A few years ago I realized that getting older (40+) means having to slowly see almost every symbol you've grown up with becoming completely obsolete and/or dying. It filled me with dread thinking about Chuck Norris, Arnold, Stallone, etc.
Seeing the memory of Friends taking hits, first with James Michael Tyler and now with Matthew, is very hard.
Even sadder is his fate was probably sealed because he was alone. It was probably a cardiac event that disabled him in the hot tub / pool and he drowned. Could've been unrecoverable anyway but being alone is making pretty sure it is.
Same age bracket here, but ... it's just not affecting me that much. Admittedly I didn't really watch Friends, though I was squarely in the age demographic and was aware of him. And, to be clear, I am deeply, deeply sorry for his friends and family, especially after having seen him go through so much in life.
But this one isn't filling me with existential dread and I don't know why. I keep ping-ponging between "We got started early with the gut punch of Christa McAuliffe, Ron McNair and the rest of the Challenger crew, then Kurt Cobain then River Phoenix then..." and "I guess I'm old now and this is just normal." There's even an argument that, my goodness, how on earth did he make it so far? And I am not being flippant: Perry lived an absolutely hellish life in too many ways.
I have no idea what his cause of death was, but ... I just hope people get help when they need it.
Did none of the deaths of the last decade or two have an impact? Honest Q.
I found that the deaths of Hunter S Thompson, David Bowie, and Sinead O'Conner put me a bit on my heels. Some of the others had some kind of impact. And many of the others.. nothing. But at least those three, and maybe a couple of others, definitely threw me a bit.
So that's the Q. Anything..? Nothing? If nothing, I'd personally find that possibly worth investigating. And I'm not big on para-social celebrity/artist relationships. But a few landed for me.
I have had teenage classmates, beloved pets, sibling, parent, all my grandparents, and close friends die. These have been varying degrees of devastating for me, for a while at least. Some for a long time (my sibling dying young was so, so hard).
Celebrities/artists/all-around-famous-people dying rarely affects me. Prince, maybe? But that was possibly because I like his music so much and probably grieved the loss of more music than the person whom I never met.
Knowing about kids dying in war and from gun violence and domestic abuse and such probably hits me harder than hearing about any random celebrity dying.
Oh MANY deaths were hard. Justice Ginsburg absolutely obliterated me (and, respectfully, others may have a different reaction and I understand that). But I haven't really experienced the "I'm old now and watching my heroes die" reaction. Does that make sense?
Limited just to entertainment industry celebrities, I will admit I don't have a strong emotional reaction to ... most of them (other than the general empathetic sadness on behalf of a vibrant human's friends and family) ... but I don't think it's indicative of anything worrying.
I agree, I find it hard to get too emotional about celebrities, even though I may have had great respect and admiration for them. For example, David Bowie, I was a little sad and disappointed to lose a great figure, but we all have to die.
For some reason Sinead O'Connor was an exception to this, and I did feel quite emotional at her passing.
It sounds like the phenomenon of getting affected by the death of some particular celebrity is very subjective.
For me there was a small “but he was young…” with Matthew Perry, but also an “oh well…”.
I frequently talk with my 84-year old neighbours. One lost her husband a year ago, the other one’s wife has dementia. They themselves are sharp as ever, but their whole world is a museum of memories. They have grand children, but everyone they knew is dead. They like company, but one said there’s something special about same-aged people, they share things with.
I don’t know when the death of a celebrity will hit me, but it’s probably when someone younger than me dies of non-accidental causes.
Thanks! This cheered me up. Hadn't seen the Chuck Norris meme in a while. Not sure if it died out or I just don't hang out at the right places on the Web anymore?
On the other hand, the characters they portray stay frozen in time while you age. The first time I realised I was older than all the Friends felt strange. Now I'm older than Fraiser. In a way, advancing age allows us to surpass the characters we idolise, which at least for me, has a positive effect on self esteem.
