Ideas and possibilities for 2008

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

Fair point Godot though another way of looking at it is that the range of deadpools out there is something of a leveller to those of us thinking we're skilled. It strikes me that DDP is like the singles charts where any bit of frothy novelty can have a value for a fleeting moment, WDP is more like the album chart and when it comes to high performing on the HPDP you're trying to make something as robust as a classic album so you need more than good ideas, you need a sense of structure.

 

Mind, entering DDP these days is like wandering into a crowded bar and wondering if your friends are somewhere in that vast crowd. I'll readily confess that I'm amazed at sitting in the top five at the moment where DDP is concerned. More accident than design. I'm expecting to pick a bunch of well chosen obscurities for 2008, enter with confidence and get massacred inside a year when a team of people I never considered drops dead.

[The Miser 18]

So with this:

 

"I've got cancer and it metastasized," Wittman, a Hebert, Sask., native and a resident of Winnipeg since 1961, told the Free Press. "This could be the end of the line. They've told me the prognosis is not good."

 

on the thread he looks a good pick. Older than Christo - the joker - doulus mind.

I'm tiring of this stuff a little bit. Last night I was making a list of "hopefuls" and I hadn't heard of any of them although there was one or two I should have known about. Wittman is not one of them. Whether or not he is obit material he's just not in the right league. I'm coming round to Cowboy Ronnie's point. There is a difference between the Deathlist and deadpooling. Deadpooling is becoming a bit weird. I no more wanted to study progressive cancers than I wanted to be an undertaker, yet it helps to know this stuff to have any chance of winning a deadpool.

 

So I now have two lists. The list I would like to play and the list of nonentities that I know has a better chance of getting points. Whichever I do play it's going to be Godot's last list.

 

 

Its a fair point about knowing how deadly cancers are. On the other hand, I have learned about the state of political affairs in several African countries and I now know lots about Nobel Prize winners and other inventors.

[Godot 149]

I do agree that deadpooling is an education of sorts. There used to be a few surprises when I read the "died during the year" compilations in the end-of-year Sunday papers. But not any more. The other thing is the thoroughness of the DL.

 

There are a few blind spots - not too good on British aristocracy, business people and establishment figures - but pretty hot on sports personalities, international leaders and anyone in films.

[themaninblack 2,112]

I do agree that deadpooling is an education of sorts. There used to be a few surprises when I read the "died during the year" compilations in the end-of-year Sunday papers. But not any more. The other thing is the thoroughness of the DL.

 

There are a few blind spots - not too good on British aristocracy, business people and establishment figures - but pretty hot on sports personalities, international leaders and anyone in films.

 

Concentrate on your strengths and do the best list you can, or you could have fun and choose anyone you like. You never know, they might all croak it!

[The Miser 18]

I do agree that deadpooling is an education of sorts. There used to be a few surprises when I read the "died during the year" compilations in the end-of-year Sunday papers. But not any more. The other thing is the thoroughness of the DL.

 

There are a few blind spots - not too good on British aristocracy, business people and establishment figures - but pretty hot on sports personalities, international leaders and anyone in films.

 

Concentrate on your strengths and do the best list you can, or you could have fun and choose anyone you like. You never know, they might all croak it!

 

 

I try to have a nice mix of people like Christodoulos (who is a definate) and people like Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty. Its suppose to be fun, we are not insurance actuaries after all. Or if you are please let me know what you think...

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

I try to have a nice mix of people like Christodoulos (who is a definate) and people like Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty. Its suppose to be fun, we are not insurance actuaries after all. Or if you are please let me know what you think...

 

I only know one actuary and I'm convinced he's an Aspergers case, allegedly the best actuary his employers have ever seen, though his wife mutters darkly about divorce; not to me, but she's known to mutter. My point being that what you 'think' as an actuary might not be thinking as some of the rest of us would experience it. Such a person would be a great deadpooler, but would be perplexed beyond help in the face of a BS post.

[CarolAnn 926]

I'm sticking with my method - draw names out of a plain brown paper sack two hours before the entry is due.

[Phantom 2,532]

David Gest admitted to hospital suffering from chest pains and respiratory problems.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

Debbie Nelson, mother of the rapper Eminem, is rumoured to be "dying from stage four breast cancer".

[Banshees Scream 110]

My point being that what you 'think' as an actuary might not be thinking as some of the rest of us would experience it. Such a person would be a great deadpooler, but would be perplexed beyond help in the face of BS post.

