Thinking about Terri Shaivo

I've been thinking about Terri Shaivo a lot today. In case you are not familiar with the issue, Terri suffered from oxygen depravation due to cardiac arrest. She was at home at the time, and she was 26 years old. She has been in medical care for approximately 15 years now. There is a lot of debate concerning her medical condition, the extend of damage to her brain, and wether she is conscious or in a persistive vegatative state (PVS).

Her husband, Michael, argues that Terri had told him to withdraw treatment under such conditions. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, argue that she is conscious, has expressed a desire to live, and only needs treatment and rehabilitation, which has been withheld by her husband.

I intend to research some of the facts behind the issue, then attempt to answer the questions "Should Terri Shaivo's feeding tubes be withdrawn?" and "When is it OK to let someone die?"

Any comments?

Update on Ted

Ted and I chatted yesterday via . They are safely back home from the trip to Port-au-Prince. We'll be starting an online Bible study, which I am envisioning as a team blog for future expansion.

So far...

So far, I've gotten 6 votes for http://LeeAndCathy.blogspot.com, two suggestions for "MeAndMrsJones" and one suggestion for "ZachysParents"... Even Cathy voted for LeeAndCathy, so I'm leaning that way (unless someone convinces me otherwise with a great suggestion).

I did notice that Google's Blogger does not (currently) support TrackBacks. And the photo posting isn't quite as slick as Microsoft's ActiveX controls... still, a lack of TrackBacks and the minor idiosyncrasies of the photo posting is barely noticable.

So, this week I'll begin my migration to www.Blogger.com. My friends Micah & Nicole and Derrick & Jenn are also over there already, so while I'll miss my friends the Van Zwienens (whom I attracted to MSN Spaces in the first place) I am still diving in.

Why I'm Switching from MSN Spaces to Google's Blogger

This is mostly for the benefit of the MSN Spaces team...

Here's what I like about MSN Spaces:

1. Easy to post, friendly for novices
2. Categories
3. Cool photo albums

Here's what I don't like about MSN Spaces:

1. Must use Internet Explorer to enjoy cool photo album
2. Must use Internet Explorer to get WYSIWIG editing
3. Lack of information on when Spaces comes out of Beta
   (it was already in Asia, for crying out loud)
   (what new features are coming?)
4. Inability to edit HTML directly
5. MUST use MSN Passport to sign in to post
6. Really long URL names like http://spaces.msn.com/membmers/blahblahblah

Here's what is attractive about Blogger:

1. Shorter URL name
2. I can use Firefox to post things
3. I can edit the HTML directly
4. Picasa 2
5. Audio Blogging
6. Email posting
7. Ability to back-date posts (so I can port my posts from here to there)
8. A community where I can find out the future of Blogger
9. Team blogging (looking forward to that)

Which Blog to use?

OK, it's decided.... I'm switching to www.blogger.com; the question remains only what to call my blog. I've staked a claim on several names at www.blogspot.com

http://cathyandlee.blogspot.com
http://leeandcathy.blogspot.com
http://leejones.blogspot.com
http://jonesinator.blogspot.com

Wifey-Pooh has decided to allow me to call her "Cathy" in my posts, so that will save some typing. She still doesn't want her photo displayed as she remains her camera-shy self. Besides, I have yet to find my camera cable... I'll probably break down and buy a SD card reader this week.

Comments, please... which blog spot to take?

Which Blog?

So... which blog should I use? Drop me a line to tell me, please

Digital Music, iPods and the DMCA

Do you own an Apple iPod or iPod Shuffle? I personally think that subscription music services like Napster make more sense long-term than 99¢ downloads for each song if you are a rabid listener. If you are enamored with the fashion statement that is the iPod, then digital audio fidelity may not be your chief concern.

None the less, while I still believe that Windows Media Audio (WMA) is superior to Apple Audio Codec (AAC), I'm fairly certain I am not read much by Apple Acolyotes as I have not yet received much hate mail for my opinion.

Anyway, I started this post to tell you that you can move your purchased music around on your devices if you happen to use multiple players. My own player is an iRiver, and it plays Ogg Vorbis, WMA or MP3 (more on MP3 format). If I owned an iPod, I would probably go through the steps described by Bill Machrone of PC Magazine. In short, you sacrifice audio quality by burning your purchased music to CD, then ripping them back to your computer and putting them on your other music player.

If you are using iTunes, check out the Hymn Project which allows you to digitially convert your iTunes library to other digital formats, skipping the "rip to CD and back again" steps. This preserves your purchased audio quality.

Note that in order to do this and not violate any ethical standards imposed upon you via your religious or philosophical leanings, not to mention not violating the DCMA, you will need to purchase the music. And, you still cannot "share" these with your friends. That would be stealing for your friends and your would be distributing copyrighted material.