My grandmother offed herself when she reached that point at 97: all her friends were gone and she was in a housing complex for old people (whom she couldn't stand).
Which is why I don't understand the reason behind living in suburban areas where houses are far away from each other. If anything happens to a neighbor, others would probably never find out, and it takes a long time for ambulance to get there.
On a side note, I wonder if Apple Watch can detect this kind of events and report that to 911 immediately. Even better, can Apple Watch "predict" such fatal events based on data of millions of users who've had similar incidents?
Edit: Maybe the downvoters can say their counter-argument?
I've lived in both suburban and urban (current) situations.
In my personal experience, I always felt for more supported and a much bigger sense of community in suburban areas. Most suburban streets I've lived on, even when they weren't in the best neighborhoods, I felt comfortable asking anyone on the block for any kind of help. I do not feel the same way in my current apartment building. We have one neighbor who refuses to walk their 120 pb German Shepard on a leash which has already attacked me and my dogs.
Our dog has actually been attacked by another dog outside on the street and that was more straightforward.
In this situation it happened inside our building, so the city won't do anything and says we need to work with our landlord. Our landlord isn't doing anything despite our repeated asks. The neighbor in question has multiple evictions previously, etc. There just isn't much more we can do unfortunately
I didn't downvote but why do you think the situation would be any different if something happened to you in an urban apartment? In any case, it's way down the list of reasons why I'd choose some specific type of location to live in.
ADDED: I'd add that the downvotes are probably mostly from people who are tired about being lectured to about how they should be living in cities.
I work in emergency services. Your argument works for rural areas that are far, far apart. I do timings for station to suburban homes and the like, regularly. You're just not correct on this at all.
The best hospitals in my town's metropolitan area are _inside_ the city, not in the suburbs. Maybe there are some good ones where you live, but ambulance timing is not the only factor—the quality of service is just as important.
I’m curious what you think the ED outcome difference is between the best hospital in your city, and any random suburban one, for generally common emergencies.
Regarding the downvotes (none from me, I'll respond generally if it seems at all useful)...
First, this is, I'd say, rather off-topic ... and may seem impolite. It's along the lines of "hey, did you hear so-and-so died?" ... and someone launches into some thought that is not remotely specific to the person who died.
Second, your comment suggests you didn't even bother to 'look at the data'. 'Common sense' basically = 'alchemy', both of which are bollocks.
Now, in fairness, I'll write - among the 'letters' associated with my name, there are not only ... 'credentials', but also, everybody's favorite source of unceasing internal entertainment: attention deficit hyperspace dysplasia. You know, good ol' ADHD. So, I get it ... this may be along those lines, and even people without 'clinical-level' ADHD can have any of the relevant traits at various levels. But still, best to consider certain events like deaths - that many take very seriously - in that light, I'd suggest.
There are almost always people who experience significant sorrow and related emotions at such times. Even not knowing Mr Perry, nor being any particular fan - he had friends, family, and beyond ... all who are now hearing of his rather untimely passing.
> First, this is, I'd say, rather off-topic ... and may seem impolite. It's along the lines of "hey, did you hear so-and-so died?" ... and someone launches into some thought that is not remotely specific to the person who died.
I can see why you'd think that way, but please notice that I'm the OP of the post and have been shocked by the news... The show played a huge role in my life and I wouldn't want to draw attention away from the main topic.
> Second, your comment suggests you didn't even bother to 'look at the data'. 'Common sense' basically = 'alchemy', both of which are bollocks.
Oh, I don't know about that. I mean, actually caring about other people in such a general sense suggests a sort of strong / true character in a person.
OTOH, commenting about your 'pity' in sardonic language, dripping with so much disdain and so many loaded words / phrases that what should be SUBTEXT is all anyone 'hears' - clearly indicating that all you're doing is signaling a preference and not anything like, say, empathy - well, that's about the opposite.
Mowing a lawn is fun, light exercise :) it’s very meditative, especially with some good ear protection and an emission free, electric mower. Beats sitting around on a couch in an apartment.
