Friday, March 21, 2008
(Of All the Ways to Die...
... as a footnote to yesterday's post, I heard this morning about the woman cruising along on a sunny day in the Florida Keys when a 75-pound spotted eagle ray leaped out of the water and struck her in the face, killing her instantly. Death comes in strange and unexpected ways, but none stranger or more unexpected than this...)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
One of the strangest, and clearly karmic, deaths I ever heard about was that of Thomas Midgley.
Midgley was responsible for arguably two of the worst scientific innovations of all time: the use of lead as a gasoline additive to stop engine knock; and the use of hydrofluorocarbons as a propellent in aerosol cans. These two inventions may have done more to harm the planet than anything else in the history of science.
1944, suffering from polio, Midgley was strangled by a contraption consisting of ropes and pulleys, which he had invented to help him move about from a lying to sitting position.
A somewhat deserving death, if ever there was one.
I must say, this story is a first.
I hope I'm not retreating into self-delusion by believing when it's one's time to go, nothing will prevent it. It consoles...a bit.
August
I heard about that. It should be noted that the ray died, too.
If there have been stranger deaths, I can't imagine them.
Post a Comment