"As it gets ever easier to doctor images, will the photograph lose its credibility? A digitally manipulated photo of an Iranian missile launch recently made its way onto major news Web sites, raising concerns about whether images can be trusted. Guests discuss the history of altered images — which stretches back long before digital editing software."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92829539

On The Smoky Trail Of A Faked Missile Photo

Last summer we met John when he knocked on the door to ask if we'd like some gardening done. "I'm trying to set myself up as a gardener" he told us, and said he was doing work for other people on the street. Our tangly wild garden has a certain charm that fades into decrepitude as summer wears on, so we hired him to weed. Denis was a little startled when he asked for our tools, but he did an OK job, put them back, and then would turn up every couple weeks asking to do it again. Mostly we said no.

One day John came by with a framed poster he wanted to sell; when I refused, he said, "Aw, I'm not a salesman...Here, take it". I refused that, too. He is clean, neat, excessively friendly, formally polite and extremely assertive. I told D. and my boys to under no circumstances let him into the house. W'd see him every week or so, he wants the recyclables from our porch (OK with us.)

Weems' reply includes: "I would rather my chilluns and granchilluns not have to be held back by my needs. It's a matter of what can I do when I can no longer contribute. When is it time? And can I choose it? Will I have the foresight to choose it just before I no longer have the ability?"

If you would consider voluntarily ending your life, what would your criteria include?

Mom's had friends who chose what she calls "self check-out". In several cases, a gentle end, for one, a violent method that horrifed both his wife and all residents of the 'home'. My Dad asked my brother (also an MD) to write a 'scrip; he said no. Dad died by the inch.

This excerpt from William Carlos Williams' "The Last Worlds of My English Grandmother" says it all for me.