And @sqlrob That is so sad!
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Holy shit, thatâs really sad 
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Iâd totally forgotten he had a small role in CommunityâŚ
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I picked this up from your EuroNews link:
Italy uninvites controversial pro-Putin conductor from Caserta classical concert | Euronews
I recognized the conductorâs name, Valery Gergiev. He conducted Stravinskyâs music live for what is the best (and definitely most accurate re dance) performance of The Rite of Spring. In the article, itâs mentioned that another controversial artist is as being targeted for cancellation. GO ITALY!
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Thereâs more information on what happened here.
It sounds like he got caught in the undertow.
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As someone who lived by the coast and spent a lot of time on the beach i can say that its very easy to feel like where youâre at and what youâre doing at a beach isnât all that dangerous, i can think of many times i put myself in danger at beaches with pretty strong currents/waves. It really makes me sad to think about what his family is going through.
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One of the funniest scenes of his from the Cosby Show:
Referenced by Anthony Mackie on the Tonight Show a few months ago:
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I had never really watched the Cosby Show growing up, but when Mrs. Ficus was learning how to sew garments this was an episode we watched together. The construction fail was all to relatable. Garment sewing is hard!
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Seconded. Rip currents, which are very strong and fast and going out to sea, are spotted by where the surf is smallest.
I donât know what kind of current dragged Malcolm-Jamal Warner out to sea - posting this here as a public safety message.
The flat, calm bit in the picture is going straight out to sea, fast. From shore, it looks like the safest place to step in. If youâre in one, donât fight it. Swim parallel to the shore until youâre back in bigger waves. Then swim / surf / body-surf back in, away from the rip.
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Lake Michigan kills a number of people every summer because of rip tides. Itâs a freshwater lake, not an ocean. These things are so much more dangerous than people realize.
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Yep. My neighbor drowned last year at a beach in Indiana*. He was resuscitated but spent a month in the hospital. He said he just kept trying to swim to shore but it kept getting farther away.
I dont know which beach but he said he was alongside a pier
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Probably Michigan City, then.
Trying to swim to shore, as @nosaj pointed out, is the worst thing you can do. Youâll just tire yourself to death (literally). Either ride it out without expending any effort or swim parallel to the shore to get out of the zone.
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My neighbor said he knew he was supposed to swim parallel to the shore but his instinct kept taking over and kept making him swim back directly to shore. He looked like hell after his hospital stay. Probably lost about 50 lbs and looked like he was smoking two packs a day.
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Holy crap. I had no idea.
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From today:
Part of the problem in Indiana is that for years local governments refused to post life rings. Teenagers and other neâer-do-wells would only steal them you know? And it would give the impression that the beach was safe for swimming (pretzel logic there).
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Yup. From @Axolotlâs link:
According to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, at least 19 people have drowned in Lake Michigan just this year.
While summer is still in full swing, thatâs less than half the total number of drowning deaths Lake Michigan saw last year.
In 2024, there were 51 drowning deaths, which was a large increase from the year before â where 41 people died from drowning incidents on the lake.
Again, this is not an ocean, but an inland freshwater lake. Scary stuff.
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And thereâs the pier!
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As a kid growing up, every lake I encountered could be seen across. It blew my mind the first time I flew into Toronto and realized I couldnât see the opposite shore of a Great Lake from an airplane. âUm, ⌠lake, you say?â Not the same Great Lake, but still.
edit: flow
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