We clearly need a trauma doctor on the board to help with these little things. I think you can be killed instantly - or at least rendered unconscious instantly with death following quickly - by a well-placed blow to the temple. I freely admit that I learned this by reading Dorothy Sayers (specifically, both Murder Must Advertise and The five Red Herrings). Now, you just have to get someone to fall off a horse and hit himself on the head with an appropriate rock.

I gave in and turned on the heat. to a toasty 66 degrees.

cliffs are good things to fall off of t not helpful

Now, you just have to get someone to fall off a horse and hit himself on the head with an appropriate rock

I volunteer Dick Cheney.

I think if it happens twice in literature that somebody can recite off the top of their head, then it might be exactly the cliche that Susan is hoping to avoid. I don't know whether it's true or not -- there is no "required to live" brain function located at either temple; and it's still probably the edema that kills you -- but it sounds like the kind of thing that happens in novels.

Like how action heroes have artistic cuts through eyebrows, but never have, like, half a nostril sheared off or four broken fingernails and a broken cheekbone.

cliffs are good things to fall off of

Can he ride his horse near a cliff, and a rock falls and hits him on the head?

Yeah, pro'lly sounds too improbable.

To me, it seems like the difficulty is getting the guy off the horse in the first place. Once he's been thrown, voila, broken neck, dead. Getting the horse to throw him while moving relatively slowly seems to be the tricky part.

Like how action heroes have artistic cuts through eyebrows

Those are really easy to get, though, for the record. I know lots of real people (martial artists and not) who had them. It's a bonus that they're hot.

He could ride the horse off the cliff!

...but then Susan would have to come with a reason why he would do that.

It could be Evel Knievel's many-generations ancestor!!

...maybe not.

Like how action heroes have artistic cuts through eyebrows, but never have, like, half a nostril sheared off or four broken fingernails and a broken cheekbone.

I'm mentally CGIing those in now, because it's a funny mental image.

News from CBB:

Jennifer Garner has reportedly invited Victor Garber, her Alias TV dad, to be present in the delivery room as a backup Lamaze coach when she gives birth. According to an insider, Ben does not do very well in hospitals.

Can the horse stumble on some rocks and break its leg?