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Long time lurker, first time poster.. Not sure if he’s been mentioned before but one for me personally to watch in 2023 would be Neil Diamond. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018 which meant he had to retire from touring, last photo I saw of him he didn’t look too great. he could have a few more years left in him yet but could be one to watch

Ralph Pearson's death confirmed by UC Santa Barbara. A huge name in chemistry. HSAB is based only on empirical observations, yet it works a ridicolous amount of times. Kornblum rule directly derives from it: if you have a nucleophilic substitution with a bidentate nucleophile (i.e. SCN-) the nucleophile reacting depends on the reaction mechanism; for SN2 reaction the soft nucleophile reacts, for SN1 the hard nucleophile reacts. This is explained just on the basis a carbocation is a hard acid, so it tends to react with the hard base. Naive, but it works most times.

Two weeks until I piss off to NZ for 10 days. Part business, part pleasure. Would’ve loved longer but there we are. I am desperate to get out of the fucking UK for a bit so this two weeks can’t pass quickly enough.

Famous italian singer Franco Gatti from pop band Ricchi e poveri (The rich and the poor) died at 80 years: https://www.today.it/media/musica/franco-gatti-ricchi-e-poveri-morto.html

Two legend have left us. RIP James and Jim.

Yes, I'm a chemist. I've worked on many things so I know a bit of everything. Just a bit...

Well, she was notable, old, had cancer, and is now a unique DDP success!

Carmen Callil dead, 84. DDP pick for Pan Breed.

Knowing the DL committee’s way of thinking, William Roache and Jane Fonda will likely be making debuts next year. The bigger question is: will CNN founder Ted Turner (Fonda’s ex-husband), ever make the DeathList? Big name in the US but not so big in the UK. What do we think? Will we see Turner on one day? He doesn’t feel like the Committee’s kind of pick, to be honest.

Graham Brady receives another letter:

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, known to friends and supporters as "Doña Violeta", Nicaraguan politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997, is 93 today. Howard Shore, the accomplished Canadian composer and conductor famous for his film scores and winner of three Academy Awards for his work on the trilogy of "The Lord of the Rings", is 76 today. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, including "The Fly", "Dead Ringers", "The Silence of the Lambs", "Philadelphia", "Ed Wood", "Gangs of New York", "The Aviator", "The Departed", "Hugo" and the trilogies of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit". Howard Shore has also won three Golden Globe Awards and four Grammy Awards.

Never heard of the Gnome guy. However, he seems to have created Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (?), which was a favourite with my youngest brother back in the day and was huge in the UK.

Jim McDivitt, DDP Pick, reportedly dead aged 93:

James/Jim/Jimmy/Jimboooo/Jamesy McDivitt QO if not noted already @gcreptile: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11326255/Astronaut-James-McDivitt-Apollo-9-commander-dies-93.html

Yes, sorry about that. For some reason I was looking at 2019s DDP.

There are some rumors on Twitter and Reddit that the 8 dead in the Evin prison fire is just the tip of the iceberg, and the Iranian regime is waiting on the protests to die down (good luck) before announcing more names. Given the people imprisoned there, this could get ugly, and fast. In more Evin news, rock climber Elnaz Rekabi, who competed without a hijab, has gone missing: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/18/fears-for-iranian-climber-elnaz-rekabi-after-she-competed-in-seoul-without-a-hijab Iran says she's on her way home to Iran, rumors abound that she's to be imprisoned in Evin once she gets there.

Astronaut James McDivitt, Who Commanded Apollo 9 Mission, Dies

You have a job involving Chemistry? Curious of your background, I understood what you said exactly. As a fellow Chemistry, along with Biology, nerd I'm a bit taken aback. You've done it sporadically the last few years.

Pope Gregory XII died on this day 605 years ago, aged ~90. Gregory was born as Angelo Corraro, and was appointed as the bishop of Castello in 1380. In 1405, he was anointed as a cardinal by Pope Innocent VII. Innocent died the following year, and Corraro was elected to succeed him. At this point in time, there was a schism within the Catholic Church between him and Antipope Benedict XIII. Gregory decided to get Benedict to relinquish his claim to the papacy, and in turn would resign. Gregory's relatives, as well as king Ladislaus of Naples, tried to prevent the meeting due to political reasons. In 1414, Gregory initiated the ecumenical Council of Constance, and in July of 1415, he resigned as pope in an attempt to end the schism, and the council dismissed another claimant to the papacy, Antipope John XXIII, to complete it. The next pope, Martin V, would not be elected until November of 1417. Gregory was the most recent pope to resign until Benedict XVI did so in 2013.

Kathleen Booth gets her well deserved Times obit.

Is Vangelis the first faller from this poll? Will @Etushispushingupdaisies ever return to update the polls? Why am I bothering? Was there ever much interest in this?

Johnson won't be one anyway either he stands down (very likely) or is moved to a "safe" Tory seat. (Based on current polling very few if any of these guaranteed so unlikely)

The question becomes will he outlive them all?

Well, at least they’d be able to rebuild themselves from the ground up. That last seat would be South Holland and The Deepings, held by Sir John Hayes - a horrendous gammon who sustained a massive head injury in his 20s apparently, and it shows.