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Notable Passings and other milestones


Tom Lehrer, song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics and the Cold War, dies at 97 | AP News

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Tom Lehrer, the popular and erudite song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97.
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One of my favorites.
 
There are now only 5 out of the 24 Apollo astronauts to have flown to the Moon left alive.
 

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk killed after shooting at university event - Los Angeles Times

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Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University Wednesday, a shocking act of political violence that brought widespread condemnation.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” President Trump said on Truth Social. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.”
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Oscar winner Robert Redford, respected actor, director and producer who founded the Sundance Institute, has died at 89. - Los Angeles Times

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Robert Redford, a generational icon who commanded the big screen as the star of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Way We Were” and won awards and lasting praise for directing films such as “Ordinary People,” has died at 89.

Long a critical force in the elevation of independent film-making through the Sundance Institute, Redford died Tuesday morning at his home in Utah, according to The New York Times.
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My high school French teacher, Mr. Doyle. (on the same day as Robert Redford). I thought it was weird that I had just thought of him a few days before, for no apparent reason. I had Mr. Doyle for two years and what I learned there helped me later on in learning bits of Spanish and especially Italian as well. I was a pretty good student and enjoyed his classes. He was also the hockey coach so I imagine he was pretty tough with those guys (they won a lot), but I never saw him without a smile on his face. Au revoir, Monsieur Doyle.
 
You might not recognise the name, but if you are of a certain age and Australian, you know his work intimately.

www.abc.net.au

Mr Squiggle theme songwriter and composer of thousands of jingles dies

The man who wrote the music for many well-known advertising jingles, including Good on You Mum, Tip Top bread and Take Me Away, P&O, is being remembered for his musical skill.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
Sara Jane Moore, a would-be Presidential assassin, died at age 95 in a nursing home Wednesday exactly fifty years and two days after she had tried to shoot President Gerald Ford. Moore spent 32 years in prison before being granted parole on Dec. 31, 2007. She believed assassinating President Ford would have sparked a revolution in the US.

In San Francisco, about 3,000 people were gathered near Union Square for a glimpse of the president as he left the St. Francis Hotel. Ms. Moore, 45, who had been questioned by Secret Service agents the day before but who had then been released, was standing across the street, 40 to 50 feet away from the commander in chief. She drew a chrome-plated .38-caliber revolver and fired...Oliver W. Sipple, a former Marine, deflected the gun just as she fired. The bullet narrowly missed the president, ricocheted off a wall and grazed a bystander. New York Times news article link
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Oddly, what I first remember about Sara Jane Moore is an internet conversation back in 2007 when she was about to be paroled. Not this forum -- I wasn't a member yet -- but one that was similar.

Since Ford hadn't been killed or even hurt, I thought it was quite acceptable -- maybe even past due -- to parole the then 77-year old Moore. Let her enjoy a few years of freedom anyway, after spending three decades-plus behind bars. A couple of the other posters disagreed. They said Moore had tried to kill a president and she'd been sentenced to life in prison. She should never get out. She should die in prison. One of the posters was very emotional. He wrote that maybe I believed an apology would have been enough. "Gee, President Ford, sorry I tried to kill you." That this was the whole problem in society, people do things, get caught but then don't pay the price. Like 32 years behind bars -- from age 45 to 77 -- was no penalty at all. I think he wrote, no it was no penalty, at least not enough. He used a lot of caps. And yes, he was YELLING. ;)
 
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Jane Goodall has died.


Apropos to the hominid skull thread, my anthropology professor taught that Dr. Goodall was chosen for her initial post not so much for her scientific knowledge as for her meticulous skills at observation and recording. Good science begins with good data.

And the best-known story is perhaps that told by Gary Larson when he published this Far Side cartoon.

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Larson received an angry letter from one of Goodall's people. But Goodall was a Far Side fan herself and quickly corrected the misunderstanding. She considered it an honor to have risen to Larson's attention and later went on to write the foreword for one of Larson's comic collections.
 
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