Derek's (drk762) friends were with him when he peacefully passed away into 'chill-out' land at 10:18:24, 20th August 2005.

Ratzinger: He was a bit restless, deleting blogs and complaining about pub opening times, and then it just happened.

Xpander: He was a 'very witty, funny, sensitive and down right clever contributor'.

Dawn03: I'm relieved that he is comfortable and free of pain at last; no longer does he feel obliged to comment on my Muhammad blog!

Charles: I struggle to find words to adequately pay tribute to him. He loved politicians and had nothing but admiration, awe in fact, for our policies.

Skip: His lasting contribution will be his advocacy for social interaction between bloggers.

Stoneleaf: His intellect, wit and ability to get to the heart of issues will be sadly missed.

Evie: He was a multi-talented man whose blogging life was an enigma, full of triumphs and humour.

Tattylou: He was loveable at his best and confusing to friends at his worst.

Graemephillipsuk: As a friend and journalist he was an impressive man.

Lu-Mina: He was incredibly brave, cheerful and dignified to leave so quietly.

MemoryBlue: He was so at peace with himself that you had to think this was a man who knew what he was doing.

Michael: I have ordered 100,000 sausages to be prepared for the barbie at his farewell.

Bellabella: I shall remember him as the man with the big heart and the common touch.

Vort1gern: Waving his arms, "If I thought he was an asshole, I'd tell you."

Thousands more bid their last farewell to Derek...

This is a portrait of George Bush in his first term, so it's a bit outdated....but not really.

Robert Browning, from A Death in the Desert 1864

"Three souls which make up one soul; first, to wit,
A soul of each and all the bodily parts,
Seated therein, which works, and is what Does,
And has the use of earth, and ends the man
Downward: but, tending upward for advice,
Grows into, and again is grown into
By the next soul, which, seated in the brain,
Useth the first with its collected use,
And feeleth, thinketh, willeth, - is what Knows:
Which, duly tending upward in its turn,
Grows into, and again is grown into
By the last soul, that uses both the first,
Subsisting whether they assist or no,
and constituting man's self, is what is -
And leans upon the former, makes it play,
As that played off the first; and tending up,
Holds, is upheld by, God, and ends the man
Upward in that dread point of intercourse,
Nor needs a place, for it returns to Him.
What Does, what Knows, what Is; three souls, one man."

"Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate'er you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in us all,
Where truth abides in fulness; and around
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
. . . and to know
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without."

from Paracelsus by Robert Browning

Robert Browning,1812-1889

from PARACELSUS

"I go to prove my soul!
I see my way as birds their trackless way".

"...and God renews
His ancient rapture. Thus He dwells in all,
From life's minute beginnings, up at last
To man - the consummation of this scheme
Of being, the completion of this sphere
Of life; whose attributes had here and there
Been scattered o'er the visible world before,
Asking to be combined, dim fragments meant
To be united in some wondrous whole,
Imperfect qualities throughout creation,
Suggesting some one creature yet to make,
Some point where all these scattered rays should meet
Convergent in the faculties of man....
When all the race is perfected alike
As man, that is, all tended to mankind,
And, man produced, all has its end thus far;
But in completed man begins anew
A tendency to God. Prognostics told
Man's near approach; so in man's self arise
August anticipations, symbols, types
Of a dim splendor ever on before
In that eternal circle life pursues.
For men begin to pass their nature's bound
And find new hopes and cares which fast supplant
Their proper joys and griefs; they grow too great
For narrow creeds of right and wrong, which fade
Before the unmeasured thirst for good; while peace
Rises within them ever more and more.
Such men are even now upon the earth,
Serene amid the half formed creatures round
Who should be saved by them and joined with them."

Seen on an Auckland street recently.

"Will you ride in my Celica?" said the spider to the fly.

"To be entombed forever for love of Spiderman."

Spiderman's last retreat -

or his true means of propulsion?