Atom FeedArchive of June 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Pull the plug!
It's sad and unfortunate, but Terri Schiavo will never be more than the shell of the person she once was. She's been in " a persistent vegetative state" for 14 years with virtually no hope of ever being a person who can interact with others. And if Florida Governor Jeb Bush loses the appeal on the ridiculous "Terri's Law" that's keeping her "alive", she may finally get to move on like her husband, Michael Schiavo want to let her. His contention is that she would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially. And who would? What kind of a life does she have or will ever have? "Ooooh, look at me, I'm having fun!" Right. Being a parent I can't imagine how hard it would be to have to watch your child die. But to want them to live as a vegetable, I can't. Pull the plug, stand back, cry and let go. It's time to move on.9/23/04
Well the Florida Supreme Court has finally weighed in on this issue. In a unanimous 7-0 decision, they have struck "Terri's Law" down. May her peace come soon.
9/28/04
The saga continues…On today's episode of "Fight for the Vegetable", Terri's parents are seeking her guardianship from her husband Michael. Sound good to me, with one stipulation… They assume all financial burden for her ongoing support and "rehabilitation". This means the state, her ex-husband —who has to divorce her for the parents to gain guardianship, and everyone else is absolved of providing any support for her care. None. Zip. Zero. Here she is, good luck.
Some of you might find this rather cold-hearted. Maybe so, but she's not coming back and will never be a productive member of society. Her parents insist she could be helped with therapy. Maybe that's true. How about we start with her learning to swallow? An amazing feat that by her mothers own admission she cannot accomplish on her own. Yeah, that's a life worth living. Thanks mom.
1/24/05
It looks as though, this sad story is finally getting close to the end.
3/18/05
Yesterday it was baseball, today it's do good-er government interference. And from the article, soon to be vegetable day on Capital Hill! The United States is waging war in two foreign countries, the national debt is skyrocketing, and the stock market is trembling largely due to our dependence on foreign oil and this is what our elected officials have as their top priority today? We are in such deep shit folks.
Two things from the parents attorney struck a chord with me: "He acknowledged she functions at the level of a 6- to 11-month-old child". So you're telling me that a 40 year old woman who has been in this condition for 15 years is going to make a substantial recovery from this condition? Terri will never be the adult she was when this unfortunate incident occurred. And if it's taken her 15 years to be a 6- to 11-month-old child, do you really believe she's ever going to live any kind of a functional, meaningful life? Let the record clearly show that should something this awful ever happen to me, please pull the plug. I think in most of these cases it's pretty clear in the first few months to a year what the outcome is going to be. Thus why let the situation linger on? This is an incredible waste of money and brain power. And not just the families money, but yours and my tax dollars. It's got to stop.
The second comment I found interesting was that "Schiavo also can breathe and swallow on her own". Well if that is the case, why was she put on a feeding tube? If she can eat on her own, yank the tube. I have to admit I don't understand why, but the court order in Florida apparently states that when they yank the tube she can not receive any food or water. I'm not sure I understand that. But once again I have to say, if the family wants to take her home and care for her at their expense, then let them. As long as you and I don't have to keep paying for this nonsense and the husband agrees to no longer be legally bound to her in any way, just get on with it. It's a pointless pursuit, but if that's what they really want then maybe they should let them. It's not fair to Terri, but at this point shes just a pawn anyway.
3/19/05
Could we be on the final stretch? The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by the House of Representatives for intervention late Friday night without comment. The tube is finally out and the clock is once again running. Has the final countdown begun? Will I only need to make one more update to this entry that has way out lived its usefulness? Inquiring minds want to know! Tune in tommorrow or some time in the next month and a half to find out. Some bat time, same bat channel. ;)
3/31/05
We all know the endless legal wrangling that went on regarding this case in the past couple of weeks, thus I saw no point in writing about that. But as much as I'd like to say that this is the end of this very sad tale, somehow I think that this is only the close of the first chapter. There will likely be more political debate —as there should be, more legal maneuvers and somehow I imagine a civil lawsuit against the husband by the parents. And unless there is something very compelling related to this case to comment on, this is my final update on the matter. Rest in peace Terri. June 29, 2004 @ 08:52 am | Category: Brainwork
Monday, June 28, 2004
Sellotape = Stupidity
From the "We're completely clueless when it comes to the web" department…"Hyperlinking to this site, is not permitted without the express prior permission of Sellotape".
Guess I'll be going to jail soon! June 28, 2004 @ 12:44 pm | Category: Brainwork
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Going BOINC-ing
Well, having just past my 5th anniversary with SETI, I'm now moving on. Not quiting, but moving to BOINC -Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing. They have finally begun to move the SETI project over to BOINC as had been announced long ago. So my SETI stats page will be converted to a static page containing my final stats as of today. I will likely be unlinking it from the navigation menu at some point in the future and adding a new BOINC stats page. All in good time… According to my new BOINC stats, I had completed 4522 SETI packets at the time my account was migrated. My current stats show that I've actually completed 4530.One of the cool things about BOINC is that it's designed to do distributed computing not just for SETI, but for pretty much anything. Thus if you decide to you can switch to another project or split your time between multiple projects. If you are a current SETI user who would like to migrate to BOINC, or are new to all of this and are just looking to getting started with BOINC using SETI, the temporary home page is here. June 24, 2004 @ 12:41 pm | Category: Brainwork
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
The Record Gallery Returns!
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Thursday, June 17, 2004
5 Years of SETI-ing
The SETI project was made publically available on May 13, 1999. Just over a month after it started I joined the project. And, at about 3:22pm yesterday I reached my fifth anniversary of churning SETI packets and I continue to do so as I write this entry. At this moment I've processed 4506 packets and have donated 6.456 years of computing time to find E.T. Although I currently only do processing on my one machine, previously I had multiple Unix machines that I could also utilize. Thus that is how I've donated almost an extra 1.5 years in a 5 year timespan. We haven't found E.T. yet, but we're going to keep looking. He's out there…somewhere…to be found sometime. June 17, 2004 @ 12:40 pm | Category: BrainworkWednesday, June 16, 2004
The Man Thong
With our up coming trip to Hawaii, someone was kind enough to share these very disturbing and scary photos with my sister. Apparently these were taken on a beach somewhere in California. So here you go, what I've termed the "man thong":
Just as scary:
And downright disturbing:
June 16, 2004 @ 12:46 pm
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Category: Brainwork
The missing missing link
From the "No Shit" department comes word that there was no connection between Iraq and al Qaeda on the 9/11 attacks. Duh? Anyone outside of George W. Bonehead and company with half a brain surely figured this out long ago. But then again, I guess we'll all be eating our words when they find bin Laden sitting in his cave on top of a pile of Iraqi chemical and biological weapons. What can I say other than "bring 'em on".7/7/2004
Shortly after the 9/11 Commission found no "credible evidence" that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda, Vice President Chenney pretty must insisted that it was not so. His feelings being that "probably" had information the commission didn't. But after reviewing transcripts of his remarks, the commission believes he knows nothing that they don't. Hmmm…go figure.
7/9/2004
The saga continues with even more damning evidence…or the lack there of!
June 16, 2004 @ 12:32 pm | Category: Brainwork
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
