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Death is a difficult subject. For most of us, talking about death is, at the very least, uncomfortable. And for some, it is almost impossible. So when the loved one of a relative, friend or colleague dies, figuring out just the right way to recognize that person’s passing can be extremely daunting.
What happens to your Social Security Number after you die?
by Marshall Brain | April 6, 2010
You Asked: What happens to your Social Security Number after you die? — Billy, Kissimmee, Fla. Marshall Brain Answers: Social security numbers of dead people get loaded into a database called the Social Security Death Index. This turns out to be a public database and there are several places on the Internet where you can [...]
I was researching an article from the BBC about a curious phenomenon, ants leaving the nest when they sense they’re nearing death. Two Germans researchers infected one lab-raised ant colony with a fatal fungus and gassed another with CO2 (artificially decreasing the ants’ lifespan, as the article euphemistically put it). The majority of the ants that died from the fungal infection or who succumbed to the artificially reduced lifespan gassing left their colonies. The researchers concluded that the ants were indeed presenting behavior of something generally considered to be exclusive to higher mammals — altruism.
It’s always an adventure clicking on CNN.com or whatever your go-to online news source happens to be. Each morning I awake ready to see a list of the top ten or so things that are pretty awful here on planet E. Famine and flood, earthquakes, murder/suicides, the passing of Daddy the pit bull — it’s never a joy ride when international news is there for the digesting.
This afternoon I clicked on said Web site to read a headline that indicated a killer whale had killed a Sea World trainer in Orlando, Fla.
This just in – if your life is boring, you are more likely to die young: You really can be bored to death, scientists discover More than 7,000 civil servants were studied over 25 years – and those who said they were bored were nearly 40 per cent more likely to have died by the [...]
‘Dollhouse’: Has the Whedon body count become predictable?
by Tracy V. Wilson | February 1, 2010
When I sat down on Saturday morning to watch the series finale of “Dollhouse,” I really had only one question on my mind: “Who’s going to die in this episode?” It was sort of the inverse to my thought at the end of the third-to-last episode, “Getting Closer”: “Oh, yeah. This is a Joss Whedon show.”
Last Minute Christmas Gift Idea: Your Lungs and Eyeballs
by Josh Clark | December 23, 2009
(Sorry in advance for the really, really long post. In case you don’t make it to the bottom, happy holidays!)
Back when I was a paranoid little raver kid in the early 1990s, my friends and I maintained a firm belief that it was a bad idea to register as an organ donor. The logic went that if we ever ended up in the ER in need of some talented surgery, a physician who noted we were organ donors might take less than heroic measures to save our lives.
Death, Social Networks and High-Definition Video, TechStuff Style
by Jonathan Strickland | November 20, 2009
We just keep on trucking over here at TechStuff. This week, Chris and I hauled our butts into the studio to tow the line and address some listener mail. We’re not the type to brush aside our loyal listeners. Because of your submissions, we have had some really interesting conversations in the studio. Some of them were even recorded! This week, we looked at two very different topics and got a little metaphysical in the process.
On Monday, we examine what happens to our online presence after we shuffle off the mortal coil. Unless Kurzweil’s singularity proves me wrong, I think it’s safe to say none of us will be around forever. But after I join the choir invisible and push up the daisies, what happens to my Facebook page? How can my loved ones turn what used to be my platform for sharing photos of myself up to no good into a fitting memorial where friends can share their memories of me? We get to the bottom of the issue and give you some tips on what you can do if you want to make it easier for your friends and family to handle your online information after you’ve passed away. Click to read more.
Cognitive Bias, or Why Humans Stink at Assessing Threats
by Josh Clark | October 5, 2009
If you were an American walking around in 2005, you had a one in 10,010 chance of dying from falling off a ladder. Your chances of dying in a terrorist attack were one in 88,000. Why, then, are we not plunged into the depths of panic whenever we see a ladder? The big fat answer is that ladders aren’t scary.
Cognitively speaking, we humans are fairly dumb when it comes to assigning real risk to threats to our well being. Rather than rate a risk based on the odds it has of befalling us, we tend to make judgments about risk based on the emotions they provoke.
/>Dismemberment!
Thank you to Morbid Anatomy for pointing out a curiosity of which I hadn’t previously been aware: moulages. (Boo-ya! How you like that for perfect grammar?) This is a medical art form; using theatrical makeup or wax to simulate trauma or the symptoms of maladies. Right up my alley.
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