Arthur C. Clarke's Odyssey Ends in 2008

Scoring Update! The points change, death remains the same...

An aide says science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died. Rohan De Silva says Clarke died early Wednesday after suffering from breathing problems. He was 90. Clarke is the author of more than 100 books, including “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Congratulations and 12 points each awarded to TIREMAN422, Live Like You Were Dying and Do Not Resuscitate. The Rosters and Standings have been updated.

[MSNBC]

Dial up the Sad Meter; Record-setting Pilot Dead at 26

At age 11, Vicki Van Meter piloting a plane across the country. At age 12, she flew from the U.S. to Europe. Sadly, at age 26, she died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Her brother said she battled depression and opposed medication, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems. "She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. "This really is a shock, because we didn't see the signs."

Van Meter made national headlines in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied only by a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both flights.

After her famous youth, she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in Cahul, Moldova. Said her mother: "She led a full and interesting life...She had more guts than any of us could ever imagine."

[AP]

Anthony Minghella, The English Patient, Direct to Release

Anthony Minghella, who won an Oscar for The English Patient and directed such hit movies as The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain and Truly Madly Deeply, has died. He was 54.

The English Patient, based on the acclaimed novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje, tells of a burn victim's tortured recollections of his misdeeds in time of war. It won nine Oscars in all, including best picture, best supporting actress for Juliette Binoche, and a raft of technical Oscars including best film editing, best costume design and cinematography.

Minghella also turned his talents to the opera stage. In 2006, he directed an acclaimed staging of Puccini's Madama Butterfly at New York's Metropolitan opera.

No cause of death has been reported just yet, but we suspect whatever it was was long, drawn out and historical.

[USA Today]

Sub-Prime Mortgage Pioneer Collapses; Roland Arnall in Shambles

The economy is dying. That's not quite enough of a story for us to cover on this here blog. Except for one thing: The economy is so bad, it is killing the people who brought us down this road.

Roland Arnall, the founder of Ameriquest Mortgages, and a leading figure of the sub-prime mortgage scandal because of accusations of its wrongdoing, has died at the age of 68. The cause of death was officially cancer, but those who knew him say that he really died of a broken heart mortgage backed security.

Arnall was also a major Republican donor with strong ties to President Bush, and President Bush appointed him ambassador to the Netherlands in 2006.

"Thank you for the trust you placed in me, and the opportunity to serve our country," Arnall wrote to President Bush in a letter in February.

In turn, President Bush was concerned by this development, but assured the Arnall family that Roland was "strong" and "going to be fine." The President said that he would not call this a 'death,' inasmuch as a permanent life cessation. Finally, he pledged to give the Arnalls a $600 rebate, a move which he assured would revive the dormant Arnall.

[International Herald Tribune]

John Ed Cothran Got No Sleep Till Death

Tough week so far for former Civil Rights lawmen, we'd say.

John Ed Cothran, a former sheriff's deputy who investigated the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, which galvanized the civil rights movement, has died of heart failure. He was 93.

On Aug. 31, 1955, Cothran, then Leflore County chief deputy, helped pull Till's bloated and mutilated body out of the Tallahatchie River. Till, a black 14-year-old visiting from Chicago, was reported to have whistled at a white woman in the rural community of Money.

The investigation was reopened in 2004. In 2006 a Leflore County grand jury declined to indict 73-year-old Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman Till had supposedly whistled at. In a 2005 interview with the Greenwood Commonwealth, Cothran said he had lost his memories of the investigation by the time two FBI agents approached him after the bureau reopened the case.

We think that James Nabrit should take care of himself more this week than ever.

[Yahoo! News]

No Soup For Ayman Nour!

From the time of the ancient Hebrews, there is a long history of persecuted people wanting out of Egypt. Ayman Nour is the latest in that line. Nour is in Egyptian prison, in what is widely believed to be a political maneuver by President Mubarak. In reaction, Nour has gone on a hunger strike.

Cool. Very Temple of The Dog of him.

The problem is that he is a diabetic, and not eating might kill him. He needs sugar. More Sugar. So should the Egyptian governement let him cross to the hospital so he doesn't drown in the Dead Sea?

Nope, said the Supreme Administrative Court in Cairo today. Nour will stay in prison, and for his sake, he better abandon the eating habits of Paris Hilton.

I only wish Cameron and Ferris were running the protests. I could really go for a "When Ayman was in Egypt's land...Let my Ayman Go!"

[Reuters]

Ola Brunkert Drummed Out After Being Cut

A former drummer for the Swedish pop band ABBA was found dead with cuts to his neck in the garden of his house on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Police said Monday an autopsy showed it was an accident. A neighbor found the body of 62-year-old Ola Brunkert on Sunday evening at his house.

