Sunday 16 November 2008

Friday 7 November 2008

....That's All Folks


Calchus, a Celtic soothsayer was said to have predicted the moment of his death. On getting to it and finding himself still breathing, he chuckled to himself, before starting to laugh so hard he choked himself.

Greek philosopher Chryssipus fed his donkey wine. It seem watching the drunken mule try to eat figs tickled him so, he laughed until he dropped down dead.

King Martin I of Aragon died from indigestion after eating and laughing too much at once.

Pietro Aretino, an Italian playwright suffocated from getting the giggles.

Nanda Bayin, King of Burma, Nanda Bayin laughed to expiration after being told Venice was a free state.

Scottish aristo Thomas Urquhart died laughing after hearing that Charles II had taken the throne.

And the most accurate, on 24 March 1975 Alex Mitchell, a bricklayer from Kings' Lynn laughed himself to death watching an episode of The Goodies where a Scotsman battles a black pudding with bagpipes. After twenty-five minutes of hysterics Mitchell died of heart failure. His widow sent The Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so amusing.

In 1989 Ole Bentzen, a Danish audiologist died laughing at A Fish Called Wanda. His heartbeat was estimated at between 250 and 500 per minute before he succumbed to cardiac arrest.

In 2003 Damnoen Saen-um, A Thai ice-cream seller died laughing in his sleep. His wife tried to wake him up but he stopped breathing after 2 minutes of the giggles.

Monday 3 November 2008

a poem reasoning what is time which stopped making sense when i made it rhyme.


Time is a sausage and thyme is a herb.
Time is a doing word but not a verb.

The present divides the future and past
What could happen next and what happened last.

Black holes, mountains tops or the equator
Force us to make time early or later.

Linear, cyclical, dilation, space,
Pastimes and good times or one moment’s grace.

The time of the season or of our lives
Nothing which makes up these things will survive

Running and passing and ticking on clocks
Metering out evenings with each of its tocks.

We live in a bubble where time is squeak.
But you will forget that this time next week.