
Console.mihai(); - julien
http://incompleteness.me/blog/2015/02/09/console-dot-mihai/
======
pcwalton
I worked with Mihai (remotely) on the developer tools team when I first joined
Mozilla about five years ago. He was one of the most incredibly passionate
developers I've ever had the pleasure of working with, and he had an enormous
impact on the quality of the developer tools in Firefox. If you've ever used
the developer tools, chances are you've interacted with his code; he had a
front and center role in the console and was one of the key reasons why
Firefox developer tools went from zero to world-class in just a few short
years.

This is a very sad moment for everyone. Thanks for everything you did, Mihai.

~~~
cbaleanu
This is very sad, I was born in a different city in the same country and I
remember how proud we felt about 5 yeears ago when we learnt that dev tools
were being worked on by a fellow Romanian.

This article[0] is so sad it made me cry. I just cannot imagine having this
kind of serenity in the face of imminent death.

RIP

[http://mihai.sucan.ro/mihai/blog/touched](http://mihai.sucan.ro/mihai/blog/touched)

~~~
rufugee
Certainly makes my petty daily concerns seem infinitesimally small. Thanks for
linking to that.

------
noir_lord
This was one of the nicest pieces of writing I've seen in a great while, you
clearly had huge affection for mihai.

It's strange I never knew mihai or even that he existed, I've noticed the FF
developer tools and console get hugely better over time and it never occurred
to me to think about who was behind that.

I have a medical condition that may well land me in a wheelchair in time to
come but even that pales in comparison to EB, I get paid in the next few days
and will donate to honour a man I never knew who did the thing that he loved.

------
aerovistae
I've been developing a free chrome extension called Hands Free for Chrome that
lets you navigate Chrome using just your voice; that idea was that people with
conditions like Mihai's would use it to more easily interact with the web.

However, only about 500 people use it despite that there are far more than
that who could find a use for it. I'm not sure how to make it more known and
get it into more people's hands. If anyone has any advice, please email me at
julianeden2@gmail.com.

Reading articles like this just really reminds me how important accessibility
tools can be for some individuals.

~~~
noir_lord
Contact charities and organizations that deal with groups that have people
with such impairments, they mostly all have websites and newsletters.

I have syringomyelia which depending on location and severity can cause
paralysis so they'd be a natural start you can find US orgs here

[http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/syringomyelia/org_syringo...](http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/syringomyelia/org_syringomyelia.htm)

British ones (I'm British) here.

[http://www.annconroytrust.org/what-we-
do/education/british-s...](http://www.annconroytrust.org/what-we-
do/education/british-syringomyelia-group/)

A quick friendly email and a link would probably do it, these days such groups
are heavily connected internally and stuff goes around really quickly.

------
dangoor
I remember interviewing Mihai when he was joining Mozilla. It was a bit hard
to understand him over the phone at first (I didn't know about the EB at the
time), but he was undeniably smart and knew his stuff.

Mihai was a truly amazing person who accomplished so much despite his hard
life. I'm reminded of him any time the Tron soundtrack comes up when I'm
shuffling my music because Mihai one day randomly praised it on IRC. You
couldn't tell how much effort Mihai had to put into every little thing day-to-
day because he was every bit a member of the team.

RIP Mihai and thanks for being such an inspiring person.

------
eblume
Thanks for the touching post - it's always good to hear these human stories
about the people who write the software we use every day.

I have a question though - the post does not mention Mihai having passed away
but has a mournful tone. A commenter on the blog post said 'rest in peace'. Is
Mihai retiring from development due to illness, or has he indeed passed away?

~~~
teraflop
The blog post was written in February; according to a post on the Mozilla
developer-tools mailing list, he died a few days ago.

[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.develope...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.developer-
tools/0-oC_YwPq3U)

------
Stratoscope
A friend of a friend has this disease. It was shocking the first time we met.
She has to be covered from head to toe to help avoid injury from bumping into
things. Her voice is hoarse and raw. Her fingers have worn off, down to mere
nubs.

But she gets around without too much assistance. She feeds herself, using
what's left of her fingers. And she doesn't complain.

When I feel sorry for myself because not everything in my life has gone the
way I hoped it might, I think of her and realize I really have it pretty easy.

