Latest news with #Roose
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Record
Chef boiled to death in horrifying two hour execution so brutal it was outlawed
Richard Roose was executed by being boiled alive in 1531 after he was accused of poisoning dinner party guests - with the horrific method of death later outlawed A sumptuous dinner party in Lambeth, south London, in 1531 ended in horror as guests became violently ill, leading to one of history's most harrowing executions – being boiled alive. The cook, Richard Roose, fell under suspicion for the illness after allegedly lacing the food with a mysterious powder. He was condemned by King Henry VIII for the act of poisoning and sentenced to an unprecedented and gruesome death. Roose's final moments were marked by a chilling first in British penal history as he became the inaugural victim to be publicly boiled alive. Contemporary records indicate that Roose was fastened to a gibbet, akin to a gallows, before being plunged repeatedly into a scalding cauldron. Witnesses reported that he "roared mighty loud" and endured two hours of torment before succumbing. The method of execution by boiling was intentionally designed to inflict a prolonged and excruciating demise through severe burns, reports the Daily Star. Although heat burns destroy skin cells, it is often the subsequent shock from extensive injuries that proves fatal. This state of shock, characterised by inadequate oxygen supply to the body, can be lethal. According to the NHS, signs of shock include a pallid complexion, clammy skin, an accelerated heartbeat, rapid and shallow breathing, and loss of consciousness. Severe burns can lead to soft tissue shrinkage causing skin tears and reduced fat and muscle volume. Additionally, the intense heat from burns may cause muscles to contract involuntarily, which can result in flexed joints. Recent research has shown that extreme heat damage can precipitate respiratory failure through direct injury to the airways, which can be fatal. Indeed, respiratory failure is one of the leading causes of death among burn victims, especially those with inhalation injuries. History recounts how Richard Roose suffered severe blistering due to burns, but it's not documented whether his cauldron contained water, oil, or wax. Other historical accounts describe a gruesome practice where victims were placed into cool liquids, which were then heated to boiling point as a form of execution. This prolonged and brutal method was intended to delay the body entering into shock, thus maximising the pain experienced. In a YouTube video detailing this story, viewers shared their dismay at the barbaric punishment, with one commenting on the "worst execution." Another viewer said: "It's hard to fathom the brutality these people inflicted on one another. We are the cruellest of all living species." Yet another added: "Even if guilty this punishment is beyond evil." This method of execution was so brutal that it was later outlawed by Edward VI in 1547. However, accidental deaths by boiling can still occur today. For instance, in 2016, a 23 year old tragically died and was dissolved after falling into a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park in the US. When his body was found, the water was reportedly at a boiling point of 100°C (212°F). The World Health Organisation reports that an estimated 180,000 deaths annually are due to burn injuries. In 2019, two Russians were boiled alive in a sink hole when they failed to swerve their vehicle last minute - plunging into scalding water.
Irish Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Chef boiled to death in two-hour agony branded 'worst execution ever'
A dinner party in Lambeth, south London, in 1531, turned into the backdrop for what might just be one of history's most chilling executions - death by being boiled alive. The soiree took a sinister turn when guests started to suffer from severe sickness. The finger was pointed at the cook, Richard Roose, who was suspected of lacing the food with a mysterious substance. King Henry VIII handed down a death sentence to Roose for his alleged role in the poisoning. His end would go down in the annals as he became the first person in Britain to meet his maker through the ghastly method of being boiled alive in public. Although the finer points of the execution are scarce, historical records indicate that Roose was fastened to a gibbet, akin to a gallows, and then plunged repeatedly into a scalding cauldron. Witnesses claimed he "roared mighty loud" and succumbed after a torturous two-hour ordeal. The method of boiling someone to death was crafted to be a drawn-out, excruciating affair, ensuring maximum torment from the burns inflicted, reports the Daily Star. Burns from heat occur when skin cells are destroyed, but it's believed that it's not the burns themselves that are fatal, rather the body's shock response to grave injuries. Thermal injuries arise when skin or other tissues' cells are obliterated. Similarly, the state of shock, a perilous condition triggered by inadequate oxygen supply to the body, is what ultimately poses a mortal threat. The NHS warns that classic indicators of going into shock include sporting a ghostly complexion, skin that's cold and damp to the touch, racing pulse, shallow and quick breathing, or even passing out. Severe burns are no minor affair; they can lead to soft tissue contraction which may cause the skin to rip apart, accompanied by a reduction in the fat and muscles. Particularly with burn injuries, expect muscle contractions to potentially result in joint stiffness. Current research alerts to the risk of respiratory failure following intense heat exposure, attacking the airways and potentially leading to fatal outcomes. For those who have suffered from burns, particularly with inhalation trauma, respiratory failure is a leading cause of mortality. Perusing through historical annals, it's recorded that Richard Roose bore severe blistering caused by burns, yet it remains a mystery whether his scathing was due to water, oil, or wax within the cauldron. Previous historical accounts of gruesome executions record the chilling fact that victims might have been initially plunged into tepid liquid, which would gradually boil – prolonging the onset of shock to heighten the agony. On YouTube, a video recounting such a grisly tale has left viewers appalled, stating their repulsion at such a barbaric penalty, one commenting it's the "worst execution." Another viewer said: "It's hard to fathom the brutality these people inflicted on one another. We are the cruellest of all living species." Meanwhile, a third person added: "Even if guilty this punishment is beyond evil." This method of execution was so savage that it was subsequently banned by Edward VI in 1547. However, accidental deaths due to boiling can still happen in the present day. For example, in 2016, a tragic incident occurred when a 23 year old lost his life and was dissolved after falling into a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park in the US. When his body was discovered, the water was reportedly at a boiling temperature of 100°C (212°F). According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 180,000 deaths each year are attributed to burn injuries. In 2019, two Russians met a horrific end when they were boiled alive in a sinkhole after failing to swerve their vehicle at the last moment, plunging into blistering water.
The Age
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Neo-Nazis' Anzac Day taunts unlikely to breach hate-speech law, experts say
'Welcome to Country is an important part of official ceremonies, and it should be respected, and I don't agree with the booing,' Dutton said on Friday. 'We have a proud Indigenous heritage in this country, and we should be proud to celebrate it as part of today.' Victoria Police confirmed a 26-year-old Kensington man was interviewed and released after the incident, and that he was expected to be charged on summons with offensive behaviour. Last year, Hersant became the first person in Victoria to be convicted for performing the Nazi salute. The summary offence carries a fine or jail term of two months, or up to six months for repeat offenders. Dr Josh Roose, a Deakin University associate professor who studies political violence, could not say whether Friday's disruption would be captured under the new laws, but said there was a case it should be. 'If you're booing an Indigenous ceremony, one that's based on healing and cohesion, then there's a case you're undermining that and vilifying on the basis of race,' Roose said. Aunty Joy Murphy, a Wurundjeri elder who has long performed the Welcome to Country at Melbourne events, said the hecklers at the shrine would not deter her. 'It'd take more than that for me not to do the welcome,' she said. 