h a l f b a k e r yThe embarrassing drunkard uncle of invention.
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A lot of comparisons are drawn between different Nation States on your planet concerning "Standard of Living".
How much does resource the typical human expend on food, fuel, travel, clothing, education, medical care ? How good is their "lifestyle" ?
We propose that instead you consider instituting
a "Standard of Dying" index.
This would indicate at a glance, for any given region, a metric based on age at death, whether it was painful, whether it was preventable, how many descendants did you leave, did they inherit any financial resources from you, what happened to your remains (thrown in plague pit, interred in consecrated ground, left in a field for the crows to pick at).
This would give a much clearer and sharper perspective of overall quality of lifestyle, and the results might be surprising, although some aspects, depending largely on the individual's belief system, will be very difficult to quantify objectively.
From Haiti to Hades in a dump truck.
http://www.yourfune...-graves-600x337.jpg
A dump truck filling a hole with dead bodies. [rcarty, Jun 25 2011]
Here it comes again with another load of fresh bodies.
http://3.bp.blogspo.../s1600-h/graves.jpg
Dead bodies in a hole in foreground, with a dump truck on the way with more dead bodies in the background. [rcarty, Jun 25 2011]
Green Boots Cave - Expensive, lots of effort, join a limited club - (graphic images of frostbite and corpses, you have been cautioned)
http://godheadv.blo..._04_01_archive.html
216 people have died, and the grim reality of the horrific conditions of the Final Push is that 150 bodies have never been, and likely can never be, recovered [normzone, Jun 27 2011]
[link]
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With a bit of working up, this could be the
Halfbakery's first academic publication, probably in
some socio-fuzzy journal. [+] |
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8th - you live on this orb as well, we know it - jobseekers allowance have your info on their database/ |
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Ok, so the pathetic attempt to be "in" wid da "boyz" fell on stony ground. Should have used "yo", obviously. SP. fixed. |
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// jobseekers allowance have your info on their database // |
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We keep going for interviews, but there don't seem to be many career opportunites for Aggressive Hegemonising Swarm Collective Life Forms, apart from McDonalds, and they're not hiring at the moment. |
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Perhaps we should seek other worlds to conquer .... |
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I like it, but could a civilized country lose points for having more people die of cancer (long and painful) when it is actually much better than a country where everybody dies fast and painlessly... from gunshots? |
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//apart from McDonalds// Religion? Google? Microsoft? Coca Cola? USA? |
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I met a man yesterday who has Parkinson's disease, in the advanced stage where the medication has stopped helping and there are no longer any periods of remission. He said he has twice tried to commit suicide, but the paramedics intervened each time; he was clearly angered by that. |
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A friend of mine was peacefully dying in her home a few years ago. She had made it clear that she did not want any medical intervention, but a family member called the ambulance (against her wishes). She was taken to hospital, where she died a few days later, after being subjected to useless, wasteful, and unwanted medical procedures, including surgical removal of her pancreas. |
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There must be a happy medium between state-imposed denial of one's right to control one's own life, on the one hand, and the dump truck treatment, on the other. |
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<pionts meaningfully at "the results might be surprising" part of idea> |
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<Also notes the "difficult to quantify objectively" part> |
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[+]...so very true and disturbing in many ways. |
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[rcarty] What? I can't see any dead bodies. Looks
like cordwood. |
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There, individual's quandrum to assimilate others; to
acclimate,
is heartfelt.
Though life atop Everest be almighty, it does not last
forever... especially for those in linckedpics. |
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On our planet we have a place called Oregon, where the right to doctor assisted suicide is protected by law. In order to use this provision the person must be within 6 months of cashing out, must be of sound mind (aren't we all?) and must pull the lever him or herself. Sounds scary, but less so than facing the fate of spidermother's friend. |
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Im putting in my will that I want to be buried on a planet orbiting Bernard's star, and I will haunt everyone until it happens. |
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We will be delighted to do that for you right now, assuming (a)
you mean Barnard's Star, and more significantly (b),
you aren't bothered about not actually being dead when this
happens. |
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St. Bernard's star. Isn't that in Canis Minor? |
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Whereas Barnard's star is in the Seven Sisters, along
with Smith's star, Radcliffe's star,
etc. |
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[8th] - a couple of additional items: the deviations from the mean, and the impact of one person's death upon the standard of living of others. |
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In an effort to make comparisons more simple, people would continously be caught trying to decide things such as "Is dying from gunshot better than dying from cancer?"
And would that be as a soldier or gang victim?
I understand that the index is subjective to begin with, but this is a lot less clear-cut than checking off the "has bathroom with running water" box. |
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// Is dying from gunshot better than dying from cancer // |
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It's age-related, but on the whole, yes. |
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For the average 70 year old, the choice between a swift "9mm round to the base of the skull" and a prolonged "dying a bit at a time, in intermittent pain, while experiencing a long series of medical procedures that do nothing much more beyond prolonging the agony, and losing just about every shred of dignity including control of bodily functions" is probably not a difficult choice. |
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Your society will be considered to have made a substantial advance in ethics when you start to accord to elderly members of your species the dignity and compassion you show to your domestic pets. |
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