Vigil from Nottingham

This evening, Nottingham held, near a prominent statue, a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting:

There were at least thirty people gathered there, maybe more, all showing solidarity.

Man of the past

Was there anything strange about my blog posts over 2015? Perhaps yes, perhaps no? Is there, maybe, someone nearly completely absent from the 365 posts I wrote last year, whom I used to refer to frequently from Air Nice-to-Livelands' beginning? This person has only been mentioned in four posts this past year:

* Liveland History: 29 March 2012: A reflection piece in which I discussed a visit to Nottingham from three years ago, at the time.
* Phone armour: Wrote about my phone's armour and asked my readers if they remembered my post about this other person's kickstand phone case.
* Bloggers Blog Party - August 2015: This person appears when I wrote about seeing an advert in an old book of theirs. I never disclosed why I looked through the book.
* Americans and their passports: A brief end-of-paragraph sentence about this person's travelling, in the context of the post being about travelling Americans.

Dad is missing. Over the past year, whenever I travelled between Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire, my grandfather or an aunt/uncle drove me - there was nothing about Dad driving me. Whenever I was in Northamptonshire, I only mentioned my brother and mother - Dad isn't there. Whenever I was up in Nottinghamshire, there were no visits from Dad - no random drop-ins, no car service appointments...nothing. Finally, in my New Year's Eve post - my last post of 2015 - I made references to certain events I wish had "never happened" and a "stark contrast" in emotions over the year.

Dad's been dead nearly the whole time.

That's the horrid reason for his absence in my blog. A few days into 2015, while I was still recovering from that vindictive cold/flu I caught the previous December, he unexpectedly collapsed at work and was taken to a hospital, where the doctors were unable to save him. He wasn't even 52 and his and Mum's 25th anniversary was approaching. Dad's death was a sickening blow for a multitude of reasons and Mum especially has had to pick up the pieces of the resulting aftermath, which is an ongoing process.

Today is the first anniversary since his death. Only now have I felt ready to say something here, as this has long been a post that I haven't wanted to write. I've been crafting my blog carefully to avoid mentioning mere hints of his death, although I'm sure there's a post somewhere that says "mother and brother" or some other variant. It's not because I've been insulting his memory - it's because writing about the death of someone close to you is hard. It was difficult enough years ago when I wrote in a diary about the deaths of my cats but a parent...

I still find it unimaginable to think that he is gone and that he has not seen any of the progress I have made since Christmas 2014. Nor, for that matter, has he seen anything my brother has done. The last time I saw and spoke to Dad was Christmas 2014 but I was sick and could barely talk, so conversation was brief. The last time Dad and I properly conversed was on my birthday of that year, in November. 2015 is the first year of my life during which I never saw him - only some texting occurred between us in the days leading up to his death.

Dad's death is a major contributor to why I zealously attend college every day, even when I am not officially required to be in, and why I was so upset the day I overslept and came close to missing a lesson. I completed my first college course, despite what happened, with 100% attendance and I want to finish this course with that same figure.

I went into college today to complete some work; I had no official lessons but, as always, I found it beneficial being present. I had a chat with my Employability teacher from my previous course, talked to a couple of my classmates and was amused by some of the comments from the library staff. My teacher was concerned about me prior to the break and she was pleased to hear that Christmas for Mum, my brother and me was, all things considered, okay.

Dad did so much for Mum, my brother and me in the time he was in my life - for me...and my brother...to succeed will mean that all the work he put in for us paid off in the long run. It's beyond a shame that he won't be able to enjoy it or anything else.

Wikimania 2014 images

Here are some of my images from the final day of Wikimania 2014; I used my phone and my brother's camera for this photography:

I took this from the Barbican Centre's squared spiral stairs looking out; the domed building in the background in St Paul's Cathedral. I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but the venue for Wikimania 2014 was the Barbican Centre, which is a performing arts centre located in the City of London (the City of London is a separate entity to London itself; look it up and you'll see).

This is the guide to all of the Barbican's levels; I visited up to floor four and I think -1 was the lowest I visited.

This is the "village" from an above balcony. The village featured gift shops and a coffee shop, as well as representatives from several Wikimedia local chapters. Chapters help to promote Wikipedia on a local level.

