my life

Allan Glenn, aka WinAce.

I've been a member of the Internet Infidels online community since August of 2000, and in the course of time, have grown close to many of the board members. Whether I have met them in real life matters not at all. Allan was one of the "old" members of the board, and he made an enduring name for himself as a voice of reason and compassion, as well as a man of wit whose love of life was apparent in all he said and did.

He was born with cystic fibrosis, and in the last couple of years, began to suffer from complications. He met Jess over a year ago (aka, One for Sorrow) online, and found the strength to go on. They moved to South Carolina in the hopes of getting the lung transplant he so desperately needed. Medicaid denied his request because the surgery only had a 60% survival rate, ignoring the fact that without it, he had no chance to live. He went into the hospital a week ago with a blood infection, very ill.

His home page gives you an idea of his intelligence and humor. He created an internet classic called "Organisms That Look Designed" (toward the bottom of his home page; for some reason, this software will not allow me to link to it). Here's a taste:

Candiru catfish (Vandellia cirrhosa). This is a tiny catfish, often less than one inch long, that lives in the Amazon and Oranoco rivers of South America. Voraciously bloodthirsty, they often crawl up the anus or urethra of unsuspecting human bathers. They deploy specially built spines, located around their head, to draw blood and anchor themselves. Unfortunately, they then tend to swell and get stuck inside. The spines are designed so well that only surgery (usually amputation of the genital area) can get rid of them!

The interplay of systems required for this little fish is similarly amazing. In particular, the spines are a miraculously crafted example of divine ingenuity.

He died the morning of 4 Nov 05. He was 20 years old.

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