Sid Caeser dies.
 

Sid Caeser. Probably best described as the architect of modern TV comedy. He changed it from vaudeville origins to sketch comedy we now enjoy on such shows as Saturday Night Live. I remember watching "Your Show of Shows" with my brothers and parents. We kids were laughing to tears while our parents often didn't get it or enjoy it.

Charles Fillmore Dies at 84, He Figured Out How Framing Works
 

[QUOTE]Charles J. Fillmore, one of the world's greatest linguists -- ever -- died last Thursday, February 13, at the age of 84 in San Francisco. He was the discoverer of frame semantics, who did the essential research on the nature of framing in thought and language. He discovered that we think, largely unconsciously, in terms of conceptual frames -- mental structures that organize our thought. Further, he found that every word is mentally defined in terms of frame structures. Our current understanding of "framing" in social and political discourse derives ultimately from his research, whose importance stretches well beyond linguistics to social and political thought -- and all of intellectual life. The world has lost a scholar of the greatest significance.[/QUOTE][URL]http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/276-74/22137-focus-charles-fillmore-dies-at-84-he-figured-out-how-framing-works[/URL]

Harold Ramis, 69
 

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ramis]Harold ramis[/url]

Only 3 weeks past Groundhog Day, not too late to pop it into the video player and still be month-appropriate.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;367755][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ramis"]Harold ramis[/URL]

Only 3 weeks past Groundhog Day, not too late to pop it into the video player and still be month-appropriate.[/QUOTE]
My favourite line of his was from Ghostbusters, after scanning Sigourney Weaver with a suitably outlandish technical probe:
[QUOTE]She's telling the truth. At least - she thinks she is.[/QUOTE]

Walter George Bruhl, Jr.
 

Not famous, but perhaps he should have been.


[url]http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/bizarre&id=9463250[/url]

[QUOTE=chappy;368857]Not famous, but perhaps he should have been.


[url]http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/bizarre&id=9463250[/url][/QUOTE]

...[URL="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow"]but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction[/URL].:missingteeth:

Cute, but if one is going to, um, parrot material from a famous Monty Python sketch, it would be the polite thing to do to give a proper writing credit.

Of special interest to UK readers, but also believers in "human dignity is priceless" everywhere: Former MP [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Benn]Toney Benn[/url].

And one of the regular writers on the [i]Naked Capitalism[/i] blog [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/03/yanis-varoufakis-tony-benn-memoriam.html]offers a eulogy[/url].

[QUOTE=ewmayer;369047]And one of the regular writers on the [i]Naked Capitalism[/i] blog [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/03/yanis-varoufakis-tony-benn-memoriam.html]offers a eulogy[/url].[/QUOTE]

Complete and utter bovine excrement. And yet they provide a link in the upper right hand corner asking the reader to donate.

(ROFLMFAO)

I had (and have) little interest in UK (or other) politics, and as such knew little of Tony, though I was a fan of his similarly (but more literally than liberal-politically) pugilistic brother [url=boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?cat=boxer&human_id=739]Nigel[/url], although even a normally solid-stomached bloke loik meself found it 'ard to watch ol' Nige after wut 'e did to that poor sod Gerry McClellan back in '95, oi must admit.

As such, was interested in 'earin from the limeys onna subjeck' a' Tony. Wuz 'e a solid bloke or jist anudder panderin' pol? A real man udda peeps or a closet national bocialist, loik? Wuz 'is rather loiter skintone versust 'is bra' Nige a result of spendin' too much toim insides politickin' or wis dey jist 'alf-bras? ['Alf-bras is moi guess onna count a' dere age difference, but oi could be wrong, acourse.]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;369061]As such, was interested in 'earin from the limeys onna subjeck' a' Tony. Wuz 'e a solid bloke or jist anudder panderin' pol? A real man udda peeps or a closet national bocialist, loik? Wuz 'is rather loiter skintone versust 'is bra' Nige a result of spendin' too much toim insides politickin' or wis dey jist 'alf-bras? ['Alf-bras is moi guess onna count a' dere age difference, but oi could be wrong, acourse.][/QUOTE]Definitely a "solid bloke" as even his political enemies would concede.

His politics were far from mine but I admire his conviction and the skill with which he propagated his belief. That said, I think he did immense damage to the British economy and political life in the 1970's or thereabouts.

He was as divisive, and as skillful, as Thatcher was on the other end of the political spectrum.