------
joewalker
I'm the author of the blog post. I've updated it to add that Mihai died
recently.

~~~
nchelluri
I made a small donation, and I wanted to say thank you to everyone involved.

Some years ago I stopped using Firebug. I made a brief jump to Chrome but
somehow I felt more at home in Firefox, and now I no longer needed FB to do my
job.

Pretty much every single workday I have entered something or other into the
console. I hop around Alt-Apple-K/Apple-Shift-I/etc. I inspect my elements. I
loved it when recently an event listener list popped into the DOM view. I have
followed your checkboxes and your changes and it has by and large been very
much for the good.

Free software makes me feel good. Mozilla Firefox is one of my favorite pieces
of software and I develop against it and use it and make a living with it.
Kudos.

------
michaelmcmillan
[https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-
aurora/rev/74827b8f6...](https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-
aurora/rev/74827b8f61eb)

------
twic
Over a decade ago, i worked in a lab that was trying to develop a gene therapy
for DEB. It's particularly tough, because you need to replace the collagen VII
gene, which is pretty big:

[http://www.omim.org/entry/120120](http://www.omim.org/entry/120120)

That lab doesn't seem to have published anything since i left, but the broader
project is still slowly grinding forward:

[http://www.genegraft.eu/](http://www.genegraft.eu/)

------
jaytaylor
My mom is an RN at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford (LPCH) and
she's been working with kids who have EB and other rare genetic skin
conditions for many years now.

About 5 years ago I had the chance to meet one of her patients, a young man
with EB. The brutality of living/existing with this condition is striking and
severe.

Imagine the driest and itchiest your skin has ever felt and multiply it by a
few orders of magnitude, then apply that sensation across your entire body.
That is what it is like all the time having EB. Except even worse because of
the scarring that builds up over time.

Mihai sounds like an incredible individual who didn't let ANYTHING stop him
from doing what he loved. What remarkable inspiration for the rest of us!

------
callumprentice
My internet connection at home has been down for 3 days and I've been grumpy
and proclaiming that it's the end of the world.

What the hell am I thinking - the unimaginable courage to live a full,
productive life with a debilitating condition like Mihai had sure puts thing
in perspective.

Thank you for teaching me a lot today.

------
BinaryIdiot
That's was touching. After reading I checked Firefox to see if
console.mihai(); was indeed a method but it is not. Perhaps a small easter egg
could be added so it becomes a method as a little tribute since he worked so
much on making it better?

~~~
Bognar
It's there on Nightly:

    
    
        console.mihai()
        > "http://incompleteness.me/blog/2015/02/09/console-dot-mihai/"

~~~
Systemic33
Confirmed to be on 37.0.2 as well (Regular)

------
bryanlarsen
For those of you watching hockey recently, that's the same disease that
Jonathon Pitre has, the kid who has become an honorary scout for the Ottawa
Senators.

~~~
aaront
Video here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuYxGtuBSgk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuYxGtuBSgk)

~~~
leaveyou
Wow, just wow. No words. Life can be so incredibly hard for some people..

------
jpatokal
Some more detail on how he managed to type despite his condition:
[http://swiftkey.com/en/blog/how-swipe-typing-makes-
communica...](http://swiftkey.com/en/blog/how-swipe-typing-makes-
communicating-easier-for-physical-disabilities/)

------
staunch
Thank you for the great work, Mihai!

It will be a beautiful time when people don't have to suffer like this.
Medical technology can't advance quickly enough.

[http://ebresearch.org/](http://ebresearch.org/)

------
Rauchg
I highly recommend this documentary about EB and the great life and death of
Jonny Kennedy:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmahlc6n9_A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmahlc6n9_A)

------
platform
I did not know about EB.

donated to one of the organizations listed at the end of Mihai's post
[http://mihai.sucan.ro/mihai/blog/thanks](http://mihai.sucan.ro/mihai/blog/thanks)

------
alanpage
Wow. Mihai's story is at once humbling and inspiring.

As a web developer who has used the fruits of his hard work in Firefox, I will
remember him when I think that my job or life is difficult. I really have
nothing to complain about.

------
eridal
this is a great human story

they should add `console.mihai()` ala easter egg, and proud recognition

~~~
cristianbica
[http://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-
team/rev/fdcb26aac28c](http://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-
team/rev/fdcb26aac28c)

~~~
nchelluri
Just ran it in my console. That's really cool.

------
intruder
Să trăieşti frate.

Very moving writing. Thank you Mihai!

------
giis
Very inspiring person. It's unfortunate,most of us are unaware of this person.

On his blog he said
([http://mihai.sucan.ro/mihai/blog](http://mihai.sucan.ro/mihai/blog)) > We
want you and others to know us by our work, our achievements,

Yes, we came to know you for your work and achievement. Great work Mihai.
Thanks for your contributions to opensource world. RIP

------
faragon
Thank you, Mihai.

------
Klasiaster
This humanity here is the power of Free Software. Thanks for all your
involvement in any way as users and contributers.

------
samikc
Mihai, we will remember you by what you have done and accomplished.

RIP

------
christianbryant
thank you (truly); and peace be with you always.

------
allending
RIP Mihai.

------
GutenYe
RIP. mihai

