"The survey findings noted significant attitudinal differences based on age, income, geographic location, and level of education." Uh, obvious. - Wade Dorrell
I have to fine the statistic, but some article in psychology today said like 75% of women would rather have a shorter life span than be fat. - Kaia
Haha, Kaia: I remember reading that. I really wonder how serious people are when answering these surveys. Sure, they're scientifically administered, but that doesn't mean people can't lie. - Mark Trapp
I don't know, I think it's possible most people really are that shallow. - Rahsheen Porter
That statistic makes me very sad. I have known some incredible people who were disabled whose lives were much richer than a lot of people who were perfectly healthy. - Trish Robinson
Mark - Hypo questions receive quick answers. My Father in Law told us he would not undergo surgery if he ever had cancer. Twelve months later they cut him open. He was so sick I never asked him about his previous statement. - Russellreno
Russelreno - Exactly, these are all hypotheticals until the RW comes crashing down. Then internal fortitude, family, friends, support system come into play. - Mathew A. Koeneker
That's true: people don't think things through. But, there's still some value in what people think when they're healthy: it affects their decisions and worldview when dealing with the scenario in others. If someone thinks they'd rather be dead than fat, they probably think everyone thinks that, too, so when they encounter a fat person, they find that so astounding that someone could live like that. Maybe. Just something I'm tossing around. - Mark Trapp
On a lighter note, more people are afraid of making a speech than death. Therefore most people at a funeral would rather be in the box than give the eulogy. - Russellreno
OK. I am surviving a deadly disease. I could never have imagined being able to deal with it 15 years ago. But with my life experience, home hospice of my grandparents (Holocaust survivors), suicide of one of my nephew the day after his 18th birthday, surviving a nasty carjacking while at Tulane (feel free to google any of this), amongst my friends and family......I have been able to mature into what I hope is a better human being from dealing with and keeping myself healthy. Sorry for the stream of consciousness, I got a wee bit emotional there. - Mathew A. Koeneker
Thanks for sharing that, Matthew: it couldn't have been easy and it's good to get it out there. You definitely approach those issues in a different manner than others who haven't had been through anything close: which makes the results of these types of studies all the more frightening to me. If people would rather be dead than deal with those types of situations, they're going to think you would rather be dead too, and act as such, which is such the wrong way to approach life's hurdles. - Mark Trapp
Also I think it sorta depends on what "disabled" means. I would choose death over certain conditions/situations for sure. - Anthony Citrano
My solution has been to try and live each day as if it were my last gift. It is just as of late that I have even begun to think in terms of intermediate or that I might make it to fifty, which is not old at all. - Mathew A. Koeneker
Which brings us back to Quality of Life (or perceived QOL), I rec that everyone has a living will not only for those reasons but to keep whatever you may have out of the grubby hands of the probate courts. - Mathew A. Koeneker
Thanks Mark! I had this thought that the truth would set me free. I will let you know how it goes. :) - Mathew A. Koeneker
We've also got the future. Whatever our prospects are, I'd say they're a notch more interesting than Identi.ca - Dan Kaplan
I'll never understand the drive to do the running commentary on the commentary, but I've already said my bit on it: http://friendfeed.com/e/f903fb.... I just thought that whole article was great: definitely 13 things to keep in mind when I start my blog. - Mark Trapp
It is a great post and I think your FF thread is quite insightful. But as a guy who writes for a news-oriented tech blog, I disagree with his outright condemnation of writing news. Perhaps I'm operating under a self-serving illusion, but I tend to think that to some audiences, there is writing and then there is better writing -- though my passion is uber-future tech, and finding stories that tie to both that theme and the core of our blog is a problem. I'm out there, though, looking for the solution. - Dan Kaplan
I think you and VentureBeat are a little bit different; you guys are regularly breaking stories rather than rewording what's already been blogged about several dozen times over. There's definitely value in having news blogs; if there weren't any, we wouldn't have any news. I think for most people, especially if they don't have a unique or special connection to sources, it's going to be a fruitless endeavor where you're constantly just rehashing what everyone already said. And I think that's what he was getting at. - Mark Trapp
From TechnicBRICKs: "A crazy bunch of guys, grouped in something they call PLUG, joined for another club meeting (which they call PLUGfests) two weekends ago. It happened in the north of Portugal at Quinta dos Agros, Marco de Canavezes (MdC).
This time and because they have a Navy professional diver among them, they organized a dive baptism for the ones who hadn't done it yet before. With scuba bottles and everything else required...
So, what do they remembered to do? Well,... probably the first LEGO sets built under water." - Mark Trapp via Bookmarklet
From oobject: "Manhattan is an antique modern city, dark, decaying, malevolent and at the same time wonderful. The most recent screen versions of Batman have captured this dark feel perfectly. Here are our picks for the buildings and elements of Manhattan that make up the real Gotham city." - Mark Trapp via Bookmarklet
Seattle doesn't have them? I'm sure I'd miss them if I lived anywhere else for a long period of time, but that's almost reason enough to move already. Nothing like it being a hot and muggy day and having a loud continuous rattling sound all day just to make it more uncomfortable. - Mark Trapp
Nope, not a one. Not hot enough up here. On the bright side, since I've moved here, the only time I've seen a roach has been in the zoo. Yes. The zoo. We have tons of spiders, though. Every year for a few months my backyard looks like Shelob's lair. - Akiva Moskovitz
From Wired: "The Army recently put out a call for a "psychologically inspired object recognition system... Such a system would be extremely beneficial for robotic control/intelligence and would allow for an exponential expansion of robotic capabilities and intelligence."
If it all works out as planned, the Army thinks the new robo-vision 'ware could be used in "robotic security systems, autonomous factory systems and robotic health care systems," as well.
"Recognizing and identifying an object from a video input turns out to be a very difficult problem. The problem stems from the fact that a single object can be viewed from an infinite number of ways," the Army sighs." - Mark Trapp via Bookmarklet
Mark: what's your take: Skynet or Savior? - Dan Kaplan
Be warned: there are a heavy amount of spoilers in this review. But it does give a not-so-rosy account of the movie. Halfway in, apparently, it goes downhill fast. - Mark Trapp
Heh, it only gets better, the end is great. - Bjorn Tipling
