The Inquisitr » death

To whom it may concern: Please delete my Facebook account upon my death

Steven Hodson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:10:07 +0000

I know they say that everything lives forever on the Internet but for bloggers and people involved in producing content this isn’t always the case. There will come a point in the future where those sites we have doted over and poured our blood, sweat and tears into will disappear. At some point hosting fees won’t get paid, databases will get corrupted, or hosting companies will either disappear into other companies or just disappear.

No, nothing will last as evidenced by the closure of GeoCities today by Yahoo – that is unless you have a Facebook account. Yup apparently your account can be marked as Deceased so that only your friends (?) can see your page and you won’t turn up in any search results. So in effect you become immortalized and forever available for people who added you as a friend at a time before you were six feet under.

The reasoning for this option according to Facebooker Max Kelly is

The question soon came up: What do we do about his Facebook profile? We had never really thought about this before in such a personal way. Obviously, we wanted to be able to model people’s relationships on Facebook, but how do you deal with an interaction with someone who is no longer able to log on? When someone leaves us, they don’t leave our memories or our social network. To reflect that reality, we created the idea of “memorialized” profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who’ve passed.

We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it’s important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized. For instance, just last week, we introduced new types of Suggestions that appear on the right-hand side of the home page and remind people to take actions with friends who need help on Facebook. By memorializing the account of someone who has passed away, people will no longer see that person appear in their Suggestions.

When an account is memorialized, we also set privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search. We try to protect the deceased’s privacy by removing sensitive information such as contact information and status updates. Memorializing an account also prevents anyone from logging into it in the future, while still enabling friends and family to leave posts on the profile Wall in remembrance.

Sorry but … Not!

Look when I am gone from this ball of dirt the only one’s that I want to remember me – good or bad – are the people who are people that I have known in real life. It is those people whose memories that I hope to always be a part of but those are the same people who don’t need some page that means nothing after I am gone.

They are the people who share a happy memory of our life’s intersection with another friend over a beer. Those are the people who will laugh or curse at a memory of something we had done together. They are the people who will be buried with those memories just as it should be.

There is an endpoint to everything in our world and our presence on the web is no difference. Just as we fade away from this world as memories fade into the past so should our footprint on the web. Everything comes to an end.

So for the record Facebook – please delete me when I die.

image credit: Boing Boing

Warning: That next sneeze might kill you

Steven Hodson — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:22:54 +0000

Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but in the case of John Oram a South Devon Englishman that is exactly what happened.

Apparently the 79-year-old man was seen sneezing violently two days prior to his death. Mr. Oram had been diagnosed in the past with diabetes and also suffered from a heart condition for which he had been subscribed a blood thiner called Warfarin.

Ian Arrow the coroner for Torbay and South Devon said that the official cause of death was a subdural hematoma and coronary artery disease. Arrow said at the inquest

“He would have suffered a minor trauma and on the balance of probability it was likely it was the sneeze which led to his death.”

Source: This Is South Devon News

Would you spend over $4M to lie on top of Marilyn Monroe?

Steven Hodson — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:48:29 +0000

Elsie Poncher must be thanking her lucky stars that there are people out there with more money than brains.

Her husband, Richard Poncher, has been buried in the in a crypt at Pierce Bros. Westwood Village Memorial Park for the last 23 years and while that may not seem all that earth shattering the fact that the crypt below him houses the crypt of Marilyn Monroe definitely makes it interesting. Elsie Poncher said that when her husband was dying he made her promise to put him in the crypt upside down or else he would haunt her for the rest of her life.

But everyone it seems these days is falling on hard times and it is no different with Elsie who decided that to be able to pay off the mortgage on her Beverly Hills home she would move her husband’s remains to the adjacent crypt that he had also paid for and auction off the one he had been in – the one over top of Marilyn Monroe.

Like everything else it seems these days the crypt went up on eBay for auction on August 14th where the bidding started at $500,000 and quickly grew to $1 million in two days. The auction closed out today with Elsie pocketing a cool $4,602,100 million.

