This, like many clichés, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth. It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger. And I submit that this is what the real, no bullshit value of your liberal arts education is supposed to be about: how to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone day in and day out. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense. Let's get concrete. The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what "day in day out" really means. There happen to be whole, large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine, and petty frustration. The parents and older folks here will know all too well what I'm talking about. First reported by an anonymous tip to a blog, the Los Angeles Times has confirmed that David Foster Wallace has hung himself.
posted on Sep 13, 2008 - View this thread

The Video Diary of Ricardo Lopez On January 14th, 1996, A 21-year old Floridian man named Ricardo Lopez began a video diary to record his own growing obsession with Bjork.
posted on Sep 6, 2008 - View this thread

A Good Poop is an entertaining blog by an occupational and environmental health student who enjoys finding oddities in medical and scientific research from PubMed. (via Look at This...)
posted on Aug 20, 2008 - View this thread

Battlemind: Armor for Your Mind is a U.S. Army website designed to help, in part, families deal with deployment, including a series of cartoons and videos intended for children whose parents may be sent to or be returning from warzones. Part of the Army's Behavioral Health program, these give intriguing insight into military culture.
posted on Jul 29, 2008 - View this thread

Last Year I Killed A Man , by Vaughan Thomas. Published Saturday July 19, 2008 by The Guardian.
posted on Jul 20, 2008 - View this thread

Now, here's something you don't see every day. I found it unlikely, but perhaps he was a copycat suicide.
posted on Jul 16, 2008 - View this thread

For the former U.S. marine Michael Elliott the psychological impact of war is the latest and most challenging battle. Private Joseph Dwyer survived rocket-propelled grenades and shocking violence, made his way back to his family and friends, but couldn't escape the “demons” that followed him home. Experts say up to 30% of returning soldiers will require psychiatric help: a number not seen since the end of the Vietnam War. Today 60% of war veterans suffering from PTSD don't receive any help at all.
posted on Jul 16, 2008 - View this thread

In a 2001 University of Houston study of 153 survivors of nearly lethal attempts between the ages of 13 and 34, only 13 percent reported having contemplated their act for eight hours or longer. To the contrary, 70 percent set the interval between deciding to kill themselves and acting at less than an hour, including an astonishing 24 percent who pegged the interval at less than five minutes.

30 years ago today, Frank Stanford, a young Arkansaw poet shot himself three times in the heart with a 22-caliber pistol. He was 29. By then he had become a powerful and unique voice in the American poetry landscape, dubbed "a swamprat Rimbaud" by Lorenzo Thomas and "one of the great voices of death" by Franz Wright. He left behind a strong (though often hard to find and/or unrecognized) body of work, most notably his immense epic The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You, a 15,280 line poem with no punctuation or stanzas.
posted on Jun 3, 2008 - View this thread

PTSD: The War Within. A Marine writes about his PTSD experience. This article from the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette was written by USMC Staff Sergeant Travis N. Twiggs. Twiggs killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona earlier this week.
posted on May 17, 2008 - View this thread

Lori Drew was charged today for her involvement in the MySpace-related suicide of Megan Meier last fall.
posted on May 15, 2008 - View this thread

Suicide by robot.
posted on Mar 21, 2008 - View this thread

"I'm going to kill myself in 90 days." A blogger calling herself "Jane" sets up a blog to chronicle her final 90 days, and is calling on the internet for suggestions on how to do it. Disturbed blogger? Or another "viral campaign" for something soon to be revealed?
posted on Feb 10, 2008 - View this thread

Prison and the Mentally Ill in Massachusetts: The Globe reports on the pitfalls and consequences of using a retribution-based correctional system on the criminally insane in MA, as inmates in the state kill themselves at triple the national rate. Part I. Part II. Part III (in tomorrow's Globe). Photos of the system's most troubled. Last words of some disturbed inmates.
posted on Dec 10, 2007 - View this thread

"'It's been a magical evening,' Joel says as the Great Khali hits the Undertaker with a dustbin lid." Jon Ronson (and son) journey into the world of WWE to investigate the death of Chris Benoit.
posted on Dec 8, 2007 - View this thread

