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Tangentially related, re hoarders and death traps, have you come across the story of the Collyer brothers?

Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and Langley Wakeman Collyer (October 3, 1885 – c. March 9, 1947), known as the Collyer brothers,[1] were two American brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. The two lived in seclusion in their Harlem brownstone at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street) in New York City where they obsessively collected books, furniture, musical instruments, and myriad other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to crush intruders. Both died in their home in March 1947 and were found (Homer on March 21, Langley on April 8) surrounded by more than 140 tons (127,000 kg) of collected items that they had amassed over several decades.

The responding officer initially had a difficult time getting into the house. There was no doorbell or telephone and the doors were locked; and though the basement windows were broken, they were protected by iron grillwork.[20] An emergency squad of seven men eventually had no choice but to begin pulling out all of the junk that was blocking their way and throw it out onto the street below. The brownstone's foyer was packed solid by a wall of old newspapers, folding beds and chairs, half a sewing machine, boxes, parts of a wine press, and numerous other pieces of junk. A patrolman finally broke in through a window into a second-story bedroom. Behind this window lay, among other things, more packages and newspaper bundles, empty cardboard boxes lashed together with rope, the frame of a baby carriage, a rake, and old umbrellas tied together. After five hours of digging, Homer Collyer's body was found in an alcove surrounded by filled boxes and newspapers that were piled to the ceiling.



Cause of Death:

Langley Collyer (born October 3, 1885 - died c. March 9, 1947): Langley died first. He was crushed by one of his own booby traps - a makeshift tunnel of newspapers and debris - while attempting to bring food to his paralyzed brother Homer. Langley was buried under a massive pile of junk and his body was not discovered until April 8, 1947, weeks after his death, due to the concealment caused by the debris.

Homer Collyer (born November 6, 1881 - died March 21, 1947): Homer, who was blind and crippled, died alone of starvation and dehydration sometime after Langley’s death. Without his brother to care for him, he perished in the same house. His body was found seated in a decaying chair amidst the filth and clutter.


> Without his brother to care for him, he perished in the same house.

Great example why you always need to strive for independence as a disabled person. If your family tries to directly or indirectly slow that process down, they are a danger to your well being.

-- signed, a blind man


It's a terrible example of why you should strive for independence.

>> Langley died first. He was crushed by one of his own booby traps - a makeshift tunnel of newspapers and debris - while attempting to bring food to his paralyzed brother Homer.

An independent paralytic is a dead paralytic. You can't be independent and paralyzed.


Remove single points of failure, ensure redundancy of dependencies, etc.

Being able to contact other people in case of an emergency by definition would make him more independent than he was, obviously.

Maybe not independent, but less critically dependant, that would be the goal.


sure, tell the blind man what to do


Independent in the context of modern capitalism means attaching to more and more support nodes as everything that was serviced by family/clan in the past is replaced by individual entities that can be activated with cash transactions. (Everything except actually caring for you as a person, those require a strong third place).


I take a cash transaction over my patronising and frankly borderline crazy mother every day. This iddealisation of family has to stop, it is a cruel lie.


The genes say otherwise. Strong families are the only ones surviving prosperity induced population collapse globally.


Infect, Israel is the only Western nation that has a fertility rate above replacement.

Probably because it is predominantly comprised of Jews and Muslims, who seem to value family much more than us heathens.


The orthodox communities in the western countries are growing, but not at a faster rate than the secularists disappear.


Where are you quoting this from? Please provide the source.





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