The LA Times version of an AP wired story (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... california) reports that Weird Al's parents were found dead. Nick Yankovic, 86, and his wife, Mary, 81, were discovered about 1 p.m. Friday by members of the family. According to the story, relatives had not heard from them in a while and checked on them. It looked like they had recently build a fire in the fireplace and the flu was closed. This filled the house with CO and smoke which killed them.
I have been a Weird Al fan since the very beginning when he was only on Dr Demento with My Bologna. I saw him years ago and have always thought he was amazing. I may be the only person who actually liked "Mr Frump in the Iron Lung."
I know it doesn't mean much but I offer my sympathy.
On the upside, it must have been a painless way to go... and dying simultaneously means neither had to miss the other. And they were already pretty old. And nobody else killed them.
Yeah sad and a bit stragne -- and Weird Al appears to be a fellow EC fan --- I've seen him at least once and possibly more at EC shows. I know for sure I saw him at the Universal Amphitheater during either the BY or ATUB tours.
And, what I don't get about carbon monoxide poisoning is that once subjected to it, you can be breathing fresh air and feeling okay and still die.
I don't remember her name, but I heard a singer who was a guest on "Praire Home Companion" talk about what she said was a near death experience where her malfunctioning bus was discovered to have a carbon monoxide leak. She wanted to go on stage and sing, but the medic insisted she undergo oxygen therapy first. Apparently, if she hadn't, there was a really strong chance (certainty?), she'd have succumbed.
Having watched my father go from "upright with cancer", have a stroke, and wither in a hospital bed within a week before dying, I must admit that the idea of a quick death for him does have its appeal. My grandmother has Alzheimer's and has been in years of decline. Right now, she can't eat solid food with even water having to be thickened and doesn't know any relatives. So as awful as this was, there are worse ways to go when you are old.
As an aside, didn't one of June Carter Cash's daughters die last year in a tour bus from CO poisoning?
bobster wrote:And, what I don't get about carbon monoxide poisoning is that once subjected to it, you can be breathing fresh air and feeling okay and still die.
That's because humans have a low metabolic rate. A person's uptake of carbon monoxide is a slow process, but so is its elimination, because of the low metabolic, and thus ventilation, rate. As long as there is CO in the blood, it can continue to do damage to the nervous and circulatory systems. That's why it's important to administer supplemental oxygen even after the CO source is removed, because increasing the partial pressure of oxygen in the body speeds the removal of CO.
You've heard of the 'canary in the coalmine'. Birds have much higher metabolic, and ventilation, rates than humans, therefore the effects of potentially dangerous gasses in mines are more quickly apparent than they would be in humans.
But is there any way to know if you've been "poisoned", as opposed to justa harmless whiff or two -- or should I call an ambulance every time I discover an unlit pilot light?
The molecule within the Red Blood Cell that is responsible for binding with oxygen is Hemoglobin. Hemoglobin sucks up the oxygen molecule (O2) in the lung and releases it (as Goody2shoes indicated) at the tissue level as a function of partial pressure gradients. Via recirculation back to the lung via the Pulmonary circulation it gets replenished with oxygen and gets pumped out to the muscles and tissues to deliver it's vital payload
Carbon Monoxide exerts its toxic effect by competing for the Oxygen binding stes on the hemoglobin molecule. An amazing thing about hemoglobin: it is 210-270 times more "hungry" for Carbon Monoxide (CO) than it is for Oxygen (O2). Restated in technical terms, the affinity of hemoglobin for carbon monoxide is 210-270 times that of oxygen. So if there is carbon monoxide in the lungs when the red blood cell hits the pulmonary capillary bed in the alveoli, it beats the shit out of the oxygen by connecting with much more ease to the hemoglobin molecule. And if Oxygen s already connected, CO can easily 'unseat it' and take it's place. It is sort of an insidious pulmonary 'bully'. Because hemoglobin likes it so much, it doesn't easily let it go. It tends to hold onto it, even after multiple recirculations. If the lungs partial pressure of Oxygen is pumped up, then it is more likely to beat up on the CO-Hemoglobin connection and win a spot on the molecule.
Because it is odorless, colorless gas, it sneaks up on you. Here is the real pisser in the whole CO toxicity issue. It defeats the muscles FIRST, and the cognitive ability to realize that your muscles aren't working properly SECOND. People who commit suicide by running their car engine in a closed garage provide macabre evidence to this (unlike the Ton Senkowski suicide attempt depicted in the hilarious film "Office Space").
Often, garage suicide attempts are met with second-thoughts, but once the CO has rendered the muscles inactive, the brain can desire all it wants to abort the attempt, but the body cannot respond. It is paralyzed while the brains function is still high and lucid. Thus, garage suicide victioms are sometimes found out of the car in a crawling position, trying to suck air from under the garage door but without the strength to open the door. Too late.
If your muscles suddenly feel weakened and you have a known source of CO in the residence (gas stove, car running in the apartment garage downstairs in the winter, etc) then get the hell outside into fresh air. f you can get someone to provide 100% O2 for ventilation for a short period of time, that will help.
better to be safe then dead.
RIP Wierd Al's very supportive parents.
"The smarter mysteries are hidden in the light" - Jean Giono (1895-1970)
So, it's the weakening muscles that's the sign that I've passed the, "whoops, better light the pilot" stage to the "Oh, shit, better call an ambulance stage".
I'll have Mr. Average and Goody2Shoes to thank when I don't die!
Good thing about the propane gas used in gas stoves...it has a very definite odor, so it will trigger a response far more rapidly than pure carbon monoxide. I have been aroused from sleep more than once to the pungent smell of a gas leak...something that wouldn't happen with carbon monoxide. Given your concern about this type of event, Bobster, I would expect your sleep/wake arousal mechanisms to be finely tuned to the smell of the propane, and you would arouse in plenty of time. Like a Mothers ears tuned to the distant sound of a baby's cry...they arouse and jump to attention whilst the male bed partner snores away...
