Slashdot Mirror
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.
How do we shut off tags?
Right under this story I see a tag of "whogivesafuck."
That's just not acceptable.
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.
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?
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
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?
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
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.
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...