Recently, Google launched a company that will be focused on finding the root cause of various diseases and conditions. But Calico has even greater ambitions than just treating human illnesses. The project also wants to address genetic causes of aging, and perhaps even “solve death.” CNN reports: Calico — or the California Life Company — has been set up to … Read More
Star Trek, Pope Francis and TOB for the Aged
After I wrote this post about an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that I thought responsibly handled disability and assisted suicide, I was informed by multiple people about another episode of TNG that seemed to be a little more pro-suicide. The episode was Half a Life and it involved a planet on which all of its members voluntarily … Read More
Scared to Death of Death
Kindly requesting your prayers, gentle readers. It’s looking more and more like my precious Coco kitty is at the end of her life – and I am NOT ready to deal with this (I know, who is, right?). It’s hard to tell how close she is. She’s still eating and walking around, but she’s definitely more subdued than normal, she’s … Read More
The Task of Life
Earlier this month, the UK Daily Mail ran what is truly one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read. It’s one woman’s first-hand account of how she helped her mother dehydrate to death. At the age of 88, paralysed, incontinent and unable to speak following a series of small strokes, her mother had had enough. She wasn’t dying. She … Read More
Music for Your Monday: Raymond
I’m not a big country music fan. But I recently came across this song by Brett Eldredge and found it quite lovely given that the sick and the elderly are often considered a “burden” on families and society these days: