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Sogen Kato – set to celebrate his 111th birthday – had visitors from the government, no doubt bringing him a cake or some fruit for the occasion.

When they knocked on the door, Kato’s granddaughter told the visitors that he “doesn’t want to see anybody”. The visitors persisted, and finally got in the house. And how did Mr. Kato greet them? Well, they found mummified skeletal remains lying in his bed. Mr. Kato may have been dead for 30 years according to Japanese authorities.

Here’s the story as it was reported by BBCNews.co.uk:  Read more... (270 words, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)

Well, the results are in, and I guess the biggest takeaway was there was no real clear-cut news story this quarter about someone very famous dying. No Dennis Hopper story, no huge celebrity like Patrick Swayze on the verge of death. A few tidbits here and there, but there was enough for a little activity.

Without any more delay, here are the actions that took place at midnight. The lists have all been updated, and we’re ready for more celebs to start dropping.  Read more... (233 words, estimated 56 secs reading time)

The longest serving Senator Robert Byrd has died – years after many thought he was already dead.

Robert C. Byrd, who used his record tenure as a United States senator to fight for the primacy of the legislative branch of government and to build a modern West Virginia with vast amounts of federal money, died at about 3 a.m. Monday, his office said. He was 92.  Read more... (243 words, estimated 58 secs reading time)

Saramago died on 18 June 2010 at the age of 87. Saramago has been called “the finest Portuguese writer of his generation”, while Fernanda Eberstadt of The New York Times said he was “known almost as much for his unfaltering Communism as for his fiction”. Saramago’s translator, Margaret Jull Costa, paid tribute to him, describing his “wonderful imagination” and calling him “the greatest contemporary Portuguese writer”. Saramago had continued his writing until his death, his most recent publication, Cain, was published in 2009 with an English translation expected in late 2010. Saramago had suffered pneumonia a year before his death. Having been thought to have made a full recovery, he was scheduled to attend the Edinburgh Festival in August 2010. Saramago, described as a “militant atheist”, was outspoken in his political views, having delivered lectures as a Nobel laureate in his later life, once saying the treatment of Palestine by Israel was comparable to The Holocaust.  Read more... (202 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

So now he’s dead. And all our scoring is correct.

… but I did all the legwork of scoring because the dumb-asses as the Washington Post pulled off the ever-difficult alley-OOPsie and reported him dead. Even though he hasn’t… yet.

John Wooden is reported to be in serious and grave condition, and is in the hospital. But you know what? Screw it – I’m not changing it back. The game is scored as if he died, and when he dies, then the world will be right. And, I’ll look like a psychic because I really pulled that shit off.

So, until he dies, the game scoreboard is wrong.  Read more... (107 words, estimated 26 secs reading time)

Betty White is the last remaining Golden Girl with the death of Rue McClanahan early this morning.

Rue, who earned an Emmy Award for playing the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series “The Golden Girls”, died at 1:00 AM at home as the result of a stroke.

She had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997 and later lectured to cancer support groups on “aging gracefully.” In 2009, she had heart bypass surgery.

Three scores on this one – Charles #2, Danielle #1, and Die For My Benefit.

So, I’m a day late. Give me a break – it’s a holiday weekend PLUS the Flyers are in the Stanley Cup, and I had some serious drinking to do. Let’s get this right out of the way – BLACKHAWKS SUCK!!’

So, 16 players had Dennis Hopper – including 12 that picked him up at the waiver wire on April 1st. Good for them, but it cost 3JCmusic.com, Charles #1, Ferral Fodder, and Jeff nine points each that the Rebel Without A Cause waited a little longer to move on. We also had five players that hit their first scored death with The Hopster – Charles #1, Danielle #1, Danielle #3, Live As If You Were Dying #2, and Live As If You Were Dying #3.  Read more... (163 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

97 year old charmer (and snappy dresser) TV host Art Linkletter died today in his home in California.

Linkletter’s success is particularly astonishing considering his hardscrabble background. Born in Moose Jaw, Canada, in 1912, he was abandoned by his parents and grew up the adopted son of a poor preacher. After high school, Linkletter enrolled at San Diego State, hoping to become a teacher, but his plans changed after he got an unexpected phone call offering him a job at a local radio station. “I said sure,” Linkletter recalled. “It was 1933, the bottom of the Depression. If a gravedigger called me, I would bedigging graves today.”  Read more... (168 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Ronnie James Dio strikes a familiar pose, which he made famous, while on stage.

This is one of those that even though you knew it was coming, it sucks when it does. Ronnie James Dio – frontman for Elf, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Heaven & Hell, and Dio – died this morning at the age of 67 after a six month battle with stomach cancer.

Dio was widely hailed as one of the most powerful singers in heavy metal, renowned for his consistently powerful voice and for popularizing the “devil’s horns” hand gesture in metal culture.  Read more... (198 words, 1 image, estimated 48 secs reading time)