Our Daily Dead

Environmental News
Our mindful Left Coast reporter Bill recently filed this story regarding the passing of one Tim Mckay: Tim was an activist and long time executive director of the Northcoast Environmental Center (NEC) in Arcata. He passed Sunday of an apparent heart attack whilst birding at Stone Lagoon. He was 59. As a rare bird himself, one hopes that perhaps his heart gave out after seeing the rarest bird on his life list. He was the main man at the NEC for most of it’s thirty five year existence. Making sure that environmental wrongs were exposed and then corrected,he was needed not only by us enviros but also by the Charles Hurwitzs’ and Harry Merlos’ of the world, as every evil doer needs their Batman.

Editor’s note: Tim McKay’s reported last sighting was of a Cooper’s Hawk. You may of course interpret this as per your current theology/philosophy/&etc deems reasonable.

Emulating Big-Ben? News
Bryant Leon Sutphin sadly exited primarily due to his road-tripping sans helmet.

Family Values meets Common Sense News
Andy Richardson was beaten to death in the mosh pit at a recent Korn concert. Apparently Mr. Richardson took his heavily pregnant wife and mentally challenged offspring into the mosh pit and asked others in said pit to kindly refrain from jostling his companions. Missing the entire emphasis of the current Korn tour another mosh piter punched Mr. Richardson in the head whereupon he fell heavily to the concrete floor.

Alcohol As Truth Serum News
Is anyone truely surprised by Mel Gibson’s rant? Seriously? Consider the bizarre religious beliefs Mr. Gibson (son AND especially father) hold near and dear and Ta! Da! Mel’s anti-Semitism rant seems to have an obvious launch pad: in Mel’s tiny world the Jews are responsible for what he believes is the most heinous crime in all of history - the death of Jesus. Perhaps a ticket price refund is in order. We do know that Mel skipped the On Deck circle and rushed his career directly to the front of the Our Daily Dead queue. We didn’t realize that Mel and Tom were related, did you?

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Tim Mckay, Northcoast Environmental Center, Arcata, Stone Lagoon, Charles Hurwitz, Harry Merlo, mosh pit, Korn, Mel Gibson, anti-Semitism

Mystic mushrooms spawn magic event!

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
~~ William Blake

“But the man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less cocksure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.”
~~ Aldous Huxley, “The Doors of Perception”

“Abandoning his body by the gate of dreams, the Spirit beholds in awaking his senses sleeping. Then he takes his own light and returns to his home, this Spirit of golden radiance, the wandering swan everlasting.
Leaving his nest below in charge of the breath of life, the immortals Spirit soars afar from his nest. He moves in all regions whereever he loves, this Spirit of golden radiance, the wandering swan everlasting.
And in the region of dreams, wandering above and below, the Spirit makes for himself innumerable subtle creations. Sometimes he seems to regjoice in the love of fairy beauties, sometimes he laughs or beholds awe-inspiring terrible visions.
People see his field of pleasure; but he can never be seen.
~~The Upanishads

We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
~~Jim Morrison and The Doors, “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”

And perhaps fitting to all this is word that the Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Syd Barrett - has died. Diehard Pink Floyd fans still insist that the band was never the same without Syd. Now what do we do with our advance tickets for the reunion tour?

Oh the choices, oh the choices. We could go on and on about Aaron Spelling, TV producer of “Dynasty,” “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” “Charlie’s Angles,” and “Beverley Hills 90210,” dead at age 83 from a stroke.

Or how about Anna Nichole Smith’s legal nemesis E. Pierce Marshall (67 from infection) who has been suing the woman on great breasts and poor taste over his father’s fortune? It is not clear what impact Marshall’s death will have on the battle. Will Anna Nichole send flowers?

The there’s Claydes Charles Smith, co-founder of Kool and the Gang, who died at age 57 from kidney disease. Think of Smith the next time you’re at a wedding reception and the DJ spins (uh, no one spins anymore) what has become an obligatory record, and a bunch of males in rented clothing and females in dresses they’ll never wear again lead the crowd in shouting, “Celebrate good times, come on!”

Well, for our most notable death we choose to go with Harriet who has died in Australia. Harriet is/was a Giant Galapogo Turtle who, in her brief life of 175 years, survived at least two personal tragedies. The first was being kidnapped by Charles Darwin and taken to England. (She was moved to Australia in 1841—yes, that’s 1841.) The second is a conflicted sexual identification. Harriet lived as a male for 124 years. (Someone in ODDland tells us how one sexes a turtle.) We ODDfellows are not sure we can reconcile these two events with her Brisbane zoo keeper’s attribution of her longevity to “a stress-free life.” We think it was due to a vegetarian diet, good genes, and a very hard shell.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Aaron Spelling, Anna Nichole Smith, Claydes Charles Smith, Kool and the Gang, Giant Galapogo Turtle, Charles Darwin