Tag archive: Atropos

giacomo cover

Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Falling Formaggio

On the evening of Sunday, 6 August 2023, 74-year-old Giacomo Chiapparini entered the storage room of his family-run dairy farm’s cheese factory near Bergamo, Italy, to check the robot used to clean the wheels of Grana Padano as they aged, stacked on floor-to-ceiling shelves.  No one knows what went wrong, but one of the metal shelves buckled, spilling its store of hundreds of 40 kg (approximately 88-pound) cheeses and creating a domino effect, whereby the entire stock came crashing down, crushing the septuagenarian. 

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singers 2023 cover

Aster-Obit: Singers Sign Off

In late July 2023 a trio of notable performers exited earth with swan songs of their own.  American icon Tony Bennett passed on July 21, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor and Eagles founding member and vocalist Randy Meisner both died on the 26th.  They were accompanied by a host of lesser-known (to US audiences, anyway) singers cross the globe, with no less than 10 others passing during that five-day period, from lands as disparate as India, Kenya, Brazil, Chile, Greece, Jamaica and the UK.

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majorjon cover

Masturbating Teen & Family Murdered

A bizarre story emerged on Father’s Day 2023 in Kellogg, Idaho, where a 31-year-old father of two shot dead his 18-year-old neighbor, for masturbating fully nude in front of his bedroom window.  Majorjon Kaylor told police he “snapped” after seeing Devin Smith swinging and stroking his penis in full view of Kaylor’s wife and young daughters.  Police were called and interviewed the recent high school graduate after the masturbation incident on June 13, telling Kaylor afterward that charges would be filed.

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titan sub cover

Lost at Sea: The OceanGate Disaster

On Sunday, 18 June 2023, the Titan submersible, some 13,000 feet under the waters of the North Atlantic, lost contact with its support vessel on the surface.  The craft was carrying a crew of five, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and four others who had paid $250,000 apiece for a chance to view the wreckage of the Titanic, part of OceanGate’s underwater tourism service.  Last contact came at 9:45 AM local time (11:45 AM UT), and a multi-nation search was instituted after the sub failed to return to the surface at about 3 PM as expected.  With an estimated 96 hours of reserve oxygen, by Thursday the 22nd, the operation became one of recovery rather than rescue, as little hope was offered for survivors.

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Fire & Water: The Mark Batista Drowning Case

On June 9, 2023, 39-year-old Mark Anthony Batista, a New York firefighter and EMT with Brooklyn Engine Company 226, drowned at the Jersey shore while trying to rescue his daughter, who had become trapped in a rip current.  Batista was unsuccessful, losing his own life in the attempt; his daughter was rescued by first responders called to the scene at 8:30 AM, and his body was discovered and retrieved about 10:00.  A 15-year veteran of the FDNY, Batista is survived by his eleven-year-old daughter, his wife and two stepsons.  The tragedy occurred at Sylvania Beach in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ.

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tina cover

Aster-Obit: Tina Turner, Simply at Rest

“Queen of Rock” Tina Turner passed into the celestial firmament on 24 May 2023, to the sorrow of her many fans globally.  A literal rags to riches, to rags to riches, American success story, Turner’s music galvanized the 1980s, becoming the soundtrack to our lives, and her personal saga of rejection of a life with an abusive spouse gave hope to millions of women.  Already on her way to becoming a music icon by the early ‘60s, Turner’s career slumped after her separation from Ike, but an amazing comeback in the mid-‘80s inspired all performers of a certain age.

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