indomara
@indomara@lemmy.world
- Comment on Turkey's soaring costs are creating a 'lost generation' of kids forced to help their families get by 1 week ago:
This hurts to read, children should have a childhood, and should go to school. Education is the best way out of poverty!
- Comment on NDIS participants can no longer access sex worker services through funding. Advocates say it's a 'deep betrayal' 4 weeks ago:
I am a disability support worker in Australia, and this decision is abhorrent for many reasons.
The NDIS is meant to fund participants so they can do the things anyone without a disability can do that are reasonable and necessary.
Sex work is legal in Australia and sexual gratification is a normal human need for most.
Most people without a disability are able to masturbate or have sex, yet many of those with a disability cannot without assistance.
Bear in mind also that sex work in this context does not just mean hiring prostitutes, but also those who help disabled couples have sex. Those people might be considered sex therapists, but more commonly they are a subset of sex worker.
Many of the people I have worked with are unable to move much by their mid 20’s. These are smart people, like getting their PhD smart. They can move their hands to drive their chair, but that’s about it.
Can you imagine being in your sexual prime and being denied any sort of sexual gratification?
- Comment on Commonwealth Bank pauses plans to charge customers $3 fee to withdraw cash 4 weeks ago:
We switched to Beyond Bank and love it. App works great, they have no issues with opening multiple transaction or savings accounts on one account so I can have a spare debit card for the kids and two savings accounts.
I have yet to see a fee, though I imagine there are some in certain cases.
- Comment on Suspect freed from custody over suicide capsule death in Switzerland 4 weeks ago:
The people who made the Sarco and their organization is not for profit as far as I know, in fact they specifically rebuke the industry around assisted dying in Switzerland which charges people 10,000 Swiss francs for a peaceful death.
There is also a rigorous pre-aproval process which was well documented, which I imagine is why they had to let everyone go.
There is a very interesting write up here:
volkskrant.nl/…/first-woman-dies-in-suicide-capsu…
Here is the English translation:
The woman’s death was confirmed by physician Philip Nitschke, creator of the capsule and an internationally known advocate of the right to die movement.
The American woman, who traveled to Switzerland for this purpose, initiated her dying process herself by pressing a button while lying in the capsule. The air in the cabin was then rapidly replaced by nitrogen gas, causing the oxygen level to drop to a deadly level within a minute. Nitrogen is not poisonous. The woman lost consciousness and died of hypoxia, the lack of oxygen, says the organization that accompanied her.
Arrests after the suicide
The police of Schaffhausen, the Swiss canton in which the suicide took place, detained a Volkskrant photographer on Monday who followed the case closely and wanted to take photos. The newspaper was unable to contact the photographer for hours. Late Monday evening, police in Schaffhausen confirmed that the photographer was being held at the police station. The police did not want to provide any further explanation.
The police may also have detained director Florian Willet of the Swiss organization The Last Resort, who was present at the suicide. Swiss police declined to comment on Tuesday morning, only confirming that police had carried out an ‘operation’ near Schaffhausen the day before.
The right to die movement
The Sarco was designed and built in the Netherlands. Creator Nitschke (77), an Australian doctor and physicist who lived in the Netherlands for the past ten years, has worked on the development of the capsule for twelve years. Nitschke is the founder of Exit International, a movement with 30,000 members who are searching for the best methods for a dignified, self-chosen death. This is difficult, because ‘humane’, deadly drugs are very hard to obtain. The woman’s death is an important step for the right to die movement, according to Nitschke.
Nitschke has tested his capsule several times. In May he lay down in the capsule filled with nitrogen gas for five minutes with an oxygen mask on his face, as seen by de Volkskrant.
More elegant variant
According to Nitschke, his invention is a more elegant variant of people who kill themselves using gas in a bag over their head. He says death in the Sarco is similar to the death that follows when cabin pressure is lost in an airplane and passengers are left without oxygen. ‘We know from people who have survived that this doesn’t feel like suffocating’, he says. ‘You just keep on breathing. After half a minute people start to feel disoriented. They’re not really being aware of what is happening to them. This is often accompanied by a feeling of mild euphoria. And then they just slip away.’
The 64-year-old woman died at an estimated time of 4:01 PM in the afternoon in the Sarco, says Nitschke. She was in the presence of Florian Willet, the director of The Last Resort, a Swiss assisted suicide organization that supervised the procedure. He was the only person present at her death.
