From Twitter 07-29-2009

• 06:50:50: @jerricklim if "cai fan" means "chicken rice" you can certainly get it in London...Rasa Sayang rest. in Chinatown. I'll treat you.
  
• 06:51:53: @devinjay mmmmmmmmMosBurger!
  
• 06:55:33: @jerricklim oh, sorry. I knew that "fan" is "rice" but couldn't remember what "chicken" is. i will treat you anyway...Rasa Sayang is good.
  
• 06:58:15: @jerricklim you'd never know I took three years of evening Chinese classes... :-(
  
• 06:58:26: @jerricklim so when will u be here??
  
• 07:03:43: good morning peeps. overcast in london, cool. BBC just asked "What happened to that BBQ summer?" It got drowned and frozen, that's what.
  
• 07:09:41: must be a slow news day. Some jazz musician i've never heard of died and they gave him 1 minute of a 9 min newscase. George Russell??
  
• 07:50:27: IBM buys SPSS--a nice windfall for me at $50 a share...
  
• 07:54:40: @icezworld i'd love to go to Bali but won't be in Singapore at the time the tix are for... :-( hope you can offload them...
  
• 08:00:11: @jonk http://twitpic.com/byy0n - yes, you're right,it doesn't look anything like you. The polka dots are too brown and green...
  
• 09:38:44: Freakiest URL of the day: http://is.gd/1Snpn
  
• 09:40:11: Just got sad news that a lodge brother has terminal cancer.
  
• 10:53:49: @mhisham do you mean "amyl nitrate"??
  
• 11:32:33: @oletalk i used to use my boss to test SW installations. If he could figure it out, _any_ fool could do the same.
  
• 11:35:48: RT @willfrancis: Hilarious Newspaper Correction (FailBlog) - http://twi.la/cyc52
  
• 14:31:18: @jenny8lee they dress their burgers like that because they don't use alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine so need _some_ bad habits in their l ...
  
• 14:33:01: @JoexEd caffeine and sugar: 2 of the 5 major food groups (fat, salt, and alcohol are the other 3)...
  
• 14:36:51: @mhisham haven't a clue. don't use the stuff. make sure you don't use it along with Viagra...could make u faint or worse.
  
• 14:37:37: @JoexEd good morning to you...
  
• 16:35:30: @JoexEd can u take the piece off??
  
• 16:37:08: @JoexEd Je t'embrasse!
  
• 16:38:27: @JoexEd hehehe...i used to work in a place where the Sr VP worked in very high cutoff, flipflops, and a tank top. No A/C, of course.
  
• 19:41:30: @jspin SPAM is very popular in Hawaii, the Philippines, and Singapore. My ex (Singaporean-born) used to make me SPAM-fried rice...
  
• 19:41:50: @heartsofspace thankyou thankyou thankyou. My iPhone will thank you too...
  

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Happy birthday, trulygrateful

...and many happy returns of the day.

The Last Judgment

As of October, the United Kingdom will have a Supreme Court. Today, the last ruling of the Law Lords sitting in the House of Lords was handed down. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) must make clear the circumstances under which he will direct a prosecution of any person who accompanies someone else to Switzerland's Dignitas clinic to commit suicide.

There have been many cases of people here who have had fatal diseases and who wished to be assisted to commit suicide before they descended into a state in which they would be unreasonably disabled and dependent upon others for living and in a state of constant pain. A few weeks ago a famous conductor (whom I, unfortunately, had never heard of) and his wife travelled to Switzerland to Dignitas and committed suicide together, as the conductor's wife had incurable bowel cancer and he was totally dependent on her for daily life (he was deaf and blind, among other infirmities). A rugby player who was a quadriplegic after a playing accident travelled there to commit suicide several years ago.

When they travel to Switzerland with someone to assist them and then commit suicide, the helper, upon returning to the United Kingdom, has usually been interviewed by the police to determine whether they will be prosecuted for assisting someone to commit suicide. There have not been any prosecutions in these circumstances. However, people have been concerned that, after they own suicide, their helper will be prosecuted and, upon asking the DPP what the criteria are for prosecutions, the DPP has refused to give them.

The Law Lords have now made it clear that the DPP must publish guidelines under which people will be prosecuted for assisting someone to commit suicide in this way. A clear victory for incurably ill people who wish to have some control over the end of their lives but who do not wish to put their loved ones in jeopardy.

This is a great relief for the woman who brought the case (and who is suffering from multiple sclerosis). The DPP, of course, might rule that all people who assist people to commit suicide at Dignitas must be prosecuted. I think that's unlikely.

Suicide is not something you want to encourage. However, in cases like these, suicide to avoid great suffering is noble (in my opinion) and permissible with strict controls in order to ensure that people are not coerced into the act. We shall see what comes from the DPP.

In October the Law Lords will become Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, separated from the legislature and sitting across Parliament Square in a newly-renovated building. History is made yet again.