Russell Baker...is ALIVE!

So...this is boring BUT...my father mentioned something about the old NYTimes columnist Russell Baker as the host of Masterpiece Theater. I said I thought Russell Baker was dead.

One Google search for "Russell Baker dead" later, I had the answer courtesy of DeadOrAliveInfo.com. What a handy site. The point is pretty basic: Confirm whether the person of interest is alive or dead (Studs Terkel? Barbara Billingsly? Robert Goulet?).

But it's most fascinating to surf through some of the lists they keep. I kind of marveled at People Who Died Before 30. It's amazing how young some of these famous folks actually were (Otis Redding was 26, Duane Allman was 24, Richie Valens was 17). You can also browse recent deaths to see what you might have missed. This is good, morbid Internet fun.

Something else interesting: This is basically an informal list of people we'd consider celebrities. Male listings: 5930. Female listings: 1807.