Robert Glen Fogarty

Unlike other forms of suicide, physician assisted death does not cause substantial regret, or a sense of rejection among surviving family members. In addition, the prevalence and severity of depression and grief among family members whose loved ones received aid in dying is no different than family members whose loved ones did not pursue physician [...]

Daniel Bates of The Daily Mail writes:
Professor Stephen Hawking has spoken out in defence of the NHS after high-level U.S. politicians have branded the National Health Service ‘evil’ and ‘Orwellian.’
The British professor, who has suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease for 40 years, insisted that he ‘would not be here’ were it not for the NHS.
He [...]

Remember Mystery Science Theater 3000 (aka MST3K)? The premise: A mad scientist stranded a human guinea pig in a satellite orbiting Earth and forced him to watch the worst movies ever made in an attempt to see what would make him crack — potentially to be utilized as a weapon for world domination. For company, [...]

Interested in oddities and unknowns like the Voynich Manuscript, crystal skulls, and Area 51? The Charles Fort Institute is taking votes for the 7 Fortean Wonders of The World, and the first round of candidates are in! Dino writes:
Below are the 38 candidates that made it to Round Two.
There are 2 more rounds of voting:
Round [...]

Steve Irwin was more than a crocodile hunter. He was deeply passionate about the animal kingdom at large, and it’s fitting that a turtle he and his father discovered in 1990 has been honored with his name. Loren Coleman of Cryptomundo reports:
Television personality Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin and his father, Bob, caught a unknown turtle [...]

Is believing that aliens alerted to human life on Earth will be friendly a naive and dangerous assumption? Tim Walker of the Belfast Telegraph writes:
We’ve been trying to make contact with aliens for years. Now the day is fast approaching when we might finally succeed. But will our extraterrestrial friends come in peace? Or will [...]

Bees are needed to pollinate crops and keep the production of food going. In recent years, massive bee populations have been mysteriously disappearing, causing concern that world harvests could be disrupted. Some scientists are suggesting a correlation in this phenomenon, called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), and radiation given off by the newly ubiquitous mobile phone.
The [...]

I guess France has been keeping a watchful, wine-blearied eye on its borders for the last half century just in case Germany tries any more funny stuff and, in so doing, has made some pretty interesting observations. Today France is, shall we say, surrendering this information to public scrutiny. Maybe Agent Mulder was working for [...]

The phenomenon of ball lightning has vexed scientists for centuries. What is it? How does it happen? Is it even real? South American researchers may have gotten the ball rolling (forgive me) on our understanding of this rare occurrence.
Ball lightning could soon lose its status as a mystery, now that a team in Brazil [...]

This sounds like the perfect invention for me! Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press (via The Washington Post) writes:

Want to turn invisible like Frodo when he wore the One Ring? Or stealth into thin space like a Romulan vessel? Or sneak up like a rogue from World of Warcraft on some unsuspecting jerk? Or skulk around secretly like the mad scientist in The Invisible Man? Or… well, there are countless examples of this [...]

I could see why adult-oriented business might have been a little annoyed with the notion of being forced to move their online smut huts to an .xxx domain (for reasons I mentioned a couple of months ago), but I’d have thought conservative groups would have championed the idea as an easier way to censor such [...]

One would think that military institutions in a country of vast resources like the United States would shape up their security in the decade since their computer systems had been breached by a young hacker. But, nope, it’s happened again. What is the defense department up to with our tax dollars, anyway? Mark Ward of [...]

Sick of having to mortgage your house every time you want to fill up at the gas pump? Maybe a comparison of the options available to those among us who feel compelled to stretch the miles-per-gallon ratio is in order. CNN Money reports:
With gas prices steep as a Himalayan slope, fuel-efficiency is a prime consideration [...]

Is there anything that’s not going to be incorporated into your cell phone at some time or another? This time, it’s your wallet. Eileen Ng of The Associated Press (via The Seattle Post-Intelligencer) writes:

Soon you’ll be able to surf the Web while you surf the waves, Big Kahuna! The Associated Press (via BusinessWeek) reports:

As the Donner Party would tell us (if it could), pioneers can usually expect a bumpy ride en route to their intended destination. Travis Reed of the Associated Press (via The Boston Herald) reports:

“Oops! I saw boobs!” I wonder if art museums are going to have to comply with this law if it passes. Declan McCullagh of CNET News writes:
Web site operators posting sexually explicit information must place official government warning labels on their pages or risk being imprisoned for up to five years, the Bush administration proposed [...]

When football coaches summon the powers of the ancient Greek gods, you can expect some serious reckoning to transpire! UPI (via Science Daily) reports:
Indiana University scientists have created a computer program that can help NFL coaches call the next play or make other football-related decisions.
An IU senior researcher, Professor Charles Bower, and two partners from [...]

Batten down the hatches, Pierre! Looks like the French National Assembly is hoisting the Jolly Roger over the issue of online piracy. Thomas Crampton of the International Herald Tribune reports: