Posted on 11/06/2004 11:38:20 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Haunting friends and family from beyond the grave just got easier.
LastWishes.com, a Dallas-based Web site, has found there's a lively market for people who want messages distributed upon their death.
Since it was launched last October, the site has drawn more than 10,000 customers who've paid initial fees of at least $39.99 and agreed to annual fees till doomsday, all to get in the last word by text, photos and videos for their loved (and maybe not-so-loved) ones.
"It's an amazingly simple idea," said Simon Schurmer, the company's co-founder.
Customers can leave details on life insurance policies, passwords for computer applications and personal messages, Schurmer said.
Schurmer and his business partner, Jonathan Yeo, came up with the idea when a friend died two years ago. With the friend in Texas and the family in England, tying up loose ends became difficult.
"We didn't have his insurance," Schurmer said. "We didn't know his banks or anything, and we thought this would be a great idea."
LastWishes.com isn't the first site to promise the living the ability to commune with their loved ones. At least three similar sites, including MyLastEmail.com and FinalThoughts.com, have folded.
Schurmer said that won't happen to LastWishes because the site is so cheap to maintain.
While the business is proving successful, Schurmer and Yeo aren't ready to give up their jobs as computer consultants.
The site basically runs itself, Schurmer said, and work only needs to be done when a customer logs out of this world — which hasn't happened yet.
I want to leave an email message for my friends and relatives offering cheap!!1 herb4l V!agr4 from Canada.
I can imagine it was.
Obituaries from Tomorrow: ______________, nobody, died today
________________, mindless Internet worm and hopeless fantasy-land resident was found this morning draped over his computer. The preliminary report from the Medical Examiner's Office in San Francisco, CA was "he was, like, so dead dude".
His body was draped over his keyboard, the letters thereon barely visible through the muck and grime only an unwashed brain-dead pecker could leave. Greil Marcus briefly made news when in 2004 his name appeared on the historic Free Republic.com website. All other records of his life are hard to find, although he seems to have posted banal articles and rants online for several months.
__________________ is survived by his lovely bride, a male goat married at the Gavin Newsome Chapel. Although not legally recognized, much to his chagrin and the hair on his loves chinny chin chin, Greil continued to proclaim his life was nothing less than normal. He said that his critics were the ones who were not normal.
___________________ is also survived by his pet cats, Valkryie and Zotter, who had eaten parts of him when they became hungry. He had apparently been dead for a few days before the goat remembered how to dial 9-1-1.
The responding Police and Tolerance Officers said the stench was horribly foul, meaning that it fit perfectly into the surrounding neighborhood.
The monitor of his aged computer showed the website Free Republic.com had once again banned him and zotted his latest troll rant.
Be careful of what you delete.
aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww... now I feel bad.
Besides, I wouldn't fork over information on my login IDs and passwords for storage on SOMEONE ELSE'S system. That's not just stupid, that's begging for trouble. Sakes...
My first though was of FR too. Some threads become the battle of the last word.
A keepsake to keep forever. Easier than having a "conversation" afterwards with the dearly departed.
More reliable than a crystal ball.
And exactly how does this site get notified to do this? Does the dying person send them an email just before they croak?
Whoever notifies these people to send the last email could send the email themselves. Or notify the attorney to do same.
Obviously, I'm once again missing something.
No thanks. I rather have one of those video headstone thingies.
That's kind of tacky.
I guess some people can't exit quietly.
I would just send one that said MESSAGE DELETED.
Actually, I'm going to have myself frozen until I can download myself into a holographic program. Then I can offer my sage advice and wisdom to my descendents whether they like it or not. : )
Uh uh... That's WAY tacky!
Sorry that I forgot the < /sarcasm> tag.
I knew you were kidding.
LOL
It has been years since I've seen that episode, but I can still clearly hear that screeching voice: "Harcourt! Harcourt Vincent J. Mudd!"
It is seared in my memory; seared, I tell you...
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