Tag: ethics

Pardon Alan Turing

There is a formal petition to the UK government to pardon war hero and computing innovator Alan Turing. Turing as convicted for “gross indecency”, aka being and acting homosexual. He was subjected to chemical castration, which led to his suicide at age 41. One of humanity’s brightest candles was snuffed out because of intolerance.

We ask the HM Government to grant a pardon to Alan Turing for the conviction of ‘gross indecency’. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ with another man and was forced to undergo so-called ‘organo-therapy’ – chemical castration. Two years later, he killed himself with cyanide, aged just 41. Alan Turing was driven to a terrible despair and early death by the nation he’d done so much to save. This remains a shame on the UK government and UK history. A pardon can go to some way to healing this damage. It may act as an apology to many of the other gay men, not as well known as Alan Turing, who were subjected to these laws.

If the petition gains 100,000 signatures, it will be eligible to be debated in the House of Commons.

*Hat tip to Cory Doctorow at boingboing.

Rapture insurance

This is a scam of which I actually did think, but seem to lack the lack of moral fiber required to implement it (who knew?). It goes something like this:

When you are raptured (rupture?, hanged/hung?) and your vehicle becomes pilotless, that vehicle instantly becomes a hazard to everyone around it and virtually guaranteed to cause an accident. While the poor bastards your vehicle will certainly mow down are not saved, failing to take financial responsibility for the injuries and damage caused by your unguided property is hardly the Christian thing to do.

Being a responsible citizen, I know you carry a reasonable and legal amount of automobile insurance. Unfortunately, your regular insurance will not cover these damages as the Rapture is, by definition, an Act of God.

Therefore, we are offering “Rapture Insurance” to provide generous compensation to those injured in body or property when you are taken up into the heavens in the middle of your commute at reasonable premiums based on the latest actuarial data.

*I take no responsibility for any scallywags that actually try to implement this scam. Unless they give me a cut.

Men of a certain age

The problem with men of a certain age is not that they have flaws. We all have flaws. The problem is that so many of them have the same flaw.

In related news, see the new “Rugbyologism”: meh-sogynist.

Consequences

If I was fresh off defending my buddy (Jeffrey Epstein) who is an accused and (partially) admitted consumer of underage prostitution, as well as the entitlement of powerful men to treat young women as human accessories without criticism, my upcoming interviews would vanish into thin air, because I would now be widely known as “icky”.

But, I’m a scientist at the start of their career, not Lawrence Krauss; and my upcoming interviews are with high school chemistry classes not Science Friday.

When Supplements “Work”. . .Light Headed, for the Wrong Reasons

Let’s say you have diabetes or heart disease and are taking nitrates for your condition. And, unfortunately, maybe you need a little more lead in your pencil, which is even more common with some of these conditions. Well your doctor might hesitate to prescribe the most common pharmaceuticals for erectile dysfunction, like tadalafil (Cialis) or sildenafil (Viagra), because these drugs taken in combination with nitrates can cause dangerously low blood pressure. So, in your desperation, you might think about reaching for one of those sexual enhancement supplements about which we all get countless emails. Continue reading “When Supplements “Work”. . .Light Headed, for the Wrong Reasons”