Surprise Demise

I'd hazard a guess his last name was actually Burgstaller - it's an Austrian surname and that's the usual spelling. But there's also this grave in Munich (where the movie was filmed) for a "Rudolf Purgstaller" who lived from 1933 to 2006. Would seem to fit well (although that would be a rough look for someone in their late 30s), but there's basically no way to verify it's him and not some other guy with the name.

So regarding Charlie Daze, he was in fact born in Scotland - his birth record being this one: Thing is, a bit like the GRO, the NRS have the inexplicable habit of adding information to their website but not making it visible. I can confirm that this particular record is his because his mother's maiden name in fact listed as 'Haughey', despite it not actually showing up visibly on the field. Anyway, there are 4 other births with the last name Douglas and mother's maiden name Haughey registered in Glasgow: John Patrick Douglas in 1934, Margaret Douglas in 1935, Owen Douglas in 1937, and Jean Douglas in 1940. Given he's listed as one of a bazillion siblings, I'd imagine these, along with Charlie, are the eldest five. This is where the NRS trail runs dry, so it seems they moved to NI roughly in 1941 (and means he's born after that date). Unfortunately, GRONI guards its records like a dragon guarding its loot, so a different avenue than searching for a birth cert is necessary.

Do people actually read what they type anymore? Saying this and then immediately sharing a regurgitated opinion on our political situation as if we'd care what you have to say is definitely an interesting choice - you've invalidated your own point before even saying it...

Tomiko Itooka dead at 116 https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250104/k10014684991000.html

Slightly amused by the fact Lloyd Klein's Wikipedia page lists his birth date as simply "20th century". Exceedingly informative. I don't think her mother-in-law's name is Gabrielle D'Allonches. Quite literally the only other attestation of the surname D'Allonches I can find is a marriage testimony from 1225 AD. Jocelyn and her ilk may have understated their ages - but I don't think her mother-in-law's quite that old! I think what's happened here is just another example of the Mail's impeccable exclusive details turning out to be bullshit. As such, I'm not exactly willing to believe any other details reported about her, though as Clorox said Ruth Langsford's mum has had sneezes with a bigger online footprint than her, so I'd say there's no point expecting her to receive a sizable obit of any form in the off chance that the Mail hasn't pulled things out of their ass.

I feel like there's usually at least one person who's singled out as a pick due to becoming widely discussed in December due to their illness. Last year this was Draper; and it obviously worked out for the committee. However, she has plenty reasons to over-exaggerate the severity of her cancer: especially when she's trying to seek refuge in the UK. Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but I think we'll learn in a matter of weeks that a lot of what has been said about her illness has been hyperbole and we'll see hide nor hair of her for the rest of the year.

The irony of the Thoughts on the 2024 List being so active right before this announcement... RIP Jimmy. No longer suffering.

It's not surprising at all. The two main parties have been constantly been shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to messaging for a while now. For example, Elon Musk has stated wishes to bring in massive, wide-scale immigration of engineers from other countries because "there's a lack of them in America". This solves the problem in the short-term, but what this means in the long-term is that America's engineering industry is going to become fully reliant on immigrants. And as for American-born trained engineers? Well, fuck them, they want higher wages than the immigrants, so he's going to shut them off from the job market. Alternative solutions, like implementing programmes and schemes to ensure more Americans train as engineers - take too long for reactionaries like Musk, who need that dopamine rush of seeing the profit numbers going up right then and there, not in 20 years time. For those who think Reform UK actually wants to do anything about immigration, remember that this is the man wanting to bankroll them. Nigel and his ilk have no allegiance to the UK and would happily run the country into the shitter if it means they can personally benefit from it. Remember when he conceded about 3 milliseconds after the polls closed for the Brexit referendum? That was a calculated move to influence the value of the pound so he and his hedge fund manager mates could profit. If there's one thing I have to give them credit for, it's their messaging and ability to connect with the working class on a level that the Tories and Labour could only dream of these days. I have absolutely no doubts that a Reform government would increase immigration (at least to begin with) as immigrants generally work for less pay so to a hedge fund capitalist that's a win - and they'd get away with it by scapegoating the immigrants themselves, rather than the rich folk who, well, actually make the decisions - hiring them, leasing to them, etc, so they can pay them less. Again, one of Reform's greatest victories is being able to pit the working classes against each other while Farage's rich friends simply laugh and make bank from immigrant labour. Why the main two parties don't constantly bring things major factors like this up, constantly so it's ingrained in people's minds, instead of just letting Reform spew their rhetoric unchecked and falling carrot-and-stick for easy bait (i.e. the Tories battling with Reform over membership numbers as if that's going to win over a single voter?) absolutely flummoxes me.

