I might have bored someone with the last two posts, all about Eluana and what other people think of her case and yappity yappity boo, but I just stumbled about the news related to the excommunication of a mother because she allowed/wanted/forced? her daughter to have an abortion; some details you find here and no doubt in a lot of other places. Well, what's the big issue? That the daughter was nine and possibly pregnant because of abuse by her stepfather, who is also suspected of having abused her older sister.
Now, if the Vatican had felt forced to judge the mother for picking such an unsuitable mate, I might even agree with them, but the point is that they rule abortion in such cases (rape, for example) as immoral. Shooting themselves in the foot, since Brazil is not very liberal about abortion: quoting from the article I linked, "Brazil only permits abortions in cases of rape or health risks to the mother.", which is way more restrictive that what happens in most of the western world (do you have to give a reason for wanting an abortion in Italy? I'm not 100% sure but I think not). Pushing the Brazilians might have the opposite effect, i.e. the very catholic population might answer the call for morality with an impolite "mind your own business"...
The coincidence I mentioned: while waiting for the computer to crunch some data, I was reading Ethics: a very short introduction, by Simon Blackburn (it's the simplest thing I could find on the topic - anyone knows if there is an Ethics for Dummies?), and at page 46 I stumbled upon the following sentence:
"If the girl is not allowed the abortion, or the family not allowed to assist the suicide, they have to pick up the pieces and soldier on themselves. Those who told them how they had to behave can just bow out."
This was in the paragraph titled: False consciousness. The point the author is trying to hammer home is that this seems a menace to the foundations of ethics themselves: if ethics tells you you have to pick this or that way no matter what, it is sometimes natural to turn around and bite back, asking pointy questions such as: who the hell you think you are to tell me this? Where is the cross YOU are carrying, that allows you to tell me smugly that everybody has to carry their own?
Well the answer of the author is that Ethics as institution IS a failure; in practice, too easily corruptible by personal and corporate interests. Funny enough how this analysis fits nicely with the recent behaviour of the Vatican...
So, it seems simple enough that determining what's right and what's wrong is something one cannot afford to delegate. Now, how to combine this relativism with the need to live in societies? The world is not big enough for every one of us to have their little universe, so the next big question is how to liaise with your fellow humans without having to kill them first. Maybe there is an answer in the remainder of the book...
Monday, 9 March 2009
Friday, 13 February 2009
Berlusconi, time to rush
He did it again. Made himself ridiculous once again. If you cannot read Italian, in the linked Reuters article Berlusconi maintains that it is urgent to promulgate a decree to save Eluana Englaro. Obviously, that was a couple of days ago, since the poor woman has died in the meantime. But, WHY was this urgent? She has been in a coma 17 years, her medical condition looked quite bad from the onset, hopes of recovery close to zero if not a round O. Mmm, but the premier has a good reason for it: this is a woman who could generate a child.
Well for one I doubt Eluana was menstruating recently, since as far as I can tell in stressful conditions women stop doing so; it's just their body keeping energy and resources for survival instead of procreation. But that's beside the point. Basically he said: the government should rush, otherwise this miracle cannot take place. It's a miracle called rape, you dumb little excuse for a man...
Well for one I doubt Eluana was menstruating recently, since as far as I can tell in stressful conditions women stop doing so; it's just their body keeping energy and resources for survival instead of procreation. But that's beside the point. Basically he said: the government should rush, otherwise this miracle cannot take place. It's a miracle called rape, you dumb little excuse for a man...
Monday, 9 February 2009
The fat lady sings Game Over
There has been a lot of noise recently in Italy about terminal diseases and whether it's legitimate to stop treatments, who should be responsible etc etc. Particularly, what if someone cannot communicate their will to cease treatment? I.e., someone is in a coma.
Well for a change the Vatican thinks that the choice is not ours. I do need a machine to breathe in my place, another to clean my blood, another to push water and sugar up my bloodstream, and by the way I might be in pain or even knocked out for the count most or all of the time, it doesn't matter, it's not my choice to stop suffering and go push up daisies instead. Not mine, not my relatives', not my doctor's, not even the magistrate. It's god's choice. And if the Italian Constitution says differently, the constitution is wrong, and the laws should be changed. URGENTLY. And when the President says to the government: what's the rush? Sit down and think it through, and by the way have a look at this and this point of the Constitution that are relevant and you CANNOT change, well then the Vatican is disappointed:
2009-02-06 17:04
ELUANA: DA VATICANO, DELUSI DA NAPOLITANO
CITTA' DEL VATICANO - "Sono costernato che in tutte queste diatribe politiche si ammazzi una persona" e "sono profondamente deluso" dalla decisione del presidente della Repubblica, Giorgio Napolitano, di non firmare il decreto che avrebbe imposto lo stop all'alimentazione e idratazione a Eluana Englaro. E' quanto ha affermato all'ANSA il card. Renato Raffaele Martino, presidente del pontificio consiglio Giustizia e Pace.
ANSA
And obviously our government is happy to oblige the Vatican, instead of backing the President (note: the Vatican is another country). You know, next elections the president has only one vote, the vatican can move millions...
