Who's the next to go?

The King of the infomercials,Billy Mays, the well-known and energetic product salesman on TV infomercials and co-host of the series Pitchmen on Discovery Channel, was found dead early yesterday at his home in Tampa, FL. Mays began selling products on the boardwalk in Atlantic City then traveled the country working at garden and home shows and other sales exhibits.



If I were the king of paper clips or cotton briefs, I'd be nervous.


Today in History:
Jun 29 1613 -
The Globe Theater, William Shakespeare's original theatrical venue, burns to the ground. According to one of the few surviving documents of the event, no one was hurt except a man who put out his burning breeches with a bottle of ale.



It must have not been a very good bottle of ale.


Jun 29 1967 -
Actress Jayne Mansfield may or may not have been decapitated in a car crash, when her convertible collides with a parked tractor-trailer.



To downplay the gruesome death, sources spread the falsehood that only her wig flew off in the accident.


Jun 29 1971 -
When Soyuz 11 disengages from the Salyut space station, cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev are killed by a faulty pressurization valve.



All the oxygen leaks out of the Soyuz cabin before Patsayev can close the valve by hand, and the crew is asphyxiated.

I hate when that happens.


Jun 29 1978 -
The body of Bob Crane is discovered in bed with an electric cord wrapped around his neck and his head smashed in.



When Scottsdale police search the apartment belonging to the former star of television's Hogan's Heroes, they discover a video camera and a large library of amateur porn starring Crane and a parade of random women (isn't that a great name for a band - Parade of Random Women)


Jun 29 1992 -
Mohammed Boudiaf is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards less than six months after becoming President of Algeria. A former hero in the war of independence, Boudiaf had been chosen by the Islamic Salvation Front to serve as figurehead for their regime. More than 100,000 Algerians will later die in political bloodshed in the following decade.



(Please note - this is not a good way to promote one's services as a bodyguard - we will not kill you within the first six months.)



And so it goes.