This post will date me, but people about my age have whined a lot this year about iconic people to our lives dying.

A year is an arbitrary range of time for a solar revolution. It could could run from March 21st (the spring equinox) to March 20th just as easily as it currently runs January 1st to December 31st. Or another range of dates.

Some people have blamed the year. (Hopefully not seriously.) I think it is because we are essentially older. Our parents are of an age where they are more likely to have health problems and possibly die. The same as their parents did for them about 20-30 years ago.

The people who were famous for things they did in the 70 and 80s are of an age where they are more likely to die from complications due to being old.

• Richard Adams was 96.
• Zsa Zsa Gabor was 99.
• John Glenn was 95.

Others were younger, but still getting close to old. Some of these are also known for their drug use.

• Carrie Fisher was 60.
• George Michael was 53.

The BBC made an interesting point…

There are also more famous people than there used to be. In my father or grandfather’s generation, the only famous people really were from cinema — there was no television. Then, if anybody wasn’t on TV, they weren’t famous.

Well, there were radio stars prior to TV. And these days TV and movie and theatre actors / actresses significantly participate in multiple mediums.

There is also the 27 Club, who are celebrities who died at age 27. Think Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin or Kurt Cobain. There was one this year: Anton Yelchin who played Chekov in the Star Trek reboot.

Finally, the availability heuristic is also at play. News organizations talking so much about these deaths can make it FEEL like more died this year than last. Just because the number of stories is up does not mean more died.