Tomb raider

...is not dead, but he did deliver some words of wisdom which anyone of us should take to heart: Well, if I was to spread a fake rumour like that, I certainly would choose a less obscure celebrity. To be frank, I never heard of the guy until this morning. I certainly had seen his face before in one of those extremely non-funny family movies which are broadcasted by the cartloads during the Christmas holidays, but I can't say he ever caused as much as a feeble smile.

Good old Joran van der Sloot, responsible for the missing of spoiled American brat Natalee Holloway in Aruba and allegedly involved in trading Thai women is now suspect in a Peruvian murder case. Word has it that it will be his last crime, as he is reported dead. Apart from the fact that he clearly is a disturbed sociopath, one has to admire his cosmopolitical view. Can't deny him a sense of handling women, either.

I say: former Grand duke Jean of Luxembourg for DL 2010! I mentioned him before at the ideas and possibilities thread, and the man is not getting any younger. Not the hottest debated royalty, the Luxembourgers, but a dead royal always stirs some attention. Former Grand Duke Jean is now 88 years old, and has been looking more and more frail over the last couple of years - especially after the dead of his wife Josephine-Charlotte in 2005. He has had a hip replacement last year and is said to recover slowly (according to the always well informed Royal Forums - they're the only ones who give a f*ck).

Still looking for an English source, but according to spanish newspaper ABC (and quoted in the Dutch Volkskrant), Chavez has no longer than a year to live. They allegedly laid hands on his personal medical file, which indicated that the cancer has spread to his bones and his back.

My apologies, I'm not on facebook and the joke was new to me until very recently. Even taken into consideration that the McKeith-photograph is probably the least flattering they could find, it's still absolutely clear to me that time has been much kinder to Nigella Lawson than to the cardboard-eating old hag. Having all the money of the world can only take you so far.

Dear guest, As a veteran (though irregular) visitor to this forum - I haven't been posting for about a year - I consider myself well-equipped to try and answer the questions that clearly haunt you about this site. It seems that a quick glance was enough for you to classify all DL-posters as mentally insane. That's clearly unfair. Many of them might be a little bit... er... unusual while hiding behind their DL-aliases, but I suspect most of them to be as boring and mainstream as you and I. Perhaps a little bit better educated than average, perhaps a little bit more nerdy than average, perhaps a little bit more male-y than average, but probably less than half as flamboyant and weird as you'd imagine. Most of them seem to have plenty of time on their hands, just as you do, but hanging around here is not necessarily a bad thing to do with your spare time, is it? At least they're not roaming the streets, hanging around with criminals or looting London's shops. (Or at least I didn't... Anyone feels like confessing something?) You lost a child, which is a tragedy that no-one here would make fun of. But I really don't feel it has anything to do with this site or with the morbid fascination of its visitors. In fact: I don't even believe that hanging around DL regularly indicates someone being intrigued by the big questions of life and death - all it points to is a certain sense of humour. We're not laughing at death, we're just mocking life. It's up to our realtime alter egos to celebrate it, and I have no doubt whatsoever that most of us succeed in doing so. Best wishes, Tomb raider.

I wholeheartedly agree with Spade_cooley (post #7)! And Nigella tickles my nerves in many ways, for example: (for another example, see the second picture)

From the always reliable source "I read it somewhere" I seem to remember that Dubya's memoirs are ghostwritten, for a considerable sum at that. regards, Hein If there's words of more than three syllables in it, that's all the proof I need... I have no intention whatsoever of reading the book, but scanning the reviews proves to be quite entertaining.

I've been very busy lately, Vaagy, but I'll come up with a team shortly...

My 500th post and I couldn't think of anything better than 'Dole in the hole'...

I'm not American, but I actually DO feel better with 'a nigga' in charge. Now piss off, you moronic redneck... Bush jr. had been in the news lately for quite remarkable reasons: his library opened, and he wrote his memoirs. The astonishing thing is that Dubya is very unlikely to be able to read and write on an adult level... (For unbiased proof, see this letter.)

O damn! I really should have combed through Wikileaks... Talk of Supreme Leader's imminent demise likely to be somewhat exaggerated.

The Grim Reaper is taking her piece by piece... A very safe pick for the DL 2011, me thinks.

It had been very hectic at work lately, so I completely forgot my entry for the DDP 2011. Would you believe it!? The bright side is that with every celeb's death I can easily claim that I would have picked him/her for the DDP, so I firmly expect myself to (virtually) have won the contest by the end of the year.

Angela Lansbury. No reason whatsoever.

According to this, 2010 might still turn out to be a record-breaking year for DL. I'm not sure how many picks reside near LA, but there's probably plenty of them. A major disaster in London might do the trick even better, though.

Ah, really? Is that common among DL'ers, I wonder? My girlfriend knows all my bad habits, and is always complaining about my morbid and tasteless interests - which are typical for regulars here, I suppose. Especially when I leap for joy after a new hit, she's eyeing me with a combination of embarassment, amusement and pity. It goes both ways, though. Her fascination is Farmville...

Don't know anything about the guy or about the Sun's mistakes, but seeing a photograph of Hewlett for the first time made me wonder why so many paedophiles look that creepy... No child or parent in his right mind would trust a guy like this (founder of the now dissolved Dutch pedo party), this or this?! Or is it just the ugly ones that get attention and is it the guy-next-door that we should be afraid of?

Glad to have been of help!

The frontpage reads: "Fignon was probably considered as the best French cyclist of his era," which is completely untrue. Bernard Hinault - who won the Tour de France in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985 was the real French champion. The real dauphin behind Hinault was not Fignon, but the American Greg LeMond, Tour winner in 1986, 1987 and 1990. When Hinault ended his career in 1986, Fignon's days as a champion had already been counted - despite him winning the Tour of Italy in 1989, of course.

Another hit for my NDP-team (though a painful miss for the PNDP...)!!!! Sports journalist Jean Nelissen has passed away, aged 74.

There's no reason to call Pope Benedict such names. "Heathen" very much depends on your point of view and if there was a Nazi pope, it was Eugenio Pacelli, aka Pope Pius XII, aka Hitler's Pope. regards, Hein And what's more: having a pope on the DL is pretty much an ordeal. Once picked, you can't afford to skip him in following years, it would be the miss of the century. Pope Benedict seems to be quite healthy for his age (83) - especially compared to the Venerable pope John Paul II. The latter made it to 84, I just can't see Benedict snuff it at a younger age than his predecessor.

Ah, really? I'll give it a thought every now and then, and let you know what I come up with.

Nothing beats a dead nazi! So I decided to vote for Thatcher.

I second that! I already expressed my feelings towards Fignon more specifically here. He certainly will be remembered as one of the greatest champions in cycling. (And a little cheer to myself for a quite lucrative DDP-success! Fignon's 9 points brought me back in the top-50, I suppose. Still feeling bitter about the missing Mayer-obit, though, that would have secured me a place in the top-20... )