Post by Tomspy77 on Jan 18, 2014 1:16:56 GMT -6
* At least two U.S. medical schools so far are early adopters of Dr.
Benjamin Lok's and Dr. Carla Pugh's "Robot Butt" for teaching
doctors-in-training to properly (and compassionately) administer
prostate exams. The robot, bent over a desk to simulate the patient
profile, has sensors to alert the students if they dig too deeply or
quickly for comfort. Other sensors enable a check on eye contact to
evaluate "bedside manner." (News of the Weird reported a similar
innovation in 2012 by Nobuhiro Takahashi, whose model's
"sphincter" has the ability to "clench up" if the probing becomes too
distressing.) [Huffington Post, 11-13-2013]
* Neuroscientist James Fallon, fascinated by the brains of serial
killers, experienced a seminal career moment in 2005 when he
realized that his own brain scan was a dead-on match for the typical
psychopath's. Subsequent self-examination revealed him to be, he
said, a "pro-social psychopath," displaying traits similar to a killer's
(aggressiveness, low empathy) and different ("killing" only
opponents in games and debate, with little compassion for their
haplessness). "I'm kind of an asshole," he admitted, according to a
November report by The Smithsonian, "and I do jerky things that
piss people off." Fallon failed to break bad, he guesses, because he
"was loved [growing up], and that protected me." He figures he has
not kicked his pathology but rather strives "to show to everyone and
to myself that I can pull [this balancing act] off."
A 16-year-old, Fox Chapel, Pa.,
boy realized at a football game in September that he was
inadvertently carrying a pocket knife and conscientiously turned it
in to a security guard--which earned him a 10-day school
suspension. The school's "zero tolerance" rule, said the boy, "sends
a message [that] you should probably lie."
* In November, the senior class president of Northwest Christian
University in Eugene, Ore., "came out"--as an atheist. Eric Fromm,
21, is apparently popular on campus, and an ABC News report
revealed that he was under no pressure to resign or drop out. Said
the director of university relations, "All of our students are on a
journey." "We as an institution meet students where they are at."
Fromm said he was impressed with the school right from his initial
visit. "No one was speaking in tongues or handling snakes, so I
decided to stay." [ABC News, 11-11-2013]
olice in
Urunga, Australia, charged teacher Andrew Minisini in December
with taking three female students to a motel, giving them alcohol,
and seducing them--not into sex but into vandalizing the residence
of one of Minisini's former colleague-rivals. [Times Free Press
(Chattanooga), 11-13-2013] [Sydney Morning Herald, 12-6-2013]
* A government-subsidized, foundation-supported program for
alcoholics in Amsterdam announced a "welfare"/"work" program
offering the city's drunks the equivalent of about $14 a day--and
five free cans of beer--for several hours of street-cleaning. Some
beneficiaries told London's The Independent, in a November
dispatch, that, of course, they intended to use the cash to buy even
more beer. [The Independent, 11-20-2013]
* In 2001, German computer repairman Armin Meiwes captured
world attention when he was convicted of killing, and then
sauteeing and eating parts of, a Berlin engineer of particularly low
self-esteem, who had offered himself on a German cannibal-fetish
website. In November 2013, police in the German state of Saxony
were investigating human body parts found at a bed-and-breakfast
run by "Detlef G.," suggesting the parts were from "Wojciech S.,"
who frequented a cannibal-fetish website and who had traveled to
meet Detlef--and that the parts had been found in an area of the
grounds used for "grilling." Wojciech had written recently about
wanting "to be grilled alive" (but most visitors to the website are
merely fantasy role-players) The investigation is continuing.
[Spiegel Online, 11-29-2013, 12-4-2013]
Benjamin Lok's and Dr. Carla Pugh's "Robot Butt" for teaching
doctors-in-training to properly (and compassionately) administer
prostate exams. The robot, bent over a desk to simulate the patient
profile, has sensors to alert the students if they dig too deeply or
quickly for comfort. Other sensors enable a check on eye contact to
evaluate "bedside manner." (News of the Weird reported a similar
innovation in 2012 by Nobuhiro Takahashi, whose model's
"sphincter" has the ability to "clench up" if the probing becomes too
distressing.) [Huffington Post, 11-13-2013]
* Neuroscientist James Fallon, fascinated by the brains of serial
killers, experienced a seminal career moment in 2005 when he
realized that his own brain scan was a dead-on match for the typical
psychopath's. Subsequent self-examination revealed him to be, he
said, a "pro-social psychopath," displaying traits similar to a killer's
(aggressiveness, low empathy) and different ("killing" only
opponents in games and debate, with little compassion for their
haplessness). "I'm kind of an asshole," he admitted, according to a
November report by The Smithsonian, "and I do jerky things that
piss people off." Fallon failed to break bad, he guesses, because he
"was loved [growing up], and that protected me." He figures he has
not kicked his pathology but rather strives "to show to everyone and
to myself that I can pull [this balancing act] off."
A 16-year-old, Fox Chapel, Pa.,
boy realized at a football game in September that he was
inadvertently carrying a pocket knife and conscientiously turned it
in to a security guard--which earned him a 10-day school
suspension. The school's "zero tolerance" rule, said the boy, "sends
a message [that] you should probably lie."
* In November, the senior class president of Northwest Christian
University in Eugene, Ore., "came out"--as an atheist. Eric Fromm,
21, is apparently popular on campus, and an ABC News report
revealed that he was under no pressure to resign or drop out. Said
the director of university relations, "All of our students are on a
journey." "We as an institution meet students where they are at."
Fromm said he was impressed with the school right from his initial
visit. "No one was speaking in tongues or handling snakes, so I
decided to stay." [ABC News, 11-11-2013]
olice in
Urunga, Australia, charged teacher Andrew Minisini in December
with taking three female students to a motel, giving them alcohol,
and seducing them--not into sex but into vandalizing the residence
of one of Minisini's former colleague-rivals. [Times Free Press
(Chattanooga), 11-13-2013] [Sydney Morning Herald, 12-6-2013]
* A government-subsidized, foundation-supported program for
alcoholics in Amsterdam announced a "welfare"/"work" program
offering the city's drunks the equivalent of about $14 a day--and
five free cans of beer--for several hours of street-cleaning. Some
beneficiaries told London's The Independent, in a November
dispatch, that, of course, they intended to use the cash to buy even
more beer. [The Independent, 11-20-2013]
* In 2001, German computer repairman Armin Meiwes captured
world attention when he was convicted of killing, and then
sauteeing and eating parts of, a Berlin engineer of particularly low
self-esteem, who had offered himself on a German cannibal-fetish
website. In November 2013, police in the German state of Saxony
were investigating human body parts found at a bed-and-breakfast
run by "Detlef G.," suggesting the parts were from "Wojciech S.,"
who frequented a cannibal-fetish website and who had traveled to
meet Detlef--and that the parts had been found in an area of the
grounds used for "grilling." Wojciech had written recently about
wanting "to be grilled alive" (but most visitors to the website are
merely fantasy role-players) The investigation is continuing.
[Spiegel Online, 11-29-2013, 12-4-2013]
I love how the Christian school respected the atheist student. Nice to see...