The Last Resort was founded in July 2023 in Switzerland specifically for the use of the Sarco. According to the organization, a good death is a ‘fundamental human right’. The Last Resort chose Switzerland as its base because it is one of the few countries in the world where assisted suicide is permitted under certain conditions. In the Netherlands this is illegal.
‘She really wanted to die’
Nitschke, who is technical advisor to The Last Resort, followed the death of the woman from Germany, via an oxygen and a heart rate monitor and a camera in the Sarco. The dying process went ‘well’, he said to de Volkskrant. 'When she entered the Sarco, she almost immediately pressed the button. She didn’t say anything. She really wanted to die. My estimate is that she lost consciousness within 2 minutes and that she died after five minutes. We saw jerky, small twitches of the muscles in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then. It looked exactly how we expected it to look.’
The Sarco was set up outside in a remote area in Switzerland, near the German border. Through a window the woman had a view of nature during her last moments. She could see the sky and the trees that surrounded the capsule. After her death, The Last Resort informed the Swiss police.
Rules of the Chemicals Act
Until recently, the Swiss government did not comment on whether the Sarco is legal. Supervising authority Swissmedic stated that the Sarco is not a medical device, so therefore no permit is required. Moreover, nitrogen, a gas that is present in the air, is not registered as a medicine. On Monday however, Swiss Minister of Internal Affairs Elisabeth Baume-Schneider stated that, in her opinion, the Sarco would not meet product safety requirements and that nitrogen in the Sarco does not meet the rules of the Chemicals Act, writes Swiss newspaper NZZ.
Before using the Sarco the American woman made an oral statement to lawyer Fiona Stewart, one of the members of the Advisory Board of The Last Resort. Stewart is also Nitschke’s wife. The statement was listened to by Volkskrant, with her permission.
Serious illness and severe pain
In the recording, which lasts just over four minutes, the woman confirms that it was her own wish to die. She says that she has had a desire to die for ‘at least two years’, ever since she was diagnosed with a very serious illness that causes severe pain. She also states that her two sons ‘completely agree’ that this is her decision. ‘They support me 100 percent’, she said. Stewart from The Last Resort says both sons also confirmed this through written statements to The Last Resort. The sons were not present in Switzerland.
The American woman was examined in advance by a psychiatrist, who deemed her competent, says Stewart. ‘When she registered, she said that she would like to die as quickly as possible.’ According to her the woman did not have a psychiatric history.
‘Dr. Death’
Nitschke’s actions often sparked heated debates in the past. Some journalists nicknamed him ‘Dr Death’. In 2006, he caused a worldwide stir with a book in which he describes dozens of suicide methods in detail: The Peaceful Pill Handbook. Due to the fuss about his activities, he moved to the Netherlands ten years ago.
He announced his latest invention, the Sarco, in the Huffington Post with the words: ‘What if we dared to imagine that our last day on this planet might also be one of our most exciting?’
‘The day you die is one of the most important days of your life’, Nitschke says de Volkskrant. ‘When it becomes inevitable, why don’t we embrace it? With this machine you can die anywhere you want: with a view of the mountains or of the waves of the ocean. And apart from this device, you don’t need much: no doctor putting a needle into your veins, no illegal drugs that are difficult to obtain. This demedicalizes death.’
‘Free to use’
It is still unclear how Swiss justice will react to this. The conditions set by the country are that the person with the death wish is mentally competent, that they carry out the final deadly act themselves and that the people who help have altruistic motives.
According to The Last Resort, the woman paid nothing for the Sarco, with the exception of 18 Swiss francs for the nitrogen tank and her funeral costs. ‘Using the Sarco is free’, Stewart states. ‘That is part of our philosophy. We don’t want to make any money on this. '
3D printers
There are several organizations in Switzerland that help people die. This is done with the help of doctors. Every year, hundreds of foreigners travel to the country for this purpose - and their number is growing. Critics refer to this as ‘suicide tourism’. The Last Resort sharply criticizes the high amounts charged by these organizations. ‘There is no moral mandate to charge 10,000 Swiss francs plus for assistance in a peaceful and reliable suicide’, they say on their website.
The Sarco was manufactured with the help of 3D printers. Creator Philip Nitschke plans to publish the blueprints in his handbook. The Last Resort also wants to open the suicide capsule to others in the future. They already have a waiting list, Stewart says. One of the conditions will be that people are over 50. ‘This is not for young people’, Stewart says. ‘We don’t want to encourage suicide.’
