I see dead people in mydeathspace from Planck's Constant

In the old days [before the 1990s] when people died, what persisted beyond their deaths were their clothes, perhaps some trophies on a mantle and family photo albums.

Eventually the clothes would be worn out or given to the Salvation Army, the trophies put in storage and then one day sold for 50 cents in a yard sale, and the photos would grey and fade until the day when no one remembers who that funny old man with the mustache and the big cigar was and those photos are stuffed in large cardboard boxes, then eventually culled by his great-great-grandchildren and unceremoniously dumped into the kitchen wastebasket.

Today, when someone on Myspace dies, their site persists beyond their death. Friends of the deceased will continue to post messages and it is conceivable that the site may last forever. But who is there to let us know that someone actually passed away? How can we tell other than they haven't posted anything new for a few years?

Enter mydeathspace.com to help memorialize that passing and the method of its execution.

The few people I know who died did so from old age and in the usual manner of expiring peacefully and non-violently. What one quickly discovers is that myspace habitues die violently and in some Final Destination sort of way: falling off of moving vehicles, slipping off bridges, getting stabbed, shot, suffocated, and so on. As examples, do you recall that weird crash a few days ago when a plane attempted to take off from the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky? Well, one of the dead was myspacer Cecile Moscoe, 29 - Plane Crash (Comair Flight 191/5191) - RIP Aug 27, 2006 Death # 462. Then there was Danielle Amos, 19 - Strangled, Shot in Head, & Set on Fire - RIP June 12, 2006 - Death # 375.

Hollywood has nothing on these people. Suicide by train is very popular - Death # 57. And just when you think they survived an accident, they get hit by a car when they step out on the highway - Death # 439.

And really, when have you ever heard of anyone dying from Lyme disease? Death # 418

A little morbid? Yes, but addicting nonetheless. As cyberdyze says, "Only three things are certain in life. MySpace, Taxes, and Death. If you have a MySpace account and you die, this is where you will end up."

There is no sense equating this with the average, uneventful obituary section of any paper; it's not even close. When was the last time you ever read of someone hanging themselves from a ceiling fan? Suicide #58.

And in contradistinction to published obituaries, there is a forum where we can discuss, analyze, and dissect the deceased, their manner of passing, and even poke fun at their Myspace accounts.

So you can die a quiet , unremarked death or you can open a Myspace account so that when it's time to ring that final gong, you can go out with a bang by falling off a bridge, running into a train, or being stabbed, shot, drowned, and strangled. In this manner you can give those who know you some conversation piece to while away our otherwise drab and boring lives.

Related:
metrotimes - Naturally, the site has drummed up a torrent of controversy. It was created in December 2005 by 25-year-old San Francisco paralegal Mike Patterson, who says he started it out of boredom. He claims that he’ll remove a memorial link if requested by the deceased’s family, but that doesn’t comfort most of the site’s detractors, who say the whole concept is disrespectful, voyeuristic or just plain creepy.