You might not die of CO poisoning, but I would suggest that you don't light a match to identify the source of the leak. If you do, you will never , ever again worry of CO poisoning.
The thing about Wierd Al's parents death is that age most likely played a factor in their suffocation death due to CO. As the story goes, the CO was a by-product of an unopend flue when a fire was started. Certainly, dangerously fatal levels of CO will accumulate, but if wood was the fuel for the fire, then the attendant smoke and carbon-burning smell would normally arouse a sleeping person. With age, and certainly with age into the eighties, it is documented that the sleep/wake arousal mechanisms often become stunted, and lose their effectiveness (like other aging physiological functions). Thus, what would normally stimulate adaptive arousal would malfunction, and the transition from slumber to death would be smooth and uneventful.
My son was a big fan. It was all I could do to secure everything Wierd Al recorded during my sons developmental years. I wanted him to like other artists, but he loved Wierd Al, and played him incessantly. My son is a serious intellect (this trait skips generations, evident by the fact that my father was also very bright, and my son has eerily become my father in habits, sayings, mannerisms, academic behaviors, sense of humour, etc. in sppite of the fact that my father passed when my son was quite young).
I was surprised that when I checked my son into the Honours Dormitory on campus when he started college 5 years ago, we noticed many of the Nerdy types moving in with their weird Al collections. So it may seem like a paradox to many, but really intelligent people really like, and buy, Wierd Al Yankovics music.
As validation, I have yet to purchase a single record of Al's for myself. I rest my case.
"The smarter mysteries are hidden in the light" - Jean Giono (1895-1970)
I used to be a huge Weird Al fan. I still enjoy watching his movie UHF, but I can't justify putting on his music to listen to anymore, even though it is pretty clever.
Yoooda... Y-O-D-A Yoda
This morning you've got time for a hot, home-cooked breakfast! Delicious and piping hot in only 3 microwave minutes.
[quote="Mr. Average"]You might not die of CO poisoning, but I would suggest that you don't light a match to identify the source of the leak. If you do, you will never , ever again worry of CO poisoning.[quote]
I've heard this bit of advice before. I like it because I'm usually pretty sure about whether or not I'm consumed by fiery death. Nice and simple.
Weird Al Honors Parents' Memory With
'Tears In Heaven' Parody
FALLBROOK, CA—Zany, mourning entertainer "Weird Al" Yankovic has parodied Eric Clapton's eulogy song "Tears In Heaven" in loving tribute to his parents, who recently died of carbon-monoxide poisoning in their San Diego home, a spokesman for Yankovic said Monday. "Al's hurting deeply right now, and this is his way of honoring Nick and Mary," Karl Tuft said of the song in which a subdued Yankovic sings, "First you lit some flames / Then the smoke stopped your breathin' / Carbon mono's th'way you went... / Up to heaven" over a somber, minor-key accordion melody. Tuft added that the best way for Yankovic to give voice to his pain and loss was by altering the voice of Clapton's pain and loss.
Everyone just needs to fuckin’ relax. Smoke more weed, the world is ending.
Hmmm, that's kind of ridiculous. Perhaps just because it reminds me of a Mr. Show skit which somewhat backs up the point of how stupid of an idea that is.
Weird Al Honors Parents' Memory With
'Tears In Heaven' Parody
FALLBROOK, CA—Zany, mourning entertainer "Weird Al" Yankovic has parodied Eric Clapton's eulogy song "Tears In Heaven" in loving tribute to his parents, who recently died of carbon-monoxide poisoning in their San Diego home, a spokesman for Yankovic said Monday. "Al's hurting deeply right now, and this is his way of honoring Nick and Mary," Karl Tuft said of the song in which a subdued Yankovic sings, "First you lit some flames / Then the smoke stopped your breathin' / Carbon mono's th'way you went... / Up to heaven" over a somber, minor-key accordion melody. Tuft added that the best way for Yankovic to give voice to his pain and loss was by altering the voice of Clapton's pain and loss.
Last night I dreamt that I was singing this song to El Vez and my mother as we were driving somewhere, and they both stared at me incredulously as if I were the most horrible person on the face of the Earth.
As an eternal optimist who is still counting on Andy Kaufman's eventual re-emergence, I refuse to believe that Yankovic's parents death is anything more than a dramtaic publicity stunt!!!
Speaking of which, can someone please explain to me the alleged appeal of Andy Kaufman? I don't get the genius bit, only the sick conceited blowhard asshole bit. Am I missing something?
I don't think so, Mug. I think people just generally have a fascination for dead people. Before they die, they're just jerks. After they die, they get declared genius.
wehitandrun wrote:Andy Kauffman was genius because he wasn't on stage to entertain. It was almost like he was there to make himself laugh.
Sorry, that ain't genius. It has the potential to be part of some sort of art, but it wasn't so far as I could see. I think he was trying to be like Lenny Bruce but there was no need when Lenny Bruce had already been Lenny Bruce. I'm sure he waqs a smart guy, and an asshole, but being a smart asshole does not even make one provacative, it only makes one a smart asshole. Okay so I've tipped my cards here but really, it boggles the mind...
If there's an afterlife I'm sure he's there yukking it up and comparing cock length with Andrew Dice Clay and Richard Nixon and other such 'geniuses'.
It's understandable though... I think its better that Weird Al laugh publicly about the misfortune than if he didn't. It prevents it from overshadowing him and his work. He's making it known that that's the case at least in his view.
Boo, I think my anti-Andy tirade may have obfuscated the fact that the Yankovich parody of Clapton is itself a Yankovich-style parody, courtesy of THE ONION.