'It makes me want to hold my head up higher than ever. We know what it's like to be insulted, and we have to stand strong and be brave. We're proud to be who we are.' Aunty Joy said the ceremony was particularly important on Anzac Day to recognise Indigenous soldiers like her father, Jarlo Wandoon, who fought for Australia. She was supposed to perform the Welcome to Country ceremony at Friday night's Melbourne Storm-Sydney Rabbitohs Anzac Day NRL clash at AAMI Park, but says the Storm cancelled the ceremony at the last minute, leaving Indigenous groups dumbfounded and distressed. Performances from the Maori Ngā Mātai Pūrua and Djirri Djirri, a Wurundjeri female dance group, were planned too. But as other Indigenous performers rehearsed on the field, Aunty Joy was told the club's board no longer wanted her to conduct the Welcome to Country. The two other First Nations groups refused to continue their performances as a result. She said no explanation was given to the Indigenous groups for the club's initial cancellation, other than Storm chief executive Justin Rodski telling them it was a board decision. She said the Storm then reversed its position, apologised and asked her to continue with her ceremony, but she refused. 'We would dearly love to be out there, but they've broken our hearts,' Aunty Joy said. In a statement, Melbourne Storm said: 'There was a miscommunication of expectations regarding the use Welcome to Country at Melbourne Storm events throughout the year. We acknowledge and accept the timing and miscommunication was not ideal and we have spoken to the groups concerned this afternoon.' Roose said Friday's Shrine of Remembrance intrusion was clearly planned and had been foreshadowed online. He said there was a broader pattern of the National Socialist Network challenging each new law designed to thwart them, but that bills had so far been well-drafted and had withstood legal challenges. 'Obviously, to some extent, it's hard to be anything other than reactive to that. However, when they want to forecast this and attempt to disrupt one of Australia's most important days, you could argue there's a case for more pre-emptive policing. It's just a matter of whether the laws will allow it.' Loading Roose said the state could create anti-association laws specifically for them and ban them from wearing masks, while the Commonwealth could consider proscribing the National Socialist Network as a terror organisation. 'I'm not advocating those positions. I'm saying that there are a number of much tougher measures available.' There is currently a bill before state parliament cracking down on masks at protests, which has separately angered civil rights groups. While the local neo-Nazi groups have not been prohibited or slapped with non-association orders, some individual members have been ordered not to associate with fellow members as part of bail conditions for alleged offences. Investigations by this masthead and other outlets have uncovered links between local neo-Nazis and designated terror organisations such as The Base and Combat 18, as well as bikies and prison gangs. Anti-fascist researcher Dr Kaz Ross did not think Friday's behaviour met the threshold to be considered a crime under the state's anti-vilification laws, but said she was sometimes surprised the neo-Nazis weren't charged with low-level crimes such as offensive behaviour or obscene language more often. 'There's a lot of tools there for police to use,' Ross said. 'I'm not seeing the existing laws being used very effectively at all.' She said the group built solidarity by committing low-level offences but avoided meeting the bar to attract more serious law enforcement, despite being what she called 'an incubator for terrorism' by raising the temperature. Ross said that meant magistrates had to rule on the low-level offences brought before them, rather than the full picture of extremist ideologies. Neo-Nazis have been documented recruiting aggressively among young men and boys in Australia. The Human Rights Law Centre said the government should find ways to address hate other than through criminal law. 'Laws on their own will not address racism. These incidents should propel all governments to invest in community-led prevention, and programs aimed at addressing the root causes of hate and disrupting the way these groups organise and recruit,' the centre's legal director, Sarah Schwartz, said in a statement. Victorian shadow attorney-general Michael O'Brien said the premier needed to explain why the stronger criminal sanctions were yet to become law since the strengthened anti-vilification laws passed. 'The only beneficiaries of this delay are neo-Nazis and their fellow travellers who want to cause maximum distress. Police and the [director of public prosecutions] are powerless because Labor has failed to act. Whether this is incompetence or negligence, it simply isn't good enough.' The opposition voted against the expanded laws, because of a dispute over the legal test applied to civil cases. Loading The directors of Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation said First Nations people had a long history of service and sacrifice for this country, and thanked allies for their support on Friday. 'We commend Uncle Mark Brown for his strength and determination,' they said in a statement. 'The actions of a few this morning are abhorrent and do not deserve to take away any more from [the day].' RSL Victoria President Robert Webster condemned the behaviour and said the crowd's support for the speakers far outweighed the small minority of hecklers. 'The actions of a handful were completely disrespectful to the Aboriginal community, veterans, and the spirit of Anzac Day. In response, the spontaneous applause from the 50,000-strong crowd attending the service drowned out those who disrupted, and showed the respect befitting of the occasion,' he said in a statement. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan condemned the disruption as hateful and appalling. 'To pierce the sombre silence of the dawn service is more than disrespect – it dishonours all who have served, fought and fallen,' she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Neo-Nazis' Anzac Day taunts unlikely to breach hate-speech law, experts say
