The world has lost another gifted performer prematurely with the death of Michael Jackson at age 50. Although his death appears to have been accidental, and may or may not relate to use of the surgical anesthetic
Propofol for insomnia, until the autopsy results are in what killed him is not yet known. What is clear is that it was too early for a male living in the U.S. According to the
CIA World Factbook, the average U.S. male's life expectancy in 2009 is 75.65 years, 25 years more than Michael's life. Of course, if Michael Jackson had lived in Afghanistan, his life would have been longer than normal, given the average life expectancy of an Afghany male at 44.47 years.
I was lucky enough to meet the "King of Pop" at a Lucasfilm picnic in 1982 (as photographed above) several years before he starred in the short 17 minute George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola 3-D film collaboration
Captain Eo for Walt Disney Attractions in 1986. He was clearly an exceptional talent who will be missed.
Sphere: Related Content
According to the book
Cause of Death, 3 people died from insomnia in 2001. Having recently experienced a bout of insomnia myself, which resulted in my canceling an event I was looking forward to, I did a little more research on this silent killer. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), there are two types of
insomnia. But there's an even scarier type called
Fatal Familial Insomnia which is caused by a prion similar to that which is responsible for mad cow disease. In the case of insomnia, however, as with many other afflictions, the cure is often worse than the disease. Many more people die accidentally from drug overdoses trying to "cure" their insomnia (and other disorders) to the point that accidental drug overdoses are now the second cause of unintentional injury, second only to motor-vehicle crashes. There's an interesting podcast from the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
here on that. So, having thrown away my sleeping pills, I may need to give up eating beef as well!
Sphere: Related Content
Face It. We Can Go Anytime. But In So Many Different Ways!
Cause of Death is a great reference tool for writers, entomologists (some insects kill a lot of people) and anyone interested in health and death-related information. After all, we will all bite the dust, check out, buy the farm and kick the bucket but where we live, our sex, race, age, genetics and habits will ensure we will exit in our own unique way.
“I can see this book being useful for people creating fiction where they need somebody to die, and fast.” - io9.com Cause of Death book review 'Where To Find Ingredients For Your Next Death Scene'
The world has lost another gifted performer prematurely with the death of Michael Jackson at age 50. Although his death appears to have been accidental, and may or may not relate to use of the surgical anesthetic Propofol for insomnia, until the autopsy results are in what killed him is not yet known. What is clear is that it was too early for a male living in the U.S. According to the CIA World Factbook, the average U.S. male's life expectancy in 2009 is 75.65 years, 25 years more than Michael's life. Of course, if Michael Jackson had lived in Afghanistan, his life would have been longer than normal, given the average life expectancy of an Afghany male at 44.47 years.
Posts
