The Passing of a Lounger

[Jester]

It is not an exaggeration to say Pete taught me more about how to think than anyone who isn't immediate family. The things I've learned from countless discussions here, arguing against him, arguing with him, or just reading his rapier prose, are now utterly fundamental to how I express myself. He literally changed the way I think, the way I approach any and every topic, with his lucidity, his brilliance, his implacability, and his humbling awareness of just how little we all know. A hero to me.

I've now been to some pretty lofty academic places, and yet, my (piss poor) imitation of Pete's extraordinary clarity and style is still the best way I know to be a thinker.

I'm tearing up now, so maybe I'll just say that I'll miss him, and leave it at that. Magi, my condolences - no doubt, we can't miss him a hundredth as much as you can.

-Jester