Rolling Obituary Thread: 2018

Koko the gorilla once ripped a sink out of the wall and, when her keepers confronted her about it, she blamed her kitten, signing "cat did it."

keeper: <signs furiously> "koko, what would you like engraved on your tombstone?"

koko: <signs furiously> "cat did it"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT7M-7Q5XM8

*crosses fingers* that “Oh Koko!” places high in The Beatles Solo Tracks poll

Vinnie Paul died.

Vinnie Paul, Legendary Drummer for Pantera & Damageplan, Dead at 54

Aw man. RIP Vinnie \m/
By all accounts a genuine kindhearted dude it seemed like. And can I just say god bless him for never talking to or making peace with Phil Anselmo.

I both have mad respect for Camaraderie's profession (considered going that route myself) and am aware of at least some of the controversies surrounding Koko's communicative abilities. But a valid point can also be an ill-timed point, is the thing.

What would be an appropriate length of time to wait to make that point? This will be forgotten about by next week

Temperature of the corpse seems to be a sticking point so maybe like 2 days

Think of Koko's friends and family, I beseech you.

I can't in good conscience RIP a dangerous animal, that in desperate times would chomp on a baby's head like it was a satsuma, and then try and blame someone else in sign language.

That baby was Robin Williams.

I saw Pantera on their first national tour in the US, opening for Exodus and headliners Suicidal Tendencies in 1990. Saw them again in 1997 with Neurosis and Clutch as their openers. Anselmo's a dickhead, but they were a good band at times. Reinventing The Steel is their best album.

Sorry, guys, I guess my grief caused me to forget that Koko's inability to communicate in sign was a thing that regularly came up in conversation during her lifetime. People were always like, 'hey, while this gorilla is still alive and in the public eye, we really should discuss the media's skewed perception of her ASL skills.' I honestly don't think more than a week would go by without someone making that very germane point in attempt to maximize awareness of the controversy. And so, yes, of course this point would once again arise naturally upon the occasion of Koko's passing. I was unfair in treating this as an isolated and unfortunately-timed incident. And as the days go by, I find it increasingly difficult to remember who Koko was and what those constant conversations were about. I fear that by the time a week has passed, I will have no recollection of the situation whatsoever and, if prompted, will reply with a sad and simple, 'who's Koko?' I blame the Walkmen and the Gameboys for so tragically shortening our attention spans that we could ever fail to remember this magnificent...I want to say horse. Was it a horse? Anyway, once again: RIP Cocoa.

When the bit isn’t working but you press send

I hope I'm able to experience that just once before it's my time to be featured itt.

Someone else died, Koko discussion over

yeah guys maybe make a koko thread

Koko thread post joke bad banana banana

People discuss Koko's understanding of language (of lack of) a surprising amount. As a vegan people bring up her inability to use language quite often - even though none of my beliefs rest on the claim that she did.

Wait were ppl seriously arguing to you that since gorillas can’t acquire language, therefore being vegan is unreasonable?

Yeah - when you try to argue about sentience/consciousness/capacity to feel pain, people tend to blur the concepts together. So, people argue that because animals aren't 'intelligent', because they don't use 'language', they're not moral subjects.

(I am delighted and amazed this is still going on.)

Remember when Farrah Fawcett died on the same day as Michael Jackson and no one talked about her? That happened to Charles Krauthammer with a gorilla.

— Joe McAdam (@joemcadam) June 21, 2018

Wait Farrah Fawcet died?

huh. Proves that post right, I guess.

Aldous Huxley died the same day JFK got shot. Gotta plan these things, try to die on a slow news day.

Lol that Tweet

There's a doc about Koko on BBC4 in a minute but fuck watching that big phoney

Can we start a dead people thread and leave this one to the dead animals.

There was a dead crow outside my work this morning

I saw a pigeon fly into a window and probably die yesterday morning

Crows, now they are intelligent animals, not sure what their language skills are like though tbf.

I know next to nothing about Fawcett but could people have talked at good length about her?

Without repetition or hesitation?

People and apes.

Fawcett was in Logan's Run, one of the finest sci-fi films of all time.

NV - hopefully without resorting to the word "iconic" repeatedly.

iconic nipple

What would Koko say if she saw us arguing like this? (trick question, she could not say anything, she did not understand language)

Aldous Huxley died the same day JFK got shot. Gotta plan these things, try to die on a slow news day.

― Leaghaidh am brón an t-anam bochd (dowd), Saturday, 23 June 2018 17:53 (one hour ago)

CS Lewis died that day as well.

Lewis and Huxley canceled each other out I guess

Yeah! I remember reading that! x-post. Don't know why I remember AH but not CSL who is arguably more famous.

y'see you only use 10% of your brain, right?

well that explains dowd's comment on Logan's Run

Ouch.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/06/25/pawn-stars-richard-harrison-old-man-death/730665002/

https://wcbs880.radio.com/articles/new-york-radio-legend-dan-ingram-dead-83

Donald Hall, one of the last of the late-1920s-born big American poets.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/24/donald-hall-former-poet-laureate/hGJudegZ2p6DkzIshiWvpO/story.html

daaaan IN-gram

damn