Which is more environmental and actually useful unlike that fuzz you have to keep wasting energy on or get fined for letting nature grow in your own home.
Beautiful, isn't it? I bet you don't even visit once a month. I bet you think it's boring when you're there. Probably busy, too.
I have it every time I step outside. Fresh air, birds singing, flowers and bees. Last week I held a tiny bird in my hands as we walked among the gardens and trees, until it regathered its strength and flew off.
I suppose I must be missing the appeal of living in a box above a kebab shop with a roommate who barely speaks English.
I have a fantasy where I live above a kebab shop and come to an arrangement where I lower a box containing money on a piece of string, he puts a pre-agreed kebab and chips in the box and gives the string two tugs.
Here's the counter-argument: Your opinion is pretty much blaming him for the cardiac arrest. He lived alone in a suburb because he valued the privacy and no one ever plans for a heart attack unless you're 70+. Also your solution of having a smart watch track and collect your heart activity and send it to a remote server is pretty concerning too.
It's that awkward time when it really dawns on you that mortality is really a thing. Prior to that you feel very far removed from it, so it isn't much concern.
If there's someone available in the near vicinity... Average survival rate starts around 90%, then drops about 3.3 percentage points per 10 minutes until the blockage is fixed. The worst kind of infarction, total blockage of the left anterior descending artery, has a 10% survival rate.
Google will NEVER harm itself by supporting fake data feeds. The only reason G exists at all is because they can exploit the data they harvest from you. If you're given the power to poison that data Google implodes and the whole Android platform becomes extremely unattractive to other massive companies that live off of leeching your private data one way or another.
Yes, an OS built first & foremost for its users/customers would have LOTS of options like that. A mobile web browser built the same would support plugins from day 1. Etc. Etc.
But Android, Chrome, Windows 10+, iOS are ABSOLUTELY not built for their users. They're built as vehicles that enable other services from a slew of big names and it's essential for these platforms to ensure users are NOT given the power to fight against those services.
It would be beneficial to Google if they were to get your information but not just hand it out to any app that gets installed. Google can have my contacts and location information. But if I download some random app, it doesn't need my exact location.
Maybe it needs a rough location like within 100km of my real location. Android could feed it a fake location and say its exact.
I'm not a mechanical engineer but I imagine there's not much recognizable left out of their bodies. The carbon fiber hull is said to have failed catastrophically in an instant shattering to pieces. Water hammered in from all sides with ~400 kg of force applied on every square cm of their bodies + extreme shearing effects. This means they were turned into organic goo in an instant as if passed through a blender. I don't think there's much left of them except for small pieces of bones with a little organic tissue barely hanging on.
Not like that. There's a much simpler solution. Make it mandatory to have written on box just like any other tech spec, the minimum date until when security updates will be provided, the cadence of updates and their nature (e.g. for Android could be upstream updates).
There is already legislative warranty framework around compliance to promised specs. This means if the date is not honored, customers can turn against stores and return the products. Stores can then return against distributors/manufacturers, etc.
Also forbid sales of any network connected devices (phones, tablets, TVs, routers, etc) past that date because it's a wide security risk, particularly for people who are IT analphabets.
You'll then see how spectacularly quickly everyone lines up to security update schedules and standards. They will also find a way to prolong the date for devices that sell well.
It will be. Supporting USB PD over USB-C is mandatory if they want to keep selling in EU. Nintendo is more than welcome to subvert EU's requirements and find out how that goes.
I wonder. Following the latest advancements afforded to total surveillance as well as never before possible profiling-depth of people based on everything they've ever done since their teens, how will this change gov-level secretive organisations? Would someone like Ellsberg be weeded out even before his first interview or would he be detected and neutralized at the very first step outside the lines?
Gov can now scrutinize candidates for secretive organisations en masse for even the lowest positions and effectively weed out anyone who's ever shown even a hint of dissent, morality or adherence to principles who've proven to be any kind of risk against total obedience.
