5 ms·

Rebecca Heineman – from homelessness to porting Doom (2022)

244 points by birdculture 1y ago

Related: Rebecca Heineman has died - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368

fud101 1y ago
[flagged]
turbonegrofa 1y ago
[flagged]
LarsDu88 1y ago
Did not realize the cofounder of Interplay also ported Doom for the 3DO. Looking at Fabien Sanglard's Doom Blackbook (https://fabiensanglard.net/b/gebbdoom.pdf https://fabiensanglard.net/b/gebbdoom.pdf), I just now noticed that Heineman actually provided some behind-the-scenes promotional photos to that book!
- stevenspasbo 1y ago
  Looks like the link from Hacker News doesn't work, but if you navigate to the PDF from the blog it does. Post is here: https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/index.html https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/index.html
cognitive-sci 1y ago
Wow
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
jonny_eh 1y ago
Rebecca is currently fighting cancer and has a gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebecca-ann-heineman-fight-aggressive-cancer https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebecca-ann-heineman-fight-a... She's very close to her goal!
- nsxwolf 1y ago
  Sadly, Rebecca passed away yesterday.
  - pfdietz 1y ago
    The report was adenocarcinoma, which can be a variety of cancers, including pancreatic. I assume it was one of the nastier varieties like that.
  - jonny_eh 1y ago
    Oh damn, I hadn't heard :(
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- TkTech 1y ago
  I hate every part of this. The pain and suffering and the struggle for money that family had to go through because the richest country on Earth can't be bothered to provide for its citizens. Rebecca should not have had to use a damn gofundme to get health care while struggling with cancer. Her family should not have been forced to publicize her care in the desperate hope that strangers might help her live. Utterly inhuman. RIP Rebecca.
  - fsckboy 1y ago
    >because the richest country on Earth can't be bothered to provide for its citizens The USA spends more on healthcare per person than any other country Locations 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 USA 14,885 13,818 12,898 12,375 11,926 Switz. 9,963 9,301 9,089 8,392 7,621 Norway 9,393 8,909 8,533 7,890 7,221 Germany 9,365 8,503 8,652 8,103 7,364 Nederl. 8,436 7,615 7,517 7,317 6,516 Austria 8,401 7,697 7,700 7,465 6,295 Luxemb. 8,162 7,247 6,854 6,432 5,859 Sweden 7,871 7,364 6,977 6,617 6,069 Ireland 7,813 7,027 6,748 6,221 5,619 Belgium 7,750 7,178 6,906 6,554 6,097 Austral 7,469 7,015 6,907 6,546 5,819 France 7,354 6,848 6,701 6,395 5,874 Canada 7,301 7,046 6,876 6,906 6,209 Denmark 7,071 6,555 6,661 6,913 6,147 Iceland 6,770 6,134 5,956 5,556 5,010 UK 6,747 6,412 6,188 5,785 5,381 New Zea 6,700 6,479 6,480 5,213 4,571 Finland 6,655 6,276 5,765 5,395 4,967 Japan 5,790 5,619 5,984 5,454 4,855 Slovenia 5,527 4,556 4,353 3,894 3,756 Spain 5,346 4,927 4,744 4,405 3,996 Portugal 5,212 4,713 4,594 4,208 3,555 Italy 5,164 4,847 4,744 4,409 4,027 Czechia 5,014 4,570 4,394 4,462 4,098 Korea 4,797 4,586 4,634 4,106 3,618 Israel 4,352 3,840 3,682 3,358 3,015 Poland 4,284 3,560 3,066 2,752 2,510 Slovakia 4,021 3,280 3,126 2,922 2,449 Lithuani 3,870 3,306 3,242 3,146 3,092 Chile 3,749 3,396 3,113 2,848 2,489 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea...
welcome_dragon 1y ago
She passed away. There's another story on HN about it
- welcome_dragon 1y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368
QuantumAtom 1y ago
May her memory be a blessing.
ddasdsasdkjasdj 1y ago
Here's a wonderful interview with Rebecca that goes into a lot of detail about her experiences as a trans person in the 80's and 90's. She said she doesn't like to talk about those things too much because she'd rather be admired than pitied, but the context makes her accomplishments more remarkable considering she played life on hard mode for a while. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SyIL6zAmhA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SyIL6zAmhA
swatson741 1y ago
[flagged]
- mos87 1y ago
  [flagged]
- onethumb 1y ago
  She was known as being _extremely talented_ at software development, particularly her knowledge of low level hardware and how to optimize around constraints.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
That’s a great story! I never knew of her, before yesterday, but it does seem that she was quite a brilliant and decent person.
mos87 1y ago
[flagged]
- mos87 1y ago
  [flagged]
the_real_cher 1y ago
Why doesnt Wikipedia put peoples pre-transition name? Its a part of that persons history and alot of search engine data is connected to that last name.
- igleria 1y ago
  Might be that person's wish. A lot, if not most of trans people don't want anything to do with their deadname.
  - mangodrunk 1y ago
    When someone gets a name change and they are well known by their old name it’s misleading and confusing to never mention it. Just like Muhammad Ali‘s wikipedia page mentions his previous name.
    - jrochkind1 1y ago
      I don't know if Heineman was well-known under her previous name or not, but it's literally in the second paragraph of the wikipedia article on her. And wikipedia generally does mention former names in the cases you are describing.[1] y'all are just imagining things to be mad about. It would be rude to mention the name in these comments on a post posted in honor of her death though, please don't. [1] "As the guideline on birth names and gender identity note, birth and former names of transgender and non-binary people should only be included in the lead section if they were notable prior to coming out… Instead, this information may be woven into an "Early life" section… In cases where the prior name is known only as the result of being outed, editors may feel it would be giving it undue weight to include it in the article, unless it was subsequently widely reported in reliable sources." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_LGBTQ%2B_studies/Advice#How_to_write_about_transgender_and_non-binary_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_LGBTQ%2B...
      - mangodrunk 1y ago
        Right, the old name is correctly on the page. I haven’t mentioned the old name, but I don’t think it’s bad to do so to clarify who the person is. I don’t think it’s fair to pretend that someone didn’t have a previous name or that it’s taboo.
ktallett 1y ago
I'm extremely upset by her death as she was a real hero of mine. I was homeless in the 00's and could code and it was my way out of being homeless. I used to go to the internet cafe on Tottenham Court Road in London to hone my skills and work on a project I could use to get work. I ended up being lucky that a very kind guy offered me a job after seeing what I was doing and my life changed from that moment. Hearing her story since then made her feel like a kindred spirit.

244 points by birdculture 1y ago

Related: Rebecca Heineman has died - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368

fud101 1y ago

[flagged]

turbonegrofa 1y ago

[flagged]

LarsDu88 1y ago

Did not realize the cofounder of Interplay also ported Doom for the 3DO. Looking at Fabien Sanglard's Doom Blackbook (https://fabiensanglard.net/b/gebbdoom.pdf https://fabiensanglard.net/b/gebbdoom.pdf), I just now noticed that Heineman actually provided some behind-the-scenes promotional photos to that book!

stevenspasbo 1y ago
Looks like the link from Hacker News doesn't work, but if you navigate to the PDF from the blog it does. Post is here: https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/index.html https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/index.html

cognitive-sci 1y ago

Wow

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

jonny_eh 1y ago

Rebecca is currently fighting cancer and has a gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebecca-ann-heineman-fight-aggressive-cancer https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebecca-ann-heineman-fight-a... She's very close to her goal!

nsxwolf 1y ago
Sadly, Rebecca passed away yesterday.
- pfdietz 1y ago
  The report was adenocarcinoma, which can be a variety of cancers, including pancreatic. I assume it was one of the nastier varieties like that.
- jonny_eh 1y ago
  Oh damn, I hadn't heard :(
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
TkTech 1y ago
I hate every part of this. The pain and suffering and the struggle for money that family had to go through because the richest country on Earth can't be bothered to provide for its citizens. Rebecca should not have had to use a damn gofundme to get health care while struggling with cancer. Her family should not have been forced to publicize her care in the desperate hope that strangers might help her live. Utterly inhuman. RIP Rebecca.
- fsckboy 1y ago
  >because the richest country on Earth can't be bothered to provide for its citizens The USA spends more on healthcare per person than any other country Locations 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 USA 14,885 13,818 12,898 12,375 11,926 Switz. 9,963 9,301 9,089 8,392 7,621 Norway 9,393 8,909 8,533 7,890 7,221 Germany 9,365 8,503 8,652 8,103 7,364 Nederl. 8,436 7,615 7,517 7,317 6,516 Austria 8,401 7,697 7,700 7,465 6,295 Luxemb. 8,162 7,247 6,854 6,432 5,859 Sweden 7,871 7,364 6,977 6,617 6,069 Ireland 7,813 7,027 6,748 6,221 5,619 Belgium 7,750 7,178 6,906 6,554 6,097 Austral 7,469 7,015 6,907 6,546 5,819 France 7,354 6,848 6,701 6,395 5,874 Canada 7,301 7,046 6,876 6,906 6,209 Denmark 7,071 6,555 6,661 6,913 6,147 Iceland 6,770 6,134 5,956 5,556 5,010 UK 6,747 6,412 6,188 5,785 5,381 New Zea 6,700 6,479 6,480 5,213 4,571 Finland 6,655 6,276 5,765 5,395 4,967 Japan 5,790 5,619 5,984 5,454 4,855 Slovenia 5,527 4,556 4,353 3,894 3,756 Spain 5,346 4,927 4,744 4,405 3,996 Portugal 5,212 4,713 4,594 4,208 3,555 Italy 5,164 4,847 4,744 4,409 4,027 Czechia 5,014 4,570 4,394 4,462 4,098 Korea 4,797 4,586 4,634 4,106 3,618 Israel 4,352 3,840 3,682 3,358 3,015 Poland 4,284 3,560 3,066 2,752 2,510 Slovakia 4,021 3,280 3,126 2,922 2,449 Lithuani 3,870 3,306 3,242 3,146 3,092 Chile 3,749 3,396 3,113 2,848 2,489 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea...

welcome_dragon 1y ago

She passed away. There's another story on HN about it

welcome_dragon 1y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960368

QuantumAtom 1y ago

May her memory be a blessing.

ddasdsasdkjasdj 1y ago

Here's a wonderful interview with Rebecca that goes into a lot of detail about her experiences as a trans person in the 80's and 90's. She said she doesn't like to talk about those things too much because she'd rather be admired than pitied, but the context makes her accomplishments more remarkable considering she played life on hard mode for a while. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SyIL6zAmhA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SyIL6zAmhA

swatson741 1y ago

[flagged]

mos87 1y ago
[flagged]
onethumb 1y ago
She was known as being _extremely talented_ at software development, particularly her knowledge of low level hardware and how to optimize around constraints.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago

That’s a great story! I never knew of her, before yesterday, but it does seem that she was quite a brilliant and decent person.

mos87 1y ago

[flagged]

mos87 1y ago
[flagged]

the_real_cher 1y ago

Why doesnt Wikipedia put peoples pre-transition name? Its a part of that persons history and alot of search engine data is connected to that last name.

igleria 1y ago
Might be that person's wish. A lot, if not most of trans people don't want anything to do with their deadname.
- mangodrunk 1y ago
  When someone gets a name change and they are well known by their old name it’s misleading and confusing to never mention it. Just like Muhammad Ali‘s wikipedia page mentions his previous name.
  - jrochkind1 1y ago
    I don't know if Heineman was well-known under her previous name or not, but it's literally in the second paragraph of the wikipedia article on her. And wikipedia generally does mention former names in the cases you are describing.[1] y'all are just imagining things to be mad about. It would be rude to mention the name in these comments on a post posted in honor of her death though, please don't. [1] "As the guideline on birth names and gender identity note, birth and former names of transgender and non-binary people should only be included in the lead section if they were notable prior to coming out… Instead, this information may be woven into an "Early life" section… In cases where the prior name is known only as the result of being outed, editors may feel it would be giving it undue weight to include it in the article, unless it was subsequently widely reported in reliable sources." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_LGBTQ%2B_studies/Advice#How_to_write_about_transgender_and_non-binary_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_LGBTQ%2B...
    - mangodrunk 1y ago
      Right, the old name is correctly on the page. I haven’t mentioned the old name, but I don’t think it’s bad to do so to clarify who the person is. I don’t think it’s fair to pretend that someone didn’t have a previous name or that it’s taboo.

ktallett 1y ago

I'm extremely upset by her death as she was a real hero of mine. I was homeless in the 00's and could code and it was my way out of being homeless. I used to go to the internet cafe on Tottenham Court Road in London to hone my skills and work on a project I could use to get work. I ended up being lucky that a very kind guy offered me a job after seeing what I was doing and my life changed from that moment. Hearing her story since then made her feel like a kindred spirit.