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Yeah saw this one too, it will be interesting to see this unwrap but I have yet to see any hard evidance (they are basing it on unnamed sources thus far) to suggest that he did board this flight, it makes zero sense to me judging by the route it took.

I may blow it big here, but I think he has a terminal illness for which he is not seeking treatment. That's a suspicious tribute, and soon after the health concerns.

Hello Everyone, here we are again. Time for a new round, are you up for it? Do you think we can ever surpass the score record of 1838 by DevonDeathTrip in the Death By Numbers of 2016? Well, I guess it's time you try! The general rules: Send me 50 main team names by pm or just post them in this thread, if you want, from now on until Dec 31st 2024, 23:59 GMT. You can choose one joker who gives you double points. Submission form: Just give them in the normal "First name", "Last name" format Please don't number them, don't add any data, like birthdays. And only note their claim to fame if there might be confusion, for example: Simon Cowell (plastic surgery victim) Simon Cowell (wildlife conservator) The scoring is [year of birth] - 1900 = score. So someone born in 2001 will get 101 points in case of death You may submit the following people: living, not knowing their precise date of death (by execution, dignitas, or whatever), at least 18 years old on January 1st, 2025, and being somewhat notable. "Somewhat notable" means: they should at least be notable for something else aside from being terminally ill. "Something else" being something that has an effect on society. Terminally ill activists are okay if they've done at least something generally beneficial, a nationwide campaign, a more than just self-published book, or a notable court case. If they're only in the news because of their tragedy or because they need our sympathy I will not accept them. So no "cancer mums with cancer kids", no "terminally ill fans", no "ordinary person in a coma because of a car crash". This also counts for brothers/sisters/children of notable people - unless they are so notable that every relative is also notable by default, like the House of Windsor, or maybe the Bush family. Unfortunately, it is me who will decide if the person is famous enough. Previous BBC coverage will usually convince me. Also, please, no football player in a non-professional league, who is totally obiting only because of tragedy, and not because the club just so happens to also have a wikipedia page - or any other name that kind of exploits the rules, like Dave Marsh. Any name that gets rejected in the DDP would also be rejected here! Sometimes maybe after the game even starts. However: "Oldest Person of XYZ" will always be allowed - even a completely irrelevant person (in the grand scheme of things) will be accepted if they are the oldest person of their country, or last survivor of World War II, Korean War, etc... Usually those people do not give many points, but maybe 5 pts is better than zero? Often, they are also of a certain "historic relevance", you know President Tyler's grandson, and such. Anyway, I will allow them. You can submit up to 10 substitutes. It was a little stressful for me in previous games to ask for substitutions in case of disqualifications. So if you think that some of your names stretch the fame definition, just put in some more subs. I will make use of them automatically. Once you have submitted your team, it's the final submission. Substitution phase: Up until the beginning of the 1st of July 2025 GMT you may switch 5 old people still alive for 5 new ones for whom all the above rules also apply. You can make use of the 5 substitutions whenever you like, until July starts. But once you decide to switch out picks, they cannot score anymore. And the new names cant score before 1st of July, so ideally you'd want to keep that window as small as possible, but we know that life sometimes gets in the way. When is a hit a hit: If the person permanently dies in 2025 (GMT!) and their death gets noticed in written form by qualifying media outlets within 2025 or the first seven days of 2026. The QO rules are: Everything accepted by the Derby Dead Pool 2025 plus The New York Times. Yes, let's hope that fringe Yahoo names feature a little less prominently - though admittedly, there weren't a lot! Your host: I will also submit a team and will do so below before Christmas and hide the names with "XXXXX XXXXX" and reveal them on January 1st. I will also make use of the substitution window, but only use 2 names. After all, there's always a pretty broad consensus of a couple of names (example 2025: Sven-Göran Eriksson, Johnnie Walker), so I wouldn't steal anyone's names by picking those who are universally known anyway. Also, I will substitute comfortably before the end of the deadline, so you can see my two names. I will not read your submission emails until January 1st (I think you can check that) to prevent the impression that I might take a name from your posts for other deadpools. So if I'm unsure about a name of yours, I will talk to you in the first week of January. If you post your team right in this thread, you save me some work but also give away names. If you pm me, please make sure that I know what the mail is about in the header "Death By Numbers", "Team submission" or something like that. If you have other questions, you can also ask in this thread! Players:

Could go like what Libyan has become. A chaotic mess.

I hope he had a Damascene conversion as he fled, but it’s unlikely.

Reuters quoting Syrian sources say it’s possible he was onboard and is dead. edit: apols didn’t realise this was same reference as two above.

Joe Birrell Telegraph Obit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/12/08/joe-birrell-hurdles-1948-olympics-coached-idi-amin-obituary/

Complications from tripping over an Ottoman. https://giphy.com/gifs/intro-opener-dick-van-dyke-show-AHQ8g0wGYrZTi

Not afraid of dying

Like Boris Johnson's daughter.