- Comment on Surgical abortions at Queanbeyan Hospital to be reinstated and region's service expanded 1 month ago:
What the hell? Do you want to be like America? Because this is how you end up like America.
_Last week, the ABC revealed that Orange Hospital in the state’s central west had introduced new policy banning abortions for people with no identified pregnancy complications or medical reasons.
That afternoon, the health minister made a spectacular intervention, announcing on social media that the ban had been reversed._
These fuckers are trying it all over the place!
- Comment on I make games and this literally happened to me this morning 3 months ago:
Aww, you’re adorable. I will buy the games closer to Christmas for everyone, my reading tells me that if I buy the game and the person does not accept the gift then they will give me a refund, so I imagine you won’t get the money until everyone accepts.
- Comment on I make games and this literally happened to me this morning 3 months ago:
This is super cute! If I buy these now for my friends and family but set it to deliver the gift near Christmas, would you get the money now? Or not til Christmas?
This looks perfect for when everyone is over on Christmas eve! <3
- Comment on I make games and this literally happened to me this morning 3 months ago:
But please don’t spend money on my previous games, I recognize that they aren’t that good I don’t want to burden anyone financially with them (I loved every minute of making them, but I was still a noob back then).
You’re not my mum! I bought Be a Rock anyway. Keep going, make games!
I believe in you!
- Comment on I make games and this literally happened to me this morning 3 months ago:
I don’t use a controller, but I bought two copies for friends that do! Keep going, make more games, add features! (Like maybe keyboard controls for us dinosaurs.)
I believe in you!
- Comment on I make games and this literally happened to me this morning 3 months ago:
Whats the game? :)
- Comment on I make games and this literally happened to me this morning 3 months ago:
Whats the game? :)
- Comment on Smart TVs take snapshots of what you watch multiple times per second 3 months ago:
Yup. When we went to buy a TV I knew this was happening because the smart TVs with wifi and extra hardware and software were cheaper than the dumb TVs. Nothing is free, I knew they had to be doing this shit.
- Comment on Rockstar Games DDoSed Heavily By Players Protesting New AntiCheat Code 3 months ago:
I bought Red Dead Redemption for myself and three friends, super excited about the game, the lore. I had never spent that much money on a game.
We all played through the single player tutorial, and finally into the open world. We meet up and begin exploring and trying to complete quests when suddenly one of us just … drops dead.
Then another is hit by a meteor and caught on fire?
I am thrown up into the sky.
An alien ship?! Appears and messes with us for a while. I try begging in pub chat for the hacker to please leave us so we can play, which seems to goad them further. This continued for an hour.
A quick look around the internet told us that this was par for the course for RDR and GTA and Rockstar couldn’t/wouldn’t do anything about it.
We ended up refunding all the games through steam. Sad times.
- Comment on Pirate Streaming Giants Fboxz, AniWave, Zoroxtv & Others Dead in Major Collapse 4 months ago:
Sad
- Comment on Private voting has been added to PieFed 4 months ago:
I missed the discussion on voting the other day it seems, but for what it’s worth, I like the voting system. In real life discussions happen in open air, and don’t hang there in posterity for people to stumble upon after. When we come to a consensus in conversation it is then left at that and we move on.
When online, these discussions stay as they are, and I think voting gives a way of people to come to a consensus, to leave a mark upon the conversation such that the people who come behind understand how everyone felt about it.
This is helpful I think, because it does not hide the down votes on nasty comments or ideas that hurt others.
One of the most interesting and horrible things about the internet is that every village has a “crazy Bob” but because they were the minority the good of the people outnumbered their outlandish or hateful ideas.
Now they can and do find each other online, forming a vocal and damaging minority. Without the majority able to show their dislike, human nature means more will fall in line with them and their ideals.
- Comment on Huge methane plume from Queensland coal mine explosion underlines case for rapid closure 4 months ago:
I had no idea that methane was released with coal mining! That is pretty horrifying.
- Comment on YSK that the recommended daily fiber intake is 25g for women and 38g for men in the USA. 95% of the country does not meet this amount. 5 months ago:
I think so, yes. At least from a taste and texture standpoint, it is waaaay better. Psyllium husk (Metamucil) changes the texture of drinks and foods, causing them to congeal into a viscous gel.
