gcreptile

Daniel Cordier, most important still living member of La Resistance: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44723996 Has a Wikipedia page in France, 97 years old. I guess especially the french teams might consider him.

Hospitalised again because she has two blood infections and feared for her life: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5926743/Danniella-Westbrook-rushed-hospital-TWO-blood-infections-pal-Kerry-Katona.html Oh, and she was taken to hospital by Kerry Katona..

BBC Sheffield radio presenter Jimmy Carol beaten unconscious in a bar in Spain, not expected to last much longer: https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/he-has-very-slim-chances-of-pulling-through-condition-of-ex-bbc-radio-sheffield-presenter-attacked-in-benidorm-worsens-1-9237740

The "pure" cancer mums are probably the same as last year, we have Sara Chivers and a lot of once-or-twice-picked people, Emily Kendrick, Julie Shaw, Lynda Spargo, Sheri Ekladios.... But I guess we had no vaguely-prominent-yet-mostly-terminal ill people this year. Ok, Kris Hallenga is still alive, but there's no Kate Granger, and no Rowena Kincaid. Also no Mark Sims. Did we have a new Joey Feek? Maybe Jessica Falkholt? We have different famous-for-being-ill types though. Ian Toothill, Pete Frates, Noel Conway, possibly even Satoru Anzaki.

Ah ok, thanks, and sorry. Too many high-profile non-obits this year.

France - Belgium 2-0

Update, now with a score reduction to reflect that half of the year is already over. Technically, I simply reduce the score of all people whose "mortality" is below 100% by a third. Whenever someone on my longlist dies, the chance of dying goes up to 100%, so all the people alive have their score reduced by 33%. Exception: John McCain, as I mentioned, I have his chance of dying already at 100%, so his score doesn't get reduced - I was too lazy to make the exception in the formula. Franco Zeffirelli would be another case, but he's irrelevant for the virtual scoreboard. Anyway, why 33%? Because some people were likely to be latter-year deaths anyway, and expected as such. Some were not and are hanging around for longer than generally expected (like Philomena Lynott, or maybe Charlotte Rae). So 33% as a reduction after 50% of the year is ok for me. Anyway, this gives an advantage to the teams who already have higher scores and more hits. Joey and Bucked of Blood currently have 10 alive people left on their teams, so there's a points reduction only for these 10 people. There are also those who have 10 people still alive, but fewer hits - like Thomas Jefferson Survives (8 hits, 2 non-obits), or 20 Hits no Problem (9 hits, 1 non-obit), or Pity Da Foolz (8 hits, 2 non-obits). I think these teams are the only ones with 10 people still alive, so they get punished a little less than the other teams with at least 11 survivors. Consequently, they enjoy an advantage on the new scoreboard over the other teams - and the result looks like this: 1. Day in the Death (166,14) +2 2. Bucket of Blood (164,66) +2 3. The Love Boat (159,61) +2 4. Deceased Hose (158,94) -3 5. Dead Ends (156,93) -3 6. Drollercoaster (154,7) +7 (!) 7. Still Life (152,83) +1 8. Ethnic Cleansing (151,73) +3 9. Thomas Jefferson Survives (149,56) +10 (!!) 10. To Kill a Gabor Sister (149,38) -3 11. Dead Wait (148,44) -5 12. Wormer, he's a dead man! ... (147,94) +2 13. Poochie Died on the Way Back to his Home Planet (147,5) -1 14. The Living End (147,43) +1 15. Pan Breed (147,31) +3 16. Heading Nowhere (147,09) +1 17. GUN Ami Brown (145,19) -8 18. GUN Gabriele Grunewald (145,1) -8 19. The Blight House (142,74) Re-Entry 20. Shaun of the Dead 69 (141,8) -4 The hits are Matt Cappotelli and David Shutts, TJS returns to the Top 10, Colin Butts is a non-obit - which is why Deadsox loses his top spot to Joey and BoB, who, after all, are one hit ahead, and then there are Joe Thompson, Joe Jackson and Johnny Hubbard for the B-teams. Drol and TJS win big. Drol is one of the few who did not joker Marieke Vervoort, so he lost less than many others.

Possum has head stuck in Nutella jar, gets freed by humans: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/07/possum-rescued-after-getting-head-stuck-in-nutella-jar

England doesn't dazzle, they just run more and know where to stand and when to run (good manager!). Very solid. They would get crushed by a really strong team, but I think only France has this quality this year.

These guys couldn't find a better time to bow out on a high note... In their lives, comic books have gone from niche to (financially) biggest creative force in the movie industry. Stan Lee is the Walt Disney of his generation.

Was thinking about the same thing, re: "All-European semi-finals" and Russia, but then football in Russia is part of their "European Heritage", the arenas are mostly, but not all in Europe. Having a look at the roster...there's one born in Brazil, two born in Irkutsk (Asia!), one born in the Ural mountains (Europe/Asia?), one born in Barnaul (Asia), one born in Ulan-Ude (Asia), one born in Komsomolsk-On-Amur (Asia). So out of 23 players, 16 are from Europe, 1 half-Europe-half-Asia, 1 Brazil, and 5 Asian players. More Asians than I expected!

There is a web of connections.

As an English person, do you rather watch the World Cup or Wimbledon? As a French person, do you rather watch the World Cup or Le Tour De France?

Get Hilary Swank in there!

England - Sweden 1-0 Croatia - Russia 3-2

Turns out Belgium defeats Brazil. I expected England to win their group. But then 2nd place in their group gave England the easier bracket. My big miscalculation in all of this was Germany, of course. France however is looking better each round and now the new favourite. In my office pool I also had an all-european semi-final. But with Spain and Germany instead of Belgium and .... Croatia, I guess.

Uruguay - France 1-2 Brazil - Belgium 2-0

Ed Harrison, whose Newcastle United blog has amassed over 180 million clicks, battles stage IV prostate cancer: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/there-no-cure-newcastle-united-14866705

Hospitalised for the "2nd time in two months" which somewhat contradicts the "3rd time in a week" above, so I guess it's actually the 4th time in two months: https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Palestinians-Mahmoud-Abbas-hospitalized-for-second-time-in-two-months-561712 Edit: Though another source claims it isn't true: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201807051066063791-palestine-abbas-hospital-reports/

Buzz Aldrin celebrating Independence Day:

José José also looked like death warmed up at one point. Maybe form-watching is getting trickier.

Sweden - Switzerland 2-2 Colombia - England 1-2

The correct answer was: "Any other "lil"" as Richmond (California) rapper "Lil Buzz" was unsurprisingly shot: https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Family-friends-remember-slain-Richmond-rapper-13028332.php Well, and there was another fatality, "Lil' Howling Wolf" a "world-famous" blues musician, 87 years old, standing a bit apart from all these other lils: https://www.fox13memphis.com/top-stories/blues-artist-lil-howlin-wolf-dead-at-87/773700700 So, new poll? Or just let it die?

Thanks! Quite close until the end. The early submission might have helped as well, because it blocked Errol Christie and Connie Johnson for others. And Wormfarmer missed obits for Zoltan Sarosy and Barys Kit.

Brazil - Mexico 1-2 Belgium - Japan 2-0