geekosystem

Russian authorities probably knew to expect nothing good when they found blood splatters near the wheel well of an Airbus 330 passenger plane operated by iFly airlines. They probably still weren't prepared for the implications of what they found, though -- a 22-year-old Georgian man dead and frozen in the plane's wheel well. What's worse? An autopsy showed that the unfortunate young man, Giorgio Abduladze, had been dead for four days, and made as many as seven trips as a deceased stowaway before his body was discovered last week. 

There are a lot of ways people can prepare for death. With things like life insurance and wills you can make sure your loved ones are taken care of, or at least not fighting over your stuff, but what happens to your virtual stuff when you die? Should your Google Docs live on even after you're gone, or should they self destruct and join you in the sweet hereafter? Now with Google's Inactive Account Manager, you can decide what happens to your digital life after your corporeal one is over.

There are a lot of things I love about Game of Thrones -- the political intrigue, the astounding sets and costumes, the characters you can't help but love even when you should probably kind of hate them. But if I'm being honest, the creative violence that is the calling card of the series is right near the top of its virtues list. George R.R. Martin isn't afraid to kill off any character at the drop of a hat, and he can usually be counted on to do so in a novel, or at least quite graphic, fashion. Death is a big part of life in Westeros, and the fine folks over at Vulture have recognized this fact by putting together a random death generator for the series that shows some of the many ways you can go to your grave in Westeros. You can see some of the best ways to bow out below, but beware -- potential spoilers lay ahead if you're not caught up. Also: Why aren't you caught up, the new season starts in like three days, get your head right!

Rock stars and pop idols are well known for their propensity to live hard, die young, and leave behind a grotesquely booze-swollen corpse. According to a study in the journal BMJ Open, though, solo music stars are twice as likely to die young as entertainers who make their name as part of a band. Presumably, this is because while being part of a band has the detrimental effect of meaning you always have someone around to help you mainline a shot of Jack, it also means that there's someone awake enough to call the amublance when that goes pretty much the only way it can.

What happened to you TLC? Years ago, you used to be all about expanding the craniums of your audience, and now you spend your days doing the exact opposite by rotting our minds with senseless reality TV garbage. In yet another instance of the network showing it has no sense of personal dignity, which was lost the moment they started airing Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,TLC is airing Best Funeral Ever: A special/backdoor pilot about the Golden Gates Funeral Home taking what is typically a solemn affair and transforming it into a gaudy, irreverent spectacle that will most likely draw in millions of viewers by their noses. Who are we kidding? We're probably going to be right there watching it with everybody else.

In what's clearly the most shocking revelation to come out of today, it appears that the man that collapsed and died in October after a roach-eating contest has an official cause of death: Asphyxia. That is to say, Edward Archbold choked to death on a mixture of arthropod parts. Considering he was trying to cram as many of the things down his gullet as possible, this isn't all that unexpected.

Do you have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning? Good news -- it's probably not your fault. Researchers are offering more insight into a gene that seems to govern people's sleep cycles -- mutations and variations in this gene can render people genetically predisposed to being early birds or late risers. So thanks, genetics,for taking one more item off of the "Aspects Of My Personality That I'm Actually Responsible For" list. Oh, also interesting about this gene? It may help researchers predict when you're going to die, like a gypsy made of DNA.

It's pretty much become a tradition for Marvel and DC Comics to kill off a major character every few years when they've decided they would like some publicity. Sometimes, they even kill off characters that died previously for similar reasons. There are a few instances where the death remains justified and seems to stick for long periods of time, Gwen Stacy comes to mind, but usually it just feels like another ploy to get folks to cough up some money. Marvel's apparently doing it again, though, and says it's going to stick.

What's the best birthday gift for the man who has everything? How about the cold, clammy touch of death's inevitable embrace? A study on over 2 million people over the course of 40 years show that birthday deaths are strikingly more common than you might think, especially when attributed to heart attack, stroke, suicide, or falls. Poisoned cakes, though not mentioned in the study, are surely a culprit as well.

When applying to jobs, you'll generally give a quote of what you think your services are worth. However, when you're all used up from a lifetime of that job, someone else may pay good money for you. Not your services, mind you, but the less used up parts of your body. You know, like your liver or coronary artery. The black market is something you probably don't want to ever become involved with, but now if you do and also happen to read this infographic provided by Medical Transcription, you'll know around how much your shoulder is worth.

Normally, we're a site that encourages the DIY mentality, tinkering with everything, and perhaps even harnessing powers mankind cannot fully understand. However, this is more of a cautionary tale from Potrero, California where a woman was tragically killed from an accident involving her husband and a homemade cannon. This is why Mythbusters says, "don't try this at home."

Dennis Ritchie, creator of C and co-creator of the UNIX operating system, has died in his home this past weekend. Along with being the original developer of the C programming language and being a central designer in the development of UNIX, he also won the Turing Award in 1983 and the National Medal of Technology in 1998. Boing Boing points out a poignant message left by James Grimmelmann on Twitter, simply stating "Dennis Ritchie (1941-2011). His pointer has been cast to void *; his process has terminated with exit code 0." A fine tribute to the C developer in 140 characters or less. Head on past the break to see a small, tasteful vigil for Ritchie.

The Nobel Prize committee announced its winners for achievements in medicine today, naming cellular biologist Ralph Steinman worthy of the prestigious award. Steinman's award winning work began in 1973 when he identified a new type of cell, the dendritic cell, which plays a key role in the human immune system. Thanks to his ground breaking work, medicine now has a far greater understanding how the body fights off invaders, and how it can sometimes turn on itself. Though Steinman is certainly worthy of the award he is, unfortunately, dead. According to the Seattle Times, Steinman died three days before the Nobel announcements were made leaving the committee unaware of his demise. This puts the Nobel committee in a bit of a tricky situation, since posthumus awards are no longer given by the organization. Two other scientists named in the award, Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann, seem to be in no danger of losing their award, though there is no word whether their shares of the $1.5 million prize will be increased. The Nobel committee has not announced how they will handle the situation, but it is certainly a tragic moment for Steinman's family. Congratulations Dr. Steinman, wherever you are. (via Seattle Times)

When she dies, artist Jae Rhim Lee doesn't want to be buried in her finest clothes, or for her ashes to be scattered across a serene pond. Lee wants to be eaten. By fungi, that is. Lee wears a bodysuit that holds fungi close to her body so that she can train them to devour her after she dies. Her fungi body suit is part of the Infinity Burial Project, funded by the Creative Capital Foundation, the Institüt für Raumexperimente Universität der Künste Berlin, and the MAK Center for Art + Architecture. The Infinity Burial Project is focused on the idea that there must be a more natural option for what to do with a body postmortem, namely an individual engagement with the decomposition process. Lee's bodysuit uses a unique kind of mushroom that normally attaches to wood or decaying material in forests. She believes she can train the fungi to attached to her body so that it decomposes and remediates toxins in human tissue.

The time has come for a member of the Fantastic Four, that stalwart superhero group. For several issues, Marvel comics has been ringing a death knell for someone in the quartet-soon-to-be trio, and today the speculation comes to an end with issue #587. Spoiler lovers, read on.