'Welcome to Country is an important part of official ceremonies, and it should be respected, and I don't agree with the booing,' Dutton said on Friday. 'We have a proud Indigenous heritage in this country, and we should be proud to celebrate it as part of today.' Victoria Police confirmed a 26-year-old Kensington man was interviewed and released after the incident, and that he was expected to be charged on summons with offensive behaviour. Last year, Hersant became the first person in Victoria to be convicted for performing the Nazi salute. The summary offence carries a fine or jail term of two months, or up to six months for repeat offenders. Dr Josh Roose, a Deakin University associate professor who studies political violence, could not say whether Friday's disruption would be captured under the new laws, but said there was a case it should be. 'If you're booing an Indigenous ceremony, one that's based on healing and cohesion, then there's a case you're undermining that and vilifying on the basis of race,' Roose said. Aunty Joy Murphy, a Wurundjeri elder who has long performed the Welcome to Country at Melbourne events, said the hecklers at the shrine would not deter her. 'It'd take more than that for me not to do the welcome,' she said. 'It makes me want to hold my head up higher than ever. We know what it's like to be insulted, and we have to stand strong and be brave. We're proud to be who we are.' Aunty Joy said the ceremony was particularly important on Anzac Day to recognise Indigenous soldiers like her father, Jarlo Wandoon, who fought for Australia. She was supposed to perform the Welcome to Country ceremony at Friday night's Melbourne Storm-Sydney Rabbitohs Anzac Day NRL clash at AAMI Park, but says the Storm cancelled the ceremony at the last minute, leaving Indigenous groups dumbfounded and distressed. Performances from the Maori Ngā Mātai Pūrua and Djirri Djirri, a Wurundjeri female dance group, were planned too. But as other Indigenous performers rehearsed on the field, Aunty Joy was told the club's board no longer wanted her to conduct the Welcome to Country. The two other First Nations groups refused to continue their performances as a result. She said no explanation was given to the Indigenous groups for the club's initial cancellation, other than Storm chief executive Justin Rodski telling them it was a board decision. She said the Storm then reversed its position, apologised and asked her to continue with her ceremony, but she refused. 'We would dearly love to be out there, but they've broken our hearts,' Aunty Joy said. In a statement, Melbourne Storm said: 'There was a miscommunication of expectations regarding the use Welcome to Country at Melbourne Storm events throughout the year. We acknowledge and accept the timing and miscommunication was not ideal and we have spoken to the groups concerned this afternoon.' Roose said Friday's Shrine of Remembrance intrusion was clearly planned and had been foreshadowed online. He said there was a broader pattern of the National Socialist Network challenging each new law designed to thwart them, but that bills had so far been well-drafted and had withstood legal challenges. 'Obviously, to some extent, it's hard to be anything other than reactive to that. However, when they want to forecast this and attempt to disrupt one of Australia's most important days, you could argue there's a case for more pre-emptive policing. It's just a matter of whether the laws will allow it.' Loading Roose said the state could create anti-association laws specifically for them and ban them from wearing masks, while the Commonwealth could consider proscribing the National Socialist Network as a terror organisation. 'I'm not advocating those positions. I'm saying that there are a number of much tougher measures available.' There is currently a bill before state parliament cracking down on masks at protests, which has separately angered civil rights groups. While the local neo-Nazi groups have not been prohibited or slapped with non-association orders, some individual members have been ordered not to associate with fellow members as part of bail conditions for alleged offences. Investigations by this masthead and other outlets have uncovered links between local neo-Nazis and designated terror organisations such as The Base and Combat 18, as well as bikies and prison gangs. Anti-fascist researcher Dr Kaz Ross did not think Friday's behaviour met the threshold to be considered a crime under the state's anti-vilification laws, but said she was sometimes surprised the neo-Nazis weren't charged with low-level crimes such as offensive behaviour or obscene language more often. 