Texas executes Mexican national who was denied consul visit.
posted on Aug 6, 2008 - View this thread

Getting Off The Mat - After losing 15 years of his life to drug addiction and prison, Richard Jensen was reborn as a 36-year-old college wrestler.
posted on Aug 4, 2008 - View this thread

Ray Underhill, once a top professional skater for Powell-Peralta, died today. He was featured in several of the Powell-Peralta videos and had been the webmaster for Tony Hawk.
posted on Aug 1, 2008 - View this thread

Hiram Bullock, original guitarist for Paul Shaffer's "Worlds Most Dangerous Band" died on July 25th. He was a fixture in the early days of David Letterman's show. The cause of death was not disclosed but Bullock had been undergoing treatment for cancer and was known to have had drug problems. Bullock was 52.
posted on Jul 29, 2008 - View this thread

Randy Pausch, who became famous for his "last lecture" after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, has died at 47. (previously) The last lecture video went viral in late 2007. Pausch became a minor celebrity and made a commencement address at Carnegie Mellon which also gained media attention. Homepage (currently being overwhelmed) and Wikipedia.
posted on Jul 25, 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

William Burroughs recites from the last words of Dutch Schultz, set to the music of The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
posted on Jul 8, 2008 - View this thread

Character actor Don S. Davis, known for his portrayal of Dana Scully's father Captain Scully on The X Files, Major Garland Briggs on Twin Peaks, and Colonel George Hammond on Stargate, passed away Sunday at the age of 65. Even if you don't remember him from those roles, if you take a look at his IMDB page, you will probably recognize him from something. He had a gift for taking stereotypical military roles and bringing a warmth and gentleness to them. One of his final roles was in the Stargate movie Continuum, which will premiere on DVD this month.
posted on Jul 1, 2008 - View this thread

Death of a legend.
posted on Jun 28, 2008 - View this thread

Wars around the world have killed three times more people over the past half-century than previously estimated, a new study suggests... The researchers estimate that 5.4 million people died from 1955 to 2002 as a result of wars in 13 countries. These deaths range from 7,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 3.8 million in Vietnam. According to Obermeyer, the estimates are three times higher than those of previous reports. Data from this new study also suggests that 378,000 people worldwide died a violent death in war each year between 1985 and 1994, compared with 137,000 estimated at the time.

Legendary special effects artist Stan Winston has passed away from cancer at the age of 62. From Mr. Roboto to the Terminator to Iron Man, he leaves an almost unparalleled body of work.
posted on Jun 16, 2008 - View this thread

Tim Russert dead at 58.
posted on Jun 13, 2008 - View this thread

Death were a proto-punk trio of black Jehovah's Witnesses based out of Detroit back in 1974. They were almost signed to Columbia, but bailed on the label when Columbia wanted them to change their name. Instead, they self-released a 7" which is now quite a collector's item, influenced as it was by, “Iggy and Stooges, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and The Who”. But the story doesn't end there. Recently, Bobby Hackney, whose father played in Death along with two of his uncles, learned of the band and, lo and behold, his dad found the master tapes for their unreleased full-length in his attic. Is a new chapter in punk rock history about to be written?
posted on Jun 11, 2008 - View this thread

If the Stones Could Speak: Searching for the Meaning of Stonehenge.
posted on May 31, 2008 - View this thread

A war widow at age 20. That is all.
posted on May 24, 2008 - View this thread

What does a man do during the last 20 years of his life? We learn what every day was like for this unnamed soul who lived through the death of John Lennon, was there for the biggest television experience ever and who saw many presidents inaugurated and witnessed some of them shot.
It might have been because of the holidays or just to fit in but sometime around the early 80's he began smoking. Throught the 90's his health declined and eventually the illness took over.
What must we think about the Star Trek fan with a surreal taste for art and who loved pasta? I'm not sure, but I am certainly thankful for the images.
posted on May 21, 2008 - View this thread

Robert Rauschenberg (previously), painter, sculptor, perfomance artist, printmaker, photographer, theater designer, technologist, dead at 82.
posted on May 13, 2008 - View this thread

The Rule of Death. A comic about Pete Colby, a man who decides he doesn't want to be dead. Other episodes in the table of contents.
posted on May 3, 2008 - View this thread

