Living and Dying Alone
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“The weather was warm and he was buried, with indecent haste, in one of the public cemeteries…on the Sunday following…an intense excitement was created by the declaration of a peasant that, while sitting on the grave, he had distinctly felt a commotion of the earth, as if occasioned by someone struggling beneath…spades were hurriedly procured, […]
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Neil Armstrong: The Premature Obituary
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Richard Nixon was looking at the speech no President of the United States would ever want to deliver. It was titled, “In the Event of Moon Disaster.” The date was July 22, 1969. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were set to depart from the surface of the moon to join fellow crew member […]
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Billy Buckner’s Decisive Moment in Death
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In photography, it’s called “the decisive moment.” The term, coined by French master, Henri Cartier-Bresson, refers to the shot which captures all of the significance of an event, including hints of antecedent conditions. Think of the exhilarating moment recorded by Alfred Eisenstaedt with the kiss in Times Square on VJ day, August, 1945. Or the […]
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Julius Caesar Didn’t Own A Life Insurance Policy
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“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” So begins the most famous eulogy ever written: Marc Antony’s stirring tribute to the assassinated leader of Rome, Julius Caesar. With words carefully chosen, some subtle, others inflammatory, Antony cleverly praised Caesar — his aim was to rally the […]
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At the Intersection of Art and Death with Paul Walker
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The Nobel winning author and absurdist/existential philosopher, Albert Camus, wrote: “since we all are going to die, it’s obvious that when and how don’t matter.” Camus, whose genius has continued to be revered long after his death on January 4, 1960, did not know actor Paul Walker, director James Wan or Universal Pictures. From a […]
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