Day: August 5, 2010

Thursday various

  • A pair of weird stories about Japan’s disappearing old people.

    In the one case, it looks like just a combination of clerical error and magical thinking. (If your 89-year-old mother disappears, you should maybe inform the police, not keep paying her health insurance for a quarter-century on the off-chance that she’s still alive.) The other story is a whole lot more creepy, however. It’s one thing that they kept collecting the old man’s pension after he died. Did they have to keep his remains around for thirty years? [via]

  • It’s the end of an era. Well, several dozen eras, actually, starting quite possibly with the Mesozoic. Mary Hart is leaving Entertainment Tonight.
  • Oh yeah, this will be a surefire box office hit: a Jerry Garcia biopic that can’t use any of his music.
  • I kind of love these Comics, Everybody!: the histories of Hawkman and Xorn explained.
  • And finally, some absolutely stunning sculptures carved from pencils. [via]