Two notes on the Castro death watch:

(1) We should hope this doesn’t go on for as long as the Franco death watch did back in 1976. Remember all those Saturday Night Live jokes—”Here’s a news flash: Greneralissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!” etc. etc.

(2) The death of an earlier tyrant:

“In the seventh month, the day bing-yin, the First Emperor passed away at the Ping Terrace in Sha-qiu. Because the emperor had died outside the capital, the chancellor Li Si feared that the other princes and their supporters in the empire might start an uprising, and therefore he kept the matter secret and did not announce a period of mourning.
“The coffin was placed in a carriage that could be opened up for cooling or closed for warmth, with the ruler’s oldest and most trusted eunuchs riding in attendance. At each stopping place, food was delivered to the carriage. The various officials continued as before to submit matters for the emperor’s approval, and at such times the eunichs would immediately approve them and hand them down from the closed carriage. Only the emperor’s son Hu-hai, Zhao Gao, and five or six of the trusted eunuchs knew that the emperor had died….
“The party proceeded from Jing-xing to Jiu-yuan, but as the weather was hot, the body of the emperor in the closed carriage began to smell. An imperial order was issued to the accompanying officials ordering them to load each of their carriages with a picul’s weight of dried fish so as to disguise the odor. In this way they proceeded by the Straight Road to Xian-yang [ i.e. the imperial capital], where the mourning was announced. The heir apparent Hu-hai ascended the throne and is known as the Second Emperor.”
—Records of the Grand Historian, by Si-ma Qian (Tr. Burton Watson)

[Derb] That was 210 B.C. The Second Emperor didn’t last long, and was in fact the last of that dynasty.