The Greater Internet F***wad theory is funny, right? Wrong.
posted on Nov 12, 2007 - View this thread

The Rev Dr Chad Varah, founder of the samaritans (which also runs befrienders worldwide), has died.
posted on Nov 8, 2007 - View this thread

Robin Prosser was a former concert pianist and systems analyst who suffered from an autoimmune disease similar to lupus for over 20 years. The disease left her in constant pain and made her allergic to most pharmaceutical painkillers. Only medical marijuana brought her relief, but last spring the DEA seized her medicine. Unable to cope with the chronic pain any longer, she committed suicide on October 18th. [Via Andrew Sullivan.]
posted on Oct 29, 2007 - View this thread

Why is anonymous group suicide so popular in Japan? From 2003 through 2005, 180 people died in 61 reported cases of Internet-assisted group suicide in Japan . . . All but two of these cases have proceeded according to a common blueprint: The victims meet online, using anonymous screen names, and then take sleeping pills and use briquettes, charcoal burners, and tape to turn a car or van into a mobile gas chamber.
posted on Oct 10, 2007 - View this thread

Even Astronauts Commit Suicide. Former Navy doctor, astronaut and Space Shuttle mission specialist, ham radio operator, and one time flight surgeon of The Blue Angels, Dr. Chuck Brady, was denied a hip replacement by the Navy shortly before he took his own life in July, 2006, and, according to his friend Dr. Ed Drum, this was a pivotal point in the depression that led Dr. Brady to apparently take his own life.
posted on Sep 20, 2007 - View this thread

What do James Stockdale, Drew Carey, Mike Wallace and Nadia Comaneci have in common? They, along with a long list of others, have all, at one time or other, believed suicide was the only answer to their various problems.
posted on Sep 5, 2007 - View this thread

In the 1890s, an unknown woman was found drowned in the Seine. Known as the l'Inconnue de la Seine, her death mask became a fixture in the homes of artists and writers, and her look the ideal of the age. Many have speculated on her identity, and she has inspired a long list of artistic works by Nabokov, Rilke, Man Ray, and others. She has since become the "most kissed girl in the world" thanks to the Norwegian toymaker that used her mask to create Resusci Anne, the standard CPR doll.
posted on Aug 21, 2007 - View this thread

An inside look at who jumps. Marin County Coroner Ken Holmes has released a study of 10 years of suicide jumps from the Golden Gate Bridge. [more inside]
posted on Jul 31, 2007 - View this thread

Game developer/ perfume critic Theresa Duncan has died, and longtime companion Jeremy Blake is missing. The art world is buzzing about the seeming suicide-by-water of video installation artist Jeremy Blake. The perfume blogs are fizzing with sadness over the death of Theresa Duncan, whose suicide preceded Blake's. The cops are not releasing the notes left by the late, pretty people, but a clue might be found in the paranoiac screed Duncan posted on her blog in May, in which Blake's ex-girlfriend, the CIA, FBI, Church of Scientology, Jeff Gannon, bloated plutocrats and many other bugbears of the psy-ops crowd were put on Duncan's mental merry-go-round and given a real strong spin.
posted on Jul 21, 2007 - View this thread

Hate crime, Rape victim dies of shame.
posted on Jul 2, 2007 - View this thread

Viva Voodoo "Too Dumb to Die." [note: Flash, Scenes of Graphic Cartoon Violence, Suicide, and Sophomoric Humor]
posted on Jun 3, 2007 - View this thread

Surprising findings in Pew study of US Muslims. The interweb is all atwitter over some of the findings of a Pew Research Center study of the attitudes of Muslim-Americans (the most comprehensive one done yet). While most of the findings should be welcomed (US Muslims are well off, appreciate being here, have non-Muslim friends, shun extremism, etc.), there is one troubling statistic: 6% of US Muslims - and 15% of US Muslims under 30 - believe that "bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians" are "often or sometimes justified". Sounds bad, but what happens when you ask the same question of non-Muslim Americans? Turns out that 24% of all Americans agreed - four times the 6% of US Muslims who share that view. So are US Muslims more peaceful than their non-Muslim neighbors?
posted on May 23, 2007 - View this thread

