February 2010
33 posts
1 tag
January 2010
105 posts
1 tag
The distinction between attributing horrific human behavior to evil and...
– The Easy Way Out With “Evil” Does evil really exist in humans, or are we just avoiding complexity?
3 tags
DNA dating site predicts chemical romance →
lickystickypickyme:
The first dating service to use lab-based genetic profiling launched online last week. Scientific Match promises to pair up people who will be physically attracted to each other because their DNA is different.
Well-matched couples will like each others’ natural scents, have more fun in bed, and bear healthier children than those who are genetically similar, the company...
4 tags
12 year old may be tried as adult in PA for murder
crimenews:
Judge Weighs Adult Status of Pa. Suspect, 12
A psychologist testifying in the case of a 12-year-old accused of killing his father’s pregnant fiancee says there is little risk of him committing violent crimes in the future.
Bullshit.
I wasn’t aware of any state that could send a 12 yr old to adult...
3 tags
Study suggests: Botox-"When you're not frowning,... →
“Normally, the brain would be sending signals to the periphery to frown, and the extent of the frown would be sent back to the brain. But here, that loop is disrupted, and the intensity of the emotion and of our ability to understand it when embodied in language is disrupted.”
3 tags
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the...
– LBJ (via danielholter)
2 tags
EXHIBIT YOUR ART IN AN OLD, KNACKERED PRISON →
photographyprison:
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site seeks proposals for its 2011 tour season and beyond
http://www.easternstate.org/exhibits/guidelines.php
Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. Known for its grand architecture and...
1 tag
The Boy gives advice and is ignored.
That’s sound advice. Here’s my idea for an engagement card. Enjoy.
monkeyfrog:
“I tried to tell her that humans have lived thousands of years and gone from eating ants in trees to multiplying and calling each other on little boxes with no wires to complain about putting air in flat tires on their motorized vehicles when it is freezing out because of the ability to listen to their...
4 tags
4 tags
U.S. Supreme Court Says Courtrooms Must Be Open To... →
The Court held, “Trial courts are obligated to take every reasonable measure to accommodate public attendance at criminal trials.” “The public has a right to be present whether or not any party has asserted the right.” Voir dire can be fascinating, not that general public would want to watch jury selection, they barely want to come with they are summoned for jury duty. Except me, Ive been...
2 tags
1 tag
Can you hear the dolphins cry? →
aatombomb:
No, but this ad makes me want to punch YouTube in the face.
Is that cyber-bullying? I better be careful.
There will always be mean, ignorant twats on the Internet, which makes a campaign against mean people on the Internet seem a bit like trying to get rid of porn on the Internet. Utterly pointless.
Maybe instead of indulging our inner victims with PSA twaddle like this, we should...
4 tags
No, no, no, I’m not saying the doctors are trying to suck money out of the...
– Re: U. of Maryland Medical Center Violence Intervention program
What does the government want to be true? A great blog from The Last Psychiatrist
3 tags
Narcissistic familicide →
“Christian Longo was a “successful businessman” who fell on bad times/spent too much money. Too ashamed to admit to his wife he was failing, he tried credit and then theft/forgery/counterfeiting to maintain the image. When he knew the cops were on to him, he did the obvious thing: he strangled his wife while she was on top of him during sex; then strangled his 2 year old...
2 tags
People will interpret the same information in radically different ways to...
– Morton Hunt, The Story of Psychology
3 tags
Don't Carry Condoms in D.C. -- You Could Be... →
portorock:
Think you might get lucky tonight? Well, if you’re in D.C., don’t bring more than two condoms in your purse, or you could be arrested as a prostitute.
In D.C., police can declare “Prostitution Free Zones” where officers can pick up (I mean, arrest) anyone suspected of sex work. And they’ve been accused of using carrying three or more condoms as proof of intent to sell sex — rather...
2 tags
Man accused of beheading says he was battered..and... →
So, yeah- there’s this. And also this:
So one night I was sitting on the stoop of my building in the Bronx waiting for a friend to come pick me up. The 13 year old from next door comes out and sits by me and asked, “Ooo, did you hear wha happened?” to which I replied, “No I just got back in town, whaddamiss?” She looks at me then nods her head in the direction of...
4 tags
1 tag
cross-examination
Q: You say that the stairs went down to the basement?
A: Yes.
Q: And these stairs, did they go up also?
2 tags
A Fifth Edition of the DSM-- Opportunity for... →
The Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) is scheduled for publication by the American Psychiatric Association in 2012. It will be the first major revision of American diagnostic nomenclature for mental disorder since 1994, and the DSM-V will likely impact the lives, civil liberties and medical care of all gender variant people through the 2020s.
The...
3 tags
2 tags
2 tags
Italy 'to open first prison for transgender... →
Gay rights groups in Italy welcomed the move to convert an almost empty medium security women’s prison into a specially equipped detention centre.
It is thought that Italy has a total of some 60 transgender prisoners.
5 tags
Media and Suicide →
“We examined the relationship between newspaper articles about suicide and Internet usage and the number of suicides in Japan from 1987 to 2005. We found the following: (1) newspaper articles about suicide are a predictor of suicide for both male and female subjects, which is consistent with previous findings, and (2) Internet use was a predictor of suicide among males, who spent longer...
