People who may or may not be dead

[Swift]

Sometimes a celebrity dies and you'll think "oh I thought they died years ago" or someone did die years ago but you somehow missed the news.

I was thinking about Beatles producer George Martin today and couldn't remember if he's still alive or not. I'm almost certain he died but am not sure.

I genuinely don't know if Lex Luger is alive or not. If he's alive he's pretty low key these days.

Obviously I could just look these up but I'll wait for DVDVR to break the news to me.

You guys have any?

[Brian Fowler]

Martin is dead, not all that long ago. Luger is alive.

[Swift]

That surprises me a little. He's not involved in wrestling these days? (Wrestling at indies, behind the scenes, conventions etc) Or he is but I haven't been paying attention?

[Contentious C]

Given the stuff with Elizabeth, I imagine he might be giving it a wide berth. He's also borderline unrecognizable today. 

[Technico Support]

I literally just looked up Edward Furlong because my wife and I were discussing whether he was still alive a few days ago.

[Ace]

3 hours ago, Swiftian said:

That surprises me a little. He's not involved in wrestling these days? (Wrestling at indies, behind the scenes, conventions etc) Or he is but I haven't been paying attention?

Luger had a nerve impingement back in 2007 which left him paralyzed for a time. He's made improvements since, but even a few years ago when TNA inducted Sting into their Hall of Fame, he couldn't climb stairs to the stage and had to induct him from the floor. He's involved in WWE's Wellness Policy.

[Zimbra]

Back in the pre-internet days my uncle had what I think was one of the all-time great ideas: 1-900-DEADGUY and 1-900-DEADGAL. 

The pitch was simple: you're at your local watering hole discussing the affairs of the world, as you do, when you reach a point of disagreement.  Is John Major (or whatever public figure) alive or dead?  No one knows for sure, but for just $2.50/minute you can call up 1-900-DEADGUY and get your answer.

The genius part of the idea was that you have no overhead because you're not actually researching the answer.  His reasoning was that people were more interested in getting a convincing answer from a definitive-seeming source than in actually knowing the truth.

I used to think that last part was incredibly cynical, but it just turns out my uncle has known what the fuck was up since forever.

[Contentious C]

I read that as John Mayer and instantly thought, "Please please please please please..."

[Technico Support]

Luger looking like Michael McKean there.

[Mike Campbell]

When Bea Arthur passed, my father in law insisted that all four of the Golden Girls had died. My wife and I kept telling him that Betty White was still alive, but he kept arguing that she was dead. And, Wikipedia wasn't an accurate source, accoridng to him. Like a week later, she was on some talk show and the wife called and told him that she was on the show and "she looks great for a dead woman!"

[Gonzo]

Abe Vigoda?

Oh, wait. . .