<story><title>Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/13/diaspora-co-founder-ilya-zhitomirskiy-passes-away-at-21/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>edw519</author><text>Horrible. This news is so tragic I really can&apos;t focus on anything else now. Which is probably the way it should be.&lt;p&gt;Our community stresses the importance of achievement, success, and technology so much that it&apos;s easy to forget what&apos;s really most important: each other. Sometimes it takes terrible news like this to jerk us back to that reality.&lt;p&gt;I never knew Ilya, but if any of his friends of family visits this forum, please know that many thoughts and prayers are with you.&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what was behind this, so just a few (possibly related) thoughts:&lt;p&gt;- Let&apos;s never forget that everything we do is for other people. They outrank all the ones and zeros. Go hug someone important to you.&lt;p&gt;- If you ever believe the possibility of something like happening is &amp;#62; .00001, do something, anything. If you don&apos;t know what to do, contact me (see my profile) and I&apos;ll help in any way I can. Nothing can be more important.&lt;p&gt;- This was the ultimate failure. I&apos;m so sorry to hear this and hope that Ilya&apos;s family and friends somehow find peace.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chunkyslink</author><text>&amp;#62;&amp;#62; If you ever believe the possibility of something like happening is &amp;#62; .00001, do something, anything. If you don&apos;t know what to do, contact me (see my profile) and I&apos;ll help in any way I can.&lt;p&gt;Its a nice thought, but people in this position often don&apos;t want help.&lt;p&gt;My best Friend was doing a PHD in a Biochemistry related field at University College London back in 2003. He was an outgoing person, had a hot girlfriend and lots of friends. He had a what seemed like a great life and an even better future.&lt;p&gt;One night we went out together and had a great night. We went our separate ways about 4am and I we arranged to meet at 5pm the next day.&lt;p&gt;At 2pm the next afternoon I got a call from his flat mate saying that he had committed suicide. He had access to all kinds of chemicals and substances at the as part of his PHD and he had been taking little bits for months and months and making a potent cocktail of poison. He drank the poison and died instantly.&lt;p&gt;There was no note, no explanation and no reason anyone knew. I was the last person (friend) to see him alive.&lt;p&gt;I guess I&apos;m saying - even balanced, successful people have their reasons and you will never know or be told what they are.</text></comment>
<story><title>Diaspora Co-Founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy Passes Away At 21</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/13/diaspora-co-founder-ilya-zhitomirskiy-passes-away-at-21/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>edw519</author><text>Horrible. This news is so tragic I really can&apos;t focus on anything else now. Which is probably the way it should be.&lt;p&gt;Our community stresses the importance of achievement, success, and technology so much that it&apos;s easy to forget what&apos;s really most important: each other. Sometimes it takes terrible news like this to jerk us back to that reality.&lt;p&gt;I never knew Ilya, but if any of his friends of family visits this forum, please know that many thoughts and prayers are with you.&lt;p&gt;I have no idea what was behind this, so just a few (possibly related) thoughts:&lt;p&gt;- Let&apos;s never forget that everything we do is for other people. They outrank all the ones and zeros. Go hug someone important to you.&lt;p&gt;- If you ever believe the possibility of something like happening is &amp;#62; .00001, do something, anything. If you don&apos;t know what to do, contact me (see my profile) and I&apos;ll help in any way I can. Nothing can be more important.&lt;p&gt;- This was the ultimate failure. I&apos;m so sorry to hear this and hope that Ilya&apos;s family and friends somehow find peace.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>robg</author><text>It&apos;s not just our community. There are twice as many suicides as homicides in the U.S.[1] Yet, every nightly newscast is sure to cover the murders. How many talk about the suicides? Worse, suicide is the leading cause of death among college students [2]. It&apos;s an epidemic that no one talks about. We&apos;ve already lost two freshman at MIT this year.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/suicide-vs-homicide-by-state-per-100000/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/suicide-vs-homicide-b...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/nov/07/uva-study-suicide-leading-cause-death-us-college-s-ar-1442361/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/nov/07/uva-study-sui...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>