DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[AbbaDatDeHat]

A little bit of Moore's Law and supply & demand working in our favor.

My first calculator, sometime in the mid-70s, was a "Melcor 1000." I ratcheded (sp?) up through getting my engineering degree until I had one that could do backflips. Now I couldn't imagine carrying one.

Right after "07734" we learned "53188008."

Sent directly from my mind to yours.

Can’t remember my first calc but i can remember doing the Dick Tracy type thing.
I had a metal Casio watch with a scientific calculator face. Must have been the early 80’s. I used it all the time. Still have it and whats left of it’s plastic counterpart.
Hell of an amazing watch!
Be well. Bowen

 

[MisterCairo]

Another sad day, a sad tale, and more of my youth passing away.

Former heartthrob Jan-Michael Vincent died February 10th, aged 74 if you can believe it. Action star of Airwolf and other 80s shows, he went into a downward spiral on drugs during those shows, worse after those shows were cancelled. Hard to believe the transformation:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...nt-dies-aged-74-suffering-cardiac-arrest.html

 

[OldStrummer]

When I was a high school student, electronic calculators were BANNED from science class! We had slide rules, and by golly, we were going to use them!

 

[3fingers]

My father had a "handheld" calculator in the 70s that was about the size of a block of cream cheese. I have no idea where he got it because they were very expensive and he really didn't have that much need for it. It would run on batteries or a power adapter that plugged in. I do remember that it was prohibited to play with it.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine, featured on thousands of 60s/70s recordings:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hal-blaine-the-drummer-who-kicked-off-be-my-baby-dies-at-age-90

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hal-blaine-dead-wrecking-crew-drummer-was-90-1193961

https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/legendary-drummer-hal-blaine-dead-at-90.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Blaine

 

[MisterCairo]

Edda Goering, daughter of Hermann, died in December, aged 80:

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world...arked-grave-in-germany/ar-BBUGIlW?ocid=ientp2

Edda is on the left...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fraulein Goering played a side role in the infamous "Hitler Diaries" affair of 1983. She had an affair with Nazi-fixated German journalist Gerd Heidemann, which brought him into contact with many surviving members of Hitler's inner circle -- and eventually, to the fraudulent diaries themselves.

 

[OldStrummer]

Richard Anthony Monsour (better known as Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar) 81. Per Wikipedia:

He pioneered and created what many call the surf music style, drawing on Middle-Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverberation. He worked closely with Fender to produce custom made amplifiers,[1] including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.[4] He pushed the limits of electric amplification technology, helping to develop new equipment that was capable of producing distorted, "thick, clearly defined tones" at "previously undreamed-of volumes." The "breakneck speed of his single-note staccato picking technique" and showmanship with the guitar is considered a precursor to heavy metal music, influencing guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Dale)​

 

[Bamaboots]

Richard Anthony Monsour (better known as Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar) 81.

Wow! Sad to hear this. One of the best "Ring of Fire" covers, ever.

 

[Frunobulax]

Richard Anthony Monsour (better known as Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar) 81. Per Wikipedia:

He pioneered and created what many call the surf music style, drawing on Middle-Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverberation. He worked closely with Fender to produce custom made amplifiers,[1] including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.[4] He pushed the limits of electric amplification technology, helping to develop new equipment that was capable of producing distorted, "thick, clearly defined tones" at "previously undreamed-of volumes." The "breakneck speed of his single-note staccato picking technique" and showmanship with the guitar is considered a precursor to heavy metal music, influencing guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Dale)​

A definite loss. He was a legend.

Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Singer, songwriter, composer & record producer, Scott Walker, has died aged 76.

 

[steve u]

Sorry to hear,^^^^^,
He died with"No Regrets"

 

[Rmccamey]

Motorcycle mogul and custom motorcycle king, Arlen Ness passed away on March 22.

 

[Cornelius]

Another tip of the hat to Scott Walker's passing - here he is last year, at the age of 75 or so.

 

[MisterCairo]

Another part of my youth is gone.

Roger Charlery, aka Ranking Roger of The Beat, aka The English Beat, General Public, has died from cancer, aged only 56-

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47714991

 

[Edward]

A definite loss. He was a legend.

Sent directly from my mind to yours.