I'd imagine it's a case of someone writing hundreds of tweets saying "The queen dies on xxx date" and simply removing all but the correct one once she'd actually died. I've seen the same thing happen before with a YouTube channel which "predicted" the death of major celebrities: the videos only gained traction after the celebrities had died: once all the videos with incorrect dates had been removed. It's a very weird thing to do to try to gain notoriety for yourself, but people eat it up...

So you've got: England: Ethel Caterham (115)/Donald Rose (109) Scotland: Jenny Smart (109)/Hugh Kerr (109) Wales: Kathleen Somerville (108)/Owen Filer (105) Northern Ireland: Agnes Thompson (109)/Norman Irwin (106) Ireland: Ruby Druce (108)/Joe Veselsky (106) A lot of mega-oldies don't really get coverage anymore: neither of the Scots have, for example. These are also only the oldest folk who've been identified: it's possible there's older folk who are anonymous.

As enthralling as a five-hour tabloid trawling extravaganza sounds, I know there's probably also some people here who have Google Alerts switched on for things like this, so they get notified of them automatically.

Doesn't look like a reputable source at all. The page was seemingly only created within the last day, posted some vague spammy nonsense, and then that.

In the Columbus films especially I believe a lot of people who were cast as unidentified characters just to pad out scenes were retroactively 'linked' with a character from the books at some point during production, but they weren't actually supposed to be playing anyone in particular, just "sit there, look wizardy."

It's like a lot of niche communities with lauded figures I think - some tend to form parasocial relationships and project things onto them a little. The death of a close family member or friend will always be a sad occasion - even if they are 114 - for those that knew them, but these people have lived much longer lives than any of us could imagine: if people on forums from halfway across the globe only took a moment to step back and gain perspective they'd know that the death of a supercentenarian is not the reason for frantic "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!?" posts. It's unfortunate, but it's something to be expected with an interest in longevity. Then there's the people who get upset simply because they weren't able to pass some arbitrary milestone. I don't really know what to say to that...

Why is it all these supposed 'free-thinkers' sound exactly alike. If I had a penny for every time someone used the redpill analogy for some batshit conspiracy theory I'd have enough money to build my own fucking moon rocket.

Farage is nowt but a scapegoater. If things are going shitty, he energises and riles people up by giving them a 'monolithic' group something to blame ('lefty loonies', the EU, immigrants). People then vote Reform because they then think if Farage gets rid of these groups everything will be all sunshine and daisies, but as we have seen from Brexit that clearly is not the case. It's the Trumpian fashion of eliminating nuance in politics and trying to establish an us-vs-them mentality. A Farage premiership would achieve nothing but exacerbating hostilities between different political factions while quality of life continues to steadily decline - but it's okay apparently because "we know it's [Insert Group Here] that's causing it and Nige has a plan to set them straight!". The man is a clear grifter and could not spare a fraction of a thought for the plights of the common person in this country.

Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, is 66 today!

Caithness is much the same (just look at our flag - we're basically cosplaying a Scandinavian colony!) and despite the disaffection for the SNP I struggle to see how it would be possible to manifest the >15% swing (if I've done my maths right) that would be necessary to have Reform second in the seat. If I'm wrong and they do second I'll eat my hat - in a Paddy Ashdown way.

This is a very weird prediction for second place in Orkney & Shetland The Brexit Party lost their deposit there last time! (with SNP and the Lib Dems being the only parties to exceed 10%) I feel like the Scotland data might end up being a bit off.

The number of Reform votes in Sunderland is a bit terrifying.

The potential Tory gains in Scotland aren't great to see (I'm now ostensibly surrounded by Tory seats!) and Reform being on 13 is worrying, but overall it's looking to be a good night.

Went for the Lib Dems. I've recently moved back to my hometown, which is in the most northerly mainland constituency (and also the largest); which last election was marginal Lib Dem-SNP. I can't really bring myself to vote for the SNP at the moment given the shitshow that's gone down recently, and Labour have done absolutely no campaigning up here and selected some rando candidate with an address in London so they clearly couldn't give less of a fuck. Ed Davey's emphasis on social care definitely helped me feel more confident in my voting decision as my mum has MS (I believe his wife does as well) and it's good to see a party taking a firm stance in guaranteeing support.

Had a dream last night with the Tories on 47 and the Lib Dems on 64. As much as I'd like to see that happen I think we'll get something more like this: Labour 439 Conservative 102 Liberal Democrat 59 Scottish National Party 19 Reform 5 Plaid Cymru 4 Green 2 Independent/Other 1 (possibly Jezza or Galloway) Labour Majority 228 I actually completely forgot the Alba Party was a thing until my postal vote arrived and I learned they were standing in my constituency (Lib Dem-SNP marginal). I'll be interested to see how many votes they manage to siphon as there's definitely a demographic of hardline independence folk dissatisfied with the SNP that probably aren't leftist or environmentalist enough to vote Green.

I'd also put Leila Denmark forward for consideration: co-developer of the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine, who reached 114!

95% Count Binface!