These are two posters and a pillow within the village, which were located next to the desk for Wikimedia UK's representation at Wikimania 2014.

The two highest floors featured this refreshing conservatory. There weren't many people in the conversatory itself; instead, most were in the two nearby seating areas.

The Barbican's main hall as people awaited the closing speech. Shortly after the hall was filled, the audience was shown a short film about Wikipedia Zero. Wikipedia Zero is a project started by the Wikimedia Foundation to ensure that everyone in the world can access Wikipedia via their phones without having to incur any mobile/cell phone data charges.

The man of the hour: Jimbo Wales, there to deliver the closing speech. Much of his speech focused on the need to improve civility on Wikipedia; in particular, he talked about users who contribute large amounts of content but are hostile towards other people. Mr. Wales expressed his opinion that such users, while adding plenty to Wikipedia, are net-negatives to the site because they drive away others.

This is Ihor Kostenko, whom Mr. Wales announced as the "Wikipedian of the Year". He was Ukrainian and was a significant contributor to the Ukrainian Wikipedia, as well as a promoter of Wikipedia on social media; Kostenko was killed back in February when a sniper shot him during his participation in the Ukrainian protests.

These two women are Cynthia Ashley-Nelson (see bottom of link) and Adrianne Wadewitz, who were two highly influential and respected Wikipedians; both of them died this past April and their losses were felt throughout the community on the English Wikipedia. I thought it was fitting for a tribute to them to be included in Mr. Wales' speech.

After Mr. Wales' speech officially closed Wikimania 2014 and set the stage for Wikimania 2015 in Mexico, the rest of the evening and night featured a party. I met several more Wikipedians - including more people I'd known online for years - in the first two hours after the speech; most attendees left the venue during this time to eat elsewhere, so I was fortunate to meet as many as I did while I had the chance.

At last, I was able to see The Shard, which is the tallest building in the United Kingdom and European Union. I missed seeing this tower during my previous two trips to London but luckily for me, it was visible through a gap in the buildings near the Barbican Centre. This was taken after 7:00pm and, as you can see, it was still fairly light outside.

At around 9:15, I left Wikimania 2014 and the Barbican Centre; by this time, most people had already exited and everyone I knew had gone. I had to take a picture of Barbican Centre before I returned to my train station; this picture was taken with my phone on its low light setting.

I have numerous other pictures of Wikimania 2014, but I consider the overwhelming majority of them to be unsuitable to post here because they are either similar to the above or are close-up images of people, such as a few that I took in the diversity workshop and a few selfies with a friend. I was selective with my photography because I wanted to enjoy the conference rather than see everything with my cameras while experiencing nothing.

Finally, there is also this group photo of many of the conference's attendants (enlarged version here); it was taken just prior to Mr. Wales' speech. I am in the picture, but good luck trying to find me!

Spider's demise

Remember the spider in the bathtub, which fought a moth? I'm saddened to report that the spider has since died; my brother found its corpse in the tub a few days ago.

I hope that the spider's death was due to old age and not starvation. I note starvation because the tub doesn't seem like a decent place to catch insects for food.

I also hope that the spider had a happy life; I don't know if arachnids have any standards that define a "happy life", but if they do, I hope that the bathtub spider met them.

Poppy, the world's oldest cat

I was saddened to hear that Poppy, the world's oldest cat, has died:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/27794411

Guinness World Records recognised Poppy as the world's oldest cat last month. It's saddening that Poppy died and more so because she only recently attained the title of world's oldest cat. On the bright side, Poppy lived a long and happy life, which is the best life any pet can have.

Poppy

February 1990 - June 2014

Not expected

Yesterday, a certain special something of ours arrived at the end of its road. It was a part of the family for over twenty years and has always been there to open things for us. Now, I don't know what we'll do without it; I know I will miss it dearly. I am, of course, talking about our tin opener (or can opener).

After over two decades of service, our tin opener's upper handle broke off from the main handle. Once this happened, it was unable to maintain a grip, which was necessary for it to be able to open a can. The cause? Its bones (plastic construction) had weakened over the years from all the hard work. Our trustworthy and long-time family friend was no more. If only it had retired a few years ago; it could have been relaxing in Florida instead of having to be put to rest before its time.