Band member Bjorn Ulvaeus added that Brunkert had been "one of the best."

"I remember him as a good friend when we worked together in the mid-1970s. He was a very creative musician who contributed a lot when we toured together and worked in the studio," Ulvaeus told Expressen.

A spokesman said that "Brunkert hit his head against a glass door in his dining room, shattering the glass and cutting himself in the neck. He managed to wrap a towel around his neck and left the house to seek help, but collapsed in the garden."

This strikes us as crash cymbalism for the rise and fall of 70's rock music.

[AP]

Don't Spill the Beans (Into Old People's Mouths)

Beans, Beans They're Good for the Heart!!!

Except if they happen to be wax beans.

Moral of the story: Make sure to be super duper famous (i.e. DP 2009 eligible) when you get admitted to a nursing home so they don't screw up what you're supposed to eat.

Friday was somebody's Birthday! Whose Birthday? Former Ziegfeld Girl Doris Eaton Travis' Birthday. How Old Is She? 1,2,3,4... 104! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Doris Eaton Travis' name appears on "Live Like You Were Dying's" and "Oldies But Goodies'" rosters

• In January 2008, Travis served as the Grand Marshal of the opening parade for the Art Deco Weekend festival in Miami Beach.

Good to see that even at 103 she's doing what most 70 year olds are doing.

Friday was somebody else's Birthday! Whose Birthday? Former Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz's Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 96! And Never been Kissed By... Death

W. Willard Wirtz's name appears on "Grateful(ly) Dead's" roster

• Since the 2008 death of Earl Butz, Wirtz has been the oldest living former cabinet member.

A real case of DP 2008 worlds colliding!

Friday was somebody else's else's Birthday! Whose Birthday? Head Coach of the N.C. State Women's Basketball Team Kay Yow's Birthday. How Old Is She? 1,2,3,4... 66! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Kay Yow's name appears on "Dead Place's" roster

• Yow currently ranks as the fifth winningest active NCAA Division I women's basketball coach.

But she ranks 1st in active Division I women's basketball coaches selected for DP 2008.

... And Many More!

The Dread-ed Death Grip Leaves Mikey Without a Beat

Scoring Update! The points change, death remains the same...

Radio disc jock Mikey Dread is dead. He succumbed to a brain tumour late yesterday afternoon at his family home in Connecticut, USA at the age of 54. Born Michael Campbell in Port Antonio, Jamaica, he distinguished himself as an extraordinary studio engineer and presenter.

"Michael Campbell, is someone who revolutionised radio in Jamaica when there was still an anti-Jamaican sentiment regarding music and culture. In terms of the emerging dancehall, it was Mikey Dread who popularised it on radio. Although it was late night, he still managed to popularise dancehall music and bring it to the masses," was the perspective of Dennis Howard who also worked on JBC Radio, in the post-Mikey Dread era.

Congratulations and 24 points awarded to Daddy to Be Dead Mates. The Rosters and Standings have been updated.

[Jamaica Observor]

Pointer Reduction Terminates Judge Sam's Service

Retired U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer Jr., who served nearly 30 years on the court and endured death threats for his school integration rulings in Birmingham, has died. He was 73. Pointer, who died Saturday at a hospital from illness, his wife said, had retired from the court about eight years ago.

"The legal community revered Judge Pointer for both his brilliance and his wonderful temperament," said Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn. "Judge Pointer's legacy of service to this court and to the nation may one day be equaled, but never surpassed."

Pointer helped desegregate school systems in Birmingham and surrounding Alabama areas. That was spurned on by the Civil Rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Since Pointer also presided over the litigation of some 26,000 silicone-gel breast implant lawsuits in the 1990s, we guess Pointer's career ran the gamut from King to Cone.

[Al.com]

Jesus Shocked Anyone Would Dare Cross Him

Leading up to Easter Sunday, many Christians' thoughts are focused on Jesus' Crucifixion and resurrection. A new book explores the cause of Jesus' death.

In his book, "The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry," Frederick T. Zugibe, a New York medical examiner who is an expert on the Crucifixion, said there were two causes:

• hypovolemic shock, marked by significant blood loss and dehydration; and

• traumatic shock, caused by the physical abuse to Jesus.

Others agree with Zugibe's assessment. Zugibe says that the scripture supports his theory that Jesus experienced hematidrosis, an excretion of blood or blood pigments in the sweat. But scourging was the major reason for Jesus' death.

