if he'd ever shared a picture of himself before, i'd never seen it, but when i saw that picture on the caringbridge site, i knew immediately who it was.
smallfry was a moderator before and during the exodus with me. he and i took a lot of crap from the old guard when we first started with this experiment that is the new huge geekhack community, and at some point in the future i knew i was going to want him on staff again. i work with lots of very smart, even brilliant people, on geekhack, in research, my chosen professional, everywhere. nathan was in that stage of brilliance where it's bubbling up from childhood and blossoming into something creative, uncontrollable, but most of all, unique and new.
once upon a time, i thought i wanted to teach at a college level so that i could cultivate minds like his. when i discovered that minds like his were much more common in this community, and almost non-existent at the college level, i rejected teaching and threw myself into building this community. knowing what he would have contributed to the world crushes me.