Yes, we're calloused and cynical

UPDATE III: I've been forced to split my winnings because another staffer had Gordon Hinckley, leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He died Sunday evening. Curses, foiled again.

UPDATE II: I've just been awarded my winnings, which I miscalculated. I still get $60 because Sunday counts as the end of the week in Alex's reckoning (he keeps the pool). I also forgot that he pays the entire winnings in $1 coins, which now commemorate our 4th president, James Madison. I now have a Scrooge worthy stack of gold coins.

UPDATE: Suharto's dead! He lingered until Sunday, which boosts my winnings to $66. If nobody else's wager keels over this week, I'll get the whole pot! Thanks, vile dictator.

This new blog offers a peek into a long and unseemly reporter tradition: Betting on the death of celebrities. In our newsroom, we call it the Dead Pool.
Yes, it's horrifying, but when you're confronted with senseless deaths, lying politicians, power-hungry leaders and all other manner of human darkness on a daily basis, you get rather calloused yourself.
So why not make a game of it? For $13, I bet that blues legend (and diabetic) B.B. King, despotic Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe or Indonesian tyrant (and ventilator patient) Suharto would kick off sometime this year. If they do, I get a payout. Right now, Suharto is on his deathbed. If he dies before Sunday, I get $60.