'There's a lot of tools there for police to use,' Ross said. 'I'm not seeing the existing laws being used very effectively at all.' She said the group built solidarity by committing low-level offences but avoided meeting the bar to attract more serious law enforcement, despite being what she called 'an incubator for terrorism' by raising the temperature. Ross said that meant magistrates had to rule on the low-level offences brought before them, rather than the full picture of extremist ideologies. Neo-Nazis have been documented recruiting aggressively among young men and boys in Australia. The Human Rights Law Centre said the government should find ways to address hate other than through criminal law. 'Laws on their own will not address racism. These incidents should propel all governments to invest in community-led prevention, and programs aimed at addressing the root causes of hate and disrupting the way these groups organise and recruit,' the centre's legal director, Sarah Schwartz, said in a statement. Victorian shadow attorney-general Michael O'Brien said the premier needed to explain why the stronger criminal sanctions were yet to become law since the strengthened anti-vilification laws passed. 'The only beneficiaries of this delay are neo-Nazis and their fellow travellers who want to cause maximum distress. Police and the [director of public prosecutions] are powerless because Labor has failed to act. Whether this is incompetence or negligence, it simply isn't good enough.' The opposition voted against the expanded laws, because of a dispute over the legal test applied to civil cases. Loading The directors of Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation said First Nations people had a long history of service and sacrifice for this country, and thanked allies for their support on Friday. 'We commend Uncle Mark Brown for his strength and determination,' they said in a statement. 'The actions of a few this morning are abhorrent and do not deserve to take away any more from [the day].' RSL Victoria President Robert Webster condemned the behaviour and said the crowd's support for the speakers far outweighed the small minority of hecklers. 'The actions of a handful were completely disrespectful to the Aboriginal community, veterans, and the spirit of Anzac Day. In response, the spontaneous applause from the 50,000-strong crowd attending the service drowned out those who disrupted, and showed the respect befitting of the occasion,' he said in a statement. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan condemned the disruption as hateful and appalling. 'To pierce the sombre silence of the dawn service is more than disrespect – it dishonours all who have served, fought and fallen,' she said.
New York Times
16-04-2025
- New York Times
Your Kids Are Big Tech's Guinea Pigs
Romantic relationships with A.I. chatbots are commonplace enough that coverage has shifted to their tragic downsides. My newsroom colleague Kevin Roose reported on the death by suicide of the Florida 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, a child who developed an intense bond with a bot he created on a role-playing app. According to chat logs provided to Roose and court filings, that character, already knowing of Setzer's suicidal ideation, encouraged him to 'come home' to her, and he did. Now his mother is suing Use of generative artificial intelligence is widespread among America's teenagers. According to a 2024 study from Common Sense Media, 'Seven in 10 teens age 13 to 18 say they have used at least one type of generative A.I. tool. Search engines with A.I.-generated results and chatbots are considerably more popular than image and video-generating tools.' Though around a quarter of American teens say they use ChatGPT for schoolwork, we don't really know how many teens are using bots for emotional solace or forming parasocial relationships with them. While what happened to Setzer is a tragic worst-case scenario, Roose correctly points out that chatbots are becoming more lifelike, and at the same time are an understudied, regulatory Wild West, just like social media was at its start. A paucity of information about potential long-term harm hasn't stopped these companies from going full speed ahead on promoting themselves to young people: OpenAI just made ChatGPT Plus free for college students during finals season. Many chatbots are built to be endlessly affirming, as M.I.T. Technology Review's Eileen Guo explained in February. She profiled a Minnesota man named Al Nowatzki, who entered a prolonged conversation about suicide with his A.I. girlfriend, Erin. 'It's a 'yes-and' machine,' Nowatzki told Guo. 