Many people who drink tremendous amounts of coffee also smoke heavily, and some of them, the men especially, kinda-sorta tend to die a little early, statistically speaking. Maybe they die from the coffee. Maybe they die from the smoking. Maybe they die from something other than the coffee or the smoking. Maybe they die from car […]
Tag: Death
Mysterious nature of stiletto-heel-to-the-head assault reports
Early reports of a professor’s death via stiletto heel reek of mystery. This report by ABC News, from Houston, Texas, USA, on June 10, 2013, is typical: A Houston woman was charged with murder after she allegedly stabbed a University of Houston professor to death with a stiletto heel at a luxury high-rise condominium. Ana Trujillo, 44, was […]
Famous, Fast Approach to Death: Obits in NYT
Some people achieve fame, then live so long that the fame fades and their eventual death goes largely unremarked upon. Those people are not the subjects of this new study: “Death in The New York Times: the price of fame is a faster flame,” C.R. Epstein and R.J. Epstein, QJM, epub 2013. (Thanks to kiltish […]
Calculated death (or whatever) by coffee
David Ng estimates: A calculation to see how many cups of coffee you would need to drink in order to kill yourself. I thought it might be interesting to do some back of the envelope calculations to bring to you, some information on how many cups of coffee to avoid drinking, so as to not […]
A Drink Can Be Too Cool: The Lethal Liquid Nitrogen Cocktail
Cocktails can be ultra-chilling. This medical report provides evidence to that effect: “A lethal cocktail: gastric perforation following liquid nitrogen ingestion,” James Scott Pollard, Joanne Elizabeth Simpson, Moatasiem Idris Bukhari, BMJ Case Reports, 2013;10.1136/bcr-2012-007769. The authors, at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary [pictured below], Lancaster, UK, write: “We report a case of gastric perforation in an […]
Economics experiments involving death and taxes
An essay by John Carney on MSNBS’s NetNet blog looks at several experiments involving the relationship between death and taxes. The newest experiment, like several of the old ones, is being conducted in the United States. The essay does not fail to mention the study that earned the 2001 Ig Nobel Prize in economics (but […]
Contemplating death — not so bad after all
Some might jump to the conclusion that ruminating about death and destruction is a major downer – with potentially deleterious consequences for individuals and society at large. But a joint US/Dutch research team have published findings which shine a positive beam of light into this potentially murky area. With the sombre implications of Terror Management […]
Ig Nobel Prize winner Sun Myung Moon dies
Sun Myung Moon [pictured here, wearing a tie], who was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in economics, in the year 2000, has died. Reverend Moon won his Ig Nobel Prize for bringing efficiency and steady growth to the mass-marriage industry, with, according to his reports, a 36-couple wedding in 1960, a 430-couple wedding in 1968, an 1800-couple wedding in 1975, a […]
Your Money or Your Life: The perils of having an income
A steady paycheck has a slightly unfortunate side-effect, two researchers intimate (intimidatingly): It just might kill you. People who have money are more likely to spend money, they say—and, while doing so, engage in activities that could convert them into mortality statistics. “The Short-Term Mortality Consequences of Income Receipt,” William N. Evans (pictured), Timothy J. Moore, The National […]
Coffee Goodness/Badness Question Re-Settled Again
The question “Is coffee good or bad for your health” just got settled once and for all again, with a new answer that contradicts many previous studies, again. A new study presents a conclusion that answers everything, or nothing, or both: “Association of Coffee Drinking with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality,” Neal D. Freedman, Ph.D. [pictured […]