Alas, we will never open a can again. At least not until the replacement opener arrives, anyway.

Tin opener

1990s - 2014

Keith Crisco

I have been following the Democratic primary for North Carolina's 2nd congressional district. This primary race is notable because one of the candidates is American Idol season two runner-up Clay Aiken. Since May 7th, he and his main primary opponent, Keith Crisco, have been locked in a tight race, in which Aiken has a slim lead. Sadly, Crisco has died:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clay-aikens-opponent-keith-crisco-passes/story?id=23686583

Crisco died at a fall in his home; no foul play has been reported, although Crisco's death has set off conspiracy theory lunatics who seem to think that Aiken himself was behind it. Any such conspiracies should be dismissed unless otherwise proved, which is unlikely because they are nonsense.

I wanted Aiken to win the primary, but I didn't want him to win like that and I'm sure that he didn't want to win in this manner, either. I hope that the memory of Crisco won't be insulted by someone using his death as a campaign tool. From what I've read, Crisco was a respected figure in North Carolina, and had a reputation for being a kind man and active in his community.

J. Keith Crisco

April 22, 1943 - May 12, 2014

The third Tuscon anniversary

It's hard to believe that it's been three years to the date that the Tuscon shooting took place, when nineteen people, including Arizona House Representative Gabrielle Giffords, were shot. Six people died and Giffords barely survived a shot to her head, a shot that, to this day, gives her suffering.

What has been done to prevent a tragedy like the one in Arizona from happening again? Nothing, it seems. Despite the vast majority of Americans and National Rifle Association members supporting greater background checks on guns (when my family and I were living in the United States, the Democrats, Republicans and Independents we met all supported them, too, and we lived in an area where almost everybody owned a gun), a bill that would have increased said checks failed in the Senate. In addition, despite all the calls that were made to help address mental health problems, nothing has been done about that, either.

It's a shame that paranoia over a potential repeal of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is preventing anything from being done, even something as simple as educating people about violence or increasing awareness of mental health problems. I don't think that Second Amendment supporters even have anything to fear, for few American politicians, if any, would ever vote for an outright ban on guns. The Second Amendment itself will not get repealed anytime in the near or foreseeable future: To introduce a new amendment with the purpose of repealing another, the state legislatures of three-quarters of the states would need to approve it...and that's just not going to happen against the Second Amendment.

I once again made the mistake of reading the comments section of a Tuscon shooting-related article. I had foolishly hoped that people would perhaps pay their respects to all the victims and their families, given that it's been three years since the shooting, but instead it was a hate-filled thread with nothing but anger being directed at Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. I found it both infuriating and upsetting.

Last Briton from the 19th century

Grace Jones, the last remaining Briton born in the 19th century, has died:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24940663

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/last-briton-born-19th-century-dies-aged-113-203043877.html#DAFoI1I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Jones_%28supercentenarian%29

Jones died in hospital today, following a fall she sustained a few weeks ago. According to her local Member of Parliament, Simon Hughes, her body had been deteriorating but he said that her "memory and intellect were undimmed."

Jones worked as a seamstress, both during and after World War II, and remained in that profession until her retirement, which was around fifty years ago. She outlived all of her family and friends, and regarded her neighbours as her family.

There are very, very few people left from the 19th century, with the last of the World War I veterans having died in the past year. The oldest verified living person is Misao Okawa of Japan, who will be 116 next March.

To think that when I was born, the youngest of the 19th century people alive at that time were older than ninety. I'm honoured that some of those people are still around today.

Grace Adelaide Jones 

7 December 1899 – 14 November 2013

Brooke Greenberg memorial

Back in January, I wrote a brief piece to draw attention to the condition that afflicted Brooke Greenberg. She had a condition titled "Syndrome X", which stopped her growth and kept her in body of a five-year-old and with the mind of a nine-month-old. I'm sorry to say that she has died:

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/Brooke-Greenberg-dies-at-age-20/-/10136486/22638428/-/3syn97z/-/index.html

In my post, I expressed my hope that a cure would one day be found for Greenberg. It's upsetting that this won't come to be. I wish her family the best.

