Billy Mays is dead. - Printable Version

Billy Mays is dead. - Printable Version

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Billy Mays is dead. - Weltall - 28th June 2009

'Informercial King' Billy Mays Found Dead in Home

Billy Mays is dead. - Geno - 28th June 2009

Gees, he didn't seem all that old. I wonder what he could've died of.

It's just one of those celebrity death weeks. They usually come in threes, but with Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and now Billy Mays, we've got four this week.

Billy Mays is dead. - EdenMaster - 28th June 2009

They're dropping like flies.

I had heard he was in some sort of minor plane incident, like the landing gear didn't properly work or something, and the passengers just got bumps and bruises. Maybe it's like Natasha Richardson and it was something bad that just took time to develop.

Billy Mays is dead. - Fittisize - 28th June 2009

I didn't know that Farrah Fawcett died until yesterday.

Billy Mays is dead. - Weltall - 28th June 2009

I'm not surprised. She picked the absolute worst time to die.

Billy Mays is dead. - lazyfatbum - 28th June 2009

Dont forget Caradine. But he's so last week.

Billy Mays is dead. - A Black Falcon - 28th June 2009

EdenMaster Wrote:They're dropping like flies.

I had heard he was in some sort of minor plane incident, like the landing gear didn't properly work or something, and the passengers just got bumps and bruises. Maybe it's like Natasha Richardson and it was something bad that just took time to develop.

Yeah, that's the only thing I can think of...

But it is weird. That's a lot of well-known people so close together... strange.

(And yeah, Farrah Fawcett... she didn't stand a chance, dying on the same day as Michael Jackson, that's true.)

Billy Mays is dead. - Dark Jaguar - 29th June 2009

If you're looking for 3's, you'll find them. If you're looking for 4's, you'll find them too. Humans are great at finding patterns, including where no meaning exists to them.

Billy Mays is dead. - Geno - 29th June 2009

Of course no meaning exists. It's just fun. Though in this case, the pattern doesn't work at all.

On that note, Fred Travalena, who's famous for doing impressions of celebrities (having once did an impression of all the presidents from JFK to GWB giving a bastardization of the Oath of Office, though not nearly as butchered as what Obama would later give us :)), has died as well. I had heard of him before he died, but I never knew his name. I watched some videos of him on YouTube today though, and he was pretty talented.

Speaking of patterns in death as well as presidents, ever heard of the 0-year curse? It's a curse that states that any president elected in a year ending in 0 will die in office. Every president elected in a 0-year from 1840 to 1960 has indeed died in office.

1840: William Henry Harrison (died 1841)
1860: Abraham Lincoln (reelected 1864, died 1865)
1880: James A. Garfield (died 1881)
1900: William McKinley (previously elected 1896, died 1901)
1920: Warren G. Harding (died 1923)
1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt (previously elected 1932 and 1936, reelected 1944, died 1945)
1960: John F. Kennedy (died 1963)
1980: Ronald Reagan (narrowly survived assassination attempt in 1981, broke curse?)

One myth states that the Native American chief Tecumseh put a curse on William Henry Harrison, a war hero from the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, when he was elected president, which would cause him and every other president elected in a 0-year to die in office. The only other president to die in office was Zachary Taylor, elected in 1848 and died in 1850. He may not have been elected in a 0-year, but he died in a 0-year, so some will try to work him into the curse.

However, the fact that there are exceptions to the curse, which is already selective enough in which presidents will die in office, proves that this curse is just a crock of shit, and the fact that half (debatably three quarters if you think Taylor and Harding were deliberately poisoned) of the presidents who died in office were assassinated shows that there was no cosmic alignment of the planets dictating that they would die, but rather that these ill-fated men were the victims of premeditated acts of murder. Furthermore, the odds of a president being elected in a 0-year are at least one in five, even greater if the president is reelected (four times in FDR's case, so the odds of him dying in office were very high).

There's also some bullshit about a Kennedy clan curse and about parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations, mostly dealing with the number of letters in people's names or some other superficial bullshit, but I won't get into those right now.

Billy Mays is dead. - Weltall - 29th June 2009

Quote:One myth states that the Native American chief Tecumseh put a curse on William Henry Harrison, a war hero from the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, when he was elected president, which would cause him and every other president elected in a 0-year to die in office.

Tecumseh: "I curse you, William Henry Harrison! And I will do so by placing the mark of death upon an office I can't possibly know you'll hold since that will happen decades after I'm dead. And though I'd like for it to kill all you assholes, unfortunately, it's tied to the methods of your proprietary system of temporal measurement (which I don't even fucking use), and worst still, only works against guys who are elected in a decimal base year.

seriously who comes up with these god damn curses?"

Billy Mays is dead. - Geno - 29th June 2009

^Exactly. :)

Billy Mays is dead. - lazyfatbum - 29th June 2009

And the genius is, you cant help but wonder if it'll come true.

Threats. Helping the motives and politics of religious followers for 30,000 years.

Billy Mays is dead. - Great Rumbler - 29th June 2009

I'm a lot more sad about Billy Mays dying than Michael Jackson. Yeah, I said it.

Billy Mays is dead. - EdenMaster - 29th June 2009

Celebrities always die in threes. Leave it to Billy Mays to throw in an extra absolutely free.

I kid, of course, I'm saddened by his passing, probably more so than the other three lately.

Billy Mays is dead. - A Black Falcon - 29th June 2009

Quote:There's also some bullshit about a Kennedy clan curse and about parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations, mostly dealing with the number of letters in people's names or some other superficial bullshit, but I won't get into those right now.

The list of similarities is kind of strange, really... it is all just a coincidence, I'm sure, but it is a lot of coincidences. Kind of odd. :)

(Though some of those lists include things that aren't real, so you need to be careful with it... but even considering that, there are more similarities than you'd expect. Those things happen with probability...)

Quote:However, the fact that there are exceptions to the curse, which is already selective enough in which presidents will die in office, proves that this curse is just a crock of shit, and the fact that half (debatably three quarters if you think Taylor and Harding were deliberately poisoned) of the presidents who died in office were assassinated shows that there was no cosmic alignment of the planets dictating that they would die, but rather that these ill-fated men were the victims of premeditated acts of murder. Furthermore, the odds of a president being elected in a 0-year are at least one in five, even greater if the president is reelected (four times in FDR's case, so the odds of him dying in office were very high).

Still, it is strange that of all the presidents who died in office, only one, Zachary Taylor (President 1848-1850), was not a part of that 20-year thing. All the other presidents who have died are on that list.

Of course technology matters a lot there, though. For instance, without modern technology Reagan would almost certainly have died; on the other hand, with it, Garfield would almost certainly have lived. Perhaps McKinley too? Not sure about that one, but Garfield for sure. So the curse was broken by modern medical technology, saving Reagan from certain death... :D

(Seriously though, it is much easier to save someone now, and it makes things like assassination harder for sure...)

Billy Mays is dead. - Geno - 30th June 2009

No question that the coincidences are fun to look at, but as Snopes points out to us, there are even more dissimilarities that are ignored (i.e. Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 while Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963; there's no real parallel between the dates of their assassinations).

Yes, they were elected to the House of Representatives 100 years apart and to the Presidency 100 years apart (ignoring Lincoln's reelection as Kennedy did not live long enough to be reelected), and they were both succeeded by southerners named Johnson. I guess the parallel between Ford's Theatre and a Ford car, model Lincoln, is also coincidental. Nevertheless, coincidences happen sometimes, and something compels us to make something of these coincidences.

And of course, some of the coincidences are completely fabricated, like that a week before their assassinations, Lincoln was in Monroe, Maryland and Kennedy was in Marylin Monroe. That's obviously a bit of humor, but for the record, Marylin Monroe died more than a year before Kennedy was assassinated. :)

Billy Mays is dead. - Dark Jaguar - 30th June 2009

Given an extremely large sampling of events, it's highly unlikely that there WON'T be notable coincidences our human brains can put together. Take a room of people. At what number does the chance that at least two of them will share a birthday become 50/50? I'll leave it to you to find the answer. Here's a hint. With each new person that knocks one whole day off the calendar thus increasing the chances more than you'd think, as you only need to match that list of possible dates now.

