gcreptile

Aww.. gives me a long face.

^^^^ already updated! So, how are we doing? I can see the finish line, but I am not through yet. Here's my remaining team: Ady Barkan - the ALS has progressed enough now that any health crisis would kill him, but he doesn't look as frail as Fernando Ricksen did in the end (but then, who did). A better comparison might be Joost Van Der Westhuizen? Both are/were frequent tweeters. And Barkan will tweet until he dies. I think he is currently energized by the election. He's 4 years into the disease and would have been a late-year hit in any case. So can he last 3 more months? It's possible, it's also possible he dies tomorrow. Hit probability: 40% Tim Bilton - hanging in there, currently in treatment. Good news last month push him into 2021 after all. Hit probability: 20% Pete Felton - a low chance of a very late obit through the Birmingham music awards in November. But will they actually take place? Will a QO source cover them and will Felton be mentioned? I give it a 5% chance of happening. David Gulpilil - miraculously still alive. I am still 100% sure he will be a hit this year. Hit probability: 100% Yoo Sang-Chul - he was looking good in June, BUT: his reinstatement as football coach of his club doesn't seem to have happened. Are there the dreaded complications? It's stage IV pancreatic cancer after all. Still very much in danger, but maybe not this year? Hit probability: 30% Tom Smith - Two updates in the past year, both with good news. Yes, it looks like he is going to survive the year. It's a bit of a shock. Very Bracknell-like. Hit probability: 15% Alex Trebek: He has stage IV pancreatic cancer, and still looks very stable. I mean, already before that, he didn't look like 80. Good genes. If he wasn't as ill as he is, I would rule him out as a fatality for this year, but pancreatic cancer has a chance of killing someone within weeks - hit probability 25%. Gianluca Vialli - Healed - he survived two fights with pancreatic cancer. My heartfelt congratulations - I mean, he really looked like shit a year ago. Well done. - 5% So yeah, I am looking at getting maybe 14 hits, i.e. Gulpilil + someone else. If it's Ady Barkan, I have won, because he's mine, and mine alone - The others, including David Gulpilil, were picked by almost everyone, too. The canon this year has disappointed a little - Gulpilil, Trebek, Tom Smith and Yoo Sang-Chul are all still alive. Tim Bilton and Vialli are half-canon. A bit like Lee Kerslake and Pat Smullen. I was lucky to have the trifecta of Banali, Smullen and Kerslake - which, I think, nobody else did. All these shared survivors makes the remaining race relatively simple to calculate - for example, me vs Joey comes down to: Ady Barkan (and that very unlikely Felton obit) vs. Susan Bayh/Gavin Robertson/Sylvain Sylvain/Jana Bennett. If I get Barkan, I am 27 points ahead - even Bayh+Bennett+Sylvain only lead to a tie, and my hits are younger. If I get Barkan, it's over. Susan Bayh: I've heard nothing of her lately. Evan Bayh quit social media in 2019, including twitter. We can rule out the typical 18 months-death of glioblastoma, maybe she has a less aggressive version? Would she even obit now? Daily Mail or bust? Well, I don't know. BUT: I can't rule it out. Gavin Robertson: I tried to find out yesterday, if he ever had glioblastoma, or whether it was "only" normal brain cancer. In fact, I am not sure? He's back at work now, and by all accounts, is doing relatively well. Sylvain Sylvain: There was a fundraiser in spring this year, but otherwise I heard nothing. Is he doing well or not? If I recall correctly, it's a less aggressive cancer - but even they can strike, so again: I can't rule it out. Jana Bennett: I saw two updates: She said they caught her glioblastoma early, and then she had a NYT op-ed. The 18 months of glioblastoma would have carried her into 2021 anyway, but with the early detection, I think it's a relatively unlikely hit this year. However, in the end I have to conclude that a Susan Bayh/Sylvain Sylvain combo is what I fear the most - because I can't rule it out! And it seems the most likely option to beat me with only two hits. All the other teams need at least three! For Death Impends, as an example, Jimmy Carter and Gavin Robertson would not be enough, because I win on average age. So he needs Carter + Susan Bayh + ... Belinda Sykes? But she's still tweeting as much as ever (after a short break, possibly because she was in treatment). I think the second-biggest threat to me is actually RadGuy. It depends on how ill Peter Tobin actually is. He might also get Susan Bayh - and then he needs Bernard Tapie, but then that guy has exaggerated his illness for years. Final thought: If Tom Smith had died, RadGuy would be out of the running, but "I will not die, it's the world that will end!" might be the front-runner! He could beat me with Smith and either "Superstar" Billy Graham or Sally Sheridan.

Linda rings the cancer bell at the end of her treatment (with photo): https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2020091897502/linda-nolan-rings-cancer-bell-at-hospital/ MRI scan is about to follow.

No, however msc falsely received points for Marian Cisovsky. It's corrected now. (I must have belatedly marked Cisovsky as "dead" in my main list - forgetting that it would automatically give msc points in the DbN.)

So, let's have an update... Pat Smullen, Lee Kerslake, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and John Turner, a unique for Gooseberry Crumble. Pat Smullen scores joker points for Joey, Banana and Sean. Rank Team Score 1 Death Impends 1164 2 Joey Russ 1102 3 msc 1045 4 Banana 1007 5 gcreptile 990 6 Cpt. Chorizo 925 7 Book 867 8 Clorox Bleachman 839 9 Deadsox 830 10 JiroemonKimura 824 11 DevonDeathTrip 819 12 RadGuy 757 13 The Unknown Man 715 14 The Quim Reaper 703 15 drol 683 16 Sean 677 17 Skinny Kiltrunner 663 18 Torva Messor 641 19 John Key 622 20 The Mad Hatter 566 21 theoldlady 536 22 Toast 535 23 Grave Danger 516 24 Kenny 481 25 The Old Crem 451 26 Etushispushingupdaisies 416 27 Sir Creep 342 28 YoungWillz 334 29 Chilean Way 328 30 Gooseberry Crumble 266 31 Great Uncle Bulgaria 247 32 markb4 241 33 ThePrematureBurial 203 34 Bibliogryphon 192 35 Pedro67 139

Meh, if he dies, Pence gets sworn in immediately and nothing is being slowed down. It would be far more efficient to go for Mitch McConnell.

Pat Smullen, RBG, Kerslake...the Speed is picking up, but daily doubles are missed in each case.

Ah, I'm returning from a little daytrip. Updates will come soon. 2nd Drop 40 update in 2 days. DbN will follow.

I think Joey already made a pretty good team, but I didn't want to take Pat Smullen as well. In fact, I went down my longlist for suitable people and Pat Martino would have made the list, too. So it had to be Gulpilil, who should have been dead for quite a while now.

We haven't heard much of Romanian electronic music pioneer Rodion G.A. lately... but here is a massive article with all you need to know: https://adevarul.ro/entertainment/muzica/legendarul-rodion-sound-ulsi-versurile-parintelui-muzicii-electronice-romania-sunt-singurul-despre-spune-e-nebun-e-geniu-1_5f5b5e605163ec4271e103fc/index.html Fucked by all accounts... but he's been this way for a year now. Looks terrible, has trouble breathing, several tumours, his doctors told him that more surgery would be fatal, etc... Edit: For the sheer ghoulish factor, this is from google translate: "Rodion's disease is not hereditary, but acquired. He contracted hepatitis B and hepatitis C after a visit to the dentist. According to one statistic, one in four people who get hepatitis C then develop cirrhosis. Rodion pulled the shortest straw. "Cirrhosis came from hepatitis. Cirrhosis resulted in carcinoma, which is cancer, and then came the metastases. I have nothing else to do. I let the disease flow. The more you have, the more you have. We usually die in a coma. We're just falling down, "Rodion says in a low voice. But he quickly shook with sadness. Suddenly, he looked victoriously at the radiator and said a word: he had disconnected from the heat. He doesn't have a good financial situation, with these two germs grinding him, music and illness. His pension is 600 lei - his musical activity has not been included in the file - and he says that in winter he makes a cocoon in bed, under the duvet, and watches TV until he falls asleep."

In that case, even if he's alive, he's not shooting down the rumours himself. So either dead or close to death.

Do it! Your second line there is already approaching authentic Deathers indifference.

Suddenly stopping social media posts... quite possibly the best hint we have (apart from entering hospice care).

I'm keeping Jacques Delors.

Lots of people here picked RBG.

And it's RBG... ... I guess 2nd place could still be nice.

Oh yeah, that will be the absolute catastrophe - in the sense that there is going to be something like a little civil war, or a breakdown of institutions and such

VERY relatable. Watched the first 3 episodes now.

Derek Draper is still declining - I wonder how long he'll last: https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/kate-garraways-husband-derek-draper-18889621

Do we really need the "Details to follow" for the obit? I mean, I think the obit is just fine without them.

Oh, Stanley Crouch is also a hit for me, here.

He was always my favourite Tony.

Well, a 3rd unique.... so at least, there's a chance!

Stanley Crouch QO: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/obituaries/stanley-crouch-dead.html

Hehe yes, but maybe it was "only" in-house hospice care or whatever... the obit just says he's had health issues for a decade. I am kind of curious to know what he had though.