But back to the main points: in the middle ages, people with rabies were tied to stakes and let to die in their houses... you couldn't kill them, they could not kill themselves, and there was no cure (there is no cure as of now, for the advanced stages). Result: one of the most atrocious form of agony unleashed on a poor guy, who wasn't allowed to take his own life to shorten the pain. Because that's someone else's decision. My bloody fucking life and it's someone else's choice to call the Game Over on it?
Well, I don't know about you, but I hope that when I'll be used up I'll still be able to take the matter in my own hands...
Well for a change the Vatican thinks that the choice is not ours. I do need a machine to breathe in my place, another to clean my blood, another to push water and sugar up my bloodstream, and by the way I might be in pain or even knocked out for the count most or all of the time, it doesn't matter, it's not my choice to stop suffering and go push up daisies instead. Not mine, not my relatives', not my doctor's, not even the magistrate. It's god's choice. And if the Italian Constitution says differently, the constitution is wrong, and the laws should be changed. URGENTLY. And when the President says to the government: what's the rush? Sit down and think it through, and by the way have a look at this and this point of the Constitution that are relevant and you CANNOT change, well then the Vatican is disappointed:
2009-02-06 17:04
ELUANA: DA VATICANO, DELUSI DA NAPOLITANO
CITTA' DEL VATICANO - "Sono costernato che in tutte queste diatribe politiche si ammazzi una persona" e "sono profondamente deluso" dalla decisione del presidente della Repubblica, Giorgio Napolitano, di non firmare il decreto che avrebbe imposto lo stop all'alimentazione e idratazione a Eluana Englaro. E' quanto ha affermato all'ANSA il card. Renato Raffaele Martino, presidente del pontificio consiglio Giustizia e Pace.
ANSA
And obviously our government is happy to oblige the Vatican, instead of backing the President (note: the Vatican is another country). You know, next elections the president has only one vote, the vatican can move millions...
But back to the main points: in the middle ages, people with rabies were tied to stakes and let to die in their houses... you couldn't kill them, they could not kill themselves, and there was no cure (there is no cure as of now, for the advanced stages). Result: one of the most atrocious form of agony unleashed on a poor guy, who wasn't allowed to take his own life to shorten the pain. Because that's someone else's decision. My bloody fucking life and it's someone else's choice to call the Game Over on it?
Well, I don't know about you, but I hope that when I'll be used up I'll still be able to take the matter in my own hands...
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Missionaries
Just found this great quote:
The Eskimo asked the local missionary priest, 'If I did not know about God and Sin, would I go to Hell?' 'No,' said the Priest, 'not if you did not know.' 'Then why,' asked the Eskimo earnestly, 'did you tell me?'
This goes together with Bono allegedly reported to have been clapping his hands in a fundraising concert, claiming: Each time I clap my hands a child dies. And someone from the crowd: Then stop clapping your bloody hands!
Which makes me think, how often is the case that we see evil around us, yet instead of working at the solution we sit on our asses or become part of the problem?
Some missionaries belong to the first category, some to the third... How many, you ask? Good point... needs research, just after I go donate some cash to a charity not ruled by any church. I don't want to be the kettle saying black to the pot...
The Eskimo asked the local missionary priest, 'If I did not know about God and Sin, would I go to Hell?' 'No,' said the Priest, 'not if you did not know.' 'Then why,' asked the Eskimo earnestly, 'did you tell me?'
This goes together with Bono allegedly reported to have been clapping his hands in a fundraising concert, claiming: Each time I clap my hands a child dies. And someone from the crowd: Then stop clapping your bloody hands!
Which makes me think, how often is the case that we see evil around us, yet instead of working at the solution we sit on our asses or become part of the problem?
Some missionaries belong to the first category, some to the third... How many, you ask? Good point... needs research, just after I go donate some cash to a charity not ruled by any church. I don't want to be the kettle saying black to the pot...
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Why is my PC so slow?
How many of you reading this are computer geeks? How many of you have heard the sentence in the title? Not as a "It's time to buy a new computer" turned into a question, but as a serious, honest question that demands an answer. A precise answer. On the spot. Without looking at the computer. With precise instructions on how to fix the problem. Possibly in ten words or less, and don't ask me complicated questions like: what computer do you have, which operating system, how much RAM...
Well I can understand how the average person feels when looking at a computer, more or less like me when I look at something I have no desire to know but I am somewhat forced to interact with. Suppose I'm skint and there is a million dollars at the bottom of a valley which can be accessed only by suspending oneself to a rubber rope and experiencing wild fluctuations of velocity, a technique also known as bungee jumping. Trust me, I have no desire to do that, but I might have to. Well, given the current economy, make it a million euros, sounds better. But...
I was just watching tv a couple of days ago when this advert caught my eye, strange enough because usually I cannot remember who appears in an advert, what they do in it and least of all what the advert is supposed to try and sell. Well this one was asking this question, "how can I fix my PC? what are those errors I see? How comes everything is blue?"... Just visit this site, we have utilities that will fix your PC as new in a zap. I was all: oh great, finally I can tell people how to fix their computers and leave me alone when I'm on holiday at home... but wait a sec, what's that screen the guy is bumping his head into? An Apple Cinema display, just like the one I have in the office... And that other? It's an IMac just like the one my mate Paul has. And the girl there is working with a MacBook, just like the one I'm typing on right now, only mine is black because I'm a cool boy... and lo an behold, the girl is staring at a Blue Screen Of Death... on the Mac!