In his book, Zugibe, chief medical examiner of Rockland County, N.Y., for more than 30 years, concludes that Jesus died from "cardiac and respiratory arrest, due to hypovolemic and traumatic shock, due to crucifixion."

Sounds like another case solved by the crime scene investigators on CSI: Nazareth. And just in the nick of time to make the streets a little bit safer on Easter Sunday.

[Wichita Eagle]

Son of a Lubich! Chiara Dead

November 2nd is "All Souls Day;" March 14th, aside from being Pi Day, is one soul's day. The soul? It is that of Chiara Lubich.

One of the most influential women in Catholicism, Chiara Lubich, who founded the international Focolare movement of the Roman Catholic Church, died on Friday at the age of 88. The Focolare movement, which has members in over 180 countries, aims to spread Christian values by strengthening traditional families and promoting ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue.

Lubich got her inspiration during the horrors of World War Two, when she was a school teacher. At the age of 23, she said she experienced a religious awakening and felt a call to alleviate human suffering. She won numerous awards, including the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion and the Unesco peace prize.

This all goes to prove Tina Fey's maxim: Lubiches get things done.

[Reuters]

Arlen Specter in Favor of His Reformed Health

Senator Arlen Specter has written a book, due out next week, about his recent bout with Hodgkin's disease. next week. "Never Give In: Battling Cancer - and Politicians - in the Senate" follows Specter's autobiography, "Passion for Truth," published in 2000.

These books cover Specter's near extinction from the political arena over the past few decades, and from the world in the past few years. He gets beat around more than the Washington Senators used to before they faced extinction from Major League Baseball.

Healthwise, he's been misdiagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease (1979), had two brain tumor operations (1993, 1996) and a near-death experience after complications from a quadruple bypass operation (1998). But his gravest challenge was the 2005 diagnosis of late-stage Hodgkins disease (cancer of the lymph system) at age 75.

How did Specter get through it all?

Specter's solution for the debilitating effects of chemotherapy was simple: "Work, work, work." He plowed straight ahead as chairman of the Judiciary Committee on contentious issues like judicial nominations that nearly ground the Senate to a halt.

"In a sense, the tougher the day, the better I liked it," Specter writes in the book. "It kept my mind off me."

Now that Specter's cancer is in remission, he's urging other people facing illness to find strength beyond their suffering. Or, as we choose to call it, an Introspecter Look.

[Philadelphia Daily News]

Don't Mess With the Boss

I like Bruce Springsteen as much as the next guy, but this just strikes me as ridiculous.

If only Kevin Lee Watson was "Born to Run" maybe he could have ran away from Karen Lee Cooper.

Today is somebody's Birthday! Whose Birthday? Former Football Player Sherrill Headrick's Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 71! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Sherrill Headrick's name appears on "It's Always Sunny in Philadeadphia's" roster

• In his book "The American Football League - A Year-by-Year History, 1960-1969" Ed Gruver quotes Texans/Chiefs coach Hank Stram as saying that Headrick, who refused to wear hip pads, had the highest pain threshold [he'd] ever seen in an athlete. Headrick played with a broken neck, infected gums, and a fractured thumb. When an injury left the bone in his finger protruding from the skin, Headrick popped the bone in place without missing a play.

I've played football with a bloody nose, so suck it Sherrill Headrick and Hank Stram.

... And Many More!

Happy Birthday for Some; Not for Others

One of the great things about being famous, besides being eligible as a pick for DP, is worldwide recognition.

Some people get recognized for being great playwrights on their birthdays.

Some people don't.

Yesterday was somebody's Birthday! Whose Birthday? Playwright Edward Albee's Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 80! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Edward Albee's name appears on "The Quit Parade's" roster

• Albee is the President of the Edward F. Albee Foundation, Inc., which maintains the William Flanagan Creative Persons Center, a writers and artists colony in Montauk, New York.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Albee had an easier time being elected President of his own foundation than Ron Paul will have being elected President of the United States.

Yesterday was somebody else's Birthday! Whose Birthday? Ex-Boyfriend of Kate Moss Pete Doherty's Birthday. How Old Is He? 1,2,3,4... 29! And Never been Kissed By... Death

Pete Doherty's name appears on "I Am Ready To Meet My Maker's" roster

• Doherty is also known to be a devoted follower of the Queens Park Rangers football club. As a youth he wrote a fanzine, entitled "All Quiet on the Western Avenue". He sold copies of the fanzine on the club's grounds, but its mixture of literary references, quotes, poetry and football stories proved unsuccessful with the other fans.

Are you telling me soccer hooligans don't read Shakespeare???

... And Many More!

