Memorializing the My Space dead - a new website

CNN reported the birth of http://www.mydeathspace.com/, a website that archives the pages of deceased MySpace members. I've visited the site and found it as addictive as we all know celebrity magazines can be. But is the intoxication of "peering into" these "stranger's lives" any different from unearthing a mummy's tomb? I endorse cemetery archeology and, for the sake of history and knowledge, I have no problem with digging up our ancestors, even our more recent relatives.

I love cemeteries for their architecture and serenity, but a corpse is a piece of rotting flesh and the sacred tomb is a tool for the living to mourn their immediate dead. I'd love to dig up one of my Civil War ancestors and see what he wore to his grave. Maybe dig out the bullet that killed him (or pick it up from the bottom of the casket) and have it enshrined at the Library of Congress. I wouldn't mind if someone dug me up 150 years from now. Well, a girl can dream.

SHAMBO is dead

I thought it rather sweet that wikipedia acknowledged the death of "Shambo," the sacred Hindu bull in Wales, among its list of the dead for 7/26/07. Shambo's bovine tuberculosis had been diagnosed in April and, despite religious objections and despite the offer of a home for the bull from a sanctuary in India, the Welsh government decided the six year old had to be "destroyed."

After the slaughter of the bull, Skanda Vale community leader Brother Alex said that a "nightmare" was just beginning for the Welsh assembly. Secretary General Ramesh Kallidai said "Ignorant people have chosen to desecrate our temple and have chosen to destroy life unnecessarily," and he wanted "to check how agricultural law can cater to the needs of sacred animals in Hindu temples in Britain." - wikipedia

This is another situation where I can understand all sides of this situation including the bull. I understand the fears the government felt about infection spreading. I understand the people's love for the bull, for whatever reason. And I understand that "sentient beings" have their value besides food and even friendship. But I'm not a vegetarian and I'm certainly not going to worship a bull anymore than any other animal. So, what do we do? Do we do nothing? Do we just wait till the bull dies of natural causes even though its continued existence may lead to an epidemic? Do we ship the bull off to India to plague their country? Do we carve around the TB lesions the autopsy found and barbecue the rest? That sounds tasty.

SHAMBO at wikipedia

New Dead Girls - Connecticut Tragedy, another horror show

Doctor's Family Killed in Home Invasion

Poe Forward's Mission Statement

The primary mission of Poe Forward is to showcase the work of artists who have been influenced by the mind and work of Edgar Allan Poe. We believe that Edgar Poe, through his editorial criticism as well as his poetry and his multi-genre fiction, created the foundations of all American literature. In addition to performance, we interview contemporary artists, recording their mutual history with Poe. Poe Forward combines the past with the present--for tomorrow.  Our secondary mission, but just as important, is to present the true character of Edgar Poe, the uncompromising, hard-working, virulent critic and writer, instead of the melodramatic, "tortured artist" of 19th century romantic mythology. This falsehood has haunted Poe since his arch rival and chief enemy, the Reverend Rufus Griswold, lied about Poe and maligned his reputation in an libelous obituary subsequent to the poet’s death.  In the years since, his friends and associates, as well as scholars and historians through to today, have sought to clear his name.  Certainly, like each of us, Poe had his demons as well as his troubles with women and alcohol, but rather than dwell on his mortal shortcomings, we endeavor to illuminate his eternal genius.

- Brian Aldrich & David Delgado, Co-Founders of Poe Forward, October 31, 1999

Lady Bird Johnson (1912-2007) RIP

NEW DEAD GIRL: Lady Bird Johnson (1912-2007) RIP

wiki

Cartoonist Doug Marlette (1949-2007) RIP

Doug Marlette(December 6, 1949 - July 10, 2007) was an award-winning American editorial cartoonist and writer. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and graduated from Florida State University. He and his wife, Melinda, maintained residences in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Hillsborough, North Carolina. He died in an automobile accident in Marshall County, Mississippi. (wiki)
Doug Marlette Website

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