Damn.

image courtesy of LA Times

Gamer father leaves tribute to fallen soldier son

Steven Hodson — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:13:24 +0000

Pvt. Richard Hunt was the 200th U.K. soldier to die in the Afghanistan conflict after his patrol from A Company the 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh was hit by an explosive device. At a memorial service held in Abergavenny, Wales his family, friends and comrade’s in arms came together to remember the young man who would have been celebrating his birthday.

Among all the tribute left the most touching had to be from his father Phillip, who apparently enjoyed a good game of Call of Duty with his fallen son. There among all the flowers an cards was a copy of the game with the following note attached:

Happy Birthday ‘Hunty’. Play you again one day. Dad.

Shocking Jackson autopsy report: fake?

Kim LaCapria — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:34:52 +0000

The Sun published a harrowing description of the state of Michael Jackson’s body as detailed by the LA Coroner’s Office- but it seems like the report may have been a hoax.

The article hints at shocking but not unexpected tale of the ravages of multiple plastic surgeries (including a partially missing nose), needle marks and drug abuse, and confirmation of long suspected anorexia- all in their signature ARBITRARY abuse of the CAPS LOCK KEY:

PLUNGED to a “severely emaciated” 8st 1oz. It is understood anorexic Jackson had been eating just one meagre meal a day. Pathologists found his stomach empty aside from partially-dissolved pills he took before the painkiller injection which stopped his heart. Samples were sent for toxicology tests.

LOST virtually all his hair. The pop pin-up was wearing a wig when he died and pathologists said little more than “peach fuzz” covered his scalp. A scarred section of skin above his left ear was entirely bald — apparently the result of a 1984 accident when his hair caught fire as he filmed an ad for Pepsi.

SUFFERED several broken ribs as frantic rescuers pumped his chest after he collapsed in cardiac arrest. Four injection sites were found above or near to Jacko’s heart. All appeared to result from attempts to pump adrenaline directly into the organ in a failed bit [sic] to restart it. Three of the injections had penetrated the heart wall — causing damage — but a fourth missed and hit one of the 50-year-old star’s ribs.

TMZ is now reporting it was all “completely false.” Even the CUTS. And BRUISING. In a statement, the LA Coroner said:

“The report that is being published did not come from this office. I don’t know where the information came from, or who that information came from. It is not accurate. Some of it is totally false.”

TMZ is also stating that Michael Jackson’s likely cause of death will be a drug overdose, citing “sources.” This is unlikely to be confirmed completely until the final toxicology results come back.

Michael Jackson autopsy leaked

Steven Hodson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:30:34 +0000

The Sun is reporting that it has received a copy of the corner’s autopsy report and by the sounds of Jackson was in pretty bad shape.

According to the leaked document Michael was literally skin and bones having barely eaten and the contents of his stomach showing only pills, although they don’t say what kind. His hips, shoulders and thighs supposedly were riddled with needle wounds which is believed to be a result of daily injections of narcotic painkillers.

Further details in the report supposedly point to a wig wearing anorexic body weighing about 112 pound. Additionally the body had several broken ribs from the rescuers attempts to resuscitate him. There is also suggestions that four injection sites were found above or near to his heart.

Three of the injections had penetrated the heart wall — causing damage — but a fourth missed and hit one of the 50-year-old star’s ribs.

The autopsy also found unexplained BRUISING on Jackson’s knees and on the fronts of both shins. And there were CUTS on his back, indicating a recent fall.

The King of Pop’s once handsome face bore a network of plastic surgery scars, while the bridge to his nose had vanished and its right side had partially collapsed.

As inquiries into the tragedy last night focused on the star’s personal physician Dr Conrad Murray, a source close to the Jackson entourage said: “Michael’s family and fans will be horrified when they realise the appalling state he was in.

“He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out and had been eating nothing but pills when he died. Injection marks all over his body and the disfigurement caused by years of plastic surgery show he’d been in terminal decline for years.

