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Steve Fossett Declared Dead
Parallax Blue writes "Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who risked his life seeking to set records in high-tech balloons, gliders and jets, was declared dead Friday, 5 months after he vanished while flying in an ordinary small plane. The self-made business tycoon, who in 2002 became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon, was last seen Sept. 3 after taking off in a single-engine plane from an airstrip near Yerington, Nev., heading toward Bishop, Calif. He was 63."
Steve Fossett has been missing for 5 months and his chances of survival are very close to zero. It must be a huge psychological stress waiting for your probable-dead husband, so I really can understand that his wife wanted to put a stop to this uncertainty. Sure, it's just something bureaucratic, but now everyone can say that Steve Fossett is dead, instead of just thinking it.
What is to benefit from faking a death when one already has money? I think other reasons perhaps.
A sub-par small plane?
Well, I'd say there's a pretty good chance it was a sub-par model, all things considered.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
How do we shut off tags?
Right under this story I see a tag of "whogivesafuck."
That's just not acceptable.
This is no tragedy; we should be celebrating this man's life.
A billionaire who spent his billions on hot air balloon rides, and trying to fly around the world?
Sorry, I just don't see much worth celebrating. I'm sure he loved it, and great for him and all. But I don't find what he did or accomplished terribly noteworthy or important.
AccountKiller
Was Fosset known to you personally? If so - what on earth are you doing demanding sympathy on slashdot?
I have no particular emotional involvement in the man's life or death - and nor do many others. That isn't to say I would have wished him ill - I just don't see why I should care. He seemed to have enjoyed life - good for him. This is just the judicial declaration of something that most people assumed long ago.
And if the death of someone I loved was reported on Slashdot, "who gives a fuck" would be an entirely appropriate tag.
More than that - it would be rather creepy if you DID give a fuck. Displays of public grief for people we do not know, but with whom we pretend an intimacy to which we are not really entitled are distasteful and should always be challenged.
I did not tag the article. That said, without wishing Fosset either well, or ill, but just on general principals that this is someone who I did not know, reports of the judicial declaration of death of whom are cluttering up Slashdot, I echo the tag: "Whogivesafuck?"
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The other day I was reading about the littany of Mr. Fossett's achievements. In an age where records are set and fall with each of our ephemeral 15 minutes of fame, Mr. Fossett managed to do something truly extraordinary: become a legend. The moment Fossett vanished, I was in the air in my Cherokee not 100nm from his departure field. It was a mundane day of flying, if any day spent rattling around two miles in the air in an over-sized beer-can pulled by a 1920's tractor motor over the least hospitable terrain in the lower-48 can be called 'mundane'. The Nevada desert has an amazing way of making a man seem both profoundly alone and free, regardless of the technology within he wraps himself. That day of flying will forever be seared into my mind. In a world of mundane, Steve Fossett successfully made the transition from mere mortal to legend. His records and legacy stand so tall that the stories of his achievements will inspire my children's children alongside the stories Earhart and Lindberg. And yes, while a mourn the loss of the man (and I do keep a guilty hope that he's just chilling down in the Bahama's somewhere, enjoying his retirement), It was the legendary ending to the story of legendary achievement: something to celebrate and honor, not mourn and regret. Thank you Steve Fossett. Rest In Peace, you've earned it.
Sure it's acceptable. People die. I can only know so many people personally, and the ones that I don't know personally don't matter terribly much to me. That's human nature - you can't empathize with 200 million people that you don't know, and when some of them die, why should you feel anything in particular? I suppose intellectually I have some regret that the world lost a good adventurer perhaps, but that's about it.
While I don't agree with the tag on this story, and while I don't think that there's a need to voice your opinion with a tag like that if you truly don't care, I can't say I can't understand why people might not care. About 100000 people die each day - more than one per second, as a very rough estimate. Does anyone on Slashdot - you, me, Taco, whoever - care about them? No, of course not. It's just life. And for someone who doesn't care about Fossett, his death is just life, too - another blimp on the death radar. Another statistic.
It's still tactless to tag the story as "whogivesafuck", but the opinion as such is understandable.
