Posts in: link

As Gaza Hospitals Collapse, Medical Workers Face the Hardest Choices

From an academic perspective, bioethicists often discuss a health care worker’s “duty to care.” Health care workers are good people and are willing to give of themselves in order to care for the infirm and vulnerable.

Reading a story like this brings the agony and terror of negotiating one’s duty to care in the midst of death and destruction from theory to the reality of life. I cannot imagine the burden these health care workers are bearing on behalf of these patients.

“We choose who gets ventilation by deciding who has the best chance of survival,” [Mohammed Qandil] said. “For us as a team, these aren’t easy decisions. It’s a morally sensitive issue with a lot of guilt.”

This is a tremendous amount of moral distress for health care workers. I pray for peace in the region, for the end of suffering, and that health care workers will have what they need to care for those in need.

Can Humanities Survive the Budget Cuts?

Full disclosure: I have multiple degrees in the humanities. 😃🎓

This article focuses on the state auditor of Mississippi and his judgment of ROI for state spending on higher education. I think there should be a healthy debate on the ROI of a degree & I would offer that most people’s sense of ROI is far too narrow. But, I digress…

Here’s the quote that is stuck in my mind:

Mr. White, the Republican state auditor, said his first questioning was whether state spending on degree programs matched the needs of the economy.

This quote demonstrates the limited–and ultimately harmful–perspective of Mr. White and his peers in the GOP. This perspective places education and students in service of the economy. This is backwards. The economy should serve people. State higher education funding should serve people. Thinking of people as a means to achieve the end of growing the economy is ultimately degrading and dismissive of the dignity each is due.

The U.S. would be much better off if state leaders made funding decisions based on what serves people. Funding humanities programs promotes the common good by empowering the citizenry to think carefully and critically about the world around them.

However, an electorate educated in the humanities may well select different state leadership. Perhaps this is the ROI feared by Mississippi’s elected officials.

Learning to code isn’t enough

This was an interesting read about the history of computer science education.

It brought me back to my high school experience in the early 1990’s. In its curriculum course catalog, the school advertised an Introduction to Computer Science class. I was looking forward to taking the course once I had some room in my schedule for electives. I signed up for the class each year I could and was disappointed each year when told that the class wouldn’t be offered. While I don’t remember the precise reasons given for not offering the advertised class, I do remember feeling like the answers were not satisfactory.

Alas… I’m glad comp sci education is more accessible these days.

Fox, Dominion reach $787M settlement over election claims

This is a significant settlement. Dominion is receiving some justice, but the issue is far from settled. We will continue to live in an epistemological crisis for the foreseeable future.

Interestingly, this story is nowhere to be found on the foxnews.com website. The lead story above the scroll is: “What Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden are reporting as their federal adjusted gross income.”

Edit: I didn’t dig deep enough.

Sloosha’s Crossin’ an’ Ev’rythin’ After

It’s not everyday that you read something that brings a little clarity to the abortion discourse within the Catholic church. Today was one of those days.

This article (like much of Ginocchio’s writing) is neither for the faint of heart nor those of tender conscience. The commentary is biting, crass, and sprinkled with ad hominem potshots at “fan favorites,” but dammit if it doesn’t make me LOL and re-evaluate what I believe on the regular.