Chad Kroeger's Card Has Been Punched, Hanging On for Dear Life

We have our first piece of news relevant to Death Pool 2015. While we don't know if everything will be Lost then, we understand that musician Chad Kroeger thinks he will be.

Chad Kroeger of Nickelback already knows how he'll celebrate his 40th birthday: he'll be in a coffin. Kroeger tells Playboy he had a dream that he will die on his 40th birthday.

He says, "It's been foretold. I will be dead on my 40th birthday."

Might we suggest he give this place a call in advance?

If Kroeger has to go on listening to his music day in and out for the next seven years, we suspect he may die even sooner than that. Not because it's loud and could kill him. Rather, he may wind up killing himself because it's so unbearably bad.

[KWTX.com]

Wait a Minute, That's Not Old Ma(rily)n Monroe...

Every once in a while, we here at Best Death Pool Ever will gather up our magnifying glasses, constable hats, trench coats, and scooby snacks and pack into the Mystery Van. (In case you were wondering, Fine Fellow is our Velma. Same bowl haircut.)

In today's episode, our gang helps psychiatrist Jack Hattem investigates a ghost that won't leave society alone, even popping up and spooking people in magazines (NSFW-ish): The ghost of Marilyn Monroe.

Jack Hattem has set out to answer a simple mystery: What really happened to Marilyn Monroe?

In true Mystery Van style, we gathered the clues.

Clue #1 - Toxic Relationships
Joe Dimaggio, Arthur Miller, and the Kennedy Brothers

(Hatten) came to the conclusion that, in the right circumstances, with the right people, a toxic relationship gives someone the power to coax suicide. "The perfect murder," he says, "with words and feelings as the weapon."

Clue #2 - The Case of the Faulty Garage Door

Decades later, (Hatten) would find echoes of (calls for help) in Monroe's death. What, he thought, would stop one or more of the people in Marilyn's life – a Kennedy, perhaps? – from convincing her to fake a suicide attempt for attention? And what would stop that "fake" suicide from going wrong, like the woman in the garage?

Like all good mysteries, this one might surprise you:

"I set out to prove it was a suicide. But I came to the wrong conclusion. But in a mystery, there's always a surprise."

So who killed Monroe? Hattem, in his book (SPOILER ALERT), helps us unmask the real killer.

Wait a minute... underneath this mask... it's not Marylin Monroe committing suicide... it's Bobby Kennedy!...and he would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for us meddling kids.

[O.C. Register]

Russell Watson's Voice Tells Him to Go On

Russell Watson has revealed he will go on tour just months after fears he would die from a brain tumour. The opera singer was told he might never perform again after an operation in October to remove the growth was followed by intensive radiology.

But a source close to the dad-of-two, 41, said: "It's something Russell really wants to do - to prove to himself as well as his fans he is back to his best.

"It doesn't seem long since his operation but he feels he is ready.

"Russell has at least a day off between the dates so it won't exert him too much."

This tour may not bode well for the Sagittarius. His opposite sign is Gemini, and Watson's tour kicks off during the June Gemini season. We can only hope that Watson can prove once again that he is a Gemini in the rough.

[Daily Mirror]

Than's Health Indicators Shwe-ing Towards "Failing"

Burma's Ministry of Information has brushed aside rumors that Head of State Senior General Than Shwe's health is failing and that he is currently hospitalized.

The other side of the story?

A source close to the military establishment in Rangoon said, "I heard that his health has been deteriorating for about a week."

Similarly, rumors are spreading among the Burmese exile community that Than Shwe is suffering from colon cancer for which he is currently receiving treatment.

The rumor is spreading rapidly via blogs operated by Burmese bloggers both inside and outside the country.

Don't they mean Myanmar bloggers? Guess it'll always be Burma to them.

[Mizzima News]

Yet Another Scandal For The Democratic Party!

Unless you're living under an Empire Club hooker, I'm sure you've come across the news of the wealthy lawyer turned hot shot Democratic politician, famous for his legislative abilities and for taking on big business, who was forced to step down in the wake of scandalous news.

We refer, of course, to former Ohio Senator Howard Metzenbaum, who was forced to step down from his post as a living person after it was revealed today that, despite his vocal senatorial efforts to keep people alive, he has, hypocritically, died. Worse yet, reports are surfacing that this Deathgate scandal may have been ninety years in the making, and that Metzenbaum may have spent obscene amounts of money to finance his life habit.

Metzenbaum is survived by his wife Shirley, surely the victim in this case. We wonder if she too, like all the wives before her, will be forced to stand by his side at the inevitable funeral conference.

Spitzer and Metzenbaum.
Not quite living up to expectations...

[CNN]