Comments on: Morning Links

By: John Jenkins

John Jenkins — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:51:42 +0000

I like that no one ever asks the important question: is it really worth it to keep someone breathing who is living like that? I would say the answer is always no.

If anyone ever did it to me, I would hope like hell I am wrong about the whole supernatural thing so I could come back and haunt their sorry asses when they finally let me die.

By: Windy

Windy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:30:19 +0000

Randi is a self involved debunker, who’d debunk everything but his own intelligence if he could, including that the rest of humanity has any reasoning powers at all.

By: MikeZ

MikeZ — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:49:52 +0000

“For horrible things #1, it is Johnny Got His Gun in real life.
Does it makes you rethink Terry Shiavo?”

Actually not in the slightest. If anything it reaffirms Terry Shiavo for me. I would much rather be dead than paralyzed and ignored for 23 years. Keeping someone who is definately brain-dead alive seems less cruel as they aren’t there feeling anything.

This assumes its not a hoax which it appears to be.

By: Stormy Dragon

Stormy Dragon — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:38:26 +0000

Yeah, while I hate to stomp on his families new found hope, facilitated typing is about as valid as communicated with coma patients via a Oujia Board.

By: justinslot

justinslot — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:40:40 +0000

So is the Belgian case a hoax or not? The Internet is giving me contradictory information. (#1 is right though–as a rule, don’t link Dailymail.) I read the Randi thing, but Laureys does appear to be a real doctor.

By: Peter Ramins

Peter Ramins — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:59:14 +0000

Err… box of rats. =p

By: Peter Ramins

Peter Ramins — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:58:42 +0000

#22, #23 -

Combining this portion of this thread with the Orwellian thread of a few days ago, I can see a time coming when a Libertarian getting a box of hats fixed to his head seated next to a Republican and Democrat getting the same treatment will say something like “I told you so.”

And the Republican and Democrat will say, in unison: “You’re such a crackpot fringe lunatic, shut up.”

By: J sub D

J sub D — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:26:57 +0000

OBAMA QUIETLY BACKS PATRIOT ACT PROVISIONS
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/23-6

What a shocker ……..

Some people predicted that these power giveaways to a GOP president would someday come back to haunt the same GOP that approved them. These same people predicted that when a liberty loving Democrats were in power they would fight to hold on to the powers granted their his predecessors, civil liberties be damned.

These people who got both predictions correct generally self-identified as libertarians, the Cassandras of American politics.

By: BamBam

BamBam — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:11:05 +0000

OBAMA QUIETLY BACKS PATRIOT ACT PROVISIONS
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/23-6

What a shocker ……..

By: twobits

twobits — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:10:32 +0000

My impression was that there were two levels of fishiness #1. The most obvious is the facilitated communication stuff Randi (absolutely justifiably) rails against. The other is the more subtle issue is that of "voodoo correlations" in fMRI results. (Fine discussion of how a dead salmon responds to human emotional states to be found here).

By: Mike Leatherwood

Mike Leatherwood — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Wow, ask a question (taking no sides) about Terry Schiavo, and *wham* ..negative karma. Ouch.

@PeeDub: True. The few family members and friends I have known that have been in comas never recover. One of my cowrokers just passed away after being in a coma for a year becuase his brain finally quit working. My guess is that Houben is a very, very rare exception.

By: Wavemancali

Wavemancali — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:02:49 +0000

The story on the guy in the vegetative state has been picked up by AP and they claim he communicates with one finger and a touchscreen on his wheelchair. No mention of assistance.

I am curious as to whether the assistance in the AP story has been overlooked and he is akin to the orange dinosaur or if he’s actually outside the horror of that situation now.

By: Saint Zero

Saint Zero — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:41:04 +0000

Can we dream of an Empty Hollywood as well?

By: Celebrate Thanksgiving 1899-Style | Bitchin' in the Kitchen

Celebrate Thanksgiving 1899-Style | Bitchin' in the Kitchen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:14:04 +0000

[...] table. Quail, grouse, duck – it’s a hunter’s dream holiday meal. Though, as Radley notes, there’s quite a bit of turtle on the menu. For those of you looking to replicate the menu, [...]

By: Tyro

Tyro — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:34:19 +0000

Even “Law and Order” understood that “facilitated communication” is just a form of self-delusion. You may as well use and Ouiji board.

More of these woo-meisters preying on the most vulnerable, unscrupulous vultures.

By: MikeZ

MikeZ — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:29:33 +0000

Now his brain may have shown almost normal, and he may well be locked in. But the video does seem pretty darn bogus. I’m certainly not a psychologist but looking at the speed of the typing, I would suspect that 2 fully able people trying to type a message with 3 hands trying to guide a single finger wouldn’t be able to type anything that fast. It looked like the facilitator was using the patients hand to type not the other way around.

By: Tokin42

Tokin42 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:09:01 +0000

Hate to badmouth Randi but does he not understand the difference between testing autistic kids with brains that have never worked normally and those that have an injury? Were the brain scans that showed “almost normal” activity faked? I think Randi may be a bit too cynical for his own good on this one.

By: mark robbins

mark robbins — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:59:35 +0000

Need to hear what independent medical professionals think of this guys brain scan but the facilitated typing is most certainly a hoax. That guy was typing at lightning speed. My parents don’t even type that fast.

It’s a shame that people are taking advantage of that family who are very obviously in a lot of pain and looking for anything that’ll bring some meaning to their lives. Now we have to be the assholes who tell them they’re making it all up.

By: Highway

Highway — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:43:41 +0000

Bob, that’s hilarious. +1 Karma doesn’t convey the depths of my appreciation for your ‘discovery’ that Agumon is a completely sentient stuffed animal.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:39:29 +0000

What the hell is “Facilitated Communication”? On wait! I haz teh interwebs! Gimme a minute…

GOOD LORD! What a cruel, cruel hoax. These so called people should be ashamed of themselves. This is HORRIBLE! Look at this video:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/man-believed-to-have-been-in-coma-since-1983-conscious-all-the-time-14572559.html

The ‘facilitator’ is clearly working the hand like a stylus and entering whatever the ‘facilitator’ wants.

I can use ‘Facilitated Communication” too. Watch how great it works! My stuffed orange dinosaur named “Agumon” is actually sentient! Now, he is full of flame retardant stuffing… so he can’t actually use the keyboard himself, but by holding him, I can type what he is trying to say:

Agumon: “Foolish humans! When I escape from the horrific bonds of this frail but astonishingly cute form, I will kill you all!”

Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for the guy. He may well be ‘paralyzed’ and not in a coma. But this is a TOTAL FARCE.