'So when I say I'm suicidal, it says, 'Oh, great!' because it says, 'Oh, great!' to everything.' I don't want to suggest that theirs is typical of chatbot usage, but we just don't know the details of the kinds of conversations that teenagers are having with their chatbots, or what the long-term drawbacks might be for their formation of human relationships. Since smartphones and social media were introduced, American teenagers do far less in-person socializing and dating, and there have been worldwide increases in loneliness among adolescents. We have let social media companies run unfettered, and instead of learning our lesson and trying to responsibly regulate A.I. in its nascency, we're creating the next generation of tech guinea pigs. For kids who are already socially awkward or otherwise vulnerable, creating bonds with eternally validating chatbots will just further isolate them from other people, who are imperfect and challenging. Adolescence is supposed to be a period to test out different kinds of friendships and romances — including ones filled with conflict — so that you can learn what is healthy for you and what's not. You start to figure yourself out in the process. What happens when we hamper that real-world experimentation? We are starting to find out. Even before this marketing push, research that OpenAI participated in suggests that the company is aware of the risks of its product. In a blog post unpacking two recent studies OpenAI conducted with M.I.T. Media Lab on the emotional well-being of its customers, researchers noted that among ChatGPT users, 'People who had a stronger tendency for attachment in relationships and those who viewed the A.I. as a friend that could fit in their personal life were more likely to experience negative effects from chatbot use. Extended daily use was also associated with worse outcomes.' Much of the research about A.I. chatbots does not include users under 18, even though some of the most popular chatbots allow users 13 and up in the United States, and it's impossible to know how many kids are lying about their age to gain access to these products. So I asked Jacqueline Nesi, an assistant professor at Brown University who studies 'how technology use affects kids and how parents can help,' about whether we have any indication of how chatbot relationships may be affecting minors. The short answer is not really. Nesi, who is also the author of a newsletter on technology research, said that because realistic and accessible A.I. chatbots are so new and the tech is accelerating so rapidly, it's tough to know what the long-term social effects will be. Most technologies affect children differently than they affect grown-ups, Nesi said, so we can't know the real impact on kids without more research. She added that the fundamental issue is that these chatbot technologies, as is the case with social media, are rarely designed with children and teens in mind; they are designed for adults. With social media, Nesi said, it became very clear over time that children needed robust and specific protections, like default private accounts, enforced age restrictions, better data protections and making it harder for strangers to message them or see what they're posting. 'And it's taken us many, many years to get even the most basic things in place,' she said. Still, the algorithms of social media companies are a black box, and many of them appear to be feeding young people a steady stream of content that reinforces bigoted ideas and negative body images, no matter how often the companies are critiqued or sued. The lay public — and your average parent — has no idea how A.I. chatbots are designed, what data they're trained on or how precisely the bots are adapting to the people using them. In her bracing book 'The A.I. Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking,' the technology ethicist Shannon Vallor writes, 'Despite the fact that our A.I. systems today remain as morally reliable as your friendly neighborhood psycho … influential A.I. leaders continue to promise mechanical replacements for our deeply imperfect human virtue.' Based on what I have observed covering these issues over the past decade, I have no trust in any technology companies to regulate themselves or focus on child safety, no matter what their leaders say in public. In 2023, Time magazine reported that while Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, was traveling the world claiming that A.I. should be regulated, 'behind the scenes, OpenAI has lobbied for significant elements of the most comprehensive A.I. legislation in the world — the E.U.'s A.I. Act — to be watered down in ways that would reduce the regulatory burden on the company.' The European Union still managed to pass comprehensive A.I. regulation, which includes transparency labeling requirements on A.I.-generated content and restrictions on some facial recognition. While it's not perfect, it at least explicitly takes children's rights into consideration. The Trump administration has not shown interest in regulating A.I. — in January Trump issued an executive order rolling back guardrails put in place by the Biden Administration. According to reporting from Adam Satariano and Cecilia Kang in The Times, 'Lacking tech expertise, lawmakers are increasingly relying on Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, Google and other A.I. makers to explain how it works and to help create rules.' Our lawmakers are failing us here, leaving parents to try to protect our kids from an ever-expanding technology that some of its own pioneers are afraid of. Whenever I think about it, all I can visualize is myself sword-fighting the air: an ultimately futile gesture of rage against an opponent who is everywhere and nowhere all at once. I can talk to my kids about A.I. and try to educate them the best I can, but the details are out of my control. End Notes Thank you for being a subscriber Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Browse all of our subscriber-only newsletters here.