Gov can now also monitor employees' every heartbeat, every step, sleep patterns, stress levels and every spoken word (literally true for all of these), let alone their actions.
The risk of getting someone like Ellsberg past the door, let alone at any meaningful level, can now be crushed at previously unthinkable values.
How would these improved, airtight, secretive organisations operate and what would be the consequences? It feels like all these advancements in tech placed us on a one way superhighway towards returning to empires, aristocracies, eternal ruling classes & eternal commoners.
The previous US president took classified war plans with him, kept them in cardboard boxes in a bathroom at his residence which is also a public club, showed some of the papers to members of the public, and then lied about them when the Feds came calling.
Having an airtight recruiting funnel at the bottom is useless if the top is wide open.
More like: “You can imagine your clearance system is impenetrable and the elite’s secrets will be forever safe, but you’re not actually prepared for black swan events like a president who simply enjoys dispensing state secrets to random people at his own golf club.”
How many of Twitter's employees were convinced their company fights some righteous, on-the-right-side-of-history global battle? (Mind you: Global! It wasn't just US.) And then investors cashed out, Musk came in and discarded said employees like they were (less than) nothing.
It's the same story here, maybe a bit sadder since these mods are not even employees. They lost their time for nothing. They don't even have human connections with most anyone else since they are all anonymous and physically removed from each other. If Reddit pulls the plug all they are left with is a belief they did the right thing by wasting years to push the agenda of a corporation that showed them in absolute terms they mean nothing.
Moderation on Reddit became increasingly extremist after Trump took office in 2016. Sleazy tactics, heavy (shadow)banning of users, obscene mod & admin power trips, all perpetrated away from the public eye. There is no reliable evidence of just how much speech suppression and censorship Reddit does in practice. As someone who's been there for ~15 years, I promise you, if your regular, wide eyed, naive redditor who thinks the "communities" (a feel good word that means next to nothing in context) are all ponies and rainbows, would actually see how much abuse Reddit does day to day, the site would collapse in a week.
So now Reddit wipes its feet on some mods to make them toe the line even better than before. So what? If this gigantic Stanford experiment is killed off the world will be a better place without the shadow of a doubt.
I'm really sorry so many people take these companies at face value and gladly participate in clobbering the people who've been abused and tell their story. It's utterly disgusting and I'm heavily pro legislation to force social media companies with more than X users to keep public logs of censorship (with ids for both who applied suppression and to whom). This way the situation can be examined by any 3rd party and legal action can be taken more easily against these companies that exert immense influence on societies with zero oversight. If no social company can exist while enduring legal consequences for their actions then none should.
Phew. I hope this means Signal gets back to normal soon.
Also, Signal should introduce some kind of paid subscription with a few critically important qualities:
1. Anonymous payment that binds subscriptions to users without retaining anything about who paid. Like a prepaid GSM SIM. All Signal needs to know is that the current terminal uses a paid subscription.
2. Ability to buy a cheaper bulk/family bundle. I use Signal to talk to family and close friends and would like to pay for myself and my parents, at the very least.
3. Price it differently in different countries. $1 in India is as heavy as $10 in US. This is super mega important.
4. Setup dedicated servers for subscription users with a much better service level. The service collapse that happened today should not happen again. There should also be an option for a fully encrypted backup that Signal cannot decrypt just on the server side to store personal conversation logs.
I have to use Whatsapp to talk to people in a certain group. I use an old Android 6 phone with a prepaid SIM bought just for this single purpose, setup with a burner Google account. I only turn this phone on when I need to catch up or talk to them. It's really REALLY cheap and it works.
Seeing the memory of Friends taking hits, first with James Michael Tyler and now with Matthew, is very hard.
Even sadder is his fate was probably sealed because he was alone. It was probably a cardiac event that disabled him in the hot tub / pool and he drowned. Could've been unrecoverable anyway but being alone is making pretty sure it is.