GossipGabe

The Club might soon get a new member with Romanian singer Denisa Răducu, who is said to be dying of terminal lung cancer. She is alleged to have been sent home to die from a Viennese hospital where doctors found that they can do nothing to extend her life. http://m.libertatea.ro/section/2/vedete-de-la-noi/cantareata-denisa-manelista-e-rau-1818847 (link in Romanian) Virtually unknown outside her home country, her chances of qualifying for an obit seem minimal, just like her chances for a cure.

Hate to burst your bubble, but your "Queen" is just a Queen Consort, instead of Lizzy's much more impressive (and much more exclusive) status of Queen Regnant.

You mean King Abdallah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. King Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud was his elder brother, but he was ousted from the throne and died young-ish. And about monarchs not becoming nonagenarians: these days most of them abdicate when they get really old. Juliana of the Netherlands died at 94 but abdicated 24 yeary prior to that. Just like Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, still alive at 96. Michael of Romania (95) also abdicated after the Second World War, albeit it was a forced abdication.

Hopefully, yes. However, he's a nonagenarian, whose hair had been turning (increasingly) thin(ner) and grey(er). Maybe he just felt that he looks a bit prettier without the sad remainder of his once bushy and black afro hair.

I always felt that there was something wrong with that quote, hints being that you misspellt Leia's name as Laia, and that – according to the quote – Debbie specified that her mental health problem would continue to be with her in "2017" (as if that year had been in any way special for her). OTOH, the fact that she had been likely to get a role in the new SW movie was not suspicious at all – she presumably already had a contract for it when she died.

It would be, although since Francis himself is turning 81 this year (and still obliged to work, unlike most other octagenarians), it would not be that much of a surprise. Relieved of the stress of the papacy, Benedict can enjoy a quiet retirement, while any major paedophila scandal could bring about a fatal stroke/heart attack for Francis.

Yes, a younger age has some disadvantages (quicker cell division), but the net effect usually means that a younger age is a favourable prognostic factor. Errol has small-cell lung cancer: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525730411001665 Dunno about Leah, but the same is true for non-small cell http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/9/2/112

Real danger? Er... How does terminal (metastatic lung) cancer not equal real danger for you? (Yeah, Errol and Leah are still fairly young and one of them might perhaps survive the year, but there's no chance they'll see 2019, so they're in "real danger" anyways.)

Well, it doesn't have to be a permanent fixture and it might be a severe case of acute bronchitis, but on the other hand, he still looks bloody awful, much frailer than your normal 72 year old. And it might also be something worse and the bronchitis thing could be a cover to avoid publicity. We'll see in a month or two.

You don't say. Btw. as for the image on the front page, it's bad, but it coulda been worse.

Yep, the problem with these late octagenarian or nonagenarian folks is that even though some of them are still pretty active, you never know when their health takes a sudden U-turn for the worse. B.B. King had performed live and Sir Chrisopher Lee had released a new album less than a year before they both died at around the same time in 2015.

About the Drop 40, I'm not that surprised. He wasn't the best deadpooling candidate that I could imagine. He was obviously obitable and ancient, but his age also decreases his point value for most deadpools, and he was active almost until the end (having recently recorded a new album). But, being the legend that he was, he could've had a 30-40-ish spot on the list.

So do we, at least if they are on the other team's list and not on ours. Chuck was great, but for g-d's sake, he was 90. At that age you might be suffering from quite a few health problems and might even be grateful that you are relieved of them.

'Going home to die' is typically used in conjunction with an incurable/terminal disease, like cancer, although even then, you would probably prefer to die in a hospice instead (as long as your deathbed could be surrounded by your loved ones). An acute disease, like a chest infection, flu or pneumonia could be fatal for very old people, but why'd the doctors in the hospital just give up on him if the condition is reversable (at least in theory)?

Bloody hell, Phillip looks like he's already dead in that photo. Those are the eyes of a man who's seen things... IMHO, the hematomas around his eyes are not that dangerous in themselves. Yeah, they don't look pretty, and you can also see something like this on the photos of executed nazi criminals, but their real problem stems from the fact that their necks were broken and their brains were deprived of oxygen. I sometimes have black eyes like this (albeit a milder version) if I can't get a good night's sleep and rub my eyes too much.

That's brave of her. True. Those Hollywood folks are an evil group of beings. Not quite my meaning. Well, the fact that she's waiting till Douglas dies could have two very different interpretations: 1. She knows that the revelation could have a detrimental impact on his wife's (Anne's) health, since the stress that comes with the scandal and its media coverage could be too much for Anne at the age of 97. So she's being considerate. 2. She knows that she doesn't have any proof and that such an allegation would be deemed libel if she went public with it. So she's being smart.

??? Rapist pig? Could you elaborate?

This is a true gem. The almost totally bald Phil with the stern gaze looks like a working class bloke waiting for a bus that's half an hour late (or maybe like Dennis Waterman's true successor as Arthur Daley's minder), and the missus is even more hilarious with the humble headscarf, a coat that is a good few sizes too small for her and the quite unroyal bent posture.

Depends on the people around him as well. As for what he's used to, how many hours a day do billionaires actually work anyway? Probably very few, once you're a billionaire you can basically get everybody else to do your work for you and you're job is checking your bank balance every morning to see how it's doing and if anything is seriously out of kilter you start sacking people. Obviously there's the odd meeting with big clients who need to see the big boss for appearances sake and to secure the contract. I think Trump thought he could also run a country like this, and is suddenly realising it doesn't work like that. Aye, and who does he ring for help when he thinks he's omnipotent? A noname Seattle judge (Robarts) has showed him that he (even as a President) isn't omnipotent. Some historians claim that Reagan was one of the stupidest presidents in recent times according to his IQ, but he was still fairly succesful, since he surrounded himself with clever people and (mostly) took their advice. What we see with the Trump administration is a bit different, cause the kind of people enlisted on his team seem just as stupid as Trump himself. Which probably means he will be exposed to a lot of stress and have to deal with lots of setbacks in the next 4 years.

Nah this is it. This time I know it's the real thing? We're talking about an incurable, degenerative condition. While certain comorbidities that could make things worse (say pneumonia or flu) might be cured, the main, underlying condition will not get better. He was given 2 to 5 years to live in 2011. So it was stoppage time for him anyways.

Joost is just about to cark it. He'll be the second.

More of an ideas and possibilities sort of thing, but nvm: And if You have ever wondered how his name should be pronounced, here's the deal: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444254/arthur-finkelstein-republican-political-consultant-strategit-conservative-libertarian

Still at the topic of sport: Just two days after the inauguration, Jimmy could be seen smiling and cheering the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome, where his team thrashed the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Final. (That's American [=Gridiron] Football by the way).

Prominent Hungarian politician and blogger József Torgyán has died aged 85. http://www.origo.hu/itthon/20170122-meghalt-torgyan-jozsef-halal-kisgazdapart-fkgp.html

Well, besides being a peanut farmer (which obviously meant he had to do physical work), he was an avid runner in his youth that helped him keep fit. Even as a president in his late 50s, he tried to sport a sporty image, which ended in a PR disaster in 1979 when he collapsed and had to be rushed to Camp David during a race: http://people.com/archive/jimmy-carters-collapse-in-a-maryland-road-race-sparks-a-moment-of-fear-in-the-situation-room-vol-12-no-14/ So much for the sporty image...