You are seated amongst thousands of your compatriots waiting for the spectacle to begin. Inside, two bodies prepare for the inevitable fight to the death, for your pleasure. They know it won't be easy, but they are prepared to pay the price. Some are condemned to die, others are slaves fighting for their freedom, and yet others (Christians and Jews) branded as heretics; deserters who have fled the field of battle; and some who are even of noble blood are amongst the many who find themselves in the arena. But, there is one more addition yet, and it has been the subject of much controversy.
posted on Apr 25, 2008 - View this thread

Otto Preminger died on this day 22 years ago at 79 years old, and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY.
posted on Apr 23, 2008 - View this thread

Children's TV host Mark Speight found dead in a remote part of Paddington station in London.
posted on Apr 13, 2008 - View this thread

Remember Me. A multimedia documentary about one family's struggle to deal with the loss of a parent. This series is the 2008 Pulitzer winner for feature photography.
posted on Apr 10, 2008 - View this thread

Blogging May Cost You Your Life NY Times discusses the possible "death by blogging" of two prominent Tech Bloggers, Russell Shaw and Marc Orchant, Blognation. A third, Om Malik of gigaom.com, 41, survived a heart attack in December. I am thinking twice about my late night posts.
posted on Apr 6, 2008 - View this thread

Life Before Death - (from the site) "This sombre series of portraits taken of people before and after they had died is a challenging and poignant study. The work by German photographer Walter Schels and his partner Beate Lakotta, who recorded interviews with the subjects in their final days, reveals much about dying - and living."
posted on Apr 1, 2008 - View this thread

Richard Widmark, who created a villain in his first movie role who was so repellent and frightening that the actor became a star overnight, died Monday at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 93. Rest in peace, Richard. Fans of his work, here is the entirety of one of the many terrific thrillers he starred in, Panic in the Streets.
posted on Mar 26, 2008 - View this thread

Even on Easter, chocolate bunnies just can't catch a break. source and inspiration via everlasting blort
posted on Mar 23, 2008 - View this thread

Bassist, bandleader and mambo pioneer Israel 'Cachao' Lopez has died.
posted on Mar 23, 2008 - View this thread

Jayci is ten years old. She's about to die of an incurable brain cancer. Her dying wish is to see her daddy one last time. But daddy in prison on a drug charge, and won't be released until August. By which time Jayci will be dead. Federal prison rules allow for furloughs in "a family crisis." But only at the warden's discretion. "They say it doesn't constitute an extraordinary circumstance".
posted on Mar 19, 2008 - View this thread

I shot his plane down. First his fighter plane was just lost under unknown circumstances during WWII. People speculated on a possible suicide of the writer. Then his golden armband was found by a fisherman in the sea. Then the plane of well known french writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was found in the mediteranean. Now 88 year old journalist Horst Rippert, who was a fighter pilot during WWII, admits that he shot down Saint-Exupéry and that he regretted this his whole life.
posted on Mar 17, 2008 - View this thread

Ola Brunkert, drummer for Swedish pop superstars ABBA, dead in tragic accident.
posted on Mar 17, 2008 - View this thread

Life and death of an urban recluse Odd and beautiful newspaper story.
posted on Mar 11, 2008 - View this thread

If you're anything like me, at least one out of every three times you've had to use a flashlight, you wished you could machine gun someone to death with it. Well, friend... your prayers answered!
posted on Mar 10, 2008 - View this thread

Over 400 classical images of Death [warning: embedded music]
posted on Feb 24, 2008 - View this thread

Nine experienced cross-country skiers hurriedly left their tent on a Urals slope in the middle of the night at around -30 degrees Celsius for no obvious reason, casting aside skis, food, boots and most of their clothes. Soon they would be dead, some with injuries more suited to car crash victims, and apparently dosed with radiation. Their deaths are still unexplained, 49 years later. The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Accident.
posted on Feb 22, 2008 - View this thread

Rep. Tom Lantos, 80, passed away this morning. Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, he was the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in the United States Congress.
posted on Feb 11, 2008 - View this thread

Barry Morse - an actor with an extremely rich and varied career, popular in many roles but iconic as the (original) pursuer of Dr Richard Kimble in the (original) tv series The Fugitive, and memorable to Sci Fi fans as Professor Victor Bergman in Space: 1999, has passed on. He was 89.
posted on Feb 5, 2008 - View this thread

