Internet sensation and true inspiration, Randy Pausch passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 47 on July 25, 2008. 

A popular computer-science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, he delivered his "Last Lecture" on Sept. 18, 2007. It became an Internet sensation, with a global audience charmed by his easy manner and insight, in awe of his complete lack of self-pity. It was as though he already knew more than he should, had dipped a ways into eternity and brought back some pieces for the rest of us to use in whatever ways and for whatever time we can. The end of the lecture, it turned out, was just the beginning.

Link

Related:
Randy Pausch's Home Page
Randy Pausch [wikipedia] - Link
"The Last Lecture" [Amazon] - Link

10-year-old Johnny Jackson had gone swimming for the first time and more than an hour after his swim he died from 'dry drowning'.

On Sunday, Jackson had taken her son, Johnny, to a pool near their home in Goose Creek, S.C. It was the first time he’d ever gone swimming — and, tragically, it would be his last.

At some point during his swim, Johnny got some water in his lungs. He didn’t show any immediate signs of respiratory distress, but the boy had an accident in the pool and soiled himself. Still, Johnny, his sister and their mother walked home together.

“We physically walked home. He walked with me,” Jackson said, still trying to understand how her son could have died. “I bathed him, and he told me that he was sleepy.”

Later, she went into his room to check on him. “I walked over to the bed, and his face was literally covered with this spongy white material,” she said. “And I screamed.”

A family friend, Christine Meekins, was visiting and went to see what was wrong. “I pulled his arm and said, ‘Johnny! Johnny!’ ” Meekins told NBC. “There was no response. I opened one of his eyes and I just knew inside my heart that it was something really bad.”

Johnny was rushed to a local hospital, but it was too late. Johnny had drowned, long after he got out of the swimming pool.

Link.

Science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke died at the age of 90 after a cardio-respiratory attack.

A farmer's son, Sir Arthur was educated at Huish's Grammar School in Taunton before joining the civil service.

During World War II, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force, where he worked in the then highly-secretive development of radar, and foresaw the concept of communication satellites.

Sir Arthur's vivid and detailed descriptions of space shuttles, super-computers and rapid communications systems were enjoyed by millions of readers around the world.

In the 1940s, he maintained man would reach the moon by the year 2000, an idea dismissed at the time.

He was the author of more than 100 fiction and non-fiction books, and his writings are credited by many observers with giving science fiction a human and practical face. He collaborated on the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey with Kubrick.

Link

The cemetary in the village of Sarpourenx, France is overcrowded and the Mayor is forbidding the village of 260 residents from dying. 

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."

It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."

The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified.

So, in other words, if someone dies he will be severely punished?  Interesting.

Link.

Julie Jensen feared she would be murdered by her husband so she wrote a letter to authorities telling them her husband should be the first suspect if she was ever found dead.  Shortly after writing the letter, Julie was poisoned to death and her husband Mark was found guilty of first-degree murder.  Link.

Here is a sad look at the suicides that occurred on the Golden Gate Bridge since its opening in 1937.  One square accounts for one suicide and the squares are placed in the location the suicide occurred.  Link to full image.

Lovers, Xia Xinfeng and Mao Ansheng, literally had the kiss of death when Xinfeng passed a capsule filled with rat poison from her mouth to Ansheng.  Ansheng died. 

Xinfeng had suspected Ansheng was cheating on her.  Supposedly, the couple had agreed that "if either one of them cheated on the other, he or she would have to die."

Xinfeng has been sentenced to death.

After 30 years of study, famed research parrot Alex died.  Breaking many sterotypes about birds, Alex proved the species' intellect could match that of a 5-year-old human.  Link.

[Picture from physorg.com]

As all of you have probably already heard, Luciano Pavarotti died after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.  He was 71.  (TIME article)

I thought I would post a video clip in honor of Pavarotti.  In this video he is singing, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful songs ever to be written.  Pavarotti singing Schubert's Ave Maria.

Denis Gobo writes:

William H. Hahn, JR. buried in his large family plot, is known for the epitaph on his flat headstone saying "I old you I was sick".  Though to be in failing health, he ordered the inscription shortly before his death.

What would your headstone say?  Share it in the comments.