To wit, while the game qua game had its beginnings on the fifth floor of Cather Hall during the UNL Spring semester of 1993, it is with no small measure of regret that I must admit the prototype and form are not of the present writer's (or any other Cather 5 denizen's) invention, but come from the post-punk band Cupid Car Club (aka Cupid Car Club MP) 7-inch Join Our Club (see attached). A moment's inspection should make it clear that ellipses and exclamation points–let alone qualifiers or citations, while perhaps welcome at this late point in the game's evolution, are not strictly speaking necessary. I hope this revelation is not disillusioning to any of the game's participants, who have taken the “Dead”-game to a level of enthusiasm of which I could never have dreamt. (The first independent subject of the “Dead”-game, if anyone is interested, was Dr. Seuss (neé Theodore Geisel), topicality not being a concern in those heady times.)
Alright, Mitch Grady
It's true, the Cupid Car Club seven-inch is where this whole thing spring from, but at that point it was strictly an oral call, not one written on paper or in an email. I do have in my files an actual post card sent to me from Mr. Grady, which may be the first instance of the …DEAD!!! game going beyond a casual pastime for residence hall neighbors.
-Colby Starck
Friedman: verb - to unconscionably flout convention. Kevin provided this definition after Dan called the death of the President of Poland without including his name, any details, or a link. Dan's excuse was “Don't feel like giving a link, so there.”
RUSSIAN MONKEYNAUTS
In approximately 1999, a great debate raged over the propriety of using the d-mail system to notify subscribers of the deaths of animals. Although there was certainly consensus that animals do often achieve “celebrity status,” there was widespread sentiment that inboxes were being unnecessarily clogged (and the system abused) simply because a particular animal's death was reported by some entity. Following a great many exchanges by regular contributors, and the loss of multiple subscribers who became disenchanted with the system, the “Russian Monkeynaut” Rule – so named as a reference to animals launched into space for research purposes – was established.
According to the Russian Monkeynaut Rule, the d-mail system should not be used to notify subscribers of non-celebrity animal deaths.
On February 3, 2010, the Director of Central Services unilaterally interpreted the Russian Monkeynaut Rule to mean that the mere act of being in space did not automatically confer celebrity status upon any animal or person. This was in response to a d-mail whereby a mousenaut, two turtlenauts, and several wormnauts were announced to have been launched into space via an Iranian rocket, and thereby assumed to be on the fast-track to death.
Currently, there are only two officially approved criteria for d-mail “celebrity” status.
If the dead person or animal was:
Monkey movies include such movies as: