gcreptile

After the 2020 game reveal, when Tom Smith made the Drop 40, I thought that he was the one joker to have. But now it's looking suprisingly risky.

As I update for Ruth Morrissey, we now have 6 teams within 4 points. Has it ever been so close, so relatively late in the year? Well, we have 5 months left, and lots of potential hits that can change the scoreboard.

Indeed, we have a batch of new hits, all of whom have been picked quite a few times: Judy Dyble, John Lewis, and Ruth Morrissey. Kieran O'Connor was actually subbed out, but Death Impends still continues his lead with a healthy distance. JoeyRuss however has the trifecta of these three hits and advances to nr 2. Fi Munro seems, somewhat surprisingly, to become a non-obit. I think she would more likely have obited one or two years ago. Both Morrissey and Munro were, in my opinion, more than just "cancer mums" - one was a legal case with influence on a whole country, one was an author/fundraiser/activist for years. But here we now see, these cases can still be risky. Rank Team Score 1 Death Impends 889 2 Joey Russ 777 3 gcreptile 742 4 Banana 729 5 msc 723 6 Cpt. Chorizo 677 7 RadGuy 626 8 Book 619 9 DevonDeathTrip 585 10 Deadsox 573 11 JiroemonKimura 558 12 Clorox Bleachman 545 13 The Quim Reaper 535 14 The Unknown Man 491 15 John Key 475 16 Skinny Kiltrunner 465 17 The Mad Hatter 449 18 Torva Messor 433 19 Sean 422 20 Grave Danger 420 21 theoldlady 403 22 drol 398 23 Toast 360 24 The Old Crem 351 25 Sir Creep 342 26 YoungWillz 297 27 Kenny 288 28 Etushispushingupdaisies 285 29 Chilean Way 279 30 Great Uncle Bulgaria 214 31 ThePrematureBurial 203 32 Gooseberry Crumble 200 33 markb4 192 33 Bibliogryphon 192 35 Pedro67 92

James Lovelock says that he (and life on Earth) is in the final 1% of his life: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/18/james-lovelock-the-biosphere-and-i-are-both-in-the-last-1-per-cent-of-our-lives So, a 101-year old man in his final 1%. Can we take it literally?

Well, he beat it... ...and now it's back: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/bobby-fulton-s-throat-cancer-has-returned

Warhol "Factory" member Brigid Berlin (real name), dead at 80: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/brigid-berlin-warhol-superstar-dead-1202694766/ Also appearing here and there in pop culture, for example, in John Waters movies.

Jean Todt visited him last week and came with a sort of non/update:"He's working on being able to publicly appear again": https://www.bild.de/sport/motorsport/motorsport/michael-schumacher-fia-boss-jean-todt-spricht-ueber-besuch-bei-schumi-71964736.bild.html

Trump's commerce secretary Wilbur Ross hospitalized with corona-like symptoms: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/18/us-commerce-sec-wilbur-ross-hospitalized.html Edit: Meh, they have since said that the symptoms are not corona-related. My source "some comment on a blog" was wrong.

His daughter and granddaughter are infected as well, and they are all re-united in the same hospital: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/18/bollywood-star-aishwarya-rai-bachchan-taken-to-hospital-with-covid-19

Hmm, I think my browser must be blocking the pop-up window to show the winners.... Edit: Okay, well done to @DevonDeathTrip @theoldlady @Spade_Cooley @Prophet @Perhaps @Torva Messor @Genfærd @ThereWillBeDeaths7 @Newjack @Sean @JiroemonKimura @Cant Wait @chiesa52 and myself. @Tou gets a cone of shame for voting just now. Thanks for playing!

Three men, three pancreatic cancers... .... one of them just turned 80. ...one of them is just about to..... ...one of them has just a little more to go, but will he make it? Rep. John Lewis, Alex Trebek, Sen. Harry Reid... who of these people dies first? I think it's going to be John Lewis, because he's black (indeed, worse statistics!).

Indeed, I forgot about this!

Ru Paul's Drag Race's ChiChi DeVayne has been hospitalized for possible kidney failure: http://www.out.com/drag/2020/7/17/drag-races-chi-chi-devayne-hospitalized-possible-kidney-failure This show also deserves its own thread, but I leave it to Spade to open it.

So her recent infection could be a consequence of the chemotherapy. So actually, she's doing better now than she did two months ago - but we didn't know back then how badly she was. But honestly, as soon as the treatment stops working, it's a matter of just a few weeks.

From the BBC:

Zizi Jeanmaire a hit for some: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/07/17/zizi-jeanmaire-gamine-dancer-singer-seduced-france-flamboyance/ Also , Yorkshire Banker gets points for Johnny Beattie (that DDP update is still fresh on my mind): https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-53354314

As posted in the main thread, Kieran O'Connor's QO: https://www.skysports.com/gaa/gaelic-football/news/30553/12029222/kieran-oconnor-all-ireland-winner-with-cork-dies-aged-41

Kieran O'Connor was a pick for me here. Let's see if a QO comes up. But those eight (?) points would only put me at no. 3. Three points below Cpt. Chorizo and one point below Jiroemon Kimura.

Wasn't there an Irish thread somewhere? Gaelic footballer Kieran O'Connor dead after a long cancer fight at 42: https://www.the42.ie/kieran-oconnor-cork-football-5150981-Jul2020/

Personally, I believe that some countries have their fingers on the scale. And poor countries probably have a lot of COVID-19 deaths under the radar. I could very well imagine a "final" death toll - in the way that things can ever be final - of above 10 million people. But we will only know it when we have good statistical data on anuual excess deaths, which might take 2-3 years.

In the context of the death of Toke Talagi... there are three octogenarian ex-Premiers of pacific island nation Niue - Young Vivian, Frank Lui and Sani Lakatani.

She's got to survive - the chaos would be too much. Do you remember that the Republicans blocked Obama's replacement for Antonin Scalia, Merrick Garland, with the reason that presidents don't get to pick Supreme Court justices in their final year? Do you think the republicans will follow that argument with Trump? I think they won't. And then the issue of court-packing will come up again. It's going to be absolute drama.

Sir Toke Talagi, long-time Premier of pacific ocean nation Niue dead at 69: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/421272/former-niue-premier-sir-toke-talagi-dies-after-lengthy-illness It comes just a few weeks after his loss in his attempt at a fifth term. He was already described as frail and ill during the campaign. I wonder if he QOs... like Sprent Dabwido.

Well, I hope the Emu doesn't get infected.

Rush Limbaugh believes in the power of prayers: https://www.christianpost.com/news/i-believe-prayer-works-rush-limbaugh-says-in-cancer-treatment-update.html