Canadian Paul

841 pound woman dies after attempted weight loss surgery.

Article on Fidel Castro that is more interesting for its health references to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who seems to be doing healthier than I thought...

According to this article: So it can indeed be fatal, but it's not that likely it would seem. Still, he's slowly climbing up my "watch" list.

Art Buchwald mourned with laughter.

Article that summarizes Melly's conditions, including his spreading lung cancer, which he has refused to treat for two years. Bonus: a recent picture is included.

and never wanting to be trumped by the US, France joins in on the act. And with their typical logic, they figure two is better than one. This is turning out to be a bad year for WWI Veterans, if you look at the rate that they are dying. A bad month for U.S. politicians too...

So, you've written off the chance that either of her kids will do anything of value, not to mention the tonnage of taxes she pays even after her accountant has helped her avoid a few million dollars worth, oh yeah, and she owns thousands of acres of forest. I doubt she cares much for it other than its tax avoidance benefits, but she's doing some environmental good even so. I'm with you on her records, mind. Christina Aguilera leaves her standing. Humans act as individuals. If her children do things of value, power to them. Playing around with taxes is tricky... is it more worth it if instead of millions of dollars going to Britney Spears, of which she pays substantial taxes, hundreds of other people have an income of $30,000, which is tax free? And as you said, the rich have more means of avoiding those taxes in any case. As for thousands of acres of forest, I suppose that's something. I have some personal analogies, but they are imperfect at best. Relative to her available resources though, she's not doing much. Having those resources redistributed to people who might actually take advantage of their gift, even say, her children.

Bonus points to anyone who knows who we lost a quarter of a century ago today without looking at the link. And yes, I'm aware that there's a bit of irony after my post in the Spears thread, but I'd argue that he made millions of people laugh. Sometimes making someone smile is one of the most difficult, yet most important, things you can do for their day.

True, but I hope not. I am in no way a fan of her, but I do feel that the press needs to give her a break and allow her to recover. She thrives off attention for years and years and all of the sudden it's coming back to bit her in the ass when she's having a real problem? It doesn't work that way, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Once you use, nay, abuse society to put yourself in the public eye, you can't just take it back whenever you'd like. This is the life she's chosen, it's not like she didn't know what she was getting into. The celebrity is well-documented. Britney Spears produces nothing of value to society, aside from the occasionally tolerable pop hit, which puts her slightly above Anna Nicole Smith. While I have no particular grudge against her to see her die, I'm not going to be terribly sad either. When she starts using her money and fame to improve the lives of others or the well-being of society, then I'll be impressed. Very few people are in a position to do that sort of thing. I may not be increasing the overall welfare of society (yet) but I lack the excess resources to do so. Britney Spears has no excuse. Most celebrities do at least a token gesture, which is something.

You know, at first I thought this wasn't a serious possibility, but it's showing promise: Spears attempts suicide. We've already gotten Anna Nicole Smith. If we can get Hilton, Spears, Love, Ritchie and Doherty with a combination of suicide and overdoses, I think we may have a bright future yet...

I mentioned Thomas Eagleton already and, along a similar vein, Thomas Kleppe, who was mentioned a bazillion times last year, has finally died.

Dead now.

She Doesn't Get It by The Format Had Enough by Breaking Benjamin I Can't Drive 55 by Sammy Hagar

More news on Racan - the tumour in his shoulder is secondary and looks to have spread from his kidneys. He is not a well man - number 1 on my list when the next dead pool comes along Apparently, treatment is going well.

So all of yesterday I was out directing logistics for our college's music festival, Rock N' Roosevelt, which culminated with the headlining act: The Format. All sprightly young chaps who'll live out the next half a century just fine unless something unfortunate happens of course, but it was an interesting meet nonetheless. Aside from co-ordinating things for them backstage, I also got to collect autographs at their meet and greet. Nothing exciting for the UK members, but thought I'd mention it anyhow and introduce some of the newer members to this thread.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OoO! So I decided that now that you're 29, what a better way to celebrate than to make you a wallpaper out of the top 29 girls on FHM's 100 Sexiest Women of 2006 list. Better idea in theory than in practice, but here's the final result anyhow: http://www.landpirates.net/tchir/ooobirthday.jpg Turns out that it's nearly f*****g impossible to fit 29 women on one wallpaper, so some of them look like sh*t, especially Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kelly Brooks and Halle Berry, but my careful editing makes Rachel Bison look topless, so I'm happy with it anyways. Enjoy! And happy birthday!

Pushing this up to the top to note that Kitty Carlisle Hart, of whom news has been scarce since she was forced to pull out of the New Years' show, seems to be doing better, as per the last paragraph of that article. This article, however, claims that she's "ailing," but that word gets thrown around a lot for non-fatal illnesses (think Prime Minister of Iraq). I've removed the dead people, along with some who seemed to have recovered, and I'll update the list with new suggestions soon.

His wikipedia page states that he died on the 25th, I guess we'll have to wait to see when it appears on the actual news sites. News You Can Use

The greatest thing since sliced bread has died.

I share your enthusiasm. I'm thinking of getting an autograph.

I'm not quite so sure on this one, DDT. The interviews he's done recently seem to suggest he's still as active as one can be considering his past:- Astoundingly fit until a broken hip and this report doesn't hint to any illness either BBC Profile... But who knows? Could be a Stroessner "gravely ill" or could be a Obiang "gravely ill". I favour the latter, at least for now. Saw O'Toole at the Academy Awards (well, on TV at least) and although he's no Jack Palance, he's certainly not gravely ill. Will he make it to 90? Doubtful. 80? There's a fair chance there. Meanwhile, enough people must have complained, because they included James Doohan in the tribute a year late. They then followed by making the same mistake with Yvonne De Carlo (and yes she was in films, not just TV, most notably as the wife of Moses in The 10 Commandments) and omitting her while including same time and later deaths such as Carlo Ponti and Sidney Sheldon. It was nice watching it and not having to go "Oh my gosh, that person is dead???" like a few years back.

I guess I'll be the jerk, since I forgot to register for this pool... I noticed FF picked John Bowman, who died in 2006 as per this. Does that mean he gets to pick a new team member or do we pretend that he meant this fellow?

and i post HERE - i should be top.. (am i going off topic?) Yes, but this is one of those threads where doing so is a positive contribution. I may return here if I can't find a suitable place to discuss death-related issues at the Academy Awards.

Yes. No Chance. He didn't make his first film until 1931! I also doubt he would've been there much in the early days - he really became a bit more known when Frank Capra started casting him in his films in the mid-late 30's onwards. The first actual awards were in 1929, though, for 1927/1928. I doubt if anyone would be still alive from the first two or three. Luise Rainer, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Temple are still around from the early 1930's, Gloria Stuart too. Certainly all the winners in 1927/28 are long dead. One woman remains who was in attendance at the first Academy Awards: Anita Page That's surprising too given, if you trust Wikipedia, that less than 250 people attended, no broadcast was made and the winners were announced far ahead of time. The whole ceremony lasted 15 minutes.

More bad news for MPFC I'm afraid. It seems that John Bowman died way back in December 2006 and didn't cause a stir: Proof 1 Proof 2 Not to mention that the fellow doesn't have a Wikipedia either. Looks like MPFC's 0 for 2 this time.