Global RIP thread

[sayjann]

Barry will be wondering how long he's got left?

 

Andy died age 30

 

Maurice died age 53

 

Robin died age 62

 

Barry still alive at 65

 

not surprised but am pondering....

a few weeks ago when it was announced he was close to death i thought another bites the dust shortly.

suddenly it was said he was making remarkable progress and confounding medical science.

all quiet for a while and then this news,sudden after the hopeful news.

[gobbledonk]

Barry will be wondering how long he's got left?

 

Andy died age 30

 

Maurice died age 53

 

Robin died age 62

 

Barry still alive at 65

 

I'd completely forgotten Andy !

 

On 5 March 1988, Andy Gibb celebrated his 30th birthday in London, England, while working on a new album. Soon after, he entered John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford complaining of chest pains and died five days later on 10 March 1988, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by a recent viral infection

 

Wikipedia dont seem to have a problem reminding Barry that the clock is ticking - cant say Maurice's death sounds like much fun either - give me the cliched Horse OD in a short-time room any day over this lot :

 

Maurice Gibb died at a Miami Beach, Florida, hospital on 12 January 2003 of complications resulting from a twisted intestine (volvulus).[3] His brothers Barry and Robin retired the name Bee Gees for a time, declining to perform as a group.[4] However, as time passed, they decided to perform occasionally under the Bee Gees banner.[5] On Sunday 20 May, 2012 at 10:46pm, his fraternal twin Robin Gibb died, following his complications and battle with colo-rectal cancer. Older brother Barry is now the sole surviving member of the famed Bee Gee brothers.

[The_Munchmaster]

TV remote control inventor Eugene Polley dies at 96

 

The inventor of the television remote control has died at the age of 96, his former employer has said.

 

Zenith Electronics said Eugene Polley passed away of natural causes on Sunday at a Chicago hospital.

 

His 1955 invention, Flash-Matic, pointed a beam of light at photo cells on each corner of the TV, turning it off and on and changing the channels.

 

His invention was a luxury add-on in the days before hundreds of cable television channels.

 

Born in Chicago in 1915, Polley began his engineering career in 1935. He worked at Zenith for 47 years, earning 18 US patents.

 

A 1955 advertisement for Flash-Matic, the first wireless TV remote control

 

He was a long-time resident of Lombard, Illinois, outside Chicago.

 

Because the Flash-Matic used light to operate the television, it was temperamental and other lights could interfere with its operation.

 

It was followed by sonic-controlled remotes and then infrared and radio frequency models.

 

Before Polley's invention, Zenith's first remote was connected to the television by a wire cord.

 

Polley was proud of his invention, Zenith spokesman John Taylor told the Associated Press, showing off the Flash-Matic to visitors after his retirement.

 

"He was a proud owner of a flat-screen TV and modern remote," Mr Taylor added. "He always kept his original remote control with him."

 

Along with another Zenith engineer, Robert Adler, Polley was honoured in 1997 with an Emmy for his work.

[Flashermac]

Ray Bradbury dies at 91; author lifted fantasy to literary heights

 

 

Author of more than 27 novels and story collections—most famously "The Martian Chronicles," "Fahrenheit 451," "Dandelion Wine" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes"—and more than 600 short stories, Bradbury has frequently been credited with elevating the often-maligned reputation of science fiction. Some say he singlehandedly helped to move the genre into the realm of literature.

...

 

My link

[Horneytorney]

how many novels of him did you read?

[Flashermac]

LA riots beating victim dead at 47

 

 

LOS ANGELES, June 17, 2012 (AFP) - Rodney King, whose beating by police in 1992 sparked the LA riots, was found dead in his swimming pool early Sunday, authorities said. He was 47.

 

Rialto Police Captain Randy Deanda told AFP King was found "unresponsive'' at the bottom of his pool and was pronounced dead at a local medical center shortly afterward at 6:11 am (1311 GMT).

 

King became a symbol of racial tensions in America after his beating by LA police was caught on camera. The police officers involved were acquitted on April 29, 1992, triggering days of deadly rioting in Los Angeles.

 

Speaking ahead of this year's 20th anniversary of the riots that left more than 50 people dead, he said racism still has to be challenged.

 

"There's always gonna be some type of racism. But it's up to us as individuals in this country to look back and see all the accomplishments that we have gotten to this far,'' he told CNN.

 

Asked about his feelings toward the police officers who beat him, he said: "I have forgiven (them), because America has forgiven me for so many things and given me so many chances.

 

"You get to have a second chance, and I've been given a second chance,'' said King, who has had a number of brushes with the law since 1992.

 

"I have much respect for (the police), much respect... some of them went out of their way over the years to try to make it up to me. Not all of them is bad.''

 

My link

[The_Munchmaster]

Last Pinta giant tortoise Lonesome George dies

 

Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador say Lonesome George, a giant tortoise believed to be the last of its subspecies, has died.

 

 

Scientists estimate he was about 100 years old.

 

Park officials said they would carry out a post-mortem to determine the cause of his death.

 

With no offspring and no known individuals from his subspecies left, Lonesome George became known as the rarest creature in the world.

 

For decades, environmentalists unsuccessfully tried to get the Pinta Island tortoise to reproduce with females from a similar subspecies on the Galapagos Islands.

 

Park officials said the tortoise was found dead in his corral by his keeper of 40 years, Fausto Llerena.

 

While his exact age was not known, Lonesome George was estimated to be about 100, which made him a young adult as the subspecies can live up to an age of 200.

 

Lonesome George was first seen by a Hungarian scientist on the Galapagos island of Pinta in 1972.

 

Environmentalists had believed his subspecies (Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni) had become extinct.

 

Lonesome George became part of the Galapagos National Park breeding programme.

 

After 15 years of living with a female tortoise from the nearby Wolf volcano, Lonesome George did mate, but the eggs were infertile.

 

He also shared his corral with female tortoises from Espanola island, which are genetically closer to him than those from Wolf volcano, but Lonesome George failed to mate with them.

 

He became a symbol of the Galapagos Islands, which attract some 180,000 visitors a year.

 

Galapagos National Park officials said that with George's death, the Pinta tortoise subspecies has become extinct.

 

They said his body would probably be embalmed to conserve him for future generations.

 

Tortoises were plentiful on the Galapagos islands until the late 19th century, but were later hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the point of extinction.

 

Their habitat furthermore suffered when goats were introduced from the mainland.

 

The differences in appearance between tortoises from different Galapagos islands were among the features which helped the British naturalist Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution.

 

Some 20,000 giant tortoises of other subspecies still live on the Galapagos.

[Flashermac]

Andy Griffith Dead at 86

 

 

My link

 

 

[Horneytorney]

something for the lovers of fancy cars:

 

car designer Sergio Pininfarina dead at 85

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hannahelliott/2012/07/03/ferrari-design-star-sergio-pininfarina-dead-at-85/

[Flashermac]

Comedian Eric Sykes dies aged 89

 

My link