GossipGabe

I guess we could also think of Leonard Nimoy, who had COPD (=lung trouble) and died. So it's about 1/2, and still 2 months to go.

That's quite bad news... Well, in retrospect, there was a bit too much optimism in the papers, when he was operated on with the earlier tumours (abdomen, buttocks). The tumour in his abdomen was "in a bad place" initially, that's why he needed some chemo to shrink it, but I guess it only became "marginally resectable", and it couldn't have been excised with (sufficiently) wide margins. I reckon he will need to go under the knife again, if he and the medical team are still hoping for a cure, cause chemotherapy alone is not a long term solution for liposarcoma. Btw. he can only feature in the 2016 DDP teams if he makes the starting line... And that's not guaranteed, if something goes wrong with the next surgery, he might be toast before January.

Arrogant and obnoxious, yes. Racist? I must've missed something, cause I don't remember him making racist remarks...

Well, I think you've misunderstood me on Nash. He seemed an odd pick ex ante (when he was included), but proved to be a good one ex post {facto} (after the crash) since he was a hit. <- That's what my conclusion would've been if I hadn't read the cause of death in the reports. But since I did and I learned he had been quite healthy before he died and was able and willing to make an overseas trip to collect his Abel Prize in Norway, I can conclude he was still a bad pick with which the DL Committee got away thanks to sheer luck and nothing else. If he had had a paranoid schizophrenic episode instead, massacring his family and committing suicide thereafter, it would've shown the Committee was right to include a guy with known mental health issues.

I know it was only a rhetorical question (implying it doesn't matter), but sometimes the cause of death might be interesting, even for the success of your 'next team'. Like I found it a little bit odd when John Nash was included in the list - while being reasonably old at 86, he was not known to be extremely frail or having health troubles (except his schizophrenia), and he seemed like a strange pick considering some other prospective candidates, like the late Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Of course, he died, so he proved to be a good choice, but it was only 'by accident'. (If he had been frail and bedridden, he could still live today?) The gallbladder infection in Al's case proves that at 96, even relatively mild and treatable diseases can be fatal - something most of us already knew, but it probably means that medical history is not that important when we're dealing with ancient celebrities.

I'm sticking with Crowe. It has to be him this time. Or maybe I should throw some darts...

Bummer! These old actors are dropping like flies lately. It might be a record year if Crowe decides to stop defying the odds. But even if he doesn't, we have some other people with incurable diseases (Harper, Clive James or van der Westhuisen) and yet others who are very old and were hospitalized this year (Kohl, Schmidt, Bhumibol Adulyadej, Leslie Phillips). There must be something in air in 2015. Maybe the NOx emissions from Volkswagen cars?

First, let's wait and see what that little "bump" was. If it's a recurrence of the cancer, that's bad enough, but if it's not resected within the next few weeks/months, it's likely terminal.As SC said above, he has a "bad" type of liposarcoma (pleomorphic l.), with relatively high recurrence rates and aggressive behaviour, so definitely one to keep an eye on in 2016, regardless of the optimistic statements issued by those close to him. (Even if it's operated on again, he might end up like Hugo Chavez, with the cancer coming back after each surgery. His cancer type was never revealed, but suspected to be a soft-tissue sarcoma, like Rob's.) The 5-year survival rate of this type of cancer is 54%, as I have read on a website today. Now, one has to adjust that average value for Rob Ford's specifics. He's young, but also has a drug history and is overweight. Plus, there is a minor risk of an infection with lethal complications. My guess that Ford has a 5-year survival probability of 40%. But we're interested in the next 14 months, and that probability of survival is much higher. I can only guess... about 60-66%? And then you have to decide if Rob Ford's good 10 points are worth betting on a 33-40% chance, and this chance grows or declines with whatever problem Ford has right now.Yeah, I agree with most of what you say. But one should definitely be on the look for more comments from him, his bro or the medical team, because the median (survival time) rarely gives you the full picture. For example, if it's a local recurrence in the buttocks, it might be resected again without having to worry about serious complications. If it's the abdomen, it might be trickier, depending on the site of recurrence (remember, he needed chemo to shrink it first, cause it was in a bad place). And if we are talking about distant metastasis (-es), the prognosis is considerably worse.

First, let's wait and see what that little "bump" was. If it's a recurrence of the cancer, that's bad enough, but if it's not resected within the next few weeks/months, it's likely terminal. As SC said above, he has a "bad" type of liposarcoma (pleomorphic l.), with relatively high recurrence rates and aggressive behaviour, so definitely one to keep an eye on in 2016, regardless of the optimistic statements issued by those close to him. (Even if it's operated on again, he might end up like Hugo Chavez, with the cancer coming back after each surgery. His cancer type was never revealed, but suspected to be a soft-tissue sarcoma, like Rob's.)