Additionally, I'm surprised by the lack of reporting on her death. It's possible that little has been said because of her family maintaining their privacy but I thought, given the extreme scarcity of her condition, that her death would be given wider coverage.

Brooke Greenberg

January 8th, 1993 - October 24th, 2013

Floyd Hawkins

Just this morning, my Dad visited the website for our local newspaper back in Southern Oregon, the Mail Tribune. Upon viewing the obituaries section he learnt that a friend and former neighbor of ours, Floyd Hawkins, died last month at the age of 91.

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131006/NEWS04/310069997

http://rogue.tributes.com/our_obituaries/Floyd-Sherman-Hawkins-96433636

Floyd was a significant figure in his little corner of the world. He once almost exclusively owned the valley we lived in while we were in Oregon; the government awarded him over one hundred acres of land for his service in World War II. He sold much of his land over the years and other people moved into the valley.

When we first moved to Oregon, Floyd was still active and working: He helped out on buses for disabled children, and he helped in the garden that he and Sharon (his wife, who was always "Mrs. Hawkins" to me) maintained. He also seemed happy with his adult stepson, Lloyd (who, sadly, died in 2004), living with him and Sharon. While we knew Sharon more than we knew Floyd himself, he was always friendly during our interactions him; between me and my immediate family, it was Dad who knew him best.

During our last years there, however, Floyd had to be placed in a nursing home. While there was a 15-year age gap between them, Sharon found it increasingly difficult to look after Floyd due to his increasing needs associated with old age, her own age and because she was still working. Dad assisted Sharon out somewhat but this was not a viable long-term solution; Floyd had to leave the valley he'd lived in for many decades.

It has been several years since I last saw or spoke to Floyd, but I cannot help feeling somewhat down from hearing about his death. He lived a long and meaningful life and, from what I understand, his passing was peaceful. I hope that his family — Sharon especially — are coping well with their loss.

Floyd Sherman Hawkins

January 23rd, 1922 - September 20th, 2013

A lesser-known effect of the United States federal government shutdown

One of my first blog posts was about the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, which is located near Madingley, Cambridgeshire. As I think we're all aware, the United States federal government has been shut down, with all non-essential services ceasing operations and nearly a million personnel furloughed. Places such as national parks, museums and national have closed down; unfortunately, this also means that the Cambridge American Cemetary and memorial has been closed:

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/US-government-cash-crisis-forces-closure-of-American-Cemetery-at-Madingley-20131003060000.htm

The cemetery is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), which is one of the areas of government affected by the shutdown. Without any funding, the commission cannot keep its 24 overseas military cemeteries and 26 monuments open to the public. These places, along with the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, will re-open once the government has been restored, but at present there is no immediate end to the shutdown in sight. The current inability to pay respects to those who are buried in those cemeteries is an inconvenience to most people and heartbreaking to those who are family of the dead or served alongside them.

Too many people think that a government shutdown means that Congress is out of a job. They could not be more wrong, as Congress is not only still active but its members are still being paid. The overwhelming majority of the people who have been furloughed are ordinary folks; the fact that they happen to work for the government, in itself, does not change that. They have families and most are not rich; it's deeply unfair and inhumane to celebrate their suffering.

The ABMC is a small and relatively unknown government agency, yet its current closure has had a profound effect. Now think about how many people are being affected from furloughs in the larger agencies...and that's not including how many people not working for the government are being affected by the disruption.

Some other consequences of the shutdown can be found here.

Romanthony

I recently learnt about the death of Romanthony (Anthony Moore). Romanthony is not a name you would recognize if you are not a fan of house music, but if you have ever heard Daft Punk's "One More Time" then you would have heard his vocals; to be fair, I did not know prior to his death that Romanthony sang "One More Time", and bear in mind that I wrote a short article on the track in June of last year and consider it to be one of my favorite dance songs. He died on the seventh of May but it's only been reported in the last couple of days.

"One More Time" was Daft Punk's most successful single until "Get Lucky" came out this year. While it's great that Daft Punk have a new hit after their long absence, it's a shame that the singer of their former biggest hit died around the same time the new song rose to prominence. From what I've read, his presence will be missed in the music world, especially in house.

Besides writing this post, I can only wish Romanthony's family the best.

