Laugh it up, laughy!

August 21, 2003 1:10 PM

Man Dies Laughing In His Sleep that's all... but what a great way to go, eh?
posted by adamms222 (42 comments total)

Totally.
posted by Quartermass at 1:23 PM on August 21, 2003

Must've been a killer joke.
posted by Resonance at 1:25 PM on August 21, 2003

when i die, i want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. not screaming in terror like his passengers.
posted by quonsar at 1:27 PM on August 21, 2003

not screaming in terror like his passengers.
Condolences to your grandfather, What?? your grandfather died while captaining a plane?

If I had to pick my death, drowning, supposedly very peaceful. But it's not a natural cause.
posted by thomcatspike at 1:40 PM on August 21, 2003

"Two peanuts were walking down the strasse. One of them was assaulted."
posted by ilsa at 1:40 PM on August 21, 2003

thomcatspike: I don't think that'd be very peaceful unless you were unconscious at the time. Slow, conscious asphyxiation seems like a miserable way to die to me.
posted by Lafe at 1:45 PM on August 21, 2003

Being alert and apprehending the moment of my death is something I'm not decided about yet. Maybe it would be too terrifying to go through. But having imagined the experience a million times, curiously, it would be a shame to miss it.
posted by scarabic at 1:47 PM on August 21, 2003

oh my god scarabic. you just mentioned the most horrible thing in the world to me - imagining the very moment of one's death - the slide into irrevocable unconsciousness. you're horrible. I spend my life trying not to think about it. thanks, now I won't sleep for weeks.
posted by PigAlien at 1:53 PM on August 21, 2003

I wouldn't mind going out in my sleep while laughing, but I hope I am 102 and living a happy active life when I do...
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:58 PM on August 21, 2003

Quonsar: I think this version is better:

When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like the people in the other car.
posted by rcade at 2:00 PM on August 21, 2003

How people feel about death is fascinating to me. PigAlien, what exactly is it about death that's so horrible for you? I simply can't imagine being afraid of it. Suffering for hours or months or years, yeah, I could be afraid of that, but the final transition? Personally, I kind of look forward to it. Not enough to take matters into my own hands - happy to wait and have a joyful life in the meantime, thank you - but I do think it will be wonderful. Based on the description in the link, I would imagine that this guy's transition felt pretty damn good.
posted by widdershins at 2:02 PM on August 21, 2003

Quonsar's is funnier.
posted by wsg at 2:05 PM on August 21, 2003

Shot to death. In bed. By a jealous husband. At age 89.
posted by gottabefunky at 2:06 PM on August 21, 2003

I think death while sleeping is the best way to go, all things considered. None of that "do not go gentle into that good night" stuff for me, thanks. Still sucks, though. (My cat died in his sleep last night, probably from heart failure, so I may be biased here.)

Slow, conscious asphyxiation seems like a miserable way to die to me.

There is supposed to be a particular physical reaction that you get when your brain is cut off from oxygen while you're underwater for so long. I'm not sure about peaceful, but it actually is supposed to be quite nice. "Rapture of the deep" or something like that?
posted by onlyconnect at 2:35 PM on August 21, 2003

If I had to pick my death, drowning, supposedly very peaceful. But it's not a natural cause.

A friend of mine actually HAS died from drowning (and was then successfully revived.) He ignores our incessant pleas for information about 'what it was like' except to say that, indeed, drowning was quite a peaceful experience...um...once the moment of unimaginable pain and terror had passed.
posted by mathis23 at 2:38 PM on August 21, 2003

I frequently laugh myself awake. It happens often enough that my girlfirend has stopped regarding it as cute.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:48 PM on August 21, 2003

God I miss Thailand
posted by emptyage at 2:56 PM on August 21, 2003

"when i die, i want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. not screaming in terror like his passengers." -- Jack Handey
posted by Hildago at 3:09 PM on August 21, 2003

Slow, conscious asphyxiation seems like a miserable way to die to me
No pain, you just go to sleep, eyes open. Remember as a toddler falling into the pool's deep-end, coughing out a lung full of water was the terrifying part.
posted by thomcatspike at 3:15 PM on August 21, 2003

Quonsar: I think this version is better:

*tents fingers*
eggsellent!
posted by quonsar at 3:18 PM on August 21, 2003

Worst way to go at least for me. It's surprising anybody decided to do it, and then filmed it.
posted by daver at 3:38 PM on August 21, 2003

thanks, now I won't sleep for weeks

Seems you're safe then PigAlien ... just avoid laughing as well (just to be on the safe side)
posted by ElvisJesus at 3:39 PM on August 21, 2003

I used to wonder if it was possible to laugh hard enough to pass out. Then I did.

Now I know that I can also laugh myself to death.

I'll try to think about that next time I'm contorted with uncontrollable guffaws. Thanks.

(Oh, and put me down as one of those who rather looks forward to death, or at least doesn't dread it and thinks it will be nice. I just don't want to die in pain/afraid. A nice, slow slide into blissful oblivion for me, thanks.)
posted by jammer at 3:47 PM on August 21, 2003

"Rapture of the deep" or something like that?
I have seen accounts of this type of experience, although "rapture of the deep" is a term usually associated with nitrogen narcosis. Many people have been pulled from the water and resuscitated, only to fight their rescuer and be very unhappy about being pulled from the brink.

My mother had a near-death experience many years ago and told me about looking down on herself with a serene, peaceful feeling and of being dragged very unwillingly back into herself by the medical team.

