Tag archive: Osiris

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The Georgia School Shooting

Ah, back to school!  I remember it well – the bookbags and lunchpails that had to conform to what was currently “cool” to avoid merciless taunting; catching up with what friends did over the summer break; the new pens, pencils, notepads and markers; readjusting to subpar school cuisine; the new clothes that were another potential pitfall of derision; and of course, the mass shootings.

No, wait – that one’s new.  Well, new-ish; it’s been a quarter century since Columbine inaugurated a whole new rite-of-passage for American schoolchildren, replacing dodgeball with dodgebullet, and each year since, it seems we just keep upping the ante.

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GR summer 24 cover

Grim Reaper Album: What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Despite the title, the Grim Reaper has seemingly been working overtime this July, with a spate of celebrity deaths mid-month that have gone largely unnoticed in the midst of the political maelstrom of a presidential election summer.  It’s actually been open season on the rich and famous for months, with Jupiter, planet of fame and celebrity, linking arms with two asteroids that indicate mortality:  Lachesis 120 and Libitina 2546.  Lachesis is named for the mythic Greek Fate who determines the span of life, while Libitina’s namesake is the Roman goddess of funerals and burial. 

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Trump Assassination Attempt

“As a man soweth, so shall he reap.” – Galatians 6:7

Former US president Donald Trump, foremost promoter of political violence in America, was injured in an unsuccessful assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, PA on Saturday, 13 July 2024.  Nicked in the ear and bloodied by a shooter some 150 yards away, Secret Service agents quickly swarmed on the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, covering him bodily until word came that the shooter was down.  At that point Trump was taken to an armed vehicle and whisked from the scene.  Several attendees were injured, and one man died, as well as the shooter.

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Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Downsized Don

At 3:30 PM EDT on the afternoon of 12 June 2024, 86-year-old Anthony “Tony Cakes” Conigliaro walked into the crossing at 92nd Street and Dahlgren Place in Brooklyn, NY, against a “Do Not Walk” sign.  He never made it across.  At least, parts of him did, but Tony Cakes was struck by a local Department of Transportation truck turning the corner, crushed and decapitated, with his severed head lying several yards away from his crumpled body.

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Aster-Obit: Willie Mays

On 18 June 2024, baseball legend Willie Mays passed away, at age 93.  Mays’ pro sports career began in high school with the Birmingham Black Barons, a local Negro League team, but he was picked up by the New York Giants upon graduation, spending 23 seasons in the MLB before retiring in 1973.  Mays was the 1951 Rookie of the Year, and MVP for the 1954 season which brought the Giants their last World Series win before moving to San Francisco.  MVP again in 1965, Mays played in two more World Series, and was chosen as an All-Star 24 times, tying the record set by Stan Musial, exceeded only by Hank Aaron.  Mays spent most of his career with the Giants, but was traded to the NY Mets in 1972; he retired the following year, but continued with the organization as a coach until 1980.

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manure victims

Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Man-Killing Manure

Folks, this story is the shit!  Literally.  In the late morning of 13 June 2024, two men died in a manure tanker accident at Champion Dairy Farm in Kirkland, NY; both were volunteer firefighters.  Nathan Doody, 33, was attempting to retrieve a piece of equipment that had fallen into the tanker, became overcome with fumes from the fermenting feces, and fell into the tank.  Coworker Tyler Memory, 29, tried to assist, but also swooned and fell.  Farm personnel called 911, the pair were recovered and medevacked to Wynn Hospital in nearby Utica, where they were pronounced dead.

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