Magere Hein

Nah, I survived about a dozen predicted ends of the world, so I don't lose sleep on the next one.

Songs were made about her...

Or at least interviewers.

Don't know about the porridge, but I suppose avoiding men is a useful survival strategy. Dangerous lot, that.

Light a cigar, I guess.

Title suggestion for Clarkson's Russian show: Top Bear.

Kiss of death?

That's failure in the raw.

They already have someone to take the place of Zayn Malik at least for the rest of the tour. I'm sure they'll audition someone to come into the band full time for however long their popularity lasts. Can't they just buy a new one in the shop?

Perhaps so does Charles.

If at first you don't succeed, bomb making is not for you.

Those were Maynard`s words not Tippetts -But these were "suffering is not the absence of goodness” what a load of sanctimonious bollocks to send someone with brain cancer:If I were Maynard I would have sent the letter back with dignitas tickets. Oh, yes, you're right. Scratch my rant. Of course Maynard`s choice was none of her business.

I'm currently watching a documentary about the final days of the German 9th Army at the end of WWII. It shows an interview with Hans-Dietrich Genscher, at the time of the interview already former Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic. In 1945 he was a soldier in General Walther Wenck's (no sN-wording!) 12th Army. As Foreign Minister Genscher negociated the reunificaiton with the GDR. The day before yesterday he celebrated his 88th birthday. Here's an interview with him in November last year about the fall of the Berlin Wall, 25 years earlier.

Something like this? BTW, rumours have it the Oranges own several percent of Shell.

Statistics. The point is not perhaps so much that they die in "the" year they aren't on the list but more "a" year they aren't. CBA to do the sums on this particularly, but it's the same sort of thing that makes it apparently weird that it only takes 23 people in a room for it to be 50/50 on two of them having the same birthday. I should also add that DL has a self-imposed rule that allows only 25 picks of the previous list to be chosen each year, which increases the chance of such misses.

If I read that piece correctly ("Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me - but would have taken so much more.") her death was a case of euthanasia/assisted suicide. Half a year ago she advised Brittany Maynard against such an end. I conclude that that woman subscribed to the moral school of "Do as I say, not as I do". Such hypocrisy isn't rare in Xians.

It's a political strategy that many dictators have tried unsuccessfully, outliving your opponents, but obviously Mugabe has got quite good at it.

I just checked: that'll be me, he's also a unique pick. I haven't given up hope for a proper obit yet. I wonder if they'll pick up mrs Van der Kade's demise.

I get a "video has been removed by the user" error message when I try to click on SC's embedded video. Maybe it's just not available in my country or on mobile devices...? I see the same error. A few hours ago I watched the video, so something has changed. Of course this can be a personal thing, e.g. because I've been naughty.

Whoops, didn't even notice HuffPost was different. That's what comes of listening to the Partick Thistle match while trying to post! Well, I tried, don't give up hope, the Independent seems to catch up with these things gradually, I'd pay attention there over the next wee while. I stick Ruska's name in google about once a week. There's still quite some 2015 left for them to catch up. I'm not holding my breath.

This is so disgusting. Most of the profits generated by the increased sales should've been donated to help the families of the victims, but no - these survivors have become so greedy... They didn't want an equal share of the bullets, so why would they get an equal share of the money? I propose they use some of the money to buy each staff member an AK-47 and settle the argument at the next editorial meeting. If one comes out, he/she can decide.

Well, that's my second pseudo-hit this year for my theme team, a unique pick no less. I'm afraid no DDP approved obit will come, considering what happened to Ruska.

That'll be drawing and quartering, then.

I see faint shadows on the buildings across the road now. Crappy job, met office!

I had hoped to watch the eclipse from home, but no luck: clouded out. Again, I should add. In 1999 I went to France to watch the total eclipse, that one was also spoiled by cloud cover where I was.