Do you know something we dont?: p We all know he has CLL and emphysema, both are chronic, incurable (but treatable) conditions that can eventually claim his life. Especially, if the lymphoma undergoes Richter's transformation (becomes aggressive and less treatable) and/or the chemo stops working, he can die pretty quickly. (But when that will happen is quite unpredictable.)

sends out Christmas cards four months early. Someone at the daily mail flunked mathsWell, early September is 3+2/3 months, they rounded that to 4. I think this is really weird, cruel and unusual punishment. Why keep him alive, when he wants to die? Who's gonna benefit from that? Let him die and end his suffering, free up a bed in the hospital and save money. Clearly a win-win situation.

So you can type ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช without looking it up on google? ;-) Bhumibol Adulyadej is just a transliteration, not the native form of his name.

You're just a stupid troll. Maureen has never been an official cast member, but Olivia de Havilland & Mickey Kuhn (among the supporting cast) are still alive. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm Think it was a joke - y'know, O'Hara? Oh yeah, never thought of that. :-)

You're just a stupid troll. Maureen has never been an official cast member, but Olivia de Havilland & Mickey Kuhn (among the supporting cast) are still alive. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Plenty of strong candidates, but I'm sticking with Crowe. I have to be right one day.

Bit of a surprise really, I expected one of the cancer stricken celebrities, namely Valerie Harper or Martin Crowe, to go. But at 95, it's not entirely unexpected. And no one gets it right on the 12th death poll...

Most recent news about him is from 10 days ago: his sons were freed from prison while he remains detained in a military hospital. https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2015/10/12/jailed-sons-deposed-egypt-autocrat-mubarak-freed/VuNVDh0ucjGA5hNbzpnDLP/story.html Taking his age and health woes into account, he might not have much time left, but the earlier reports that he was on his deathbed were most likely exaggerated by his staff to get him released on compassionate grounds.

Wait, what? These Chinese are weird people.

First of all, there's a slight contradiction in what you say, cause if they are supercentenarians, they are not "famous solely for the fact they are likely to die in the near future", that's just an unfortunate consequence (or "side effect") of being older than 110, which is the fact they are famous for. Second, I think if anyone ever beats Jeanne Calment's unbelievable world record, that would make them genuinely famous and interesting (since they change something we know about the human race itself, namely its longest documented lifespan). On the other hand, an ordinary supercentenarian or even an ordinary "oldest man in the World/UK/Essex county" is not worthy of inclusion. And while they're valid picks for the Derby Dead Pool, their age is penalized with a low score/hit (just 3, 1/4 of a dead guy in his twenties), so we probably don't have to worry about a "supercentenarian team" getting the #1 spot at the end of the year.

So he's not exactly at death's door yet, huh? Although Sir Christopher Lee had similar plans before his death earlier this year, so you never know...

Well, we don't get any news about him, but he has incurable lymphoma (specifically, his follicular lymphoma has turned into a double hit lymphoma*) doesn't write articles (or blog posts) anymore, he can't take care of himself so he is entirely reliant on his wife. And he doesn't even get someone to update his website. http://www.martincrowe.com Ouch. _____________ *Footnote: He claimed that only 5% of DHL patients survive for 12 months after diagnosis. See this article here: http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/810679.html But he is much younger than the average DHL demographic (they are usually very old with several comorbidities), and newer studies cite slightly longer median survival times. http://www.gotoper.com/publications/ajho/2015/2015apr/clinical-controversies-of-double-hit-lymphoma

Something something gonorrhea!

Well, the article is about the discontent within his own ruling ZANU-PF party, but I don't think he's completely safe just because some veteran politicians there are more worried about his potential successors than the old man himself. If the economy really does collapse, someone from the army or an opposition party can try to seize the opportunity to oust him, perhaps with American support. His comrades within his own party were never gonna be 'violent' with him anyways. At worst, he could have been 'honorably discharged' (forced to resign) on grounds of his advanced age and diminished cognitive capabilities, but he'd then still be regarded as a hero for his role in the struggle against white minority rule. On the other hand, if the army tries to handle the situation, things could get messy...

Note to self: If an interviewee looks good for their age but is an incessant bore, they'll be dead in 6 months. SC Yeah, there he looked like someone in their eighties, was lucid enough to remember some intricate details about his past and give coherent answers. And now he's gone. Well, that only proves that even healthy looking nonagenarians can drop dead very quickly, if not unexpectedly. And that prick casualpolitics guy changed the title of his video to 'The late Dennis Healey's last interview', so that he can profit from his death through monetization. What an annoying c*nt he is anyways...

Plenty of strong candidates. Valerie Harper suffering a relapse in July, Bhumibol and Helmut Schmidt recently hospitalized, Clive James still on chemo, but... I vote for Crowe.