Tag Archives: death

When I Die, Can I Get Botox?

Persia AliFebruary 3, 2009 //

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look your best and taking pride in your appearance. But looking your best has been taken to a new extreme, as more people are opting to get cosmetic surgery and enhancements — after they’re dead. Morticians are getting an increase in requests in cosmetic procedures when it comes to how the the deceased will look like at the funeral. The requests have included lip plumping, smoothing wrinkles and even boosting sagging parts. People are making advanced arrangements for these final procedures to be done for the viewing at their funerals. Is it that serious? Keep reading »

Bettie Page Dies

Susannah BreslinDecember 12, 2008 //

Bettie Page, otherwise known as the “Queen of Pinups,” has died. She was 85. Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Betty Mae Page had a hardscrabble childhood that included time spent in an orphanage. As a teenager inspired by her hairdresser mother, Page experimented with different looks and learned to sew, a pair of obsessions that would help her to become a pinup icon. Keep reading »

Death By Folding Couch

Catherine StrawnJuly 10, 2008 //

When I was younger, I always thought hiding in folding couches was super stealth, but now I might be developing a foldout couch phobia. A woman in St. Petersburg, Russia, got in a fight with her drunken husband, and when he wouldn’t get off the couch, she hit a lever and it folded up, leaving him stuck between the mattress and the back of the couch. The woman walked out of the room, and when she came back three hours later, she thought he was sleeping quietly, only he was dead. [Reuters] Keep reading »

Gardasil Has Been Gettin’ Some Haters

SimchaJune 25, 2008 //

The Human Papillomavirus, aka HPV, can cause cervical cancer and genital warts. And now it’s possible that the vaccine that guards against HPV, Gardasil, may cause death. Around the world, 11 girls, as young as the age of 11, have died after receiving the shots, and about another 1,700 have reported complications which include fainting and GBS, a disorder which weakens your immune system. Since 95% of people who have HPV are asymptomatic, all in all, .002% of women with HPV die from related cases of cervical cancer. While it seems like fear mongering to support or oppose the potentially life-saving or life-threatening vaccination, getting guarded by Gardasil should clearly be a personal decision. Currently three states are making shots mandatory for adolescent girls, against the advice of the American College of Pediatrics and a researcher who worked on developing the vaccine. Sure, egalitarian vaccinations sound like a good idea in theory, but now that the results on Gardasil are in, ladies, like everything else, should be free to do what they want. Get your laws off my body! [Huffington Post and Natural News]

Keep reading »

Stay Away From Strange “Aphrodisiacs”

Catherine StrawnMay 27, 2008 //

A 35-year-old man in New York died after ingesting a small piece of an aphrodisiac made from toad venom. The man went to the hospital complaining of chest and abdominal pains, but doctors were unable to treat him. The aphrodisiac, a hardened resin that contains chemicals known to disrupt heart rhythms, is supposed to be applied topically rather than ingested, but authorities say even that can be harmful. If you’re feeling the need to spice things up in bed, don’t buy anything sold under these names: Piedra, Love Stone, Jamaican Stone, Black Stone, or Chinese Rock. [Gothamist] Keep reading »

Just Lay Down And Die

SimchaMarch 25, 2008 //

Ever had sex with a guy who just lies there? Well, it’s booooorrrrrrring! Who wants a lazy lover? Well, actually, female spiders do. According to researchers at the University of Aaarhus in Denmark, arachnid females are sorta natural necrophiliacs. Technically, if their male suitor just plays dead, they are twice as likely to get laid as the males who use food as bait. The study, published in the journal New Scientist, showed that among pisaura mirabilis, a spider species native to Europe, lying motionless even made the sex better! Those male spiders not only increased their chances at copulating, they were then able to get it on for longer! Perhaps this is justification enough for why spiders will survive the apocalypse. [Nerve]
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Heath Ledger: Our Fascination With Celebrity Grief

Amelia McDonell-ParryJanuary 24, 2008 //

I can’t decide who I’m more disgusted by: the paparazzi who camped out in front of Michelle Williams’ Brooklyn home and snapped a photo of her with baby Matilda, the gossip websites who bought and posted both the pictures and the video (Us Weekly and TMZ, we’re talking about you), or myself, for actually giving them what they wanted for it — page views. Needless to say, Heath Ledger’s death has been eating at me and lots of other women I know, but I’ll only speak for myself.

Outside of the fact that I clearly get a lil’ too much out of watching the lives of celebrities, this particular event is hitting kind of hard. I watched the tape of Michelle Williams arriving home, surrounded by paparazzi, with a sad fascination with the pain she must be going through, because I can’t imagine it myself. Obviously Heath was talented, but more than that, he was young and he was a father. I don’t know many 20-something fathers and I certainly don’t know anyone in my age group that has died so suddenly and with that much to lose. Maybe it’s the fact that kids and marriage are not far off in my future and the thought of losing someone at this age, and having a child, is an unimaginable tragedy. Watching Michelle gives a little glimpse into what that might be like. Her pain doesn’t give me pleasure, by any means, but I’m truthfully very sad for her and strangely curious to see how she handles it, as if it might reflect back what I would do and feel in the same instance. Keep reading »

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