Cartoons made expressly for TV...Hmm...
Rocky & Bullwinkle is the only that comes to my mind right now.
Would that Japanese anime series "Star Blazers" count?
I shall have to see what other DRs have to say, and take notes.
WHAT IF ...? Here's a question I can't get out of my head. What if Terri Schiavo had had a living will saying she wouldn't want a feeding tube to keep her alive for decades with no reasonable hope for recovery? Legally, of course, there'd be no issue. She'd get her chance to die in peace. But morally? The arguments of the proponents for keeping the feeding tube in indefinitely suggest that removing the tube is simply murder. If that is the case, then how can removing the tube ever be justified - even if she consented in advance? Murder is murder, right? Isn't a "living will" essentially a mandate for future assisted suicide? It seems to me that the logic of the absolutist pro-life advocates means that this should be forbidden too. They should logically support a law which forbids the murder of anyone, regardless of living wills. In a society that legally mandates the "culture of life," the individual's choice for death is irrelevant, no? Or am I missing something here?
I MISSED THIS: My apologies but the Weekly Standard (http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/408ytxle.asp?pg=1) has already gone a long way toward answering my "What If?" question. In a subtle but ultimately very radical piece, Eric Cohen argues that the will of the vegetative person to be allowed to die, even if expressed in a living will or supported by all her family, is not the real issue here. People cannot be allowed to revoke life simply because it is theirs' to revoke:
"[T]he real lesson of the Schiavo case is not that we all need living wills; it is that our dignity does not reside in our will alone, and that it is foolish to believe that the competent person I am now can establish, in advance, how I should be cared for if I become incapacitated and incompetent. The real lesson is that we are not mere creatures of the will: We still possess dignity and rights even when our capacity to make free choices is gone; and we do not possess the right to demand that others treat us as less worthy of care than we really are ... [T]he autonomy regime, even at its best, is deeply inadequate. It is based on a failure to recognize that the human condition involves both giving and needing care, and not always being morally free to decide our own fate."
So if we reject the "autonomy regime," what replaces it? The moral obligation to keep even people in PVS in permanent medical care, regardless of her own wishes or that of the family. But Cohen is somewhat vague on how this new regime can be imposed. The only possibility, it seems to me, is that the law state emphatically that living wills are not dispositive, that family wishes are not relevant, and that the law set a series of medical or moral criteria to determine whether to keep someone alive indefinitely. Doctors and families would be obliged to obey such laws. The state would be obliged to enforce them - through the police power if necessary. What if the family could not afford the care? Presumably the state would be required to provide it.
So let us be plain: the theoconservative vision would remove the right of individuals to decide their own fate in such cases, and would exclude the family from such a decision as well. Indeed, the law might even compel the family to provide care as long as they were capable of doing so. My "what if?" is a real one. And the theocon right has answered it. They want an end to the "autonomy regime." They have gone from saying that a pregnant mother has no autonomy over her own body because another human being is involved to saying that a person has no ultimate autonomy over her own body at all. These are the stakes. The very foundation of modern freedom - autonomy over one's own physical body - is now under attack. And if a theocon government won't allow you control over your own body, what else do you have left?
The Stella Awards
It's time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella Awards." The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in NM). That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States.
Here are this year's winners:
5th Place (tie): Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.
5th Place (tie): 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.
5th Place (tie):
Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.
4th Place:
Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.
3rd Place:
A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.
2nd Place:
Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms.Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.
1st Place:
This year's run away winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons around.
JoseSPiano
Re:NO NOTES TODAY - OOPS, APRIL FOOL'S! - NEW
« Reply #212 on: Today at 05:11:26am »
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Good Evening!
Just when I was getting comfortable with the show...
"Hmm... There's a note sticking. Is it my keyboard? Is it Key 1? Is it Key 4? Is it Key 3?... OK - here comes my solo section... Oh, @$%#^@%#! it is my keyboard... Oh, no... messed that entrance up... What do I do?!?!.... I'll just keep playing... OK... Push the Panic button.. #$!%&#$! it's still stuck!..."
Then Chris who sits in front of me turns to me and says, "Turn the keyboard off." -But what about the solo string line I have coming up?
Then the conductor gets on his mic, "Turn off the keyboard."
So, I turn it off.
I turn it back on.
I raise my volume pedal...
"!@$!@#@#! it's still stuck!!!!!!!"
So, I turn it off again. Say at little prayer. Turn it back on.
-By this time, the Musical Director/Conductor who was sitting out in the house tonight comes running into the pit wondering what's wrong. He dons a pair of headphones to see if anything it still wrong.
The next song starts....
Whew!
Well, that woke me up!
I truly had no idea what to do since I play the solo string lead line before the refrain starts up again. Was it better to cut out? Or just to keep playing? And since there are four keyboards in the pit, all of us were wondering if it was our keyboard that was malfunctioning. Thankfully, no real harm done, and there was no post-show "discussion" about the incident. Technology happens - or doesn't happen.
But I'm guessing the "stress" of the situation brought my heart rate up to the proper zone for aerobic activity.
DR Jane, I went to the Muse web site--they do have rooms with 2 double beds. If anyone would like, maybe we could maybe share a room? Just a thought. October is a long way off and there is time to look at all options.
Or how 'bout a suite where the 3 of us could have a pajama party?
But how could we not be mentioning The Simpsons? (Trivia note which most of you probably already know: most of the surnames in the Simpsons are street names in Portland).There's a Nahasapeemapetilon Street in Portland? Way cool, dude!
