For the last 6 or 7 days, I've been fixated on death, and not in a suicidal context. How do people normally handle constant thoughts about their mortality, and how can I stop this from crippling my ability to "live?"
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posted by Ashen
on Mar 19, 2013 -
45 answers
How many soldiers (if any?) survived the entirety of the fighting of either the western or eastern front of World War I?
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posted by curious nu
on Mar 23, 2012 -
9 answers
I have a health condition that may end my life prematurely. I am an "older" parent of an only child who is currently 8 years old. It's important to me that I leave a record of who I was. Can you help me with strategies to help me "index and annotate" myself for her, so that when she is older she could have an idea of her father as an adult beyond just the Daddy that I am to her now?
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posted by nickjadlowe
on Dec 13, 2011 -
42 answers
Which of the Babar books deal with death? This question stems from a childhood anecdote that goes a little something like this . . .
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posted by jason's_planet
on Sep 27, 2011 -
7 answers
How do I stop feeling responsible to my family for keeping myself safe and guitly for taking risks?
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posted by Chrysalis
on Apr 26, 2011 -
19 answers
First time dog owner here: How do I deal with the fact that my dog will die (eventually)?
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posted by Gucky
on Mar 22, 2011 -
24 answers
Philosophical approaches to death and dying. I am prepping a college course; looking for great readings on philosophical questions about death, but also: world religious/cultural traditions about dying/funerals/mourning/afterlife, how people in death-related jobs see their work (undertakers, hospice workers, doctors, chaplains, military/police...), writings of people who have terminal illnesses, psychological research on preparation for dying, etc.
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posted by LobsterMitten
on Dec 14, 2010 -
51 answers
Can you point me to any good writing (research-based, speculative, or heck, even fictional) about the potential historical permanence or impermanence of digital media? I'm interested in both professional (theatrical movies, book publishing, maps...) and personal (digital snapshots, Livejournal, email...) forms of digital information storage.
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posted by bubukaba
on Aug 31, 2010 -
8 answers
I have found "the one" I want to spend the rest of my life with and I cant stop thinking that one day she will die. How to deal?
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posted by anonymous
on May 25, 2010 -
36 answers
QuoteFilter: Looking for a quote about the death of a dog from the perspective of a small child I read a few months ago on these here interwebs, but I can't for the life of me remember where, and my google-fu is failing.
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posted by ThaBombShelterSmith
on May 4, 2010 -
5 answers
Help-Me-Find-a-Song-Filter: I heard this once on a CD compilation burned by someone I don't know. I think it's in waltz time. It's sung by a female, possibly Neko Case or someone who has a similar voice. It's a beautiful, haunting song in which the chorus asks a question like "how can I be mortal?" I don't think it's in these exact words but that is the gist.
posted by xenophile
on Feb 24, 2010 -
4 answers
A friend's father passed away suddenly and he is having difficulty formulating a way to tell his daughter. What books would you recommend?
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posted by spec80
on Dec 16, 2009 -
11 answers
Someone close to me recently passed away. For the most part I'm okay, but what stops me in my tracks is the idea that there may not be an afterlife. How do I come to terms with this?
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posted by Metroid Baby
on Mar 3, 2009 -
41 answers
I'm trying to figure out what percentage of people born in 1890 were still alive in 1920 and then 1950 and so on, until we can say for certain that every person born in 1890 is 100 percent definitely dead. I've looked at the 1890 and 1920 census, but they don't have mortality tables.
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posted by melodykramer
on Apr 22, 2008 -
12 answers
Calling all AskMe health care professionals. My acquaintance has been an alcoholic for at least two decades. She's in the hospital again, and I need realistic expectations about her survival. This is a long one, I'm afraid.
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posted by lilywing13
on Feb 19, 2008 -
17 answers
My husband's stepdad just got a tumor removed from his brain yesterday. It was malignant.
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posted by konolia
on Mar 22, 2007 -
17 answers
The figure of 1700 Americans killed in Iraq is saddening and unnecessary. We still don't know what they died for.
My question, which may sound callous, is: What are the mortality rates for a comparable group of regular American citizens? In other words, if you take 150,000 people, mostly male, between the ages of eighteen and (say) forty, how many of them will die during a two and half year period? I am not attempting to minimize the casualties here, rather I am trying to argue the case against the war in the most conservative and factual way.
Thank for any insights anyone can give me on this.
posted by thayerg
on Jun 27, 2005 -
28 answers
