Dr_T

Rastus and Jerome, a couple of proud big black men were invited to a costume party where they had to come dressed as an emotion. When they arrived their hostess greeted them at the door and her jaw dropped seeing Rastus stark bollocks naked except for a carton of custard over his cock. Jerome was naked too with his modesty preserved by nothing more than a pear. "Oh my!" she exclaimed, "But what emotions are you?" Rastus went "Well I'm FUCKING DISGUSTED", and Jerome added "And I'm DEEP IN DESPAIR!"

The death of Bob Hawke takes my team Pity Da Foolz back into the Top 20. Previously in this forum I said that he was the pick I would change given the chance as he didn't make the Drop 40. Funnily enough, of my 4 picks who were not either Drop 40 or unique, 3 out of 4 of them have died (Hawke, Fatima Ali, Andrew McGahan), leaving only Fernando Ricksen. Looking around the teams I can see I am long odds of repeating last year's win. I feel like DDP's version of Leicester City. Go the Foxes.

I don't think there is much argument that Hawke is the best Prime Minister we have had in my lifetime (1971 onwards). He instigated great reforms (superannuation, universal medical insurance i.e. Medicare) whilst maintaining a sensible level of fiscal responsibility. At his peak he was extremely popular with the Australian public, certainly more so than any other Prime Minister after him (although that wasn't really hard). But at different times in his life he was also a renowned alcoholic and womaniser. He was lucky that he served in the 80s and not under the same scrutiny that the current politicians face where his transgressions would've given too much ammunition to his political enemies on both sides of the Australian political divide. Hard to know how this will affect tomorrow's election other to say that it won't have helped Scott Morrison's chances of re-election. I am pretty sure that by the time I go to bed tomorrow night Australia will have its 31st Prime Minister, Bill Shorten.

The funny things are that there are no high rise buildings in Wagga Wagga. It is a regional city of about 50,000 people. While there may be a few building in the centre with maybe 3 or 4 storeys I doubt there would be anything that remotely qualifies itself as a high rise (although this may just be because building was temporarily suspended by the workplace tragedy described in the aforementioned post). Fosters is barely sold in Australia. You may be able to find 6 packs at the very large bottle shops but by and large it doesn't really exist in Australia. I remember drinking it when I regularly visited Melbourne about 20 years ago where there was a pub I knew that sold schooners (405 ml) for $2. My memory of it was that it is a very nondescript Australian lager, perfectly drinkable but not very interesting. Wikipedia notes that while it is in the top ten most consumed beers globally, it is not widely consumed in Australia. Considering that these guys are tradies who are still on the tools working in NSW I would say that their beer would be most likely be Toohey's New.

The funniest parts of that joke are that they are working on a high-rise in Wagga Wagga and that the bet was for a carton of Fosters.

The Australian Labor held their official campaigne launch in Brisbane on Sunday. There they trotted out all of the living former Labor Prime Ministers except Bob Hawke. Probably doesn't mean too much-maybe just doesn't want to be seen in the same room as Keating, Rudd and Gillard, but could be another indication of declining health.

Barry du Bois looks very healthy in an ad which is on Australian tv at the moment. I think the chance of him dying this year is low-I would have 5%. Here is some information on his condition from the Australian Cancer Council site. Barry Du Bois I had been putting up with persistent neck pain for months when a trip to the beach changed everything. I was enjoying a Christmas surf with my brother and nephew when, after going under a big wave, I heard a sharp crack in my neck. The sound, and pain that followed, made me realise that this injury was more serious than the building-related ache I had thought it was. I didn't know it at the time but that crack was the last of my c1 vertebrae caving in. It took another three months of tests to find out that the cause of the snap was actually cancer. I was diagnosed in 2010 with Plasmacytoma Myeloma, a cancer of the immune system which attacks healthy bone marrow and destroyed the vertebra at the top of my spine. Once the doctors stabilised my neck and I'd had extensive surgery, I started radiotherapy. Being a middle aged, healthy and strong man, I took the highest level of radiotherapy that you can take. This treatment saved my life. I was scheduled to start chemotherapy but at this stage, and we monitor it bi-monthly, I still haven't had to undergo chemotherapy. The disease is still in my body, it's not something that will go away and I'll never be cured of it, but it's something that me, my wife and my team of doctors will continue to manage for the rest of my life.

If they live at Frogmore Palace I think Kermit has to be a real possibility.

To be honest, the whole thing is quite pointless really isn't it? while it can be quite random, it is interesting to follow your team to see where the bar is on who obits and who doesn't.

Not quite the right metaphor. To me, it is more like trying to deliberately hit fouls to break the record for the longest at bat. After all, the endeavour takes some level of skill to identify these poor unfortunates who are going to die but don't have the requisite level of fame. But at the end of the day it is in itself, pointless.

Good luck to everyone in the quarter finals. Interesting to read the masterlist. No surprise that as we move towards the pointy end of the competition that the runners are more obscure. Certainly wouldn't like to have my name on there! Good luck to them as well.

