latimes:

Serving life at the altar of death: At Cypress College in Orange County — one of two accredited mortuary programs in the state — student morticians learn to use their own grief and fear to lead others to solace. 

“There is something beautiful about being part of the ritual of death, performing the most ancient of jobs,” Carvaly says, “and the possibility of serving my life this way is the motivation for the days when I just want to lay my head on my desk and cry from stress.”

Photo: Above, Vincent Lopez, 29 from Fountain Valley sculpts the head and face from a photograph of author Charles Bukowski. The Advanced Restorative Arts class teaches faithful reconstruction of facial features. Lopez, who already works part time in an Orange County mortuary wants to be a funeral director and embalmer. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

discoverynews:

Death by Roller Coaster

This is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being. Designer/Artist Julijonas Urbonas created the death coaster.

The 3-minute ride involves a long, slow, climb — nearly a third of a mile long — that lifts one up to a height of more than 1600 feet, followed by a massive fall and seven strategically sized and placed loops. The final descent and series of loops take all of one minute. But the 10g force from the spinning loops at 223 mph in that single minute is lethal.

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