RadGuy

Incredible life and career. Just a legendary success story. I really think she was one of the most iconic human beings of all time. Jimmy Carter really outlived Tina Turner, goddamn.

Don't flatter me too much now, msc. Weird year for the DDP. First 8 days of January as busy as ever, then practically fucking nothing until things picked back up this past month. I don't remember a slower February/March in my time competing... As for my team... Burrow and Field might be useful as they were omitted by Spade and Joey, respectively. But won't help me leapfrog anyone else. Randy Jackson I picked because I always miss out on the appearance-based picks (Wetton, Mark E. Smith, McCririck) but seeing almost no other contender pick him makes me feel like a fool. I no longer think he's ill at all. Larry Pressler looked good in pictures earlier in the year. Starting to think he has that neuroendocrine Aretha Franklin BS pancan spin-off that takes a decade to kill. Shakur exaggerating, I always thought that to be the case but he was such an interesting person I couldn't help but pick him. Starmer-Smith should die but old dementia folks always linger, getting flashbacks to Nobby Stiles on my 2018 team... Tilson Thomas not on a lot of teams but he's still very active for now, a late-year hit at best. Linda Nolan is definitely my best bet to leapfrog a lot of the contenders. She only made my team because I ran out of good subs; I thought she would be a wasted spot. Overall, I think my path to victory is very narrow and it's really my fault for submitting such a boring team (16 Drop 40ers ffs!) I already cashed in on Randy Gonzalez, my best pick in terms of separating myself from the pack, but other folks have caught up with their own uniques/differentials and I reckon I'll only be sliding further down the scoreboard as the year goes on...

Sakamoto gives me the lead again. Of course, it's early days, it's been a slow start, and I don't think I have enough differentials to maintain a lead in the long term, but definitely feels good that I've been toggling between 1st and 2nd place since late January. Although it looks like begrudgingly picking Linda Nolan might end up working out for me...

There is the potential for an exceptionally bad severe weather outbreak over a large swath of the U.S. today. National Weather Service has issued Level 5 warnings for the first time in two years (when an EF4 tornado hit Georgia), and for parts of Illinois for the first time in a decade (when an EF4 hit as well). This could get ugly...

Feels weird to say this about a 98-year-old who has lasted longer than anyone expected, but this is very sad news to me. Fuck what you think about his politics or his presidency, he was a good man in an environment that produces plenty of terrible men. I hope his final days are peaceful.

He was said to have a life expectancy of 2-3 years, but in a TikTok he posted in early December he casually mentioned that his chemo wasn't working so I knew the clock was ticking. Would've been a unique for me if not for a TikTok theme team... oh well.

Update on Michael Tilson Thomas. Still performing and recent scan results were positive. Bit early to write him off as a bad 2023 pick, but definitely one of my weaker choices, it seems.

It's getting to be that time of year... Bugging your friend, who's a nurse at Cedars-Sinai, for updates on ill Jewish comedians? Perusing the Premier League forums to see which manager's brother has pancreatic cancer? Do tell.

Bessie Hendricks, who died on January 3rd, is a hit for @deadsox here.

Walt Cunningham dead at 90.

TO KILL A GABOR SISTER Gianluca Vialli - JOKER George Alagiah Rob Burrow Simon Cowell (wildlife guy) Frank Field Roberta Flack Randy Gonzalez (Enkyboys) Rolf Harris Jonnie Irwin Randy Jackson (American Idol) Frank McGarvey Steve McMichael Linda Nolan Larry Pressler Johnny Ruffo Ryuichi Sakamoto Mutulu Shakur Nigel Starmer-Smith Michael Tilson Thomas James Whale subs: Faye Fantarrow Jimmy Carter Jango Edwards

Back in the game after a couple years off. Most of December was awfully quiet for my shortlisters... then in the past 48 hours, I had to scrap Pele, Don West, Barbara Walters, and Pope Benedict - all of whom would have made the final roster (Walters was a sub but would've been promoted after the Pope's death). I don't think my team is necessarily bad, just... boring. Mostly Drop 40ers. My off-forum research was shit. I'm expecting a lot of "how the fuck did I miss that?" during tomorrow's grand reveal.

Saw murmurs on Twitter last week that she was 'gravely ill', according to those blind item gossip sites. Since those can be surprisingly accurate sometimes, I had her on my Deathrace team and she would've probably made one of the final spots on my DDP team. I had settled on keeping this news to myself, rather than amplifying it and campaigning for a Drop 40 spot for her (I like having differentials). I think I did deadpool hosts a favor, last thing they need today is another person on a load of teams not making the starting line.

Spent the past two days browsing the dark corners of the Internet for news on a potential unique of mine (who probably won't even QO), trying to figure out more info on their seemingly advanced cancer, only to find out that it was stage 3a and in remission. There's always room for Bob Barker...

Never before have I had the opportunity to vote in this poll twice in one day, iirc. The 2017 Dawn-Booth double was complete before I woke up that morning. Going for Jimmy Carter yet again but it'll probably be someone random like Sandy Gall.

Near the end of August, sitting at 4 hits, I thought we'd struggle to hit double-digits. All it took was six weeks...

New picture from his Facebook page today, both him and Rosalynn looking pretty good if you ask me. Jimmy turns 98 a week from today.

While Carter and other former US presidents were not invited to the funeral on account of space constraints, they were all sent invitations to the Washington National Cathedral for a special ceremony to be held on Wednesday. Will be interesting to see if Jimmy makes the trip.

So, uh... safe to say we're not in a drought anymore, right?

Hard to imagine Britain with a different monarch. It just speaks to her incredible place in history that I can say that as someone in his 20s and probably get people in their 70s to agree with me. To many across the world, Queen Elizabeth II was simply the embodiment of Britain.

Pauley Perrette, TV's original alt girl, reveals she suffered a "massive stroke" last year that almost killed her.

Front page should've gone with "Gorbachev leaves huge mark on 2022 Deathlist".

Tadeusz Ferenc, mayor of Rzeszów, Poland from 2002 to 2021, has died at 82 (link in Polish). Ferenc oversaw the development of Rzeszów, capital of the Subcarpathian province, from a small regional center into a rapidly developing metropolis; Rzeszów is one of the fastest growing cities in a country where most cities are losing population or stagnant. Ferenc was a member of the Democratic Left Alliance and it was practically a miracle that he remained in power for so long in Poland's most conservative province. His leadership proved popular enough that he was succeeded by a fellow leftist.

Figured I'd drop by after hearing the news about Ms. Tekla. As a Pole and as a long-time supercentenarian nerd, it was exciting to have a Polish woman finally climb so far up the ranks of the world's oldest people list. To clarify just how rare her feat was - no other verified Pole before her had reached the age of 112 (Stanisław Kowalski falling just nine days short of it earlier this year; although, if I'm not mistaken, he technically wasn't verified). Making it to 116 years and 2 months after surviving two world wars in a country heavily impacted by both, various regimes, and multiple pandemics is truly a remarkable feat. I'll admit I was rooting for her to outlive Lucile and get the #1 spot (something I didn't feel bad about it - Lucile herself has expressed that she would 'be better off in heaven'). However, I can't say I'm disappointed. When Tekla first became doyenne of Poland in 2017, I never would have expected her to live for five more years. May she rest in peace.

Thank you maryport and thank you to all the competitors! Goodbye for now, but perhaps I'll be back next year to attempt the hat-trick...