"If you can save one life - change two people's minds then you will have done something in life." Noel Martin plans to commit suicide 11 years after a neo-nazi attack left him paralyzed.
posted on Apr 25, 2007 - View this thread

An average of 81 people die of gunshot wounds in the US each day. Most of them aren't who you'd expect.
posted on Apr 22, 2007 - View this thread

Dream Deceivers: The Story behind James Vance vs Judas Priest (1992) [google video 56 mins] ‘Just before Christmas 1985, James Vance and Ray Belknap shot themselves with a 12 – gauge shotgun. Their families blamed heavy metal group Judas Priest, claiming a recorded subliminal command “Do It” had mesmerized their son. Almost 5 years after the suicide pact James Vance et al. vs. Judas priest came to trial in Reno’s District Court’ (Warning: James Vance’s face may disturb some viewers). Also ‘Lessons from the Judas Priest Trial’ and ‘The Judas Priest Trial: 15 years later’.
posted on Apr 10, 2007 - View this thread

To Write Love On Her Arms is a story and the response to a story. I first saw the shirt on Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and thought "Hey that's a cool shirt." Months later I saw an ad and went to look them up. That's when I found the story. As their MySpace page points out, they are not a 24-hour helpline, nor are they trained professionals, but they do "hope to serve as a bridge to help." Its a small organization right now, using a unique method of achieving recognition and exposure, but it is an important "movement of love, a commitment to begin answering these needs and offering hope to the many who struggle with depression, addiction, suicide, self injury." (from the FAQ)
posted on Mar 23, 2007 - View this thread

Whether accidentally showboating, or by putting like-minded people in touch, the web is no stranger to online death. But now someone's taken it one tragic step further. The internet being what it is, I have no doubt this will end up on rotten.com or similar.
posted on Mar 23, 2007 - View this thread

Five Minutes to Kill Yourself. The object is... well... pretty self-explanatory. Possibly NSFW due to graphic violence, and that it's a Flash game about killing yourself because you hate your job so much.
posted on Mar 23, 2007 - View this thread

Comedian Richard Jeni, 1957-2007. Even his website has gone dark.
posted on Mar 11, 2007 - View this thread

In South Korea the suicide rate is increasing. In recent years, it has also seen spikes in certain demographics in China, Japan, and India
posted on Mar 11, 2007 - View this thread

I am sullied -- no more. Colonel Ted Westhusing was a soldier's soldier -- a multilingual West Point graduate, tough as nails, who was committed to the ancient Greek warrior's ideal of ἀρετή ("arete," excellence). He volunteered to go to Iraq, where he was commanded by another outstanding rising-star officer, counterinsurgency expert David Petraeus. (Westhusing's widow, Michelle, recalls that her husband thought his country was doing "a great thing" there.) After working with one of the shadowy contractors the US has relied on to train Iraqi security forces, USIS, Westhusing became increasingly despondent. In May 2005, investigators say, he put a 9mm bullet in his brain after writing a note that said, "Reevaluate yourselves, cdrs [commanders]. You are not what you think you are and I know it." Westhusing died, as was previously discussed here, and his former "cdr" is now running the war. Lots of new information in this article from the Texas Observer.
posted on Mar 10, 2007 - View this thread

The Shame Game. Perverted Justice (prev.) and Dateline NBC's series of To Catch A Predator specials are of questionable-at-best morality and have received much flak, particularly on the part of the former party. At the Columbia Journalism review, Douglas McCollum shares the case of Louis Conradt Jr., who killed himself upon being pounced upon by police and Dateline's cameras. McCollum also takes issue with NBC's paying of Perverted Justice for their services. And, for the other side, PJ's rebuttal.
posted on Feb 10, 2007 - View this thread