Sad indeed. I saw him live here in London in 2002, in what I think must have been his final UK gig. Truly a great entertainer. I have an autographed 8x10 from that night and my tickets framed, hanging in my hall. Got a photo with him somewhere, too. BIG personality.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Radio actress Louise Erickson died March 18th at the age of 91. She was the definitive "bobby soxer" of 1940s radio, with major roles on three top situation comedies of mid-decade. As "The Great Gildersleeve's" niece Marjorie, as Chester A. Riley's daughter Babs, and in the lead role on "A Date With Judy," Erickson's breathless "golly gee-whiz" voice was central to the development of the stereotype of the wide-eyed, ponytailed, saddle-shoed boy-crazy teenage girl of the Era. The only major teen-girl part she didn't play was Corliss Archer, but she did play Corliss's best friend. Her impact was such that all bobby-soxer characters on the air ended up sounding like Louise Erickson, even when she wasn't actually playing the parts, and the stereotype she established endured into early television.

"Uncle Mort, tell Leroy to be quiiiiiiiet!!"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

LtCol Richard "Dick" Cole, the last surviving member of Doolittle's Raiders died yesterday at age 103.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A central figure in the 1959 scandal that exposed in sharp relief the mendacity of the Boys From Marketing died this week at the age of 93. Charles Van Doren was the quintessence of the sleek, handsome, impeccably-groomed Ivy League WASP -- scion of the scholarly Van Doren family, a teacher at Columbia with a distinguished career ahead of him in respectable academia -- when he was drawn into the seamy world of television quiz shows by the oily producer of NBC-TV's hit big-money quizzer "Twenty One," Dan Enright. It seemed the reigning champion of "Twenty One," a shlubby Brooklyn clerk named Herb Stempel, was killing the show's demographics, and the sponsor, Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, wanted him gone. Enright offered Van Doren a shot at the show -- and ensured that he would win.

Agreeing to that Faustian bargain led Van Doren to the heights of public esteem and a permanent job with NBC as a contributor to the Today Show and a reputation as one of the nation's brightest new Public Intellectual. But when another former Twenty One contestant emerged with proof of the show having been an elaborately staged fraud, Van Doren found his fall as rapid as his rise. Fired by NBC, investigated by Congress, guilty of perjury and his reputation shot, Van Doren spent most of the rest of his life as an editor at the Encyclopaedia Britannica. For nearly fifty years he refused to speak about the scandal, declining to cooperate with the "Quiz Show" film in the 1990s, and turning away all inquiries until he finally unbent his conscience in a candid article for the New Yorker in 2008.

"It’s been hard to get away, partly because the man who cheated on “Twenty-One” is still part of me."

 

[Fading Fast]

A central figure in the 1959 scandal that exposed in sharp relief the mendacity of the Boys From Marketing died this week at the age of 93. Charles Van Doren was the quintessence of the sleek, handsome, impeccably-groomed Ivy League WASP -- scion of the scholarly Van Doren family, a teacher at Columbia with a distinguished career ahead of him in respectable academia -- when he was drawn into the seamy world of television quiz shows by the oily producer of NBC-TV's hit big-money quizzer "Twenty One," Dan Enright. It seemed the reigning champion of "Twenty One," a shlubby Brooklyn clerk named Herb Stempel, was killing the show's demographics, and the sponsor, Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, wanted him gone. Enright offered Van Doren a shot at the show -- and ensured that he would win.

Agreeing to that Faustian bargain led Van Doren to the heights of public esteem and a permanent job with NBC as a contributor to the Today Show and a reputation as one of the nation's brightest new Public Intellectual. But when another former Twenty One contestant emerged with proof of the show having been an elaborately staged fraud, Van Doren found his fall as rapid as his rise. Fired by NBC, investigated by Congress, guilty of perjury and his reputation shot, Van Doren spent most of the rest of his life as an editor at the Encyclopaedia Britannica. For nearly fifty years he refused to speak about the scandal, declining to cooperate with the "Quiz Show" film in the 1990s, and turning away all inquiries until he finally unbent his conscience in a candid article for the New Yorker in 2008.

"It’s been hard to get away, partly because the man who cheated on “Twenty-One” is still part of me."

Made for a good movie.

I have no truck with the Boys and would have no problem with stricter truth-in-advertising laws and harsher enforcement of penalties (both of those actions have already been taken in my industry, finance*), but it also took Van Doren being willing to cheat (to partake in the lie for his own aggrandizement) for the charade to work at first. As with the subprime liar loans - the banks and gov't both have plenty to answer for - but behind most liar loans was also a person who thought it was okay to lie on their mortgage application.


* The results are less egregiousness - less lying, less deceit - but also some God-awfully boring advertising. I'll take it as preventing force or fraud is a primary function of gov't and lying in advertising is fraud 101.