gcreptile

Nice. So that hospitalization turned out to be the end. Now let's see where I ended up placing him...

She didn't say that she's alive. She just said that Madeleine is still in the Algarve. I believe that's true, because dead girls can't walk. She even says: "I've always said Praia da Luz is the place where I feel closest to her." It's almost as if her subconsciousness wants to tell us something.

Rowena Kincaid talks about... no... to her cancer: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brave-woman-battling-terminal-cancer-7371438 It sounds as if her current chemo cycle will be her last, and then she's going to be waiting for death, because it looks like nothing can be done anymore. But she's defiant and of a similar age to Joey Feek. So she may be around for a couple of months yet.

Did Tobin fake his stroke to "celebrate" the 25th anniversary of his murder? http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/serial-killer-peter-tobin-faked-7371660

They even made Germany's primary reliable news source, SPIEGEL Online: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/viola-beach-britische-pop-band-stirbt-bei-autounfall-in-schweden-a-1077335.html

Andy Cole on his mysterious kidney disease: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/former-manchester-united-striker-andy-7369422

Congratulations DDT! I might have to revise my "one-name-in-one-pool" policy with regard to the Deathrace next year.

Second hit for my B-Team (surely Mother Angelica can't be far behind?). It was rather quick in the end, wasn't it? I had almost placed him on a middle slot in the Hartlepool Deadlypool because they originally said that he'd die in the middle of 2016.

Something else, I wonder if Scalia's increasingly irrational views in his final years were founded on bad health...

Republicans have already stated that they will block any nominee proposed by Obama. I don't see much chance of a new Supreme Court Judge being chosen until after the election. For anyone being interested in US politics, the next months will be huuuuge.

This has the potential to be huge. The problem is that the US Senate, which confirms the judges, is currently dominated by republicans. But Obama is a Democrat. I do believe that the current majority is conservative, in spite of the Obamacare ruling (after all, Obamacare is mostly private health insurance). Obama's liberal nominee will have no chance to get through, unless he finds a first-class personality. The only possible candidate I can think of would be Bill Clinton (but for how long?). Obama might even nominate himself. And use this as a weapon in his campaign to make black people vote for Hillary/Bernie. I think it probably helps Clinton more than Bernie, because she is generally regarded as the more electable candidate. And now the Democrats know what's at stake.

She's planning to continue working: http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/641044/Prunella-Scales-Alzheimers

Hawking giving an interview on the discovery of gravitational waves, with video: http://www.geekwire.com/2016/as-big-as-the-higgs-stephen-hawking-says-gravitational-waves-will-revolutionize-astronomy/

"in recovery"? Has lots of projects and endorsed Bernie Sanders: http://www.forbes.com/sites/leeseymour/2016/02/11/tommy-chong-marijuana-enthusiast-bernie-sanders-fan-and-entrepreneur/#432cde963080

Said to be in good health as he is approaching his 100th birthday, and has a weekly appointment for lunch with a friend: http://glamurama.uol.com.br/joao-havelange-completa-100-anos-em-2016-e-vai-bem-obrigado/(article in portuguese)

Apparently, he was hospitalised, as Egyptian president Sisi called him and asked him about his health: http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Templates/Articles/tmpArticleNews.aspx?ArtID=99415#.Vr9BYPLhCUk

To speak at an event at March, 3rd. Taking powerful chemotherapy tablets: http://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/2016/02/12/england-legend-gordon-banks-to-speak-at-molineux-in-charity-fundraiser/

A BBC journalist visited his house, read Watership Down and wore a rabbit fur hat. However no word on his condition: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3445479/An-unfortunate-choice-headgear-Singer-Cerys-Matthews-blasted-presenting-One-item-Watership-wearing-RABBIT-fur-hat.html

Clive James on the benefits of going quietly and quickly, like Terry Wogan and David Bowie: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/13/clive-james-tim-peake-international-space-station He had three visits to the hospital last week, his lung function is a bit weak.

Regarding russian literature, I've just started War and Peace. Let's see if I make it through it... I adore Fjodor Dostoewskij and consider Crime and Punishment my favourite "serious" novel (though in some ways, the novel is just a very, very good crime story). I once read Anna Karenina and came away with the impression that it was a structurally perfect book. But I didn't really feel engaged by it. I've also read a couple of plays by Anton Chekhov during my "russian period" (that was around 1999-2002). During that time, I also read one political biography about the russian czars after another... Catherine II, Peter the Great, lots about the final Romanoffs, Ivan the Terrible and possibly Ivan III, I can't remember.

I would give an additional point per language, not a multiplier. Jimmy Carter will still be better than Joey Feek in that case. I think it's a question of balance. Get lucky with one unlikely but spectacular hit, say, Paul McCartney, and a mutliplier and a myriad of languages will beat tons of other suitable names. I also like the idea of a cap. 20...the more I think about it, the more correct 20 sounds. First I thought that 10 would be a good number, so I counted: english, german, french, spanish, portuguese, dutch, and THEN it gets interesting I think. But then there would be only 4 'bonus languages' which strikes me as a little too low. 15 or 20 might be better.

I've always thought that 'Mandy' was about an Andy.

The rumours about the Independent are true: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/12/independent-and-independent-on-sunday-closures-confirmed But there haven't been that many Independent-only obits, I think.

Interesting, dear guest. There's also the problem of obitability with him. I've thought that he'd obit indirectly, because he would die before Geoffrey Robinson so that his obit would mention the earlier one. Another chance for an obit was the continuing coverage of the Pell commission, in the Guardian, for example. And well, the earlier he dies, the more likely a qualifying obit turns up, in the form of a one sentence-recognition of his death.

Ah, true. I only remembered about him that he had a very, very dangerous kind of lung cancer.