Science Writer, Gina Kolata, On the Influenza Pandemic of 1918

"Doctors and nurses learned to spot the signs. Your face turns a dark brownish purple. You start to cough up blood. Your feet turn black. Finally, as the end nears, you frantically gasp for breath. A blood-tinged saliva bubbles out of your mouth. You die - by drowning, actually - as your lungs fill with a reddish fluid."............Wow, that almost makes Joe Pesci's demise at the tail-end of "Casino" (you remember, when he was beaten into a coma via a baseball bat, stripped down to nothing but his underpants, and buried in a shallow grave while still breathing) seem pleasant by comparison. ALMOST.