Yeah, I know, it is POSSIBLE to install Windows on a Intel Mac. You can pay a lot of money for one of these babies (they cost at least 50% more than a computer with similar specs built by anyone else, don't they?), you can pay to get a retail copy of Windows sVista (no typo there), or if you're lucky you may have a proper copy of Windows XP Professional (which as far as I can tell is on the par with Windows 2000 as regards stability and reliability, good enough stuff both of them), and you can also go as far as bothering to install one on the other, which will leave you with a computer prone to viruses and paid about twice as much as your mate paid his... but tell me how likely that is. I don't claim omniscience but what percentage of mac users is actually running windows? Most of those I know are quite happy to speak ill of windows whenever they can (as in telling me I'm a windows person because I remapped the functions of the apple key to the control key... sorry but for me copy and paste are ctrl-c ctrl-v, and don't get me started on why Finder does not have a cut function at all...), so maybe this nice website supports macs as well but the advert people wanted to show the customers something they could more immediately place in context.
So I jotted down the website, this one, and had a look at it. No mac section. Nothing whatsoever, there is no mention of operating systems at all, so I guess all modern Windows are covered. The company has ten years of experience in fixing troubles (three less than me then, but I admit I might have exercised my abilities on a smaller number of computers...), and they are also Microsoft certified. This may look good enough for the regular user, but I cannot manage not to be puzzled by a high tech company which puts out a technically completely misleading advert. Would you trust the president of your nation to have control of the army if he (or she) had only a faint clue of which nation he is supposed to be in charge of? Like if Napolitano (current president of Italy) were to say on TV: we'll solve the troubles with the rubbish at Napoli and Lugano. Lugano is full of people that speak Italian, but it's in Switzerland...
All in all, it seems I'll have to fix relatives' pcs during the next holiday too...
Well I can understand how the average person feels when looking at a computer, more or less like me when I look at something I have no desire to know but I am somewhat forced to interact with. Suppose I'm skint and there is a million dollars at the bottom of a valley which can be accessed only by suspending oneself to a rubber rope and experiencing wild fluctuations of velocity, a technique also known as bungee jumping. Trust me, I have no desire to do that, but I might have to. Well, given the current economy, make it a million euros, sounds better. But...
I was just watching tv a couple of days ago when this advert caught my eye, strange enough because usually I cannot remember who appears in an advert, what they do in it and least of all what the advert is supposed to try and sell. Well this one was asking this question, "how can I fix my PC? what are those errors I see? How comes everything is blue?"... Just visit this site, we have utilities that will fix your PC as new in a zap. I was all: oh great, finally I can tell people how to fix their computers and leave me alone when I'm on holiday at home... but wait a sec, what's that screen the guy is bumping his head into? An Apple Cinema display, just like the one I have in the office... And that other? It's an IMac just like the one my mate Paul has. And the girl there is working with a MacBook, just like the one I'm typing on right now, only mine is black because I'm a cool boy... and lo an behold, the girl is staring at a Blue Screen Of Death... on the Mac!
Yeah, I know, it is POSSIBLE to install Windows on a Intel Mac. You can pay a lot of money for one of these babies (they cost at least 50% more than a computer with similar specs built by anyone else, don't they?), you can pay to get a retail copy of Windows sVista (no typo there), or if you're lucky you may have a proper copy of Windows XP Professional (which as far as I can tell is on the par with Windows 2000 as regards stability and reliability, good enough stuff both of them), and you can also go as far as bothering to install one on the other, which will leave you with a computer prone to viruses and paid about twice as much as your mate paid his... but tell me how likely that is. I don't claim omniscience but what percentage of mac users is actually running windows? Most of those I know are quite happy to speak ill of windows whenever they can (as in telling me I'm a windows person because I remapped the functions of the apple key to the control key... sorry but for me copy and paste are ctrl-c ctrl-v, and don't get me started on why Finder does not have a cut function at all...), so maybe this nice website supports macs as well but the advert people wanted to show the customers something they could more immediately place in context.
So I jotted down the website, this one, and had a look at it. No mac section. Nothing whatsoever, there is no mention of operating systems at all, so I guess all modern Windows are covered. The company has ten years of experience in fixing troubles (three less than me then, but I admit I might have exercised my abilities on a smaller number of computers...), and they are also Microsoft certified. This may look good enough for the regular user, but I cannot manage not to be puzzled by a high tech company which puts out a technically completely misleading advert. Would you trust the president of your nation to have control of the army if he (or she) had only a faint clue of which nation he is supposed to be in charge of? Like if Napolitano (current president of Italy) were to say on TV: we'll solve the troubles with the rubbish at Napoli and Lugano. Lugano is full of people that speak Italian, but it's in Switzerland...
All in all, it seems I'll have to fix relatives' pcs during the next holiday too...
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