RIP: The Necrology Thread

Tom Wolfe wrote a small book titled From Bauhaus to Our House that had a huge influence on me when I was in college. It’s a critical analysis of how the Bauhaus faculty in Germany between the two world wars set in motion a revolution in contemporary architecture and design that is still with us today.

Kate Spade
1962 – 2018
RIP

Anthony Bourdain
1956 - 2018
RIP

I’m surprised at the huge amount of attention Kate Spade’s death has gotten. Honestly, I had never heard of her until she passed away this past week. Then again, I’ve never paid attention to women’s handbags.

Unlike Kate Spade, I had heard of Anthony Bourdain because, as a unapologetic picky eater and life-long vegetarian, this guy’s eating habits both amazed and repelled me. When I first heard he had died, I immediately assumed it was food poisoning of some kind, but from what I’ve read, it appears to have been suicide.

I just heard about Anthony :frowning: I am heartsick … RIP Anthony :heart::heart:

The last of the Munchkins too, a few days ago.

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Koko, the gorilla who learned to understand spoken English and to speak using sign language, has died at the age of 46.

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/21/622160278/koko-the-gorilla-dies-redrew-the-lines-of-animal-human-communication

Aww :frowning: I didn’t realize Coco was that old :frowning:

If you’ve ever seen the video where they tell Koko that All Ball has died, you can see she comprehends.
A lot of people out there thought her communication was a trick.

I think most anyone who has been best friends with a dog knows the cautionary advise against anthropomorphizing animals is mostly nonsense. I’m convinced that, especially, mammals experience largely the same emotions that we do and that their cognitive differences from us are more matters of degree than kind.

Gorillas, chimps and bonobos, especially, are so closely related to us that dismissing them as just animals seems foolish. Koko was clearly able to engage in abstract thought and verbally (through sign language) express those thoughts and emotions by tying words together into rudimentary sentences.

And Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer Prize winning conservative columnist at the Washington Post for over 30 years.

I disagreed with him plenty of times, but he spoke the truth as he saw it, regardless of his party line.

More often than not I disagreed with Krauthammer’s hawkish and conservative viewpoints, but I never failed to respect his intellect or his ability to articulate sound, reasonable and well-formed arguments. Unlike others who pass themselves off as conservatives advocates, on news outlets like Fox, Charles Krauthammer’s viewpoints were always grounded in solid logic instead of the shallow, populist nonsense so common today. He was a needed voice of reason for the other side, and there just aren’t many like him left.

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Hard pressed to think any one who commanded such a presence merely by voicing an opinion. His choice of words more often than not were both descriptive and succinct …rare quality that will be sorely missed.

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RIP Vinnie :frowning:

Tab Hunter has passed at 86 :frowning:

RIP Aretha Franklin – 1942 to 2018

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RIP Mr. McCain :frowning:

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I have always had a huge amount of respect for John McCain. It’s sad to see him go — especially now, when we need more decent, honorable and courageous people like him in the Senate, not fewer.

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