Source: Sun UK – The shock findings of the Michael Jackson autopsy

This of course flies in the face of all the reports of the people really close to him who said that Michael was in the best shape he had been in years as he got ready for his concert tour.

picture courtesy of Fox News

Video tributes to Michael Jackson

Steven Hodson — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:45:00 +0000

There is no denying, regardless of his recent hardships, that Michael Jackson was an incredible influence on music, musicians and dancers. Michael changed our concept of what music videos were and elevated them to an art form that has been emulated ever since by those who followed. His death has greatly affected many in the music business as well fans.

In the days following his around the world people and musicians came together in their own way to create video tributes to the King of Pop – here are some of the ones that Inspired Magazine pulled together for their tribute to Jackson.

Man In The Mirror – Portland Cello Project & Flash Choir from Salvation Is A Pop Song on Vimeo.

Moonwalkers from Sam Javanrouh on Vimeo.

Asher Roth MJ Tribute from Michael Jackson Tribute on Vimeo.

In Memory of Michael Jackson from Jorge Martinez on Vimeo.

DIZZEE RASCAL & SEMTEX | MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE @ GLASTONBURY 09′ from DJ SEMTEX on Vimeo.

Legacy Locker members get a digital safety deposit box

Steven Hodson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:08:03 +0000

Back in April I wrote about one of the growing number of startups that are looking to provide folks with a way to manage their last will and testament digitally. Legacy Locker, the company I wrote about, is announcing two new services today that will further enhance their service for members with Lifetime or Annual accounts.

File Storage – Lifetime and Annual account holders will now be able to upload and store up to 10 files (5MG file size limit) in an encrypted format in their locker. The idea being to be able to keep electronic copies of things like stock certificates and other “don’t lose this” types of files. The company plans on increasing the number of files that can be stored at some point in the future.

Video Letters – Now if you want to make one of those video messages to haunt people with after you are gone you can. Lifetime and Annual account holders are able to upload up to 3 videos as long as they aren’t bigger than 20MB. The videos are individually encrypted and stored so only the intended person will be able to view them. The company has plans to add direct recording from the site as well as increasing the number of videos it will store at some point in the future.

These additions today are only a part of a set of new features that Legacy Locker plans on adding as it continues its early climb into profitability.

In Iran the bullets killing Iranian citizens is worth $3,000

Steven Hodson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:40:00 +0000

As the news still continues to come out of Iran the government is trying everything it can, short of pulling the country’s Internet plug, of silencing the people. Part of that silencing unfortunately also includes people being killed. It would seem though that the Iranian forces are deciding that this could be a good time to earn some extra cash. For one Iranian family this blackmail meant having to pay a $3,000 ‘bullet fee’ – the fee charged by the Iranian forces for the bullet used to kill their son – before they could claim their son’s body.

In a post that appears on the Wall Street Journal today Farnaz Fassihi relates the story of the Alipour family and how the elder Mr. Alipour had to plead with morgue officials to have his son’s body return.

Mr. Alipour told officials that his entire possessions wouldn’t amount to $3,000, arguing they should waive the fee because he is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. According to relatives, morgue officials finally agreed, but demanded that the family do no funeral or burial in Tehran. Kaveh Alipour’s body was quietly transported to the city of Rasht, where there is family.

Yup an enlightened society.

Your digital last will and testament

Steven Hodson — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:45:38 +0000

I’m all for making sure that ones affairs are in order on the off chance that we aren’t going to live to a 125 and be able to know exactly when the final knock at the door is going to come but does that really extend into our digital lives?

For some it would appear so because the idea of digital estate agents seems to be a growing field of web start ups. The latest one to cross my desk is Legacy Locker who just went public this morning at 8 AM PST and much like your real world lawyer and estate agent they handle your digital will. As they phrased it in their PR email

Conceptually the site is similar to an electronic will, but specific to digital information rather than physical assets. Account holders add multiple assets and create as many beneficiaries as they like. Additionally, a user can create “Legacy Letters”, the contents of which are automatically emailed to loved ones, friends, or colleagues when a death is reported.

I really shouldn’t be too picky about this as when you reach my age things like this are definitely something one has to consider. However I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that if you are smart enough to have a will in the first place then chances are you will have taken steps to make sure your burgeoning digital empire is included in that will. The idea that we would need a specific company to deal with these issues only seems to add to the redundancy of any preparations you have made for your passing.

Besides, unless you do indeed have a nice little digital empire built up do you really want everything you have done to live beyond your web hosting fees expiring?

As for the service itself it is nice to see web companies coming along that actually realize that you need to charge money for services rendered. While I may question the validity of needing such a redundant service Legacy Locker does offer a couple of ways to pay for your digital will management.

Myself if I was going to seriously consider using such a service the One Time Fee deal would probably make the most sense. The problem is that they have restricted themselves to only credit card payment – no PayPal support, or any other type of payment support by the look of it.

Me .. I’ll stick to my notebook and my estate manager but thanks anyway.

Update: I just got back home for taking care of some stuff to find an email from Jeremy Toeman the founder of Legacy Locker inviting me to give the full service a run through. So I’ll be taking him up on his offer and will post a follow up to this post with a more exhaustive look at the service. As well Jeremy let me know that they will be accepting PayPal very soon. Thanks for reach out Jeremy, it is much appreciated

Scott Ruffalo, Mark Ruffalo’s Brother, Dies

Meieli Sawyer — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:29:01 +0000

Scott Ruffalo, Mark Ruffalo’s brother, passed away on Monday night after being shot in the head on December 1st. Beverly Hills Police Sgt. Renato Moreno confirmed reports, saying that Scott, 39, passed away at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

Shaha Mishaal Adham, who turned herself in on Monday after an attempted murder warrant was issued, is being held without bail. Her charges will now be amended to reflect the change in circumstances, or as People put it, “upped to murder.” Brian Burton Scofield, Adham’s friend, has been named a “person of interest” in the case, but he left the police station after being booked for his misdeamnor traffic violations warrant.

Lt. Tony Lee told People magazine that “We are releasing very little information at this time, because it is an intense ongoing investigation. Our first priority is in gaining a conviction.”

Death by sofa

Steven Hodson — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:58:50 +0000

It’s bad enough that sofas (or couches for you Americans) can turn us all into potatoes but it seems they aren’t happy with doing just that anymore. Nope – now they’re going for the jugular, so to speak. It seems that some sofas and armchairs being manuafactured by a company in China are responsible for killing some of the owners of their LinkWise sofas.

The lastest deaths though show that these sofa’s aren’t happy just taking out the adult members of a family but are also going after children and our pets.

The wife and mother of the latest victims, in Paris, said they used a LinkWise chair sold by French firm Conforama. She said: “They had burns on their backs and legs. When my husband was in hospital, our cat would not leave his master’s chair. Two weeks later he was dead.”

Apparently the Chinese company thought it would be a really good idea to stick sachets of dimethyl funarate (DMF) in various parts of the sofas and chairs. This turns out not to have been such a great idea because DMF is so toxic that those who come in contact with should be wearing protective glasses and clothing.

In the cases of these deaths what was happening was that the body heat of those lying on the sofas was causing the DMF to vapourize. When this happened the persons affected could suffer violent irritant-related eczema as a least case senerio right up to the final hurrah – death.

First it was Chinese pet food killing our dogs, then it was tainted food killing us and now it’s Chinese manufactured furniture knocking us off. Anybody stop to wonder why we keep letting this type of thing happen because of the action of companies in one specific country?

Katt Williams: busted for guns again.

Samantha DeWitt — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:58:54 +0000

New York police found rumors of Katt Williams death to be greatly exaggerated when they decided to investigate a car that had no license plate recently.

On searching the car they found two semiautomatics, a loaded clip, and a 9mm pistol. Williams walked outside and admited the cars with no license plates were his, and police promptly hauled him to jail and charged him with 6 weapons offenses.

Williams has form for this arrested for weapons offenses in 2006. Williams’ lawyer says that there is no way police can prove the guns are his.

MTV reported that Williams told the audience at his Carnegie Hall gig: I’m not moving at my usual pace. I just got out of jail 35 minutes ago.” But he didn’t miss a beat, assuring them that he hurried to the show for them and not for the cash. “I wasn’t thinking about the money — maybe because they paid me in advance,” he joked. More likely that he needed to cover the bail.