Smile, it makes people nervous.

Смотрела Auction Hunters по телеку и узнала забавную вещь. Охотники среди детских пистолетов нашли некий предмет, похожий на настоящий пистолет, но такой, неказистый, как будто на коленке склепанный. Отнесли его специалисту и обнаружили, что это действительно пистолет времен Второй Мировой по имени Освободитель (Liberator). В какой-то момент американцы решили помочь французскому Сопротивлению и произвели некое количество этих уродцев. Вмещает оно в себя одну (1) пулю .45 калибра, и максимальное растояние, с которого можно во что-нибудь из него попасть - 2 м. Предполагалось, что подпольщики возьмут Освободителя, подойдут к немецкому солдату, пристрелят его в упор и освободят себе настоящий автомат, к примеру. Представляю себе французов, которые ожидали от союзников оружие, а получили вот это. Недаром они американцев до сих пор недолюбливают. Там еще, to add insult to injury, в набор полагался комикс с инструкциями.

N. and I had a discussion (for unpleasant family reasons) on our treatment options in case of ending up with a terminal illness or in a vegetative state. Turned out we had diametrically opposite preferences for end-of-life provisions. Which naturally lead to a discussion of living wills. I've heard about them but never really looked into the applicable laws, until now. Here is what I turned up:

• Most states have provisions for a living will. But strangely enough not Massachusetts or Michigan, so you better pick your health care proxy really well and make sure he knows exactly what you want and will abide by your wishes. You can still create a living will but nobody is obligated to take it into account, if I understood the law correctly.


• In a bunch of states (majority, I think) living will becomes invalid in case of pregnancy. Outrageous, in my opinion.


• There are states (very few) that don't require any witnesses for the will to be considered legal, some states require one or two witnesses (NY among them), and some states (Arizona, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia) in a bit of an overkill require two witnesses and a notary.


• Even if the state requires notarization to create a will, not even witnesses are required to revoke it. Testator can just tell the physician that he no longer wants to use the living will and voila they will fight for your life till you die.

...that Diet of Worms is not some gross newfangled way of quickly losing weight (although I can see how that might actually be effective) but is one of a general assemblies of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire that took place in the city of Worms. The most famous Diet of Worms dates to 1521; it resulted in the Edict of Worms, which condemned Martin Luther and his teachings.

The route by which I discovered this little nugget was circuitous and wrought with perils. All I wanted to know was whether my expected nephew would be eligible for Japanese citizenship. Wiki is evil, it fills my head with useless facts that later spill out onto innocent bystanders.