 

I would have commented on this discussion before but lately I haven't been reading through as much so along the lines I've missed out. Now the fact of the matter is DDP is one game with many a approach. It's a no contest that creating a list with your very own randomized premonitions is no doubt the most enjoyable alternative but if you want to 'win' the DDP, the most effective approach would be to build your list off individuals who are 'at deaths door' which basically meaning The Guardian says they have six months to live. The point you make of how 'others view an actuary differently' is a solid point but in my view 'it doesn't matter' Personally I try to base my selections off the facts surrounding the candidates whole condition. You have candidates like 'Charlton Heston' 'Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn' 'Ronnie Biggs' 'Yves St. Laurent' all names who will be very consumed by deadpoolers next year. I seriously think all of them are very overrated and that 'just might be my view' but none of them for example will be on my list. For reason number 1: The evidence surrounding their 'decline' isn't convincing enough for me and reason number 2: My list is stacked and I have at least five reserves who I don't think will see 2009.

[Monoclinic 39]

'others view an actuary differently'

 

I view an actuary as someone who finds accounting too exciting

 

(I know that flippant remark is not going to win me any favours with the owner of this site, apologies!)

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

Nicholas Jake Barton, great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill has just pleaded guilty in Australia to getting involved in the supply 250 000 ecstasy tablets.

 

Of note to deadpoolers was the fact that his mother, Winston's granddaughter, Arabella Spencer-Churchill was not present to support him in court, despite her previous promises to be there.

 

According to the Daily Mail she said

 

"I am not now going. I am unwell. I don't wish to talk about it any further."

 

Says a family friend:

 

"I am amazed she isn't going. But obviously she must have very good reasons for not doing so."

 

 

Arabella Spencer-Churchill has pancreatic cancer.

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

Debbie Nelson, mother of the rapper Eminem, is rumoured to be "dying from stage four breast cancer".

 

 

Looking good for us, there's bound to be coverage of their fractious relationship and even if the tabloids didn't go wild on the day she died the DDP/HPDP qualifiers of 'an article mentioning....' would doubtless be supported by discussions of how this death impacted on her son.

 

The only downer being the 'crying wolf' aspect of some of her previous utterances to the press. On the sketchy evidence here she could make it to 2009.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,186]

Arabella Spencer-Churchill has pancreatic cancer.

 

Not any more she doesn't - she's dead.

 

I'd imagine that's her off a number of potential teams - that's if they had the time to add her on in the first place.

[themaninblack 2,112]

Arabella Spencer-Churchill has pancreatic cancer.

 

Not any more she doesn't - she's dead.

 

I'd imagine that's her off a number of potential teams - that's if they had the time to add her on in the first place.

 

Well that's answered that conundrum I guess. Had written down my provisional DDP and then we got this....

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

Arabella Spencer-Churchill has pancreatic cancer.

 

Not any more she doesn't - she's dead.

 

I'd imagine that's her off a number of potential teams - that's if they had the time to add her on in the first place.

 

10.30 - Submit DDP team with Arabella Spencer Churchill as my joker

 

10.55 - News arrives that she's dead.

 

OoO, check your PMs

[Banshees Scream 110]

She was on my list for less then three hours. It's now time for me to draw my attention... to the reserves. I actually need people to drop off because if they don't and they are not included with my list next year I'll end up feeling guilty and everything if they drop dead in a few weeks so this way it balances it out.

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Not any more she doesn't - she's dead.

 

Nutsacks. Room for one more on top!

[Emily the Strange 2]

Has anyone suggested Willie Nelson yet?

Just a little hunch...

[themaninblack 2,112]

Has anyone suggested Willie Nelson yet?

Just a little hunch...

 

Funnily enough, I was thinking about him the other day…

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Is he always on your mind?

Has anyone suggested Willie Nelson yet?

Just a little hunch...

 

Funnily enough, I was thinking about him the other day…

[Emily the Strange 2]

Is he always on your mind?

 

I consider myself very lucky for not having picked up my drink right before I read this post....

[MyCowsCanFly 0]

Although arguements could be made many deserve it, doesn't look like anyone on Death Row will die this year...not by the state, anyway.

[maryportfuncity 10,639]

Re Willie Nelson; he's booked tour wise up to May 13th in London and despite his upcoming 75th birthday and liking for spliffs seems in fairly good shape. Anyone - like the person tipping him - want to show us some evidence for this hunch?

[Vinegar Tits 605]

Re Willie Nelson; he's booked tour wise up to May 13th in London

Doesn't mean anything - Gene Pitney was on midway through a tour when something got a hold of his heart, and Les Rita Mitsouko cancelled dates just days before mainman Fred Chicin died. But yeah, Nelson seems in pretty good nick.