Can you get to seven in this puzzle using clues hidden in the text, images, HTML and CSS? If you can get to the seventh page, can you get to fourteen? How about get to 28?
posted on Nov 25, 2006 - View this thread

Fritz Haber's story is the story of the double edged sword of science. He won the Nobel prize in 1918 for his groundbreaking work in breaking the nitrogen cycle for Germany's WWI efforts, but it's been estimated that two out of every five people now living would not have been born if it weren't for artificial fertilizers created using his process. He also spent much of the war developing poison gases; first chlorine (after watching its first use, Haber's wife committed suicide) and later Zyklon B (the cyanide insecticide later used against his fellow Jews in concentration camps). He died alone and in poverty in Switzerland. But the lessons of his life haven't quite been forgotten.
posted on Nov 21, 2006 - View this thread

All I wanted was a pepsi.
posted on Nov 18, 2006 - View this thread

A new documentary on the Jonestown Massacre (YouTube) raises a few key questions about The People's Temple and mass suicide; yet the most pertinent quandary at the moment (posed by New York Magazine) has little to do with tainted Kool-Aid and instead focuses on an unfortunately named rapper from Harlem. This week, it's Jim Jones versus Jim Jones.
posted on Nov 9, 2006 - View this thread

Adrienne Shelly was murdered.
posted on Nov 8, 2006 - View this thread

A man set himself on fire in Chicago last Friday morning in protest at the war in Iraq. He left a suicide note. But you know that don't you because its been all over the media?
posted on Nov 8, 2006 - View this thread

The Sole Survivor — Allen Boyd [Real Player interview] is the sixth and last surviving member of his family: the other five committed suicide. Is suicide genetic?
posted on Aug 30, 2006 - View this thread

Suicide Bombing: Just Say No. Hollywood-style anti-suicide bombing PSA now in heavy rotation on Iraqi TV. Previously discussed here before the spot was finished.
posted on Aug 18, 2006 - View this thread

1-800-SUICIDE loses govt. funding: Despite the fact that almost 2 million callers have reached help and hope over the last 8 years, and a government funded evaluation stating the benefits of 1-800-SUICIDE, the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), a division of Health & Human Services, has decided to create their own government run system where they would have direct access to confidential data on individuals in crisis. (SAMHSA has already scrubbed their websites of any and all LGBT information, and gay youth are 2-3 times more likely to commit suicide.) Save 1-800-SUICIDE website here.
posted on Jul 28, 2006 - View this thread

17 Million Words / 155 Volumes / One bedridden hypochondriac (?) : Arthur Crew Inman wrote one of the strangest diaries of the 20th century. Listen to his voice (WMA), or see an excerpt from the documentary being made about him (WMV) by the man who wrote a play based on his life.
posted on Jun 9, 2006 - View this thread

Depression + Meth + Construction Equipment = The new record holder for most nails shot into a brain with the man surviving. Guy tries to kill himself with a nailgun, fails, later goes to the hospital complaining of a headache. The previous record was a guy in Japan that shot 9 nails into his own skull. USA! USA! USA! We're number #1! Also: A picture is worth a thousand words.
posted on Apr 21, 2006 - View this thread

"To all our sisters who have committed suicide or who have been institutionalized for their rebellion."
Throughout her career, but especially in her latest and most wrenching work— Sisters, Saints, & Sibyls, the 39-minute three-screen lamentation that is a duel memoir of her sister's suicide at the age of 19 and her own mortifications of the flesh and battles with addiction—the photographer Nan Goldin has been one of the great living suicides of recent art history... Charles Baxter wrote that novelist Malcolm Lowry captured "the way things radiate just before they turn to ash." At her best Goldin does this too.
posted on Apr 7, 2006 - View this thread

Yukio Mishima led a remarkable life: in addition to being an internationally renowned writer, he was also an actor, a filmmaker, a gay icon, a bodybuilding exhibitionist(possibly slightly NSFW), and leader of a paramilitary organization. Yet, all of this is often overshadowed by the even more remarkable way he ended his life. [more inside]
posted on Mar 31, 2006 - View this thread