Only 2 made it this year. Saw a article mentioning 16 survivors still living.

Well past it. Should call it a day in fact. Old, degraded shit. As for Van Dyke, he can do what he likes!

HARE’S DEATH POOL 2025 – 12th Edition With the 11th edition of this much-loved pool meandering aimlessly to a conclusion, it’s time to generate a bit of pre-Christmas excitement by officially launching the 2025 edition. The pool has grown steadily in numbers over the past few years, and I will be aiming to top last year’s record of 63 entries. Thanks to you all for playing, and hopefully we will see most of you back again next year (even Chel’s obscure Russians). (I have just realized that this is my 5th year of running this damn thing - I really, really do need to get a life). A few deadpool regulars sat it out in the last year or two. Hopefully we might see some of them back again this year as I know that we will also be losing some more stalwarts of this game, and of deadpooling in general. New participants are especially welcome, and I will aim again not to be (too) rude to you. It’s a very easy pool to enter - just gather together 25 names and send them in. No further work needed after that. Add a few names to your DDP team, and you are there. Divide your Numbers team in half and, bingo, you’ve got a Hares team! If you are worried about a QO in other pools, no need to panic - this is the place for them (although you may want to avoid the really quirky local-fame types – it’s amazing how local rags tend to forget about them once they actually snuff it). Your picks just have to die, and they have to take their bloody time about doing it. The rules are published below, and they haven’t changed. Most of you know them by now – no cancer-mums, no family members, and no scumbag criminals. The requirement for a proper obit stays the same, although as is traditional, it will be the lowest of low bars on QOs. I ask this every year, and to be fair, you have mostly all been very obliging. But I will ask again – could players please take heed of the following request for formatting your team before entry. It makes my Christmas and January a lot easier if I don’t have to spent ages re-writing lists and deleting numbers. SEND YOUR TEAM TO ME BY PM, OR POST IT UP ON THIS THREAD. NO OTHER METHODS OF ENTRY ARE ACCEPTED. · List picks in alphabetical order of FIRST name. I realise that I am the only host who asks this and I don’t care. I am a special, unique individual. · Put names in Capital letters. · Do not put numbers in front of the name. This is the worst of all, as I cannot get a spreadsheet to remove them automatically. But please do count them to make sure that there are actually 25 of them – it’s not that difficult. · Put description in brackets after name, only if they are really obscure or likely to be easily confused with another celebrity. Trust me- I know who Jimmy Carter is. · Mark one pick as a Joker (or wildcard- I don’t care what you call them) I will accept entries that are not in this format. But I won’t be happy about it, and I’m generally not a very happy bunny (or tortoise?). Best of luck to you all.

Mohammad Ghazi Al-Jalali, the Prime Minister, still in the country and willing to negotiate with anyone. A rebel leader has apparently already said Al-Jalali will supervise state institutions until they are handed over. On Assad, this says (as partially mentioned earlier in the thread): A Syrian Air plane took off from Damascus airport around the time the capital was reported to have been taken by rebels, according to data from the Flightradar website. The aircraft initially flew towards Syria's coastal region, a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect, but then made an abrupt U-turn and flew in the opposite direction for a few minutes before disappearing off the map.

16) Zhu Rongji (1928), Prime Minister of China

Violeta Chamorro

Kills are for immediate use, assists for Monday…though you don’t get the assist unless Deck The Halls is killed before someone else takes it out of elimination range.

Ignore this.

Report here that Assad has hours before the military start to take control of the situation. WSJ reports that Assad nowhere to be found and as previously noted he missed his expected address to the nation. He’s been trying through back channels with the USA to cut a deal to ditch Hezbollah and Iran if Western powers back his regime. Desperate last pleas. If he remains in Syria, which I think at this point is extremely unlikely, then he’s as good as dead. Turbulent times for Syria ahead.

I can definitely see it. He also jokingly made many health-related statements that might not mean much individually, but the message was always that he was not feeling well, that he would not be around to witness Trump's second term, etc. Granted, he is very old, but he seems healthy-looking enough.

I wasn't sure whether to put this here, or in Room 101. Will people please stop sending prayers TO victims and/or bereaved people. You pray FOR these people, so your prayers should be addressed and directed to the god or entity you feel is appropriate. Thoughts are good, as in "my thoughts are with you" but they should not be paired with prayers.

He doesn't want to have the USA involved - which nobody is asking for anyway? Also an interesting spin that he says Russia is only in Syria to make Obama look foolish - forgetting that they have been there for a looong time.

A better idea is to rename Mary's thread to "Peter, Paul & Mary" and discuss him there. @Paul Bearer @Death Impends

Great host and great pool. I'm working on my team right now. If you could just give me a little more time, I'd really appreciate it, @gcreptile.

Jungle Jack, Mongo, Edie McClurg, Valerie Perrine, Joe Don Baker, obviously Carter and Gene Shalit. Granted we have one more month and some of these aren’t famous enough.