(Trivia note which most of you probably already know: most of the surnames in the Simpsons are street names in Portland).
I had dinner out last night, too. We went to one of the Texas Roadhouse chain restaurants, and I had the steak and barbecued chicken platter. I ate too much, and awoke this morning with the meat sweats.
The Winnebago suit actually happened, though. However, the driver was a man, not a woman. Betsy is Executive Director of Oregon Women Lawyers and one her Board members knows one of the Winnebago attorneys who handled the suit. The judgment, IIRC, was not as large as the Stella article says it was.
Well, all I know is what my DS told me. She's at services now with the kids (I am off the hook because I'm sick ;)), but I'll ask her again when she gets home.
Matt H I couldn’t find a DVD for the Donald Crisp movie which I might have seen when it came out.
No one has yet mentioned The Point. (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0067595/)
I remember the first telecast, with Dustin Hoffman narrating. What was up with the narration changing from telecast to telecast?
And we have daylight savings time to look forward to tomorrow! When I was working, this was the hardest week of the year - trying to adjust to losing that hour, and it would take days for my body to adjust.
Ginny, NE Halsey St. is indeed in Portland, but there's no Simpsons character by that name (that I can think of, anyway). I used to live over by Halsey on NE Thompson St. in the Lloyd District
Surnames on the Simpsons that are streetnames (not an exhaustive list, just what's coming to me now):
Simpson
Flanders
Terwilliger
Hibbert
Skinner
If someone posts a list of other surnames I can tell you if they're streetnames.
You left out the street Bryan lives on, Lovejoy.
Where is the Lloyd District?
Doesn't bother me now. When I was working and had to get up long before sun up to get ready to go to work, it was another hour of darkness after being used to being able to drive to work in the light. Then, for another month, it was back to driving in darkness again, and my body just had major adjustment problems. Can't explain why it did, but it did.
Now wait just a darned minute - daylight savings time TOMORROW???
Why is everything getting earlier and earlier? The Oscars, something else I can't remember that we spoke of recently, and now daylight savings time a good two weeks before the usual switch. Who decides these things? Why don't they just move it into February along with the Oscars.
My memory is that it was always later in April, but maybe that's just what it used to be long ago.
Quite right, BK. Daylight Saving (singular, not plural) Time used to begin on the last Sunday in April, but was moved to the first Sunday in April in 1986.
Vixmom and others-
You will be glad to know that those "Stella Awards" are an internet hoax that has been circulating for years. I just found this out recently.
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/lawsuits.html
damn damn damn
And I just finished spilling hot coffee on myself while tripping over my daughter as I was breaking into a furniture store in pursuit of a big payday... all in vain, all in vain!!!
Ha! Well, you need to find out where the email chain began and sue that person for your troubles!
I find that keyboard disaster stories make for interesting reading. ;D
Miserable rainy day here. The Vixter has been embroidering flowers on her Nicaraguan doll, which she had to make for her Spanish class, most of the day
She just announce that for her Science project she has to make a video on recycling. Am I completely crazy in thinking these teachers are way out of line? When I was a kid we showed up with a notebook, a looseleaf binder and some pencils and pens I don't remember ever receiving any assignments which required my mother driving me all over creation (good thing too because she didn't drive) and paying pfr hundreds of dollars of supplies
Why can't these teachers just %^^&(!!**@# TEACH!!!?
End of Rant
Miserable rainy day here. The Vixter has been embroidering flowers on her Nicaraguan doll, which she had to make for her Spanish class, most of the dayFirst task is to check with the teacher! 30 years of classroom teaching suggests that a "video" may have been one suggestion made by the teacher! If the projects seem unreasonable always check with the teacher - there were probably alternatives.
She just announce that for her Science project she has to make a video on recycling. Am I completely crazy in thinking these teachers are way out of line? When I was a kid we showed up with a notebook, a looseleaf binder and some pencils and pens I don't remember ever receiving any assignments which required my mother driving me all over creation (good thing too because she didn't drive) and paying pfr hundreds of dollars of supplies
Why can't these teachers just %^^&(!!**@# TEACH!!!?
End of Rant
Currently listening to a BK-produced album which I had inexplicably not heard before now, featuring orchestrations by our very own elmore... Unsung Sondheim. The joys of a library card. :D
First task is to check with the teacher! 30 years of classroom teaching suggests that a "video" may have been one suggestion made by the teacher! If the projects seem unreasonable always check with the teacher - there were probably alternatives.
Quite right, BK. Daylight Saving (singular, not plural) Time used to begin on the last Sunday in April, but was moved to the first Sunday in April in 1986.
Religiously incorrect humor alert department:
While I join the world in mourning the death of the Pope, I was outraged to hear a Priest on tonight's news saying that the swimsuit competition had been eliminated from the Conclave to elect the new Pope. Does no one respect tradition anymore? >:(
So, we have to Spring forward, correct? At two it will be three.
Ugh. Please stop saying Frounce. I just looked it up on Google. Bleh!
I have this nice little travel clock next to my bed. At the appropriate time it shall spring forward all by itself. How convenient. :D
No but it can adjust to the different time zones in the States.
And/or onion rings?
I have eaten more than enough today-probably gained another unwanted pound.
Onions Give Me Gas - that's the title of my next novel.
What is more than enough, Jane?
Perpetual sunset is rather an unsettling thing.
Do we have any Albert Ketèlbey "fans" here?
I'm listening to some of his work, original recordings made in London between 1917 and 1939: very melodic!
I believe MattH said recently that he enjoys some Ketèlbey too... maybe while watching the sun set!