Why does anyone care about this guy? Yes, any death is a loss, but the fact is this guy was just an annoying shouting shill for products that no one needs and never really worked as advertised. GR specifically, why would you actually miss him? He wasn't charming annoying like Darunia, just annoying annoying. At any rate, I'm certainly glad for a new regulation that prevents commercials from having a volume louder than the shows they accompany. This guy "used" that more than anyone else.

Billy Mays is dead. - Geno - 30th June 2009

Darunia... charming? Rofl

Unless you mean the Ocarina of Time character, in which case I would be compelled to agree. :)

/ass

Billy Mays is dead. - Weltall - 30th June 2009

Dark Jaguar Wrote:Why does anyone care about this guy? Yes, any death is a loss, but the fact is this guy was just an annoying shouting shill for products that no one needs and never really worked as advertised. GR specifically, why would you actually miss him? He wasn't charming annoying like Darunia, just annoying annoying. At any rate, I'm certainly glad for a new regulation that prevents commercials from having a volume louder than the shows they accompany. This guy "used" that more than anyone else.

I thought he was charming. He also had this mercenary way about him, as if he didn't really care about what he was selling, he just liked to sell, and his enthusiasm came from the fact that he really seemed to enjoy doing what he did.

I never bought a thing he pitched, and I wouldn't watch a Billy Mays Greatest Hits video, but as far as celebrities go, he's pretty unique.

Billy Mays is dead. - Dark Jaguar - 30th June 2009

I just can't see anything about his shouting at the screen that seems charming to me at all. I mean, he just yelled as loud as he could and made blanket assumptions about my life that had no basis. Further, not caring about what you're selling is more sociopathic to me than endeering. I would think at the very least someoen should have the basic human concern that the product you're selling actually works.

The most I can say is that other guy, the skinnier one that does basically the same thing, is a bit more annoying if only because of those incredibly annoying phrases like "are you following me?" he shouts out as though to say I must be an idiot.

Billy Mays is dead. - Weltall - 30th June 2009

Quote:I would think at the very least someoen should have the basic human concern that the product you're selling actually works.

You've never shopped in any retail establishment, I guess.

Billy Mays is dead. - lazyfatbum - 1st July 2009

Agreed. Also, the fact that there are people who have a guilty pleasure with infomercials. Staying up late with friends and putting on Billy Mays or Ron Popeil is like a past time. I loved the Magic Bullet infomercial too. The old lady at the end of the bar was genius, not to mention the fact that they named their product after a pretty well known sex toy.

Try Billy Mays on youtube DJ, you can see the effect he had on people. He's so excited and happy about that Mighty Putty, look at it pull those damn trucks. Even when he flubbed a line and we saw 'real' Billy Mays in the bloopers he was genuine and loved what he did. That's a charm everyone enjoys.

Billy Mays is dead. - DMiller - 1st July 2009

I had a student who made a Billy Mays spoof for a video project in my class so he obviously has an influence on people. I wasn't obsessed with him to that degree, but his commercials were pretty funny based on his enthusiasm.

Billy Mays Man Purse Spoof

Billy Mays is dead. - Dark Jaguar - 1st July 2009

Did I wander into some alternate reality? Is this how people act in this new world? I've never met anyone who didn't immediatly turn the channel in disgust when an infomercial popped on. Well, at the very least I've never witnessed anyone who watches them as a sort of entertainment, ironic or otherwise.

I can't imagine taking pleasure in that sort of bizarre acting without feeling like I've sold my soul.

Billy Mays is dead. - Weltall - 1st July 2009

Billy Mays made it entertaining. That's why his death was newsworthy.

Also: many of the products he pitched ended up in stores. Oxi Clean actually works really well.