Romanthony

c. 1967 - May 7, 2013

Stumpy

Back in the spring of 2001, my family had been living in Oregon for a few months and were enjoying life there. We had a deep appreciation for the wildlife; my brother and I were fascinated by the lizards, and especially by the western fence lizards (also known as "blue-belly lizards").

For a time, we were fond of a particular lizard whom we had named "Stumpy". Stumpy was an adult male western fence lizard (this could be identified by his more prominent coloring, as the female of the species is less colorful) who resided on the outside of our house; he had lost his tail at some point, hence the name, but it was in the process of re-growing.

Our friendship with Stumpy started when my brother and I caught him one afternoon and found him to be incredibly docile; this is notable because male western fence lizards are aggressive to each other and to humans if the latter handles them. He did not make any attempt to bite us or get away, instead allowing us to stroke him for lengthy periods; it didn't take long for Stumpy to not run away from us and even let us catch him. While Stumpy was obviously a wild animal and did not live inside our house, we cared about him as though he were a pet; whenever we went outside we always looked for him to make sure he was okay.

After two months of catching Stumpy regularly, he vanished one day. My brother and I were deeply upset by this, as he had an established track record of appearing to us daily...and on this particular day he was nowhere to be found! Mum assured us that Stumpy would be fine; after all, he was a wild animal and had lived perfectly well on his own before we had moved to the area. A second day then went by without Stumpy.

Then, on the third day, out of nowhere, Stumpy reappeared! My brother and I were ecstatic at first — our reptilian friend was back — but after Stumpy had been in our hands for a couple of minutes we noticed that he was barely responding. The weather was not the source of his sluggishness as it was hot outside that day; no, he felt warmish to the touch but he didn't want to move. My brother and I then realized what was wrong with Stumpy: he was dying.

By this point, we were both struggling to hold back tears and Mum had called us inside for something. We placed Stumpy on the wooden rails at the front of our house; we hoped that we were wrong and that once we were outside again Stumpy would have recovered and his eagerness to be held would have rebounded.

Alas, that was not the case. When Mum, my brother and I went outside to check on Stumpy, he had died on the railing. This was too much for me and my brother, and we burst into tears while Mum comforted us. When Dad came back from work, he helped us provide Stumpy with a proper burial.

We learnt later on that Stumpy was likely an old lizard. That might have been the reason why he was so docile towards me and my brother; when we encountered Stumpy for the first time, his reign as the dominant male lizard in his area was coming to an end. I've heard that animals often know when it's their "time", and perhaps Stumpy knew that it was his; to this day, I'm not really sure how to explain his two-day absence combined with his return to us coinciding with his death — he could have taken himself off and never returned, but he didn't: Stumpy came back.

Today has been the 12th anniversary of Stumpy's death. We didn't know him for long, but in the time he was prominent in our lives was special to us; he was the first animal my brother and I expressed grief over. We won't forget him.

Margaret Thatcher

I'm going to keep this short, mainly due to the large amount of current coverage about the death of Baroness and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher — and because I'm not seeking a discussion over her premiership — but I wanted to post an excerpt from President Barack Obama's tribute to Thatcher:

 "As a grocer’s daughter who rose to become Britain’s first female prime minister, she stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered."

Regardless of one's politics, it cannot be denied that Thatcher's ascension to Prime Minister was an important milestone for women. While no woman has been Prime Minister since Thatcher, the 2010 election delivered a record number of female MPs to Parliament and more women continue to get involved with politics every day; I think it's only a matter of time before we have another woman as head of government.

On trolling in 9/11 remembrance articles

It has been eleven years since 9/11 took place; it's not as significant an anniversary as the tenth, but it still signifies how long it's been since that tragic day occurred. Various memorials are being held in the United States and around the world the commemorate those who died in the attacks.

It angers me when I read trolling comments on articles to do with remembering those who died...and by "trolling" I am referring to posting conspiracies theories and utter nonsense that some people seem to believe about the day. Merely thinking that it wasn't aircraft that destroyed the World Trade Center towers or damaged the Pentagon is one thing, but going on about it on something commemorating the dead is outright disrespectful to the victims. If someone, for whatever reason, is a skeptic they should share their opinions in a place better suited to discussing conspiracies and alternate views about the attacks, rather than perform the Internet equivalent of vandalizing graves.

