3 ms·

Obituaries are prematurely published all the time. I'm surprised April's Fools aren't published early more often.

luhn 6y ago
> Obituaries are prematurely published all the time Unless you're describing Death Note I'm not sure what you mean by this.
- tikhonj 6y ago
  Publications have pre-written obituaries for famous people to make sure they can respond immediately when somebody famous dies. Occasionally these obituaries get published in response to incorrect rumors or simply through some kind of internal error—always a bit awkward!
  - colejohnson66 6y ago
    That’s actually how we got the Nobel Prizes. Nobel was famous for inventing dynamite. After his brother died, some newspapers reported his death with their prewritten obituary about how “The merchant of death is dead”. After seeing that, he changed his outlook and modified his will to create the Nobel Prizes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize
    - toomanybeersies 6y ago
      I particularly appreciate the irony in the Nobel Peace Prize, especially as Henry Kissinger is a laureate.
      - yellowapple 6y ago
        Good ol' Henry Kissinger, one of only two Nobel Peace Prize laureates with the distinction of having bombed another Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  I once worked on the same floor as an online magazine publishing group. Their niche included reporting on famous figures within a specific domain. In order to be able to react to news of a famous figure's death, they had pre-written memorial articles for any of these figures whose age seemed to suggest their time was near. Unfortunately, a bug in the CMS and/or a fat finger occasionally allowed one of these pre-prepared obituaries to go live while the famous person was still alive. Another interesting thing I observed: since that magazine was also owned by the central organization in their domain, they sometimes had to take down interesting articles (e.g. about this organization's holdings or business dealings) after receiving a phone call from somebody important.

luhn 6y ago

> Obituaries are prematurely published all the time Unless you're describing Death Note I'm not sure what you mean by this.

tikhonj 6y ago
Publications have pre-written obituaries for famous people to make sure they can respond immediately when somebody famous dies. Occasionally these obituaries get published in response to incorrect rumors or simply through some kind of internal error—always a bit awkward!
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  That’s actually how we got the Nobel Prizes. Nobel was famous for inventing dynamite. After his brother died, some newspapers reported his death with their prewritten obituary about how “The merchant of death is dead”. After seeing that, he changed his outlook and modified his will to create the Nobel Prizes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize
  - toomanybeersies 6y ago
    I particularly appreciate the irony in the Nobel Peace Prize, especially as Henry Kissinger is a laureate.
    - yellowapple 6y ago
      Good ol' Henry Kissinger, one of only two Nobel Peace Prize laureates with the distinction of having bombed another Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
nitrogen 6y ago
I once worked on the same floor as an online magazine publishing group. Their niche included reporting on famous figures within a specific domain. In order to be able to react to news of a famous figure's death, they had pre-written memorial articles for any of these figures whose age seemed to suggest their time was near. Unfortunately, a bug in the CMS and/or a fat finger occasionally allowed one of these pre-prepared obituaries to go live while the famous person was still alive. Another interesting thing I observed: since that magazine was also owned by the central organization in their domain, they sometimes had to take down interesting articles (e.g. about this organization's holdings or business dealings) after receiving a phone call from somebody important.