tom Kratman at Tue Oct 25 08:37:29 2016 (0NULD)
There are several sites mirroring it now; and I agree. It's not "like" it's not "Should" it's "MUST BE PUBLISHED."
I'd have volunteered to edit the moment I thought of it, but the family (whom I presume has the rights) doesn't know me, and I don't have the chops (experience) to take on a project like that. Baen was the first publisher I thought of though -- but please, keep Eric Flint as far away from it as possible.
See https://erbosoft.com/ussclueless/
Posted by: ubu at Tue Oct 25 10:43:34 2016 (SlLGE)
I almost always learned something from his posts at USS Clueless. I downloaded his archives, but I think I lost them when the computer I had at the time died.
I'm sorry to hear that he's gone. My condolences to his family, and to anyone else who misses him.
Posted by: wheels at Tue Oct 25 11:01:18 2016 (PRLW0)
Posted by: Erbo at Tue Oct 25 11:49:37 2016 (GEYqS)
"20040917: For whatever it's worth, Electric Minds has put up a mirror of this site (with my permission)."
The link was to www.electricminds.org/ussclueless. At the time, Electric Minds was still running, and I was the administrator of the site. I still hold the domain, even though it's no longer in use.
Posted by: Erbo at Tue Oct 25 11:54:00 2016 (GEYqS)
Posted by: Elena at Tue Oct 25 13:21:11 2016 (SWGHZ)
Some of the images are missing, but all the posts seem to be there.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Oct 25 17:27:49 2016 (PiXy!)
His allowing me a glimpse into the inner workings and clarity of a mind much more powerful than mine forever changed my perception of higher reasoning.
His Clueless postings were the most enjoyable reading I had ever come across.
They each left me with neural envy.
.... and I admired his belligerence just as much.
He posted somewhere that the period of his life where he had such clarity of deep thought was chemically induced, and he couldn't reproduce it otherwise.
I think he was just tired of sharing his brilliance with us.
Posted by: Redneck Texan at Tue Oct 25 17:50:40 2016 (vZ0KM)
If the family has a memorial, or an obit, where the thousands of us he touched by his writing can at least leave a few kind words I'd love to know about it. For all we know his family might not know about the depth of his audience over the years and how well respected he was in certain circles. They may have though him to be a shut-in with a weird hobby. I'd like to leave a few words, or send some flowers, so they know he will be missed by many.
Posted by: Jim at Tue Oct 25 19:13:22 2016 (1O/uG)
He was one of the first bloggers that I read, all the way back in undergrad. While I've never had enough to say over as broad a range of topics as Steven, he inspired me to try blogging myself.
He's one of the very few bloggers out there that seemed like a "kindred spirit": Someone who thought about the world in the same sort of way, albeit with more experience and clarity.
Posted by: MadRocketSci at Tue Oct 25 19:45:16 2016 (VF34g)
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford at Wed Oct 26 16:52:43 2016 (OmqbN)
Posted by: Doug Purdie at Wed Oct 26 21:12:27 2016 (GdkZ7)
Posted by: muon at Thu Oct 27 00:00:34 2016 (vMYTH)
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Oct 27 14:11:12 2016 (KicmI)
Anyone else here from the old days in Usenet? I knew Steven from back in the mid-90s during the OS wars between Windows and OS/2. We had been in contact ever since, I received the last email (he didn't email often) a few months ago.
Needless to say, I miss him. I was one of the very first readers of his blog. We had spoken on the phone once (this was actually mentioned on his blog), he even sent me a Christmas present many years ago.
If anyone remembers details from the early 2000s, I was the friend from Germany and later Ireland he sometimes mentioned.
This absolutely sucks.
Rest in peace, Steven. Your Dutch ancestor was a smartass.
Posted by: Andrew Brehm at Thu Nov 17 04:10:41 2016 (7Ha66)
Posted by: me at Thu Jun 4 19:50:51 2020 (zkHXH)
He was unique. One of a kind, As Sarah Hoyt said over on Insty, "We shall not see his like again."
He will be missed - and I hope there's some way to get that archive back up. It was on a personal server at his home, IIRC.
I suspect his brother might be amenable to shipping it somewhere.......................................
Posted by: Victoria at Sat Sep 12 02:47:41 2020 (5SVvz)
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