Benefiber does not change the texture of the food or drink and is odourless and tasteless.
I will note however, after a quick google just now, that Metamucil was shown in a study to lower cholestrol while Benefiber did not.
For me though, it’s all about what changes I can make and stick to, and something that changes texture is very hard for me to get down.
- Comment on YSK that the recommended daily fiber intake is 25g for women and 38g for men in the USA. 95% of the country does not meet this amount. 5 months ago:
Same! First cup of coffee every day is the powder cup, goes in with the splenda. :)
- Comment on YSK that the recommended daily fiber intake is 25g for women and 38g for men in the USA. 95% of the country does not meet this amount. 5 months ago:
We highly recommend Benefiber for anyone. It is tasteless, doesn’t change the texture of your food or drink, and can be added to almost anything.
I think many people avoid adding fiber to their diets because it requires a change in diet or a supplement that is often gross.
- Comment on "I'm in prison for blowing the whistle on the Australian Defence Force" 5 months ago:
I hope he is home with his family soon, he did what was right no matter the cost, and our laws should have protected him.
- Comment on The Chemist Warehouse deal is a sideshow: pharmacies are ripe for bigger disruption 5 months ago:
If it is well known how they are getting around the anti monopoly laws, why are they allowed to continue?
- An Aussie man who "waited six months" to have his local council fill a huge hole left by an uprooted tree outside his home has been slapped with a $11,500 fine for eventually doing it himself.9now.nine.com.au ↗Submitted 5 months ago to australia@aussie.zone | 1 comment
- Comment on Small dogs are a big problem for posties, as Australia Post reports over 55 attacks a week 6 months ago:
This is why many of our packages weren’t delivered. We have a low front gate with a latch, and we have had many parcels taken to the post office without a delivery attempt.
After calling aupost for the umpteenth time, they have told me that their drivers have been instructed to not enter any sort of gate because of dog attacks, unless they know the house and that there is not a dog.
The second line of our address for everything now says “NO DOGS! Thank you!” and since doing that no problems.
- Comment on Terrifying reality of what airport security could actually see through an X-ray machine 8 months ago:
Clickbait article with images from 10 years ago, scanners now show generic body shaped images with the area to search highlighted.
- Comment on Despite Microsoft's push, Windows 11 and Edge see decreases in user share 8 months ago:
Yup. I got a new laptop with win11 and dutifully tried to get used to it. I ended up installing win10 pro by the next day, and even that I modify to behave a bit more like I expect. Maybe we are just old?
- Comment on A generation of renters are staring down poverty in retirement unless something drastic changes 9 months ago:
Maybe see if there is someone you can connect with in your local foster caring community. Most foster parents are long term and take many children temporarily through the years. Perhaps you could give your house to a younger fostering couple that rents currently, or put it into a trust to be used as a group home?
If you are near a hospital or cancer center, you could leave the house to be used as a place for families to stay near sick or dying loved ones.
Either way, its a beautiful thought you have, I hope you find a way to make it happen. <3
- Comment on Inside the quota-driven culture that boosted police searches from 88 to 550 a day 9 months ago:
Does anyone know the law regarding interactions with police in Australia?
I have a teenage daughter, she is a typical nerdy red headed girl into reading and such, so unlikely to be profiled for a search, but shit happens.
She also has Autism, and doesn’t do super well with new situations under pressure. Usually we need to talk about what will happen and what we are likely to do beforehand and she’s fine.
Can she refuse to be searched by police? Can she ask to be taken to the station to be searched by a female officer? What happens if she says no to them searching her bag or pockets?
- Comment on Does portable bluetooth speaker with USB input exist? 9 months ago:
I won’t claim to be an audiophile by any means, but it sounds ok to me!
- Comment on Does portable bluetooth speaker with USB input exist? 9 months ago:
- Comment on A Woman Was Arrested For A DUI. Turns Out She Was Having A Stroke 9 months ago:
I don’t know exactly what your wife is sensitive to, but I had a similar reaction to drugs that shouldn’t have done a thing to me. No one in my life has ever told me about pharmacogenetic testing, the ONLY reason I ever heard about it is because my new GP used to be a pharmacist.
I tell everyone about it now. You know all those friends who spent a year or two trialing different mental health meds to find one that worked? What if they could just get this test and immediately knock off any that they won’t react to and be forewarned about any they might be sensitive to? It’s amazing!