I don't look forward to death at all. I still have way too much living to do before I am ready to go.
posted by dg at 4:28 PM on August 21, 2003

Maybe the atheist is outweighing the agnostic in me, but I don't think there's anything worse than death. I don't want to die EVER. That I may someday cease to exist is pretty much the most depressing thought I ever have.

What's really frustrating to me is that we were probably born only a couple generations too early to survive to the point where things like aging or cancer will be genetically eliminated. Then people could live indefinitely.
posted by tirade at 5:17 PM on August 21, 2003

what exactly is it about death that's so horrible for you

If I read the "irrevocable slide" right, it's just that the final moment itself is the ultimate lack of control, and the apprehension that you have no more future in which to place any hopes. Therefore, you have to face your life for exactly what it is. No more time to improve on it.
posted by scarabic at 5:20 PM on August 21, 2003

tirade and PigAlien:

Groening has something to say that may ease your mind
posted by scarabic at 5:40 PM on August 21, 2003

"That I may someday cease to exist is pretty much the most depressing thought I ever have."

I've got some sad news for you, tirade. It's not "may", it's "will".
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:50 PM on August 21, 2003

an ice cream truck driver dies laughing, and no one makes any references to good humour...? this place is falling apart.
posted by t r a c y at 6:00 PM on August 21, 2003

If someone is telling you they aren't afraid of death, and they are being truthful, you know that at least one of two things is true: they are under the influence of something, or it is day time. This is a fact.
posted by Hildago at 6:12 PM on August 21, 2003

I doubt the moment of dying is actually all that horrifying or beautiful - it could easily be more or less like falling asleep, or going under anesthesia, which can sometimes be quite relaxing and pleasant, but not exactly something to look forward to. Possibly as your brain is deprived of oxygen you could experience some interesting brain states, the way people do when they get into asphyxiation fetishes, or nitrous oxide.

The part that's difficult is being able to look ahead and comprehend that at some point you just won't exist anymore, that ultimately you won't get to see what happens next...
posted by mdn at 6:18 PM on August 21, 2003

If someone is telling you they aren't afraid of death, and they are being truthful, you know that at least one of two things is true: they are under the influence of something, or it is day time.

"It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing." -- Ernest Hemingway

Possibly as your brain is deprived of oxygen you could experience some interesting brain states

Well, we'll find out when we get there. I sometimes believe in near-death experiences--mostly because I want to--and sometimes I think they're an illusion caused by what you're describing. And I guess it doesn't matter either way.

And my plan is to be fucked to death by cheerleaders at the age of 100.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:23 PM on August 21, 2003

I laugh in my sleep all the time. I am now too scared to go to bed.
posted by sarcasticah at 7:02 PM on August 21, 2003

Possibly as your brain is deprived of oxygen you could experience some interesting brain states, the way people do when they get into asphyxiation fetishes, or nitrous oxide.

My current favorite idle afterlife theory is that in that last moment, that last "interesting brain state", time stops for the dying consciousness, leaving you eternally in that last instant. This eternity is an illusion as far as the rest of the world is concerned, but who cares? Not you.

And who knows? Perhaps this last state of mind can be consciously influenced. So good Christians really do go to heaven. :: shrug ::

This has also lead to a superstition where death by direct destruction of the brain is the most horrible death of all; just lights out.

My second favorite idle afterlife theory is that, given eternity, whatever confluence of phenomena that constitute my awareness will be reassembled in some inconceivable form. Basically reincarnation with silicon-based tentacles or something.
posted by furiousthought at 7:41 PM on August 21, 2003

Basically reincarnation with silicon-based tentacles or something.

Or maybe as a living spaceship.
posted by homunculus at 8:34 PM on August 21, 2003

I think the best way to die would be to be hooked up to an electrode that stimulated the pleasure centers of your brain, and a nuclear device that measured the pleasure you were experiencing. At the precise moment you achieved the total and unequivocal joy of pure chemical bliss, the device would be triggered and you'd be incinerated instantly.

HELL YEAH!!
posted by Hildago at 9:04 PM on August 21, 2003

an ice cream truck driver dies and is found covered in sprinkes, crushed nuts and raspberry sauce. Police believe he topped himself.
sorry
posted by punilux at 1:38 AM on August 22, 2003

quonsar - i'm just glad i'd finished my morning cup of tea, or i'd be cursing your name and dialing up dell support in search of a new monitor!

seriously though, it's not a bad way to go. although, i'd personally go for the classic of coital/post coital demise with my partner of choice after many years happy marriage.
posted by triv at 2:08 AM on August 22, 2003

I just hope that when I die, Rowan Atkinson isn't there to give me a warm welcome.
posted by Tarrama at 7:10 AM on August 22, 2003

I took a serious knock to the head once. Was unconscious for some amount of time, flipped in and out of consciousness for the next couple days, spent a lot of time in the hospital.

All told, if I'd died from that injury, I'd never have known it. I certainly wasn't in much pain: my brain wasn't really processing pain signals at that point.

Indeed, my only horrible memory of the entire event is the incredibly icky feeling of ice-cold drugs being injected into my veins. That was such a deeply wrong sensation.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I'm a lot less afraid of death now. I sure as hell don't want to experience it, but I don't think it's usually all that terrifying for the one experiencing it.

At least, that's what I tell myself.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:02 AM on August 22, 2003

I'm gonna live forever....

I'm gonna learn how to fly....HIGH!

ahem. Sorry. Fame moment. Happens to the best of us, the 80's just sneak up and take over. My apologies.
posted by dejah420 at 11:22 AM on August 22, 2003

dejah420, damn you for bringing back those memories! Now I need to re-program my brain to forget them all over again.
posted by dg at 3:57 PM on August 23, 2003