What We Talk about When We Talk About Death: November 2009
by Joyce Gemperlein
NOVEMBER 23, 2009 TAGS:
How we feel, deal with and talk about death and transition is an ongoing, evolving process, a conversation captured in vignettes that pop up on Internet sites and in the blogosphere. Here’s a sampling of recent postings:
In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer dreams that among mourners at his funeral are the cartoon magpies Heckel and Jeckel. New research shows that real magpies grieve by attending “funerals” and laying grass offerings near dead companions.
It really happens: death by shaving.
Amid protestors, actor Al Pacino recently wrapped up filming You Don’t Know Jack, an HBO biopic chronicling the life, controversial trial and jailing of euthanasia advocate Jack “Doctor Death” Kevorkian, now 81, who claims he helped 130 terminally ill patients end their lives.
Two African American men wrongly convicted and sent to the electric chair for the murder of a white Confederate Army veteran 94 years ago were pardoned last month in South Carolina.
But wait!! Billy Mays died in June 2009, but he lives on by virtue of a website, “Where’s Billy Mays?” developed by his son. In addition to selling stickers of the barking pitchman’s head, it sponsored a Halloween contest seeking Billy Mays lookalikes. Among the prizes: a vat of OxiClean.
Now, after the botched lethal injection of a murderer/rapist in Ohio in September, more states are debating whether it is, in fact, an easy and painless way of carrying out the death penalty. Executions have been halted in Ohio because the state cannot find doctors to advise it on methods.
On the light side of that issue, here’s how to try to fry Barbie.
Chasing orgasms, actor David Carradine and INXS front man Michael Hutchence are only two of an estimated 500 to 1,000 Americans – mostly men -- who are thought to die every year of autoerotic asphyxiation.
With the death of Vic Mizzy, those catchy television theme songs you can’t get out of your head and that reveal how old you are may finally be extinct.
With information gleaned from 911-type calls, Japanese researchers have developed a computer algorithm that predicts a patient’s risk of dying.
The chenille robe you gave Grandma is a death trap.
An exhibit, “Disposal,” at the University College of London’s museum explores the controversial practice of art museums’ discarding white-elephant objects in their collections.
Rabbit cadavers are burned in Varmland, Sweden, to heat homes and businesses. It is an understatement to say that using furry little bunnies as bioenergy is controversial.
Approximately 65 percent of Americans support the death penalty for convicted murders, but a study finds that states, especially during tough economic times, could save a lot of money by doing away with it.
The future of emergency medicine may lie in poison gas, which researchers are exploring as a route to “suspended animation.”
In its first study of women's health around the globe, the World Health Organization has found that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.
Goodbye, traditional 12-key keypads! You’re soon a-goner, just like telephone dials.
Joyce Gemperlein is a regular contributor to Obit.
In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer dreams that among mourners at his funeral are the cartoon magpies Heckel and Jeckel. New research shows that real magpies grieve by attending “funerals” and laying grass offerings near dead companions.
It really happens: death by shaving. Amid protestors, actor Al Pacino recently wrapped up filming You Don’t Know Jack, an HBO biopic chronicling the life, controversial trial and jailing of euthanasia advocate Jack “Doctor Death” Kevorkian, now 81, who claims he helped 130 terminally ill patients end their lives.
Two African American men wrongly convicted and sent to the electric chair for the murder of a white Confederate Army veteran 94 years ago were pardoned last month in South Carolina.
But wait!! Billy Mays died in June 2009, but he lives on by virtue of a website, “Where’s Billy Mays?” developed by his son. In addition to selling stickers of the barking pitchman’s head, it sponsored a Halloween contest seeking Billy Mays lookalikes. Among the prizes: a vat of OxiClean.
Now, after the botched lethal injection of a murderer/rapist in Ohio in September, more states are debating whether it is, in fact, an easy and painless way of carrying out the death penalty. Executions have been halted in Ohio because the state cannot find doctors to advise it on methods.
On the light side of that issue, here’s how to try to fry Barbie.
Chasing orgasms, actor David Carradine and INXS front man Michael Hutchence are only two of an estimated 500 to 1,000 Americans – mostly men -- who are thought to die every year of autoerotic asphyxiation.
With the death of Vic Mizzy, those catchy television theme songs you can’t get out of your head and that reveal how old you are may finally be extinct.
With information gleaned from 911-type calls, Japanese researchers have developed a computer algorithm that predicts a patient’s risk of dying.
The chenille robe you gave Grandma is a death trap.
An exhibit, “Disposal,” at the University College of London’s museum explores the controversial practice of art museums’ discarding white-elephant objects in their collections.Rabbit cadavers are burned in Varmland, Sweden, to heat homes and businesses. It is an understatement to say that using furry little bunnies as bioenergy is controversial.
Approximately 65 percent of Americans support the death penalty for convicted murders, but a study finds that states, especially during tough economic times, could save a lot of money by doing away with it.
The future of emergency medicine may lie in poison gas, which researchers are exploring as a route to “suspended animation.”
In its first study of women's health around the globe, the World Health Organization has found that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.
Goodbye, traditional 12-key keypads! You’re soon a-goner, just like telephone dials.
Joyce Gemperlein is a regular contributor to Obit.
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