Tragic but also darkly hilarious...

"Police in Britain have now confirmed that a man killed in an accident involving a Segway scooter was the owner of the company."

More here.

Abbey Lincoln, 1930-2010

This week saw the passing of one of the world's greatest jazz vocalists, Abbey Lincoln. For those of you who have not heard her, do yourself a favour and find yourself a copy of We Insist! Freedom Now Suite. It's as powerful and harrowing as her later works, such as Painted Lady, are sublime.

This quote from Ms. Lincoln encapsulates her time on earth:

"How can you have a career and never say anything? To experience it all and not say a word, you're supposed to stand up and speak your mind in the music. Some people like to hear some reality. I'm not trying to save or fix the world. I'm just singing about my experiences. My songs are observations."

And the world is a richer place because of those observations, left for us to hear.

More from NPR here.

R.I.P., Daniel Schorr, 93

Famed CBS and NPR newsman, Daniel Schorr, died today at age 93, working right up until very nearly the end. Now that's a career.

There's Excellent text and audio overview of his career here, including the story of how he discovered--while reading it on-air--that he was on Nixon's 'enemies list'.

Robert S. McNamara dead at 93

Not that you need an excuse to see the excellent documentary, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, but I've just read that Mr. McNamara has died.

Here's the article from The Toronto Star on his passing: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/661449