3 tags
3 tags
Kick ass find of the day! - if your into brains. →
The Stanley Neuropathology Consortium Integrative Database -an interactive database- has been developed to facilitate psychiatric research. The SNCID includes 1749 neuropathological markers measured in 12 different brain regions in 60 human brains (15 each schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and unaffected controls). Statistical analysis tools such as variance analysis, correlation...
4 tags
Irregular breathing? Co2, pH and anxiety linked,... →
“The amygdala processes and directs inputs and outputs that are key to fear behavior. However, whether it directly senses fear-evoking stimuli is unknown. Because the amygdala expresses acid-sensing ion channel-1a (ASIC1a), and ASIC1a is required for normal fear responses, we hypothesized that the amygdala might detect a reduced pH. These data identify the amygdala as an important...
3 tags
New research is blurring the species boundary,... →
Until a few years ago, making such inference and diagnosing elephants with PTSD would have been dismissed as anthropomorphism. But no longer. Elephant psychopathology, chimpanzee infanticide and other un-animal-like behaviors are part of a growing body of research that suggests science is building toward a radical paradigm shift. Streams of new data and theories, critically from neuroscience, are...
4 tags
BBC News - Pretty women 'anger more easily' →
willw2:
In the study, the women who believed they were good looking were more likely to respond angrily in disputes than those who rated themselves as less attractive.
Attractive women also had higher expectations of what they deserved.
a small sample of angry alphas and bitter betas.
3 tags
Autism Clusters in California May Have... →
portorock:
Researchers at U.C. Davis are trying to connect the dots leading to 10 autism clusters in California. One theory is that those parents are using certain hazardous household products, exposing their kids to dangers linked to the neuro-developmental disorder that usually surfaces by the time a child turns three.
The report released by the University this week says the clusters show...
4 tags
Teens charged with child porn for sexting pics →
“This week, three teenage girls who allegedly sent nude or semi-nude cell phone pictures of themselves, and three male classmates in a western Pennsylvania high school who received them, are charged with child pornography.”
4 tags
Morphine found to help stave off PTSD in wounded... →
“In a study of about 700 troops who were wounded in Iraq, those who received morphine soon after being injured were about half as likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder as those who did not get the drug.
It is not known whether morphine’s apparently protective effect arises directly from the relief of traumatic pain or indirectly by blocking the brain circuits that lay down...
1 tag
4 tags
A lil good news: From sex abuse victim to legal... →
“With the help of a grant, Ward (a truck driver with a family history of sexual and physical abuse, went to college at the age of 44, then on to law school, graduating at 48) established Have Justice Will Travel at her kitchen table. Since 1998, the group has provided nearly 10,000 victims with legal and social services.”
2 tags
Note to self:
underpaidgenius:
7) COCKTAILS AND CODES
If you’re talking cocktails in New York these days, you need to know two words: speakeasy and artisanal. Behind hidden entrances requiring secret codes, bartenders are mixing up concoctions with names like Corpse Reviver No. 2 (gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, lemon and absinthe) that only seem old-fashioned. That particular drink ($13) is assembled by the...
3 tags
Sex offenders and civil commitment after serving... →
The question of can sex offenders be held after serving criminal sentences by way of civil commitment, goes before the U.S. Supreme court. Seems like a no-brainer, lock ‘em up. But: “Constitutionally, it might be possible,” to extend the rationale for civil commitment to other kinds of crimes, McAllister says. “I don’t have a constitutionally limiting line for what...
2 tags
Creativity and intrinsic interest diminish if task... →
(via elzabeth)
4 tags
Question on juveniles being tried as adults... →
“On the question of giving circuit judges the ability to send juveniles back to juvenile court:
93 percent of chief public defenders
84 percent of circuit judges
77 percent of court service unit directors
53 percent of juvenile-court judges
and the director of the Department of Juvenile Justice supported the move.
….But 81 percent of prosecutors oppose it.”
Wow, I...
3 tags
Torture can actually impair a person's ability to... →
“So let’s break this down anatomically. Fact One: To recall information stored in the brain, you must activate a number of areas, especially the prefrontal cortex (site of intentionality) and hippocampus (the door to long-term memory storage). Fact Two: Stress such as that caused by torture releases the hormone cortisol, which can impair cognitive function, including that of the...
2 tags
Obama's Indian problem →
fuckyeahnativeamericans:
svingen:
“”The hardest ones are the kids. The deaths are disturbing but so are the funerals,” he says. “At the funerals you see the glamorised attention they get. They’ve got their names written all over the windows in honour of this kid because he took his life. Kids see that. Kids want attention. This is how they’re going to get attention. I’ve heard them say: when I...
College Textbook Rentals →
soupsoup:
I wish I had the option to rent my textbooks when I was in college. That would have saved me a ton of money.
Also, you can just buy the chapters you need from a textbook, at places like this.
5 tags
There are many good reasons for revisiting laws that make it too easy to try...
– Steven Drizin is a Clinical Professor at Northwestern Law School and expert on false confessions. From here.