March 11, 2005

My friend Laura Sue Wilansky, a flutist who calls herself The Silver Nightingale, was recently profiled in the Sun-Sentinel. Every week, she visits the hospice unit of North Broward Medical Center in Pompano Beach, Fla., and performs for the dying patients and their families. This volunteer effort has provided musical therapy for more than 1,000 people.

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion."
--President Abraham Lincoln

March 10, 2005

* travel-sized toiletries
* holding hands at the movies
* an accurate horoscope
* fresh, clean journals
* the scent of maple syrup and bacon

* Claire Boothe Luce - 3/10/1903
* Douglas Adams - 3/11/52
* Jack Kerouac - 3/12/22
* Edward Albee - 3/12/28
* Virginia Hamilton - 3/12/36
* L. Ron Hubbard - 3/13/11
* Patrick P. Stafford - 3/13/54
* Lynne Remick - 3/14/63

March 7, 2005

The New York Public Library has launched its digital gallery of prints, maps, posters, photographs, illuminated manuscripts, sheet-music covers, dust jackets, menus and cigarette cards. The collection includes 275,000 items, browsable by subject, collection, name or keyword.

"When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, 'Why God? Why me?' and the thundering voice of God answered, 'There's just something about you that pisses me off.'"
--Stephen King

March 6, 2005

Volunteers of the Mental Health Association of Portland, Ore., are seeking public donations to create a permanent memorial to house the cremated remains of over 5,000 patients unclaimed by their families. Cans containing the patients' ashes currently sit on shelves in an abandoned building on the grounds of the Oregon State Hospital.

David Prueitt, a 42-year-old terminally ill cancer patient, wanted to die. As an Oregon resident, he was legally allowed to end his life with the assistance of his physician.

Per his request, the doctor administered a fatal dose of barbiturate. Within minutes, Prueitt fell into a coma. Three days later, however, he woke up and asked, "Why am I not dead?"

Prueitt lived for two more weeks before dying of natural causes.

Past Afterthoughts