“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!“
Well, here we go for 2013! I’m Baker, your Death Mistress, with the power of life and death over the choices made here. Nothing much has really changed with the rules, but it never hurts to list them all again.
The Rules:
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You pick 13 celebrities (that’s thirteen, not ten) whom you predict will die within the calendar year 2013. If any of your celebrities dies, you score 100 points minus their age at death. Whoever has the most points at the end of the year wins the undying snort admiration of the SDMB.
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All picks must be time- and date-stamped by midnight Chicago time, Dec. 31st, 2012. (That’s U.S. Central time, which is six hours behind Greenwich.)
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Valid picks are not:
a. already dead
b. a fictional character
c. non-human
d. under age 18 at death
e. a registered member of the SDMB, 'cause that would be weird
f. political prisoners, 'cause we’re macabre but not THAT macabre.
g. famous solely as a result of their illness or associated actions/events.
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You can pick people who are 100 or more years old but you won’t score points for them. See the “Quantity Not Quality” award, below.
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If we are uncertain about the celebrity’s age at death, we will go by the higher age (lower score).
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Your picks must specify a name: listing “anybody from [the cast of your most hated TV show or boy band]” as a pick will be ignored.
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Persons under sentence of death will be valid for scoring points only if they die by means other than official execution.
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Any poster who kills or otherwise contributes to the death of any celebrity mentioned in this thread is disqualified. It’s just a game, people. The only exceptions to this rule would be deaths caused by those posters serving as members of the police or armed forces of any country, in the line of duty.
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Editing your choices: be careful! You can make changes to your list before the end of the year, but it has to be clear which names are your final choices. You may submit one or more “alternates” with your list in the event that one of your picks dies during December 2012, or submit an alternate after the death of the original pick, as long as this is posted by Dec 31, 2012. If you do not submit a new name, I will submit the remaining twelve… You may have no more than 13 picks. If you pick more than 13, or if any of your picks is otherwise invalid, I may ask for clarification. Otherwise, I will submit the first 13 names on your list. Do me a favor: check twice, post once.
We have no rule about submitted lists having to be unique, despite claims of “copying” anyone else’s list. We will just turn up our noses at you if you do this. Sharing news of celebrities in ill health and whatnot is up to individual posters.
We have no rule about valid SDMB memberships (disqualifying members who have been banned). If you submit a list and then change your username at some point, please post this news on the thread so I know who you are.
We have no rule about what constitutes “celebrity,” because it makes our heads hurt to think about this. HOWEVER, if you DO have a question about whether or not someone’s choice qualifies, please, I’d prefer a PM about it to start off with, rather than thrashing it out in public and possibly causing resentment. Remember, it’s only a game!
Some celebrities have common, identical or similar names. It is helpful to be specific.
Spelling counts! Please try to spell celebrities’ names correctly. Names that weren’t originally spelled in English can be tricky, I know, but if you aren’t sure of a name, try looking at what a major news outlet, like CNN or the BBC, uses.
Additional awards:
The “Quantity Not Quality” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the greatest number of celebrities who died, regardless of their actual point value.
The “Inside Track With the Grim Reaper” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who had the most unique picks that died.
The “Opening Kickoff” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the first listed celebrity to die in 2013.
The “Final Hours” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the last listed celebrity to die in 2013.
The “Robbing the Cradle” Award: awarded to the poster or posters who pick the youngest celebrity to die in 2013, but see rule 3.d.
List Format:
There is a spreadsheet that allows me to post updated standings quickly and produce various other statistics. The pain is “loading” the data into the sheet. I can do each list in a single cut and paste if you use the following format and guidelines: present a plain, unnumbered list that contains just the celebrities’ most commonly used names (e.g. use “Al Gore”, not “Albert Gore”), correctly spelled. If anyone is known by initials, include a period and a space after each. And please observe, what I, Baker, refer to as the “Pope” rule, a variation on “the most commonly used name” rule. If a person is known primarily by a titled name, use that. So it wouldn’t be Joseph Ratzinger, it would be Pope Benedict XVI. And don’t put down Elizabeth Windsor, put down Queen Elizabeth II. For all I know there are other celebrities with the plain names. If you do pick Joe or Lizzy, under their lesser known names, I might not notice it, to give you those points if and when they shuffle off this mortal coil.
An example of a plain list follows here:
O. J. Simpson
Ronnie Biggs
Fidel Castro
George W. Bush
Muhammad Ali
Lindsay Lohan
Fred Phelps
Abe Vigoda
Kirk Douglas
Clint Eastwood
Ariel Sharon
Dick Cheney
Bill Gates
However, I know that many of you like to include commentary within your lists, such as:
O.J. Simpson(we can only hope)
Fidel (I’m not dead yet!) Castro
Fred Phelps, hatemonger
That is fine - it adds to the entertainment. But if you do that, please also include the list again in plain format for me to copy & paste.
Have fun, sickos. Oh, and just to be trendy “May the odds be ever in your favor!”
Of course, seeing as I volunteered to do this for another year, what does that say about me? (Where am I going, and why am I in this handbasket?)