Someone who died a couple of years ago but very topical in Australian and probably a lot of American media today. Justine Damond Ruszczyk was shot dead by an American police officer a couple of years ago after calling the police about a possible rape. Today the police officer, Mohamed Noor, was found guilty of third degree murder and manslaughter. It was a very tragic incident but interesting to see the American legal system charging and sustaining a guilty verdict of murder by a police officer on duty. By my count 59 Scrabble points c.f. age of 40. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-01/mohamed-noor-guily-of-murdering-justine-damond-ruszczyk/11060600

Kathleen Blanco might be moving into scoring position. https://www.wbrz.com/news/former-governor-kathleen-blanco-under-hospice-care/

Hawke said before Christmas that he might not live long enough to see Labor topple the Coalition-the election has been called for May 18. I doubt that he'll croak before then but he is looking very frail and he has lived hard at times.

Well I pity da fool that gets knocked out in Round 2. Well done Torva! Best of luck to you and everyone else in Round 3.

Things definitely not looking good for former Australian test cricketer Bruce Yardley. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/former-australian-cricketer-bruce-yardley-dies-20190327-p5186e.html

Things not looking good for Tom Long. https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/seachange-star-tom-long-has-months-to-live/news-story/93975fb4a9436fee2809091c7c2e5f77 Would definitely expect him to QO for DDP mainly due to his regular cast role in Seachange where he was excellent. Also good in the movie Two Hands which is one of my all-time favourite Australian movies.

Well I pity da fool who doesn't like a terrier (thanks for the demotion by the way SC-or is it a promotion like with surgeons?). The proud Australian terrier, while an excellent ratter, was bred specifically to catch snakes. Though I hope Clancy never comes face to face with one I am sure he would acquit himself nicely. One thing I do know is that he can grab something and shake the shit out of it.

I am very much a dog person. I have a beautiful Australian terrier named Clancy. We also look after (sort of full time foster care) a West Highland Terrier called Hamish. They might be small but they can be a lot of dog when they get their terrier on.

No inheritance tax in Australia. I think this is very wrong. Because your primary place of residence is exempt from asset assessments for the calculation of eligibility for social security (old age pension) many of the older folk will hang on to their house (which might be worth 1-2 million dollars or more) where they could sell their house and move into smaller and more manageable accommodation and live off the proceeds. This policy would be electoral suicide if either party suggested it. Meanwhile the oldies are sitting on this huge asset, eventually die and leave a very tidy inheritance to the next generation. To make all of this affordable and sustainable either the house has to be considered as an asset for social security or there has to be an inheritance tax. I'm ok...in fact I'm in the gonna inherit a house eventually category but it all seems like a bit of a Ponzi scheme which will be paid for by the next generation.

As a lover of irony the passing of Mike Willesee wasn't missed. I managed to win last year mostly by trawling the lists of the first half a dozen placegetters in 2017 for survivors. Willesee did not make my 2019 list. It was hard to get a handle on him and the news that made it into the media (up to about August) all suggested that he was responding well to treatment. Considering he was never going to be either unique or Drop 40 meant that he was no value for DDP.

I think this joke was on this thread earlier except that it was Myra Hindley was walking with the little boy (somewhat darker humour when real people become involved). Considering that we are on the 113th page of this thread I think we can excuse the occasional repeat.

Firstly may I thank Markb4 for being so gracious in accepting me back into the competition. In a normal league hearing that your opponent has been disqualified and then re-admitted into the competition would cause disruptions in preparation, perhaps not so here unless Mark had organised some hits which he subsequently cancelled. Sorry for being slow in catching the problem...I was away from work because I got my little dog desexed and so was only very sporadically checking the forums-which I mostly do in between less important work duties (like now). Replying from home also involves typing on the Ipad which I find frustratingly slow and inaccurate compared with a keyboard. But enough about me. Funnily enough I was talking about Andrew McGahan at work the day before I found out he had cancer (because someone selected him in Advent Avalanche). For a period he was quite famous in Australia due to the success of his initial book "Praise". Not exactly a household name, but certainly well-known for people of my vintage and especially in Brisbane where the book was set. I was talking about buying the book and reading it only to find the second and third last leaves missing, leaving me with the last leaf which had about 1.5 paragraphs in it. I found the book too gritty and not overly interesting, so I just got my refund from the shop and never worried about the bit I missed. It dealt with a poor local subculture of which I was already too familiar and which had been told much more entertainingly in John Birminghham's "He Died With a Felafel in His Hand". Mrs T couldn't remember whether or not she had read the book. I asked he if she remembered a scene where a young couple were having a bath in a communal bathroom in a boarding house where she was rubbing cream into the eczema on his back while they listened to an old man in a nearby toilet shitting? She couldn't so I suggested she hadn't read the book.

I think Patricia Routledge, who played Hyacinth opposite Clive Swift, should occupy the #50 spot for as long as necessary (if you know what I mean), after all it would be the best death Tagline in the history of deathlist......"Kicked the Bouquet!"

Thank you, sorry for causing so much bother.