You're being overly literal. That's a generally accepted shorthand for "at least he was engaged in an activity he enjoyed, not rotting away in an Alzheimers ward or in the agonizing throes of cancer". Steve was definitely doing something he loved, save but for the last few minutes.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
I don't really care about him more than about anyone of the countless anonymous deaths. I didn't know him, I lost nothing when he disappeared. And I don't feel bad about it. In fact, I'm annoyed that people care more about a dead rich guy than about a hundred poor ones.
You can't take the sky from me...
It's not the opinion that bothers me, it is the obnoxiousness. Clearly the person who wrote "whogivesafuck" cares enough to go tag the article. If they clearly didn't care, they wouldn't bother tagging the article in the first place. The opinion is not obnoxious, people die all the time, and for people you don't know, it is not surprising that you truly don't care, but tagging the article this way in a public forum is somewhat tantamount to yelling in an open forum "See me, I don't give a shit about this guy at all". Why bother? It just makes you look like a jerk.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
I can guarantee you he was not loving it. I'd bet that the first emotion that he felt was anger at whatever caused the initial deviation from normal flight,
BUT, if he managed to escape it, he surely would think it was 'unfskingomgbelievably AWESOME!!!111'
It may be pretty cool... if you don't get hurt.
how long until
I think he should be celebrated because he is a model of rugged individualism.
There aren't many people like him left. One less now that he's gone.
Money is the root of all evil?
That's a generally accepted shorthand for "at least he was engaged in an activity he enjoyed, not rotting away in an Alzheimers ward or in the agonizing throes of cancer".
Why is that any better? He's still dead. If you were to die from cancer, or some other long term disease, at least you die with the people around you. He died alone, in some unknown place. That's supposed to be "better"?
AccountKiller
My dad died alone in his front yard of a sudden, massive heart attack. We didn't get to gather around him, tell stories, and say goodbye as he faded. One day I got a call from my screaming mom, and that was it - he was dead.
Know what? That was better. We were together while he was still alive and healthy, and his family's last memories of him are as we always knew him: strong and happy and himself. I wouldn't change that for the world, and I know inside that he wouldn't either.
So, yeah. Steve Fossett died well.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
It could be that he feels this is not the proper forum to offer condolences to some famous guy who many people on this forum didn't care about when he was alive. If Slashdot didn't care when he was alive, why should they when he died (although his death was a little unusual). Considering that I'd say that most people on Slashdot really don't care for Slashdot to report this and this guy feels particularly strongly. That could be why he tagged it. Its another way of saying "Why is Slashdot posting this?"
Did Fosset have more money than Gray? Does Gray's wife have full control of Gray's assets if he's not dead? Fosset had a complicated set of assets, and probably didn't have all the backups in place for managing them. Fosset's wife was evidently not able to take control of certain things until Fosset was declared dead. No need to look for ulterior motives here. It's as simple as not wanting those things to decay to nothing due to neglect while you watch, helpless.
Why is Fossett's wife in a rush to declare that her husband is dead?
Because it's probably pretty hard to run an estate of a billionaire without the guy being dead. Even billionaires have bills to pay.
AccountKiller
Too right, brother!
If someone dies from an OD of recreational drugs, do you go around saying he was "doing what he loved"?
For all we know he could have been bitterly upset about something, made a mistake, and got himself killed.
Given a choice, I think he would have loved coming out alive.
Why is Fossett's wife in a rush to declare that her husband is dead?
5 months is hardly 'in a rush' - remember with Fosset there are billions on the line and political and legal positioning to grab a slice of it will just pile up more and more the longer she waits. She's doing what needs to be done to protect the estate, as callous as that sounds but it needs to be done. One assumes someone who lives dangerously and has so much money like Fosset has left a will but greedy relatives and business partners can chew it all up in legal bills rather than whatever it was Fosset wanted done with his assets after he was gone.
Depends on the person. From his exploits, Steve Fossett didn't seem like the type of person that, if you asked, would be too keen on slipping away while probably in pain the entire time.
No sig for you!!
Not just psychological stress - but a huge legal stress as well. She very likely can't deposit any checks made out to him, she can't file taxes... The companies he owns/operates are in limbo... etc... etc...
haven't known someone who died very slowly and very painfully. Many many people die that way.
It certainly adds to the mystique for such an absolute legend of a man to disappear into the wilderness to never be seen or heard from again, leaving absolutely no trace behind.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose