All posts tagged: Death

RNS | Covering the world of religion.

RNS | Covering the world of religion.

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — Turning 80, as I do this month, tends to focus the mind on one’s mortality. I plan to live another 20 years, as did Jimmy Carter, but I could just as easily be dead in 20 months. I can no longer kid myself that death is a distant reality. St. Ignatius Loyola, as part of his Spiritual Exercises, advises people to meditate on their deathbeds and reflect on their lives. In such a meditation, money is of little importance, even for nonbelievers. Most people wish they had spent more time with family and friends. In such reflections, there is a temptation to focus on the negative and feel sorry for oneself — opportunities missed, roadblocks experienced and time wasted. I admit that as I began this column, that temptation was strong. Instead, I am forcing myself to reflect on what I should be thankful for. Looking back, I now see that whenever a door closed (not getting a job I wanted, or getting fired), a better door opened. But even before I was …

Liam Payne’s cause of death confirmed during UK inquest opening | Ents & Arts News

Liam Payne’s cause of death confirmed during UK inquest opening | Ents & Arts News

Published by skeptic

One Direction star Liam Payne died of multiple traumatic injuries, a UK inquest into his death has heard. The 31-year-old singer, who died in October after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was confirmed to have died of “polytrauma”, the inquest opening heard. The hearing, which Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court said was held on 17 December, was told it may take “some time” to establish how Payne died. The inquest into Payne’s death in the UK has been adjourned until a pre-inquest review on 6 November, the coroner’s court said. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:35 Mourners gather for Payne’s funeral Five people have been charged over Payne’s death at the Casa Sur Hotel on 16 October. The hotel’s manager, a receptionist and a “representative” of Payne have been charged with negligent homicide (similar to manslaughter in UK law), Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office previously said in a statement. They are hotel manager Gilda Martin, receptionist Esteban Grassi and Payne’s “representative” Roger Nores. …

US reports first human death related to bird flu

US reports first human death related to bird flu

Published by skeptic

Coloured transmission electron micrograph of H5N1 virus particles Science Photo Library A person in Louisiana has died from a bird flu virus known as H5N1. This is the first known death related to the virus in the US. The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) has not identified additional H5N1 cases in the state nor found evidence of person-to-person transmission, indicating that the risk to the general public remains low. The person was hospitalised for the virus in December, after contracting it from infected or dead birds in their backyard. They experienced severe respiratory symptoms. It was the first serious case of H5N1 in the US. The LDH announced their death on 6 January and said that they were older than 65 and had underlying health conditions. In total, 66 people in the US have tested positive for H5N1, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most of them developed mild symptoms, such as eye redness, and worked with infected cows or chickens. H5N1, which has killed tens of millions of wild …

RuPaul says his ‘heart is broken’ following death of The Vivienne | Ents & Arts News

RuPaul says his ‘heart is broken’ following death of The Vivienne | Ents & Arts News

Published by skeptic

RuPaul has said his “heart is broken” following the death of former Drag Race winner, The Vivienne. The drag queen and TV presenter said on Instagram on Monday he joined the entire Drag Race universe in mourning the loss of The Vivienne, whom he called “an incredibly talented queen and a lovely human being”. The Vivienne, whose real name was James Lee Williams, won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019. Instagram This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Instagram cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Instagram cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once Read more: The Vivienne’s …

Moderate drinking linked to lower risk of death, but there’s a major catch

Moderate drinking linked to lower risk of death, but there’s a major catch

Published by Sam

A major report released this week found that compared with abstaining from alcohol, moderate drinking was linked to a lower risk of death from any cause and a lower risk of death from heart disease, but it was also linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. Far from settling the debate over whether drinking in moderation is healthy or dangerous, the report’s conclusions further muddied the issue.  The report, released Tuesday, was commissioned by Congress and carried out by a committee from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. An update to federal dietary guidelines next year could include new recommendations about how much alcohol people should drink. The current guidelines recommend people limit alcoholic beverages and say that if they choose to drink, they should do so in moderation, defined as two drinks a day for men and one drink for women.  But over the last few years, mounting evidence has questioned the health benefits of drinking. In 2022, the World Health Organization concluded that no amount of alcohol is safe. A …

Faith leaders, activists, the pope urge Biden to empty federal death row before Trump term

Faith leaders, activists, the pope urge Biden to empty federal death row before Trump term

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — A group of faith leaders, activists, law enforcement officials and families of murder victims has called on President Joe Biden to spare the lives of about 40 inmates currently on death row in federal prisons. The campaign is prompted by concerns the Department of Justice will lift a moratorium imposed by the Biden administration in 2021 and begin to execute prisoners after President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Thirteen federal prisoners were executed during the first Trump administration — more than four times as many as under all the presidents combined since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988. Among those asking Biden to commute the sentences of death row inmates is the Rev. Sharon Risher, whose mother, Ethel Lance, was one of nine church members killed in the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Risher cited Trump’s promise to restart executions in urging Biden to act. “It is vital that you deny him that opportunity by commuting every death sentence remaining on federal and military …

Sam Cooke’s shocking death left a lot of questions – but nothing can overshadow his music and message

Sam Cooke’s shocking death left a lot of questions – but nothing can overshadow his music and message

Published by skeptic

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free Rarely has the manner of a man’s demise been so unbefitting of their life. On the evening of 10 December 1964, soul sensation Sam Cooke dined with friends at Martoni’s restaurant, the Los Angeles hangout of Hollywood A-listers and those that fed off them, flagrantly flashing around the $5,000 in cash he’d made from recent tour dates. After several drinks, he began chatting with a young woman at the bar. Later, he failed to show up at the nightclub his friends had gone to. Instead, in the early hours of the next morning – 60 years ago this week – Cooke was fatally shot by the manager of the Hacienda Motel, a haunt of sex workers and pimps, amid accusations of kidnap and violence. His killing would eventually be dismissed as “justifiable homicide”. Such a shocking death, at just 33, …

Is There a Life After Death? A Philosophical Approach

Is There a Life After Death? A Philosophical Approach

Published by skeptic

  Is there life after death? Humans have been intrigued by this question for centuries. While science can try to answer it based on evidence alone, philosophy takes a different approach, delving into metaphysics. Some thinkers have argued that death marks the end of consciousness itself. Others have suggested that although our individual minds may cease to exist, somehow or other, we might carry on being part of something larger than ourselves. In this article, we will take the philosophical route. So, what are famous philosophers saying about life after death?   Plato: The Immortality of the Soul The Last Judgement, Michelangelo, 1536-1541. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Plato presents an interesting viewpoint on what happens after we die—suggesting the soul’s journey stretches far beyond earthly life. Picture a place where everything is perfect and pure, somewhere our souls long to return to once they’ve finished with our bodies: this is Plato’s world of forms.   In his dialogue Phaedo, Plato takes us through Socrates’ last moments as if we’re right there with him. The philosopher …

The Greek God of Death

The Greek God of Death

Published by skeptic

  Across the 24 books of Homer’s Iliad, the epic account of Achilles’ wrath at the siege of Troy, there are 240 battlefield deaths. Whether by sword or spear, an average of ten combatants perish per book. What then, of the god responsible for leading these men to the underworld? While many are familiar with Hades, the ruler of the underworld, the Greek god of death itself, Thanatos, is much less well-known. From Homer to Hesiod, and from the ancient stage to the modern canvas, there is a rich mythology to this morbid and minor deity.   Who Are the Parents of the Greek God Thanatos Portrait of Hesiod, c. 1775. Source: British Museum   Perhaps Thanatos’ lack of wider cultural familiarity stems from his lacking the mythological aristocracy of Hades, the other deity associated with the dead. The latter was the brother of Zeus, the ruler of the skies and lord of the gods, and of Poseidon, the god of the seas. He was also the oldest of these three sons of the Titans, …

Death Row killer executed with ‘tortuous’ nitrogen gas for sick murder | US | News

Death Row killer executed with ‘tortuous’ nitrogen gas for sick murder | US | News

Published by Sam

In a highly controversial move, Alabama Death Row inmate Carey Dale Grayson was executed by nitrogen hypoxia, marking only the third-ever execution using this method. On Thursday evening, Grayson, 50, was forced to choke on an influx of atmospheric gas fed to him via a mask while strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at the state prison in Atmore, a small city bordering Florida and about 50 miles north of Pensacola. Grayson suffered oxygen deprivation and died. This marked the state’s sixth execution in 2024. Grayson was convicted for the brutal murder of hitchhiker Vickie Deblieux in 1994.  Grayson raised his middle fingers and cursed at the prison warden. When the prison warden asked for his final statement, Grayson responded with an obscenity. He said: “For you, you need to —- off.” The warden turned off the microphone. Deblieux, 37, was hitchhiking from Tennessee to her mother’s home in Louisiana when she was picked up by four individuals who transported her to a secluded woodland area. There, they savagely attacked her, beating her …