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The article keeps making it sound like he met his comeuppance, even as they finally reveal that he ran off with $3M and died of natural causes before he was cau

The article keeps making it sound like he met his comeuppance, even as they finally reveal that he ran off with $3M and died of natural causes before he was caught. They never seem to substantiate the pervasive tragic tone. The whole whole thing reminds me of the existentialist treatment of the "Touch of Death" in Men Who Stare at Goats... His schemes were often successful, but ultimately meaningless because death comes for us all?

smabie 7y ago
Yeah, it doesn't really seem like he had a downfall, besides dying, which isn't exactly an unexpected event for any person..
- Hamuko 7y ago
  Well, dying at the age of 50 to throat cancer is not exactly on my list of expectations for life.
  - smabie 7y ago
    According to https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html#fn1 https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html#fn1 The probability of being 49 and dying within the year is about a half a percent. So it's not that uncommon an outcome.
  - bryanrasmussen 7y ago
    yeah but the throat cancer doesn't seem to have come out of some scam he was pulling. So he didn't really get his comeuppance from the throat cancer in the way people normally use the term.
mc32 7y ago
To me it seems more like his beating the system gave him false confidence that he could find flaws in systems which would be lucrative but he tended to rely on illicit schemes that never worked out for him.
- codemac 7y ago
  > tended to rely on illicit schemes that never worked out for him. I mean, they found one radio one that failed, but almost all the others actually did work out for him?
  - mc32 7y ago
    But they involved fraud, no? That’s not success. Almost anyone willing can commit some kind of fraud at work, but why? He could have ploughed his abilities into something above board as his brother kept on suggesting but it seems he always sought the “quick buck”. Also his dollar bill serial no matching thing was foolhardy.
    - burrows 7y ago
      Really inspiring stuff. If I commit fraud (but don’t know it’s fraud) to win the Super Bowl, do I succeed or no?

smabie 7y ago

Yeah, it doesn't really seem like he had a downfall, besides dying, which isn't exactly an unexpected event for any person..

Hamuko 7y ago
Well, dying at the age of 50 to throat cancer is not exactly on my list of expectations for life.
- smabie 7y ago
  According to https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html#fn1 https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html#fn1 The probability of being 49 and dying within the year is about a half a percent. So it's not that uncommon an outcome.
- bryanrasmussen 7y ago
  yeah but the throat cancer doesn't seem to have come out of some scam he was pulling. So he didn't really get his comeuppance from the throat cancer in the way people normally use the term.

mc32 7y ago

To me it seems more like his beating the system gave him false confidence that he could find flaws in systems which would be lucrative but he tended to rely on illicit schemes that never worked out for him.

codemac 7y ago
> tended to rely on illicit schemes that never worked out for him. I mean, they found one radio one that failed, but almost all the others actually did work out for him?
- mc32 7y ago
  But they involved fraud, no? That’s not success. Almost anyone willing can commit some kind of fraud at work, but why? He could have ploughed his abilities into something above board as his brother kept on suggesting but it seems he always sought the “quick buck”. Also his dollar bill serial no matching thing was foolhardy.
  - burrows 7y ago
    Really inspiring stuff. If I commit fraud (but don’t know it’s fraud) to win the Super Bowl, do I succeed or no?