Microsoft has had its own share of ritual beheadings, most recently and visibly, Steven Sinofsky, the former leader of the Windows Division, who clashed with other top executives.
And so are the amusements, from high-tech rollercoasters to nostalgic charmers like Schichtl's famous fake beheadings and the flea circus where trained pests provide the oomph for miniature chariots that outweigh them a thousand-fold.
The news out of the once-glamorous record business is mostly grim these days, as it has been since the advent of the original Napster--headlines tend to highlight sales declines, a lack of new superstars and executive beheadings.