I was watching Law & Order: SVU the other day and as you may or may not know, it’s quite possibly the preachiest show on TV. Sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I completely disagree. One episode I saw recently dealt with organ donation, and while the episode focused mostly on the black market for organs–raising some of the arguments in favor of allowing people to sell their kidneys–it also dealt with the severe shortage of organs which arises from the relatively low percentage of people who sign up to donate organs. Even though people are able to opt-in when they get their driver’s licenses, less than 40% of people do so.* This should be automatic. After all, hearts and kidneys and lungs don’t do you a bit of good when you’re six feet under. Yet millions of people, whether out of nonsensical superstition, misunderstanding of religious doctrine, or sheer stupidity, refuse to donate their organs. This pisses me off. Continue reading ‘people who aren't organ donors’
Monthly Archive for October, 2009
I was originally planning on doing this as a video, but after a few hilarious/awkward outtakes I decided to stick with the written word, a medium in which I am much more comfortable. (I still may attempt a remake of this blog as a Seth Rudetsky-style deconstruction video—or maybe a podcast—at some point.) Also, due to technical difficulties, cheapness, and laziness, for the time being I’m not putting up any audio clips from the cast recording. So you may want to refer to your own CD or mp3 copy (I’ll give track listings and timings), or just take my word for it from the descriptions. Continue reading ‘alice ripley's vowel sounds in next to normal’