//beconfused

Bernie Mac died due to complications from pneumonia at 50:

Comic actor Bernie Mac dies

Comic actor Bernie Mac died early Saturday of complications from pneumonia, according to a family member and his publicist. He was 50.

He had been hospitalized in Chicago, Illinois, for more than a week with the lung infection.

“When I got the call this morning, it was just devastating news,” said Chicago Sun-Times columnist Stella Foster. “Let’s face it: Bernie Mac was one of a kind. He was the best of the best in terms of giving you a good laugh.” (Source: CNN)

This is really sad and shocking to me.

This is just so classic, George Carlin looked different here. Nearly 40 years ago:

George Carlin & The Smothers Brothers - Daily News - 1969

George Carlin passes away at 71. George Cardin is one of my favorite comedians, he shall be missed.

George Carlin - Voting

US comic George Carlin dies at 71: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Irreverent US comedian George Carlin, who became known as a voice of the 1970s counterculture and was one of the country’s best known funny men, died on Sunday aged 71, US media reported.

The Grammy award winner, whose career spanned five decades, died of heart failure, his publicist Jeff Abraham told the New York Times.

Carlin had a history of heart problems and passed away in Santa Monica, California after checking into the hospital with chest pains.

He won four Grammy Awards, including one for his 1972 comedy recording “FM & AM,” in which he combined his older, more conventional material that entertained audiences in the 1950s and 60s, with his new, edgier and more controversial style.

Gray-bearded and often dressed in black casual attire, Carlin frequently admitted to drug use and shocked 1970s audiences with his hit “Seven Words That Can Never Be Said on Television.” (Source: AFP)

Airline Announcements-George Carlin 1/2

The quake was the largest the region has seen for over a generation. It was so strong, even countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong felt the shake.

Many people are now calling the Chinese Earthquake Test Centers “useless”, as they were unable to even detect the earthquake before it happened. When they finally announced the earthquake had occured, it was 12 minutes after the disaster, and 2 minutes after the US had announced a large earthquake in China. (Source: WeirdAsiaNews)

Many people are now calling the Chinese Earthquake Test Centers “useless”, as they were unable to even detect the earthquake before it happened. And why is that so? Chinese Earthquake Test Centers uses these:

(Chinese Siesmograph from Eastern Han Dynasty. Credit: Wikipedia)

Ball got stuck in dragon mouth. Well, on a side note, earthquake predictions are tough work.

This is just a little shocking:

Driver kills dog, then sues owners for damage

DULUTH, Minn. - The driver of a 1997 Honda Civic that struck and killed a dog near Cloquet is suing the dog’s owners for damage done to his vehicle.

Jeffery Ely was driving on the night of Jan. 4 when Fester, a miniature pinscher, squeezed past owner Nikki Munthe as she was letting in her other dog and ran out onto the road. Ely’s car struck Fester, killing the 13-pound dog instantly.

Now Ely is suing the Munthes for about $1,100 for damage to his car, time he had to take off from his two jobs to get the car repaired, and court fees.

Ely said he feels sorry for the Munthes’ loss but, as a dog owner himself, feels that they must be responsible for their pets’ actions.

Munthe said she has always been worried about the busy road the family lives on.

The Munthes have filed a $2,400 countersuit against Ely for the cost to buy Fester, the time they had to take off work for court appearances, and the cost of buying a dog to replace Fester. (Source: MSNBC News)

I wonder what would all these lawsuits achieve. The cost of getting a lawyer probably made the whole suit not worth it already.

Yet another shooting case in America, this time in Illinois:

6 shot dead, including gunman, at Northern Illinois University

DEKALB, Illinois (CNN) — A gunman dressed in black stepped from behind a curtain at the front of a large lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday and shot 21 people, five of them fatally, then turned shot and killed himself, said university president John Peters.

Four died at the scene, including the shooter, and two later died at the hospital, he said.

At least 22 people, including a graduate student who was teaching an ocean sciences class, were shot, Peters said.

Seventeen victims were taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital, its Web site said.

Of those, six were in critical condition and were flown to other hospitals. One fatality, a male, was confirmed — but was not the gunman, the hospital said. Two were admitted, and three others were discharged.

The gunman started shooting from a stage in the room shortly after 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET) in Cole Hall, officials said.

Police Chief Donald Grady said authorities do not yet know of a motive.

Read more at CNN

CNN also made a timeline of the past shootings that occurred in university.

Suharto (1921 to 2008). Former Indonesian dictator Haji Muhammad Suharto — the “smiling general” who ruled his country with an iron fist for three decades — died Sunday at a hospital in Jakarta, said his doctor. He was 86.

Former Indonesian President Suharto dies at 86

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — Former Indonesian dictator Haji Muhammad Suharto — the “smiling general” who ruled his country with an iron fist for three decades — died Sunday at a hospital in Jakarta, said his doctor. He was 86.

He was rushed to Pertamina Hospital on January 4 for treatment of a failing liver, heart and lungs, his doctors said.

He had been suffering at home for five days.

His death comes just a day after his doctors said he appeared to be making a remarkable recovery.

Suharto, who, like other Indonesians, only has one name, was president of Indonesia from 1967 until he was forced to resign — under immense political pressure — in 1998.

He is credited with shaping modern Indonesia by boosting the economy and making the sprawling archipelago a regional power.

However, he also reigned as the nation was beset by internal corruption and, at the end of his rule, economic decline.

“He was known as the smiling general. He could be very charming, but behind that smile was this streak of steel,” said Richard Woolcott, Australia’s former ambassador to Indonesia.

“In the short term, he’ll probably be judged fairly harshly by Australian critics and others in the West, but in the longer term, I suspect historians will see his contributions to Indonesia in a very positive light,” Woolcott told CNN.

Source: CNN