In regards to my opinion on the conspiracies when they're not being discussed at a memorial, I completely accept the official account of what happened on 9/11. I find all the conspiracies that I know of to be unconvincing and in some cases utter nonsense.

As for 9/11, it is hard to believe that it has been eleven years since that day. I may not have been in the vicinity of the attacks, but the memory of the day is still clear in my mind.

Richard Pearce

A couple of weeks ago I learned that a friend of ours from a few years ago, Richard Pearce, died last month. Although it was a long, long time ago we last saw and spoke to him, the news of his death did upset me; and upon reading his obituary in the Mail Tribune I was shocked to learn that he had died from Alzheimer's Disease.

Richard Pearce, or "Dick", as we knew him as, was an extremely kind man. When we moved to Southern Oregon, he was the first of our neighbors to introduce themselves to us: he and his wife, Anne, helped us during our first years there, especially giving advice on how to manage the land and providing some history on the area. We went to their Christmas Eve parties to celebrate the season with them, with the first one we attended taking place a little over a month after we had moved up. Dick once took my Dad, brother, and myself to one of the speedways to watch a race, and during the wildfires in 2002, when we all had to evacuate from the valley, we were able to stay with him and Anne at their son's house with their family until we could return home.

They moved away in mid-2003, and we only had occasional contact after then. I regret that we did not speak much after their move (there was not a falling out or anything along those lines), but it is too late to change that now. I can ensure that Dick is remembered for the decent man he was.

Here are the links to his obituary and to his Alzheimer's memorial fund:

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110828/NEWS04/308289999

http://act.alz.org/site/TR?pg=fund&fr_id=1060&pxfid=31412

Richard Pearce

February 12, 1934 - August 21, 2011

Steve Irwin

It is five years ago to the date that Steve Irwin died from a stingray barb in a part of the Great Barrier Reef known as the Batt Reef. I remember that morning well: it was cool and sunny outside, and my brother and I turned my computer on to check the news as we normally did and were shocked to see the majority of news headlines reporting “Crocodile Hunter dies”.

Years ago, we used to watch Animal Planet frequently, with our favourite shows being The Crocodile Hunter and The Jeff Corwin Experience. We were always fascinated by the animals and places seen in each episode: we would be happy when learning about an interesting new animal, but upset when we learnt that the said animal was endangered. We did become fans of Steve Irwin and had a lot of respect for him and his work, and after the Crocodile Hunter, we watched The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, a show covering the day-to-day activities at Australia Zoo.

We ended up talking about him all day when he died, and we watched several episodes of The Crocodile Hunter and The Crocodile Hunter Diaries in the subsequent Steve Irwin marathon on Animal Planet, plus the memorial service and an abundance of other shows about him. I remember the Internet being exceedingly difficult to navigate on the day of his death with tens, possibly even hundreds of millions of people logging on to read about him.

To this day I think Steve Irwin was, and still is, a strong net positive to the world: while his critics opposed his handling of animals (and I can understand their point), his documentaries of nature did educate millions of people of what issues the environment faces; he cared about nature, and through his work and influence, he helped others care about nature too. One fact that we did not know about him until after his death was his buying up of huge swaths of land so that it would be safe from development, and thus, safe for the flora and fauna inhabiting it.

I have read in recent years that Australia Zoo has run into problems, most notably financial difficulties. I think it would be more than just a shame if the zoo ever closed, and I hope the work Steve Irwin did there will not come to an end and be left to live on in memory.

Amy Winehouse

Over the last couple of hours, the news has been reporting on the death of Amy Winehouse. I have to admit that I was not a heavy follower of Amy Winehouse, but I did like the songs of hers that I heard, and it is sad that a lot of her media coverage for the last couple of years mainly focused on her drinking/drug problems. On a purely human level, I was concerned about her troubles and hoped she would recover from them.

I hope in the long-term she will be remembered for her music and any contributions she made rather than her personal issues. I may not have known her personally, but the early death of anyone can be upsetting to us all.

Amy Winehouse

14 September 1983 - 23 July 2011