Before a hill, a figure rests, his hands folded. His face retains a unsettling demeanor of peace, or contemplation. Whatever thoughts come to his mind at this point, we shall never know, for he shall never awake from his slumber. [via]
posted on Feb 4, 2008 - View this thread

While the dream of immortality might be as old as mankind, the jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula (image) seems to be living it:

The hydrozoan Turritopsis nutricula has evolved a remarkable variation on this theme, and in so doing appears to have achieved immortality. The solitary medusa of this species can revert to its polyp stage after becoming sexually mature (Bavestrello et al., 1992; Piraino et al., 1996). In the laboratory, 100% of these medusae regularly undergo this change. Thus, it is possible that organismic death does not occur in this species!

American audiences remember Akira Kurosawa as the genius of the samurai epic, a past master who used the form both to revise and revive Western classics - Shakespeare with Ran and Throne of Blood, Dostoevsky with Red Beard and The Idiot, Gorky with The Lower Depths - and to give splendid and ultimately immortal life to new archetypes, as in The Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo. But Kurosawa also made films of his own time. His masterpiece, in fact, was the quiet story of a gray Japanese bureaucrat dying in post-war Tokyo, and of his attempt to do something of lasting good before he leaves. The film is Ikiru ("To Live"; 1952).
posted on Jan 29, 2008 - View this thread

There are lots of people who post weight loss videos on Youtube. But none of them faced as many challenges as Jeremy did. Morbidly obese, and bedridden, we watched while he struggled to walk again and defeat obesity. Despite those that were rude to him, nobody seemed to have as much spirit and drive as Jeremy did. Even Jeremy's last video was filled with optimism. But even though so many of us struggle against obesity, some of us lose the fight. Even though Jeremy has passed, Roberta's videos dealing with his loss remind us how fortunate we really are.
posted on Jan 29, 2008 - View this thread

Buttercup Festival is resurrected! Our beloved comic strip is back. Three new panels are up so far.
posted on Jan 28, 2008 - View this thread

Saddam's Confessions - Given Saddam Hussein's central place in the American Consciousness over the last couple decades and particularly in recent years, I found 60 minutes' interview with FBI interrogator George Piro pretty fascinating.
posted on Jan 27, 2008 - View this thread

A "thriving necropolis" - The North Cemetery in Manila is populated by thousands of families - many living in mausoleums and even making their livings in the service of the dead.
posted on Jan 24, 2008 - View this thread

'Race' graphically illustrated - "most Europeans" vs. Ashkenazim (previously; see also IQ & Gladwell, viz. ;)
posted on Jan 23, 2008 - View this thread

"We all leave something behind, but it looked like Olive had left nothing." Olive Archer passed away after five years in a care home, five years that passed without a visitor. Concerned that Olive was an Eleanor Rigby the minister prepared for her service by making an appeal to the public to find if anyone remembered Olive. Friends were found. Sadly, she is not alone. Maybe she needed SagaZone.
posted on Jan 10, 2008 - View this thread

Kathe Kollwitz, printmaker and sculptor, on The Peasants War (historical background, prints), war and death, mothers and children, herself and the death of her son Peter in WWI.
posted on Jan 2, 2008 - View this thread

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, in 22 parts on YouTube. (Previously)
posted on Dec 24, 2007 - View this thread

Actor/folk singer/Native American Activist Floyd Red Crow Westerman died of complications from leukemia on Thursday. Westerman, a member of the Sisseton-Wapheton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, was best known for his roles in Dances With Wolves, The X-Files and Hidalgo, but apparently viewed acting as an avenue to make money to apply to his other endeavors in support of Native American issues.
posted on Dec 15, 2007 - View this thread

Do Not Resuscitate. "For families facing the impending death of a loved one, few topics trigger more anguish than the Do Not Resuscitate order... There is little ambiguity in a DNR order: Emergency medical staff must withhold CPR and other life-reviving treatments if the patient's heart or breathing stops, allowing death." But, DNR orders aren't always cut-and-dried. There are many situations that complicate the medical professional's decision to comply. Related: Some people have opted to get a "D.N.R." tattoo, but others have wondered if it will hold up in court as a legal directive. [First link Via].
posted on Dec 11, 2007 - View this thread

Passage -- a small game about a big subject.
posted on Dec 11, 2007 - View this thread