Canadian Paul

It's a last ditch effort. All he has to do is last 15 more days.... At least he's feeling well enough to last to Christmas, which is a good sign. I've planned to have them both on DDP 08 for a while now.

No longer able to make that claim. With a BBC obit too! I bet a few DDP 08 players hoping for some cheap points have just had said hopes dashed.

He died in 2002, CP. He was the last surviving Egyptian from that 1934 squad, and I remember his death well. Here's the proof. More shocking lack of research by Wikipedians. So, don't put him on unless you want to join the ever increasing list of already dead celebrities submitted for the 2008 DDP. Wow, thank goodness I decided to bring it up here first! There was only one other pick that I was worried about already being deceased but someone posted a story about someone else in another thread, and it happened to mention that my pick was still alive, which prevented me from having to name them as well. Out of curiosity, and maybe you can reply in the DDP 2008 thread instead, since it's off topic but, without giving names of course, are these obscure celebs that happen to be dead or more "very obviously dead" celebs like in 2007?

Okay, thanks for the info! Don't figure it'll be a big deal, but I thought I'd ask. I sense that you may be frustrated, by the way, judging from the front page of the DDP. C'mon Maryport, the world and his bleeding wife knows about Christodoulos! I've actually had a re-think about my joker and will take my chance on someone else.... Yeah sorry MPFC, but he's not exactly a big secret. In the last few weeks he's risen from the mid-20s on my list to 6th place on my list. It's a pretty solid choice. TMIB: Had a re-think and are going to take a chance on someone else? I have a feeling that we're going to end up with the same joker based on that sentence. So much for that unique pick bonus.

Here's an interesting one (at least for me). Mustafa Mansour, ancient Egyptian footy player who received a writeup on BBC sport in 2002. Was considering him for a long-shot for DDP 2008, but the second link on his page looks suspiciously like an obit; it's impossible to tell since the link is dead. Anyhow, if nothing else, the first link is fairly interesting if you've got a few minutes to spare.

Probably irrelevant but nevertheless possibly pertinent question. There's a space for a substitute, but what happens if we submit our team and the joker dies before January 1? The substitute comes in, but where does the joker end up? I only ask because I'll probably have to submit my team a few days earlier than the 31st, and it's possible (though not entirely likely) that they could give up the ghost in the last few days of the year.

Thanks. I maintain that Augustus F. Hawkins was not a cheap pick, since the RDP was too good to let me pick George Melly, who would have replaced him any day. Meanwhile, in CPDP news, the site is still down, but there's not much to update, as it seems that Art Arfons has yet to garner the proper obituary for the Ordinay Team, something that I'm quite frankly surprised by.

Happy birthday Boudicca, VSBfromH and Sweet Sorrow! Since I couldn't possible hope to please everyone in one post, I'll please no one instead: Puppy Whirl! (kinda NSFW)

Looks like it happened on the 13th too... well done...

Happy birthday Anubis! To continue with my faux Japanese theme of the day, here's sexy Anubisa - manga style:

Haiku's Japanese But Kao Se Tseien is dead If you read Chinese Had a dream 'bout him Was on Hartlepool '08 Need new candidate Man I suck at this.

Ponticelli was confirmed as having made it to supercentenarian status this month. Another Italian veteran, Carmelo Bertolami, who was to turn 107 on December 8th, was not so lucky. No link yet, unless you're bored enough to sign up and read this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAWRO! Because I are emo today, here is a sexy emo chick for your birthday:

Drag-racing legend Art Arfons has died and was a unique pick of 2 Farts and a Splash on the CPDP.

I received my invitation, though naturally I shall be waiting until the last minute to submit my team - lateness of the confirmation email be damned!

Update from CPDP HQ. Have gotten in touch with the webmaster, and the site should be back up and running within a week or so. For those wondering, the scoreboard following Knievel's death is as follows: Ordinary Team: STAB_in-the_DARK (20) To Die For (14) Dead to the World (10) Never Came to Maryport (10) The Professional (9) Windsor the Troll (9) Godot's Last Minuters (8) 2 Farts and a Splash / Canadian Paul / CarolAnn / Football Fan / Handrejka's Smorgueasboard / Octopus of Odstock (5) Raven's Flock / Slave to the Grave / The Carking Lot (4) Everyone else (0) Theme Team: Old Soldiers Never Die, They Just Smell That Way! / Order of the British Empire (7) James Bond Stars / Only One Way Out Of Here (6) Team Transplant / Widows and Widowers (5) Dead and John / Godot's Fatties (4) Everyone else (0)

I reported this in the "Ideas and Possibilities - The Names" thread about a month ago, but since it was the Tehran Times I was highly skeptical. Since I can't read the article (registration required), is it just taking its info from the Tehran Times or is it an independent report? If it's the latter, probably best to leave him off DL 08.

