Coroner

A coroner is a government official whose standard role is to confirm and certify the death of an individual within a jurisdiction. A coroner may also conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jurisdiction. In England, where the role originated, a coroner also deals with treasure trove cases. In medieval times, English coroners were crown officials who held financial powers and conducted some judicial investigations in order to counter-balance to the power of sheriffs.

The word coroner derives from the same source as the word crown, and denotes an officer of the crown. The Spanish etymological cognate for a crown officer, coronel, designates a colonel.

Duties and functions

Responsibilities of the coroner may include overseeing the investigation and certification of deaths related to mass disasters that occur within the coroner's jurisdiction. A coroner's office typically maintains death records of those who have died within the coroner's jurisdiction.

Coma

In medicine, coma (from the Greek κῶμα koma, meaning "deep sleep") is a state of unconsciousness in which a person: cannot be awakened; fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound; lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle; and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as being comatose. Typically, a distinction is made in the medical community between a coma and a medically induced coma, the former is generally understood to be a result of circumstances beyond the control of the medical community, while the latter is generally understood to be a means by which medical professionals may allow a patient's injuries to heal in a controlled environment.

A comatose person exhibits a complete absence of wakefulness and is unable to consciously feel, speak, hear, or move. For a patient to maintain consciousness, two important neurological components must function. The first is the cerebral cortex—the gray matter that forms the outer layer of the brain. The other is a structure located in the brainstem, called reticular activating system (RAS). Injury to either or both of these components is sufficient to cause a patient to experience a coma. The cerebral cortex is a group of tight, dense, "gray matter" composed of the nuclei of the neurons whose axons then form the "white matter", and is responsible for perception, relay of the sensory input (sensation) via the thalamic pathway, and many other neurological functions, including complex thinking.

Falling Down

Falling Down is a 1993 psychological thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher and written by Ebbe Roe Smith. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster, a divorcé and unemployed former defense engineer. The film centers on Foster as he goes on a violent rampage across the city of Los Angeles, trying to reach the house of his estranged ex-wife in time for his daughter's birthday party. Along the way, a series of encounters, both trivial and provocative, cause him to react with violence and make sardonic observations on life, poverty, the economy, and commercialism. Robert Duvall co-stars as Martin Prendergast, an aging LAPD Sergeant on the day of his retirement, who faces his own frustrations, even as he tracks down Foster.

The title of the film, referring to Foster's mental collapse, is taken from the nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Falling Down", which is a recurring motif throughout the film.

Plot

William Foster is an engineer, recently laid off in the early 90s recession, and under a restraining order keeping him away from his recently divorced wife Beth and their child, Adele. Stuck in a traffic jam Foster abandons his car, planning to walk across Los Angeles to "go home" and attend Adele's birthday party. He repeatedly calls his ex-wife from a phone booth and runs out of change. Police Sergeant Martin Prendergast happens on the abandoned car, helping moving it off the road while musing about it being his last day before retirement.

Want To

"Want To" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music duo Sugarland. It was released in August 2006 as the first single from the album Enjoy the Ride. It was their first single not to feature former member Kristen Hall, although Jennifer Nettles had previously been featured on Bon Jovi's Number One country hit, "Who Says You Can't Go Home", the song was also the first regular Number One hit of Sugarland's career in the U.S., spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in late 2006. The duo's members, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, wrote the song along with Bobby Pinson. The song has sold 856,000 copies in the US as of April 2013.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Personnel