Alaska reality show star shot dead at 31 points.
Reality > reality show.
Now that’s the sort of attitude we like around here! 
Holy cow. Talk about being voted off the island!
Former House Speaker Jim Wright dies at 8 points.
From the article:
And from now on, everyone else will find Gojdics in grave condition…or possibly cremated.
Someone I almost picked, and didn’t, because then she’d probably still be alive, is Prima Ballerina assoluta of the Bolshoi, Maya Plisetskaya, who died a few days ago at a ripe old 11 points. I had the privilege of seeing her on stage when I was 10. She was 52, and only doing a couple of ballets a year, but what a powerhouse!
Also, our dog Fiona died. She was 15 and 1/2, which probably translates into no points in dog years-- 108.5 by that “7 years” thing, which is BS, but there’s no denying she had a good run, and then died quietly in her sleep, with her mind, and vision intact. It’s couldn’t have been easier, but I still miss her like hell. I am also dogless now for the first time in 20 years, and it’s lonely, in spite of two great cats (who greet me at the door, 9 times out of 10) and an active 8-year-old.
Sorry for your loss, RivkahChaya, It does sound like she had a good life AND a good death, which we would all appreciate for ourselves as well. Time to visit Petfinders or your local shelter.
We need a little more time, but we’ve talked about it. I’m very involved in the disabled community, and we once took in a retired service dog, and she was wonderful. We might wait and see if something like that comes along.
That said, our favorite breeds, in order, are mutts with obvious Pit Bull mixed in, mutts of no identifiable breed, and Pit Bulls. We’re not supposed to have Pit Bulls in our building, but there are currently seven dogs that are clearly Pits, who are either officially mutts, or are “Boxer/terrier,” or “Bulldog/terrier” mixes, or something. One grey Pit with blue eyes and uncropped ears is officially a Weimaraner. (I’m impressed they got away with that.) But at any rate, it seems pretty clear that the people in the office don’t care, and the directive about breeds comes from higher up.
We don’t know how much longer we’re going to live where we are, though. We want to move when our lease runs out in September, so we will probably move with an eye to 1) keeping our son in his school he likes, and 2) finding a place that is more dog-friendly.
My Great-Uncle once said that the worst thing about dogs was that they have the audacity to be mortal.
Before I get back to looking for dead human celebrities, Rivkah Chaya, here is a Kipling poem about the love we have for dogs.
His Apologies
http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/his_apologies.html
The last two verses especially choke me up.
RivkaChaya I am so sorry for your loss. Fiona lived a happy, long, and wonderful life thanks to you and your family. Still, no matter how long a pet lives, it’s always too soon when he or she goes.
Sorry about losing your friend, it is a hard thing to deal with. The calculation I heard might be more accurate is to count the first year as about 15, the second as about seven, then about 4 for every year after that (probably 3 for cats). That would put Fiona in her mid-70s in human age.
Getting back to human deaths, the ambassadors to Pakistan from Norway (Leif Larsen ) and the Philippines (Domingo Lucenario, Jr.) died in a helicopter crash earlier today in Pakistani Kashmir.
And in the ‘still alive’ department, they interviewed Richard Overton (who’s on Andrew 21’s Death Pool list) this morning on NPR’s Morning Edition, because it’s the anniversary of V-E day, and Overton, who will turn 109 on Monday, is the oldest living American WWII vet.
He’s also one of the oldest men in the world, since the list of supercentenarians (age 110+) is overwhelmingly female.
Different sized dogs have different life expectancies. At 15 and 4 months, Fiona outlived the life expectancy of a dog her size by 3.3 years, or 27%, which is some comfort, especially since she was healthy and happy all those years, and then just went to sleep and didn’t wake up. If you multiply the life expectancy of a human woman born the year Fiona was born, and multiply it by 1.27 you get 104 (I have rounded off numbers). Anyway, she visited 9 states in her life, hiked the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest, went for a walk every day it wasn’t raining when she was young, had other dogs to play with most of her life, never missed a vaccination or heartworm pill, had treats, her own bed, premium food, and if she ever had to be boarded, we took her places where she could run outside all day. She always got to lick out old peanut butter jars, and had as much affection as she wanted.
Our comfort now is that we know we gave her a good life.
There is no justice in the fact that Chihuahuas routinely live to be 20, while beautiful Great Danes usually don’t make it past 10.
Performance artist Chris Burden died today at age 69.
And not for lack of trying.
On the other hand, you can put the Great Dane out in the backyard without worrying that a passing hawk will swoop it up for lunch.
And we happen to have a pair of nesting hawks that have taken up residence high up in a tulip poplar on the edge of our yard. With luck, they will rid the neighborhood of chihuahuas and toy poodles in order to feed their babies once they hatch. 
Errol Brown no longer believes in miracles.
Oscar Holderer, rocket scientist who helped put man on the moon.