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News Briefs 20-04-2010

The vampire squid is a lot worse than you think.

  • A great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.
  • Major revisions to psychiatric definitions stir debate.
  • Near-death experience skeptics show no plausible medical explanation for afterlife experiences.
  • Just 39 days to Mars.
  • Astronomers have solved the mystery of Saturn’s north pole hexagon.
  • Charles the cat makes 1,300-mile journey.
  • For the world is hollow. Part 1. Part 2.
  • Migraine sufferer starts speaking with Chinese accent.
  • The traumatizing mythology of 911.
  • US military tests high-tech dirigibles in Utah.
  • Ancient stones older than Stonehenge discovered on Dartmoor.
  • Lunar charge distribution.
  • Researchers create artificial human skin.
  • Should SETI be looking for genetic codes?
  • DMT is in your head, but it may be too weird for the psychedelic renaissance.
  • Eyjafjallajokull’s scream could wake a neighbour.

Thanks Greg

Quote of the Day:

The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.

Ambrose Bierce

  1. Richard C. Hoagland
    Is it just me or is Richard C. Hoagland totally insane? Over the years he seems to keep thinking that right angles cannot naturally occur in nature. I think about him everytime I see rocks with these “unnatural” right angles! 😉

  2. Regarding the DSM overhaul
    “But the statement also urged parents to contact the APA and ask them to change the name to something that wouldn’t conjure up images of “inept mothers” and “bratty kids.” ”

    Right, because then personal accountability might enter into the picture, and we can’t have that. I don’t pretend to be qualified to say that temper dysregulation does or does not exist. But I am willing to bet that parents who are, in fact, ‘inept’ will be much more inclined to claim that their spoiled brat has a medical condition than to take responsibility for raising their own child.

    It seems to me that a similar mentality is at work in our school systems. When children are failing standard examinations we lower the standards rather than raise expectations. We stress the importance of having self-esteem rather than achieving something worthy of esteem. Likewise, if you were to say that a child’s temperament is dysregulated, you haven’t resolved the matter of ‘Why?’, you’ve simply removed the burden of asking.

    1. moving the goalposts
      I agree, our education and medical system these days pretends that nobody has any problems or deficiencies.

      The unfortunate truth is that some people do have problems with their temper, some parents are lousy parents, some people are shorter than others. Not everyone deserves a passing grade in schools.

      At the same time, medical people in the US tell us that it is normal to require medication for mental problems – something like 1/3 of the people supposedly need it.

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