Archive for May, 2010
Burying Dead Soldiers and Judging Free Speech
31, May 2010High Court: Justices to Consider ‘Funeral Protests’ in Free-Speech Case Robert Barnes, Washington Post (May 31, 2010) The Washington Post ran a really interesting article today on an upcoming US Supreme Court case involving freedom of speech and protests at funerals for dead soldiers. I expect that the story ran today because it is, afterall, [...]
- By: John
- In: Death + the Law|Death Ethics
- Tags: free speech, protests, soldiers, Westboro Baptist Church
Rash of Suicides at China’s Foxconn
27, May 2010Taiwanese-owned computer and electronics manufacturing giant, Foxconn, is drawing criticism for its recent spate of suicides. At present, 10 people have committed suicide within the last year—with one of those deaths occurring just hours after company Chairman Terry Gou, bowed in apology over the deaths. Business Week reports that Gou, the billionaire founder of Foxconn, [...]
- By: Kim
- In: Death + Technology|Suicide
- Tags: China, Foxconn
Editorial: ‘Final Wishes’ Veto is Cold, Calculating At time of death, we can be kinder to same-sex couples. Star Tribune (May 24, 2010) Last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill that would have given same-sex partners in long term relationships the legal right to the other partner’s dead body for funeral arrangements and [...]
- By: John
- In: Death + the Law|Death Ethics
- Tags: civil rights, LGBT, same-sex partners, unclaimed bodies, wills
Inventing the Future of Death
24, May 2010Recent design school graduate Jake Shapiro of New York shared his thesis project with us: “The Future of Death” examines how our internet and social media oriented lives have and will continue to change the way we think about and deal with death and grief. The project, for which Jake designed and constructed working prototypes, [...]
Digital Death Day! (Is Every Day)
23, May 2010Digital Death Day Virtual Life after Death Peregrine Andrews, BBC News (May 22, 2010) Last week, May 20th, was the first Digital Death Day, an unconference in California of funeral directors, digital identity professionals, attorneys, technologists, entrepreneurs and obituary enthusiasts to share concerns and probably a few crazy-interesting ideas about managing digital identity after death. [...]