An Increase in Suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/us/26bcjames.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share

In case the title doesn't work as a link, the above link should and my title says it all. It may be the economy which means the money for constructing the barrier is needed more than ever.

Mean people suck revisited

A couple of weeks ago, 3 people who had stepped over a barrier at one of the waterfalls in Yosemite fell to their deaths. It's been in the media quite a bit, obviously.
Shortly afterward, my husband mentioned hearing it discussed on call-in radio shows. He listens to quite a lot of those on the way to and from work (long commute) and noticed that there were a lot of ugly comments of the kind left in the San Francisco Chronicle when the suicide barrier was being discussed.
What he found very interesting was the person calling in who said he had mentioned this story on his blog and, because commenters have to leave their full name, found that the comments were nowhere near as nasty as those in other places.
I think it's the same old anonymity bringing out the worst in people.
Here's the link to the article I posted back then:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1821646,00.html
Still applies, obviously.

Suicide on the increase among middle-aged women

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43714272/ns/today-today_health/

An interesting article that came to me via the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It talks about the increase in the rate of suicides and suicide attempts among women over 50. There's no consensus on what exactly is causing this, but there several possibilities are mentioned.
The one I find quite interesting (in a disturbing way) is the one mentioned towards the end saying that women of that age become more aware of their mortality and think it's too late for happiness. I find that very sad.

Sad, but true

Not trying for a record number of posts today, but a friend posted a link to this on FB:

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/humor/2011/04/the-elusive-golden-gate-bridges-suicide-barrier/

Hands across the bridge

This happened yesterday. No, I wasn't there for a variety of reasons. Wish I could have been.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugJWxOpd5NA

Another article

A friend of mine on facebook posted a link to an article in Time Magazine from 1970. Of course, it's about the bridge and suicides. Interestingly enough it mentions both Richard Seiden and Edwin Shneidman.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,902667-1,00.html

Another life lost

This (http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/05/allison-bayliss-still-missing-as-fear.html)
has been all over the (mostly local) news and facebook over the past week. Another life lost needlessly, another teenager who had to look up directions on how to get to that bridge. And again, no body found as happens so very often.
When she first went missing, there was hope that she had gone off somewhere and would be found. Eventually, her bike was found near the bridge and the search efforts turned into a recovery effort.
So said and so unnecessary.
A few more links, there was quite a bit of media attention - not quite so much now.
http://www.danvilleexpress.com/news/show_story.php?id=5700
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/24/BA441JK7DI.DTL
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2011/05/allison_bayliss.php