I don’t want to hijack that wonderful thread, but I’m kind of curious about a few things…
I see Robert Downey Jr. on a lot of peoples list. I haven’t heard anything about him in the news lately. Is it confirmed that he’s back on the drugs again? Is it just a long shot that everybody wants to jump on?
What’s with Bob Barker being on so many lists? He doesn’t seem in frail health to me.
Does anybody else wonder about some of the names that are on a large number of lists?
E3
Dunno about Downey, but I can speculate about Barker.
A lot of current and former TV celebrities died in 2003, including the announcer for The Price is Right. So while Barker may not be any more likely than any other 70-something, his name will pop into the heads of a lot of people look at the past year and making their lists.
That, plus a lot of people make their lists by scanning the picks of everyone else before them, and I guess Barker seems like a good one just because he’s been around for so long.
“pop into the heads of a lot of people look at the past year and making”
err… make that looking.
Barker’s old! Old people tend to die. 
Downey Jr. is a constantly recovering druggie; I think those who put him on Death Pool lists assume he’ll OD at some point.
Downey was on The Daily Show a few weeks ago and he seems to be okay right now.
True, but when I was in New York, I saw George Plimpton getting interviewed on local TV about the “Paris Review”, and he looked fine.
Two weeks later, he was dead.
Therefore, personal appearance does not guarantee good health.