Distinctions

I believe it is important to make distinctions between one thing and another thing, between "this" and "that".

I believe in absolutes. I believe that there is a color black and a color white, and they are different for all living things with sight, providing they have the ability to perceive color.

I believe what is black is black regardless of my perception of it; if my faculties fail me, or the situation in which I find myself skews my perception of a black object, it remains black regardless of my perception of it. My perceptions do not change the object, regardless of how convinced I am that my perceptions are right.

I believe in a verifiable reality which remains universally true for all persons at all times. Often times it is the difference of a distinction, or an inadequate distinction, that fails to separate a person from faleshood or from harm. That which is praiseworthy is different than that which is blameworthy.

I believe there are terrorists in the world. I believe there are heros, and I believe there are criminals.

I believe in truth, and I believe it can be accurately perceived and grasped. Some people do not believe in absolute truth, but rather a reality which is realitve to a the language a community chooses to use. Based on this idea, some can claim that there are no terrorists in the world. That would mean there are no kidnappers in this world, for one man's kidnapper is another man's decent citizen.

I believe that is silly.

It's been FOREVER!

OK, it's been weeks. So what's new? It has been a long time since I've updated. I suppose it would be a little difficult for you to keep up if I don't say anything, huh?

Life has been hectic, that's for sure. Let me update you:

TED:
Ted went back to Haiti with his family on Tuesday, February 22nd and he just me today to say "hi." They've got wireless access in the home now, so we may do some long-distance Bible studies together. I'm looking forward to that!

APARTMENT:

I haven't done anything with the apartment in two weeks. Well, the bathroom sink is leaking, so that's new.

FINANCES:

We discovered that our income and outflow did not overlap to a high enough degree. We concluded we would soon sink uner the collective pressure of our personal debt and commerical shortfall. Thus, we looked into refinancing our apartment and realized that we'd be spending over five years just breaking even from the pre-payment penalty.

Ow.

Our apartment appraisal revealed that we did not have a significant increase in equity yet (all six months worth, that makes sense). We thought about selling, moving to Georgia, and starting over. Put the pre-payment penalty really kills that idea, too. If we refiance or sell, we're are just screwed. I take solice in the idea that God avenges, so I do not personally feel the need to strike out at the man who did this to us.

I contacted another mortgage company, and they came up with the notion of a HELOC and a re-fi after our prepayment period expires. We're going that route, which means I have two and a half years to finish school, because Wifey-Pooh is SOOOO ready to quit work.

SCHOOL:

I didn't want to make arrangements to get back into school and then announce that I was moving to Georgia. I'll be writing the registrar this week.

HEALTH:

Well, my tooth probably needs a root canal. I got a cap on it, but that does not appear to be sufficient.

FAMILY:

Michael & Sativa were married this past Saturday. I was an attendant, which was a honor for me. I'd post pictures, but my camera cable has mysteriously disappeared again (argh!).

FRIENDS:
Ian was baptised this past Saturday. Wifey-Pooh and I visited the VZs, and we had a great prayer and praise time. That, and my brothers in the Lord were involved in an emergency spiritual intervention while the rest of us prayed. The results are very encouraging.

CHURCH:

I have successfully made my functions at church replacable by others. I created a CD-ROM with videos demonstrating the various functions I perform, along with explanations of where to get more help. If I were struck by a meteorite tomorrow, the computer systems would not come to a screeching halt.
Well, some things are being changed at church concerning Wifey-Pooh's involvement, and she is concerend that some mistakes are being made. It appears that Wifey-Pooh is being asked to train her replacement, and she would step down as Treasurer. If that were to happen, I believe we would no longer be able to attend for at least two reasons:

1. no money for gas, and


2. the mere social discomfort of attempting to have fellowship where you were essentially fired is too much to bear.

That should sum up a quick overview of what's been going on. I'm giving serious consideration to switching over to www.blogger.com. I'm just looking for a good name for Wifey-Pooh and me to use there.

Happy Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!

π, or pi (if you cannot type Greek), is the mathematical contant equal to approximately  3.141592653. Pi (originally pronounced like the letter "p") is a transcendental irrational number; that is, it cannot be written as a fraction. π is not constructible; that is, it is impossible to express π using only a finite number of integers, fractions and their square roots.

Archimedes "Mr. Eureka" of Syracuse has the distinction of having pi named "Archimedes' constant" since he was the first to reach a four-digit approximation of pi in the 3rd century BC. The Chinese mathematician Liu Hui was first to reach five digits in in 263 AD, and Zu Chongzhi reached seven digits in 480 AD. It took hundreds of years to improve the calculation of pi byt the man who invented the Claw of Archimedes used in the Second Punic War.

Who says there isn't a career for math majors?