A letter I sent to my hosting customers:
An interesting software event in one of three of our email servers reflected events in the news. Last night one of the spam filter servers has a kernel crash that shut down the system. The two backup server automatically handled the load and processed all the email without interruption. But - in some cases it delayed the email by 12 minutes because the downed server wasn't totally dead.
The server's kernel shut down but the system drivers and network stack was still functional. The server would still ping and accept connections on all the ports that were normally active. So any server monitoring programs would see the server as alive - but once you connected to the ports - there was nothing behind it to process the connection.
In other words - the server was in a persistent vegetative state - the peripherals were still alive - but the system was brain dead. The kernel had crashed and was not responding.
Eventually we had to make the tough call - and we decided to "pull the plug".
Anyhow - I thought it was somewhat of an amazing coincidence that this computer failed in a way to mirror a current news story. And for those of us who grasp both issues - it was an amazing parallel.
A customer in a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose was eating chili when she chomped down on a human finger in her food. At this time they don't know where the finger came from.
The Diva sent me this:
Regarding William P. Cheshire, Governor Jeb Bush's appointee to review Theresa Schiavo's medical condition:
CNN has failed to mention Cheshire's religious conflict of interest, or to give any information regarding his past activism in the area of medical ethics vs. religious dogma.
Cheshire is a Christian first, a physician second, and stated so explicitly in Volume 17:2 of "Ethics & Medicine":
Excerpted from "Exit Ramp"
"The cross of Christ marks the true vertical, and his outstretched arms the true horizontal. Christ's life, death and resurrection are the guideposts that orient us along the slopes of life as we journey toward eternity."
URL: http://www.ethicsandmedicine.com/17/2/17-2-exitramp.htm
Disregarding established ethical policies and positions of the AMA and similar groups, deferring instead to scripture and religious tradition, Cheshire's actions and statements in this case must be considered in context, if CNN is to act in a responsible journalistic fashion.
Letter to the Editor
There are those who question if Congress and President Bush inserted themselves into the death of Terri Schiavo as a mere political stunt. This case, however, hits pretty close to home with a lot of members' personal lives when it comes to withholding food from the brain dead. That's an issue they relate to personally and something they worry about. If a judge can withhold food and water for Terri Schiavo because she's brain dead - a judge could close the cafeterias in the Congress and the Whitehouse as well for the same reason. Something to think about!
Letter to the Editor
The Terri Schiavo controversy is an example of form vs. substance when it comes to politics and religion. The battle creates the illusion that it is about saving the life of someone who is actually already dead. It gives religious people the illusion that they are in a battle for some great cause, and the illusion is the cornerstone of faith based thinking.
In reality this is about letting a dead woman die and respecting her choice to not endure a living death. It's about whether an individual gets to choose their own fate or have to endure politicians using the law for personal political opportunity. If people of faith and politicians wanted to pass "pro life" legislation they wouldn't be meeting at midnight to interfere with the death of a single individual. Instead they would be increasing Medicare and Medicaid so that the lives of thousands poor people and old people can be saved. The difference between form and substance is - do you want to really do something to better humanity or do you want to just pretend you're doing something to better humanity?
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I'm surprized they didn't attach another tax cut for the rich to this legislation. They might have - but we'd never hear about it for the parrot press.