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Post by jk on Dec 13, 2019 9:18:30 GMT
I came across this news about a Belgium Paralympian gold medalist who died at age 40 from self-inflicted euthanasia, which is legal in Belgium. Apparently she lived in constant pain and planned this procedure for years, actually signing euthanasia papers.
I know of two instances from very close by, one just past and one still to come. It's legal in NL too, although very strictly monitored. It's surreal in some ways, as those concerned know exactly how long they have to live and, as you say, can arrange everything, up to and including wisecracks in their farewell message recited at the funeral service. Heavy stuff.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 14, 2020 20:50:30 GMT
Recently I stumbled across this YouTube account and have been eating it up since: Voices of the Past, which features someone reading from historical primary sources: ancient Romans' impressions of Gauls, Brits, and Scandinavians; Chinese people's impressions of the Japanese; Greeks describing, well, everything.
Most of the videos are pretty short, in the 3-8 minute range, though a few go much longer.
Any history fans--especially those who find more time to listen to such things than sit and read them--will likely enjoy!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 16, 2020 14:36:35 GMT
I think this qualifies as interesting :
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 31, 2020 14:55:21 GMT
This guy is amazing: Daryl Davis, who has gotten some acclaim in the past couple years, is a black musician from Maryland who has befriended hundreds of KKK members and convinced them to renounce their membership in that group. He is the guest on the most recent Joe Rogan podcast, promoting his new book on the subject.
Listening to him gives a person hope for humanity. And I don't think it's a coincidence that he's a musician, either. Music, like sports or other cultural activities, is one of those strong ties that can link otherwise different people (be they actually or superficially different).
This is a real-life hero.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 22, 2020 16:37:30 GMT
Fascinating conversation about recent whistleblowers from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW, the international entity that oversees these things) covered up information from its own investigation that some of the highly reported alleged chemical weapons attacks at Douma, Syria, by the Syrian regime did not actually happen, but was staged to bolster international support against the Syrian-Russian-Iranian efforts in the Syrian civil war.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 23, 2020 13:18:17 GMT
Daredevil Mike Hughes dies in a rocket accident:
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 14, 2020 15:17:19 GMT
Some fragments of the famed Dead Sea Scrolls--Jewish texts written between the first centuries BC and AD found in Israel in the 1940s--have been found to be fraudulent! The main texts, currently stored in a museum in Israel, are still considered authentic. (Seems important to highlight that.)
Some fragments, though, have kept popping up through the years, separate from the primary discoveries. These have historically often come into collectors' hands via nebulous paths. This research implies that many of the texts found after 2002 are modern forgeries. Now-suspect texts are housed in the Washington DC Museum of the Bible and at universities around the country.
What I find most interesting are the experts who helped authenticate them originally and now are forced to explain themselves. "but-but-but..."
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 20, 2020 14:27:06 GMT
I've been trying to find interesting news stories that don't deal with you-know-what (which has not been easy!), and saw this really cool story this morning.
About 300 miles south of Moscow, scientists have discovered evidence of a 25,000-year-old, 40-foot wide circular structure made in part of the bones of 60 woolly mammoths. There have been previous discoveries of smaller structures, but this is the largest by far.
The purpose isn't clear. The smaller ones are thought to have been winter dwellings in the treeless landscape. This one is too big to have had a roof, and so they suspect it was not a dwelling.
Rather, it may have been a communal place for skinning and butchering animals they hunted. There is evidence that they burned some of the bones as well as charcoal, which interestingly burns brighter but cooler than coal. They suspect this might have provided necessary light to work by, so they could hurry through their work (before wolves, etc., decided to get in on the action). The article doesn't say so, but brighter communal fires could also serve ceremonial purposes. (That's just me speculating.)
I LOVE this kind of story.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 26, 2020 12:30:48 GMT
A new theory published last week and based on a new study indicates that a jumbled part of Mercury's landscape wasn't caused by asteroid impacts, as had been thought for decades, but more likely were caused by "subsurface volatiles," elements that can quickly turn from solid or liquid to gas and basically cause sinkholes.
This is interesting not only because it may become a new predominant theory, but because among those "volatiles" is water. Water has NOT been identified as present on Mercury, to be clear; it is simply one possibility.
And for purposes of looking for life outside of this planet, a might interesting possibility. While the surface of Mercury is probably too hot (and too cold, at night) for life, according to this article it is theoretically possible just beneath the surface.
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Post by B.E. on Apr 9, 2020 17:19:39 GMT
Not going to lie - it wasn't until today that this even crossed my mind. I'm actually surprised to learn how quickly air quality can improve and it seriously makes me wonder if this unprecedented experiment changes people's outlook. If you have lived your whole life in a heavily polluted area, then chances are you've just accepted it. But, now that you've witnessed with your own eyes and breath how dramatically different your reality could be, what then? www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/pollution-made-the-pandemic-worse-but-lockdowns-clean-the-sky/
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 9, 2020 18:20:53 GMT
That is an interesting topic, B.E. I have also seen it mentioned a few times, first about China when Wuhan had its issues. (China obviously being a massive polluter.)
I actually think getting used to the status quo is part of why we don't focus much on pollution the way we did 50 years ago. When they enacted the EPA, many places were truly filthy. Rivers, lakes, and even the air in the industrial Midwest, East, and California were pretty rotten. And whaddaya know, some measures are put into place and things got better!
Sadly it might have made a few generations (who didn't really see how bad it was, much less understand how bad it could get) only consider the relevant regulations as burdensome government overreach, which became the party line for a party that once had no such view (and in fact is the party that implemented the EPA).
If we do come out of this all with cleaner air, that would be wonderful. I do know that in my metro area, they say auto traffic is down about 50% since the stay-at-home order was put in place.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 11, 2020 15:43:13 GMT
A new study published on excavations done in a cave in southeastern France suggests strongly that Neanderthals were able to make a kind of string or twine about 50,000 years ago. This, if true, would open up a whole world of other possible products and technologies to them: bags, mats, ropes, fabric, traps, etc. Only a tiny bit has been found--the organic fibers usually deteriorate, meaning most of what existed then, doesn't now--but it is enough to show yet again that Neanderthals weren't quite so different from early humans of our branch as we used to think.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 16, 2020 12:29:46 GMT
For those of us in the U.S., politics seem insane. But imagine poor Israel, whose third election in the past year seems to have failed just as the previous two in that while Prime Minister Netanyahu's party won the vote, they haven't been able to get the Knesset seats to form a government. And neither has his opponent, former Army chief Benny Gantz. A fourth election is possible.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 21, 2020 14:02:18 GMT
For those of us in the U.S., politics seem insane. But imagine poor Israel, whose third election in the past year seems to have failed just as the previous two in that while Prime Minister Netanyahu's party won the vote, they haven't been able to get the Knesset seats to form a government. And neither has his opponent, former Army chief Benny Gantz. A fourth election is possible.
They have worked out a power-sharing agreement under which PM Netanyahu starts as PM but eventually turns it over to Mr. Gantz.
But speaking of nuclear-armed nations' uncertainty, there is speculation that North Korea's Kim Jong-un is unwell, possibly having had heart surgery. Speculation is fanned by him having skipped the national-religious ceremony celebrating his grandfather's birthday. (His grandfather is the founder of the modern state of North Korea and is revered as something like a god.)
It would be a tense time if he died, considering the regular purges of potential rivals and successors in North Korea, as well as Mr. Kim's lack of biological heirs (so far as we know).
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 22, 2020 17:39:09 GMT
I know I was delighting in the 60-degree temps here, but not so far from here there were 40 mph winds that blew tons of snow and ice into as much as 30-foot piles into the backyards of people living along Lake Mille Lacs!
Minnesota...
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