Pavle in dire straits. Patriarch Pavle is still in hospital Nice little contradictory article on Pavle's health here. Sez the top: But then sez the bottom: Still has a high spot on my 2008 DDP, but it may be easier to tell in a few weeks time.

Well done to all those who picked him! Costs me a place on the DDP board, but finally gets me a hit on my own pool. I'm going to take a page out of the WDP book and create a temporary home for the CPDP on Googlepages (just the Hall of Scores for now), so that you can at least see where you all rank while I sort out the website issues.

Wow, and I thought getting food poisoning on Tuesday was terrible. I'd take that twice in one day over this.

Piss-poor research though - the man is 109. While we're on the topic, however, here's some recent video footage of two of the Italian vets - Battista Serioli and Delfino Borroni. Unless you speak Italian, you're SOL for understanding what they're going on about, but it provides a nice visual. For those of you willing to risk the high possibility of no obits for a few DDP points, here's some veteran updates for December (complete list here) Allingham, the oldest, is now in a rest home due to failing sight, but is otherwise very healthy, mentally and physically and still gets out and about occassionaly. Lazare Ponticelli has been suffering from bronchitis recently, but it is hoped that he will pull through to reach his 110th birthday in a week's time. Patch as you saw above, is getting out and about, not particularly a surprise either. Borroni I have no idea about, although he looks awfully terrible in the above video. Russell Coffey is being medicated to keep him asleep most of the time, and a visitor said that, given the look of him, he's unlikely to make his 110th birthday. Harry Richard Landis is supposedly very healthy and feisty, claiming something along the lines of "they'll have to shoot me to get rid of me!" John Babcock, the Canuck, is doing excellent. Very lucid and healthy at his 107th birthday from the available video footage. Battista Serioli's condition supposedly deteriorated rapidly after his 107th birthday, though I don't know exactly what that entails. Stanisław Wycech was still giving interviews, at least a few months ago. The rest of the Brits can be viewed in the video posts a few up. Hopefully that gives a fairly decent picture of the vets as they stand.

Centenarian German aviatrix Elly Beinhorn tot (spriggen de deutsch?) She'd been in poor health since since before turning 100 and I was considering putting her on my team. Figured (correctly thus far) that she wouldn't even come close to getting a proper obit though.

The perfect DL post. Anonymous, using somewhat imperfect English (but much better than most DL'ers could do in a foreign language), making an entirely unsubstantiated prediction, and following quick on the heels of a similar post making an unsubstantiated, completely opposite prediction. The very reason this site was built. There will be a strong lobbying effort to get this boring old git off the 2008 list. If he'd invented blue jeans, fine. Otherwise, he's just another not all that famous 99 year old. And a freakin' Belgian too. Bah! I vote to leave him on, conditional on the fact that he's still breathing come 2008. Certainly the father of Structuralism, while pretentious sounding, is worthy enough of legitimate fame. If you really want to get rid of "just another not all that famous" old person, try Ruby Muhammad, less likely to die and with no real claim to fame outside of a being a very old member of an organization (was not, as has been discussed, ol' Elijah's widow). Even if she did die, there'd be not much glory in that.

Got one of them as a semi-secret candidate, as I noticed that he got his own story in the Guardian a while back and was confirmed to be alive. The above links, along with MPFC's, leads to believe that, unless there's a chance that they're already dead, there's a good possibility for an obit.

Everybody dies suddenly, however Henry Hyde did have heart problems and was recovering in hospital following surgery. He was 83 so fairly elderly Err... not that I particularly want to stick up for Dave/Iain, but no, not everybody dies suddenly. Cancer, Alzheimer's, even the lingering effects of an attempted homicide are things I wouldn't particularly consider "sudden." Anyhow, Russian space scientist and potential secret candidate of mine Oleg Gazenko has died. Probably for the best that I didn't pick him, since a Google news search currently turns up more obits for the dog he killed half a century ago than him.