Billy Mays is dead. - EdenMaster - 1st July 2009

He did have a certain charm about him. I never sat down with the specific intention of watching one of his infomercials, nor would I even stop to watch one if I found it while flipping channels, but the fervor with which he screamed about how much cleaner my bathroom or clothing could be was something else, for sure. His voice, his personality, even his look was perfectly suited for the job he had, and he did it well.

As an aside, if anyone here has any familiarity with Team Fortress 2, you should get a chuckle out of this.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LHgEnN2PFzo&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LHgEnN2PFzo&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Billy Mays is dead. - Great Rumbler - 10th July 2009

Billy Mays had an awesome show on Discovery Channel called Pitchmen. It was about Billy and Anthony Sullivan talking to inventors and trying to find the next big product to be pitched. Really great show.

Billy Mays is dead. - A Black Falcon - 10th July 2009

I heard about it, but never saw it...

Billy Mays is dead. - etoven - 10th July 2009

<link rel=\"\"File-List\"\" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CERICHT%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel=\"\"themeData\"\" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CERICHT%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel=\"\"colorSchemeMapping\"\" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CERICHT%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style>HI I'M BILLY MAYS!!!!

And today I'm going to show you how you can turn your wife's used tampons into the most powerful cleaning agent ever!!!

Would you guys like to learn more!!?!?!?!?
Audience Cheers

Announcer comes on the air: Blood, rust, dirt, hard water stains, baked on paint, dried on wood varnish! Nothing, can escape the power TAMPONEX! Simply dip your wife's used tampons into the TAMPONEX solution, and all that dead baby, mixes with oxygen powered enzymes to form the most powerful cleaning solution even created.

Remove blood stains from your work shirt. *Blood disappears like magic..
Hard water stains are gone like they were never there! *Completely unbelievable demonstration follows.

<o:p></o:p>Even strip varnish from old wood, varnish comes off old wood like it was never there!!!
WOW!!! Now that's amazing!!<o:p></o:p>

Back on the air with Billy & Jill Turner: <o:p></o:p>

Jill: Billy! I heard through the grape vine that today, you’re going to show me, how all that dead baby, I have in my trashcans in my one bed room apartment, can make my shower head run like new!<o:p></o:p>

Billy: Take a look here Jill…. *Picks up a silver plated trashcan and pulls out a used tampon *Dips the tampon in TAMPONEX and walks over to a crusty dirty rust ridden shower head.<o:p></o:p>

Simply rub the soaked tampon over the shower head. And with just a little rub, all that dirt rust and grime disappear like magic! *Years of grime and rust disappear in a completely unbelievable display.<o:p></o:p>

Jill: Wow that’s amazing! My dead baby removed that dirt and rust like it was never there at all!!<o:p></o:p>

Computer Animation Runs: Simply dip the used tampon in TAMPONEX and oxygen powered enzymes go to work immediately converting all that dead baby in to the most powerful cleaning agent ever! Rust, varnish, blood, hard water stains, there all gone! Nothing can stop it!!!<o:p></o:p>

[font=&quot]*Whole five minute sequence is re shuffled and plays in random parts over and over for an additional hour. [/font]

Billy Mays is dead. - A Black Falcon - 7th August 2009

Well, that's interesting... so evidently toxicology says that cocaine use contributed to his death...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_mays#Death

Billy Mays is dead. - lazyfatbum - 8th August 2009

Hmm, cocaine is found in prescription drugs. But it wouldn't surprise me that cocaine was passed around at get togethers or parties he was at.

Billy Mays is dead. - Weltall - 8th August 2009

Quote:Hmm, cocaine is found in prescription drugs.

Since when?

Billy Mays is dead. - lazyfatbum - 8th August 2009

Since like forever lol

Billy Mays is dead. - alien space marine - 12th August 2009

A Black Falcon Wrote:Well, that's interesting... so evidently toxicology says that cocaine use contributed to his death...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_mays#Death

Do they put Cocaine in oxiclean?