Interesting Stuff Thread

Hotblack Desiato

The very concept that life has a higher purpose / we were put here for a reason / etc is very symptomatic of the theistic mindset.

robindch

didn't the unlovely Thiel leave PayPay when it was sold to eBay quite a long time ago?

Yes - I think it was around 20 years ago when he and his co-founders sold out to ebay for what sounded then like a lot of money.

The very concept that life has a higher purpose / we were put here for a reason / etc is very symptomatic of the theistic mindset.

It's so common that it has a name - the "Teleological Fallacy" 🤣

https://logfall.wordpress.com/teleological-fallacy/

robindch

btw, happy Towel Day everybody!

http://towelday.org/

Hotblack Desiato

We don't seem to have a dedicated euthanasia thread* so this seems as good a place as any.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0423/1378439-assisted-dying-committee-analysis/

TL,DR: the Oireachtas joint committee on assissed dying meets again tomorrow but has yet to decide when public hearings will begin. Once the first public hearing takes place the clock starts ticking and they have nine months to produce a report, to include any recommendations on legislative change. Depending on when they get started it's quite possible that there will not then be time to draft legislation and get it through the Oireachtas before the next general election. Some want the process to start ASAP while others don't want the clock to be ticking over the summer when nothing can happen anyway.

[*] Maybe we did and the mods euthanised it? 😁

Hotblack Desiato

Well, this isn't what I expected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANGELUS

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599561#Comment_120599561

What is the connection to A&A?

Hotblack Desiato

I wanted to look up Angelus but caps lock was on and ANGELUS on Wikipedia redirects to the article above

robindch

Here are the ever-fresh Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey talking about the history of atheism in their (rather excellent) Origin Story podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/atheism-no-god-what-now/id1624704966?i=1000614587134

Hotblack Desiato

Enjoy the solstice everyone! (and those bright evenings while they're still here...)

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2023/10/02/courts-have-key-role-to-play-in-protecting-rights-in-in-current-era-says-chief-justice/

The Chief Justice stressed the importance of open, efficient and independent justice in what was the first secular ceremony to mark the start of a new legal year.

The decision to move away from the traditional two religious services that have opened past legal years came following a report by a committee chaired by the Supreme Court’s Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne.

Mr Justice O’Donnell said the previous Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic services have been “valuable and often beautiful”, but there has always been “some discomfort” with the idea of the legal year being “associated, almost by default, with religion”.

About time.

Hotblack Desiato

Mmmm, boiled and then roasted turkey neck, it's yum! 😁

There were no giblets in our fresh turkey from the butchers, so we asked and got given 3 necks 1 heart and a generously sized liver for free because "nobody wants them" 🙄. Liver got chopped up very finely and was a most welcome and very tasty addition to the stuffing. The rest we put in the freezer until today when it was time to clear out what was left in the turkey tray. Bones and bits and the delicious jelly-like stuff from the bottom of the turkey roasting tray and the remains of the underlying veg went into a big pot to boil down, then we stuck the necks into another big pot of water until well done (putting the juices into the general stock pot) then gave them a roasting. A surprisingly tasty snack.

The rest has boiled down into a ridiculously viscous and tasty goo which will be put in a Pyrex bowl, frozen, warmed up just enough to free it from the bowl, then cut into chunks with a hot knife and put into freezer bags. Fabulous with risotto or paella but most of it will be kept for next December's gravy... circle of life eh 😁

Hotblack Desiato

Former TV presenter Esther Rantzen has joined Dignitas.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67756506

The broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen says she has joined the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.

The 83-year-old told the BBC she is currently undergoing a "miracle" treatment for stage four lung cancer.

If it does not work, "I might buzz off to Zurich", where assisted dying is legal, she told Radio 4's The Today Podcast.

But she said she was looking forward to this "precious" Christmas, which she hadn't thought she would live to see.

Speaking about her decision to join Dignitas, Dame Esther said it was driven in part by her wish that her family's "last memories of me" are not "painful because if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times".

The broadcaster said if she did decide to have an assisted death at Dignitas that would put "my family and friends in a difficult position because they would want to go with me, and that means that the police might prosecute them".

Dame Esther's daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, told the BBC that there was a "legal murkiness surrounding assisting dying".

"I support mum's decision," she said, but added: "I'm not legally allowed to say I'd go with her, that I would hold her hand - and that is absolutely ridiculous.

"I should be able to sit with my mother in her last moments.

"I can't go to prison, I can't go through a court case at the worst point of my life, when I've lost my person and I'm suddenly being prosecuted with her death.

"It's unfathomable. I can't believe this is the situation we're in."

Prosecuting or even putting the fear of prosecution into mourning relatives who only wanted to respect their loved one's wishes is disgusting.

Hotblack Desiato

MPs vote to allow assisted dying in England & Wales.

https://www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/2024/11/29/mps-debate-giving-terminally-ill-the-right-to-assisted-death-with-crunch-vote-due-this-afternoon/

A bill to give terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to medical assistance in taking their own lives has passed a crucial vote in the House of Commons.

The bill on assisted dying passed by 330 votes in favour to 275 against, and it will now enter further stages of scrutiny at committee stage and in the House of Lords.

The margin of victory in the free vote was bigger than many expected, after a passionate five hour debate.

Only the second reading so a long way to go yet before legislation is enacted, but I don't think any similar proposal has got this far before.

Presumably Scotland and NI will be making their own arrangements… or in the latter case, presumably not making.

robindch

New hotness - humpback whales finally spotted humping! With photos!

But, oh dear, what's that they're doing? Um. We could lose our funding over this.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/mating-male-humpbacks-1.7131511