Medical students get the most sex
January 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
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A survey of more than 1000 students at Cambridge University found those studying medicine had an average of eight sexual partners in their lives so far.
Student union president Mark Fletcher told student newspaper Varsity the results came as no surprise.
“It’s obvious that the mathematicians haven’t found the winning formula yet,” Mr Fletcher said.
“But it’s good to see that doctors and nurses is still a popular game.”
The poll, which was carried out by the newspaper, found theology students had the fewest number of sexual partners with two.
Political science students had seven, while those studying history had six partners.
Those enrolled in language courses averaged five sexual partners.
But don’t worry if you are not the brightest student - the survey found poor performers tended to have a higher than average number of sexual partners.
About 25 per cent of respondents said they had tried sado-masochism and 40 per cent said they had had a one-night stand, but more than 60 per cent said they had never been checked for sexually transmitted diseases.
7 Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe
January 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it’s time to worry.
In the British Medical Journal this week, researchers looked into several common misconceptions, from the belief that a person should drink eight glasses of water per day to the notion that reading in low light ruins your eyesight.
“We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients,” said Dr. Aaron Carroll, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media.”
And so here they are, so that you can inform your doctor:
Myth: We use only 10 percent of our brains.
Fact: Physicians and comedians alike, including Jerry Seinfeld, love to cite this one. It’s sometimes erroneously credited to Albert Einstein. But MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas, the new paper points out. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas. The myth probably originated with self-improvement hucksters in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential, Carroll figures. It also doesn’t jibe with the fact that our other organs run at full tilt.
Myth: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
Fact: “There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water,” said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a pediatrics research fellow at the university and co-author of the journal article. Vreeman thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. Over the years, “fluid” turned to water. But fruits and vegetables, plus coffee and other liquids, count.
Myth: Fingernails and hair grow after death.
Fact: Most physicians queried on this one initially thought it was true. Upon further reflection, they realized it’s impossible. Here’s what happens: “As the body’s skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting,” Vreeman said. “The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit.”
Myth: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker.
Fact: A 1928 clinical trial compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster. More recent studies have confirmed that one. Here’s the deal: When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top, Carroll and Vreeman explain. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Hair that’s just emerging can be darker too, because it hasn’t been bleached by the sun.
Myth: Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.
Fact: The researchers found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decreased acuity, which subsides after rest.
Myth: Eating turkey makes you drowsy.
Fact: Even Carroll and Vreeman believed this one until they researched it. The thing is, a chemical in turkey called tryptophan is known to cause drowsiness. But turkey doesn’t contain any more of it than does chicken or beef. This myth is fueled by the fact that turkey is often eaten with a colossal holiday meal, often accompanied by alcohol — both things that will make you sleepy.
Myth: Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals.
Fact: There are no known cases of death related to this one. Cases of less-serious interference with hospital devices seem to be largely anecdotal, the researchers found. In one real study, mobile phones were found to interfere with 4 percent of devices, but only when the phone was within 3 feet of the device. A more recent study, this year, found no interference in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. To the contrary, when doctors use mobile phones, the improved communication means they make fewer mistakes.
“Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true,” said Vreeman said. “But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false.”
Woman placed ad for hitman on craigslist
January 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
An American woman has been arrested after she allegedly tried to hire a hitman to murder her lover’s wife by posting an ad on the popular website craigslist.
Anne Marie, 48, from Grand Rapids, Michigan offered www.craigslist.org users the chance to kill Carol, a 56-year-old woman in California, in a vaguely worded free ad under the category of “Freelance,” according to court documents.
Two women and one man responded to the ad, with at least one applicant believing it to be an offer for freelance writing work. During subsequent emails, Anne Marie divulged that the task was actually a hit.
“Marie informed (one of the people who responded) that she was looking for ’silent assassins’ and she asked him to eradicate a targeted victim,” offered $US5000 ($5679) for the job and provided the address, name, age and occupation of the man’s wife.
“Asked what she meant by ‘eradicate,’ Anne Marie said ‘Duh. Well, to have her killed,” the court documents said.
The woman, who also goes by the name Anne Marie Linscott, was charged with three counts relating to murder for hire and using interstate commerce to commit a felony.
“This complex investigation was initiated in November 2007 and we have been very concerned for the well being of the victim,” said Butte County Sheriff Perry Reniff, according to a statement released by the Sacramento FBI.
The potential victim’s husband “acknowledged meeting Linscott through an on-line college course in 2004 or 2005,” and said “he and Linscott developed a very deep and intimate online relationship,” the FBI statement said.
The pair met for sex on at least two separate occasions in 2005 and 2007, and “have continued to communicate via telephone and email.”
Asked by law enforcement officials how she would feel if her target was murdered by a respondee on craigslist, the suspect “stated she would be scared that law enforcement would track it back to her”, court documents said.
Telco Telstra wins right to fire sex romp girl
January 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Telstra has won the right to sack a young female employee over an alcohol-fuelled after-hours sex romp, reigniting debate about the line between work and private lives.
The Industrial Relations Commission yesterday upheld Telstra’s appeal against an earlier ruling that Carlie Streeter be reinstated and paid compensation for being unjustly sacked following the romp last February.
Ms Streeter is considering appealing to the Federal Court, with her lawyer last night describing the 2-1 decision by a commission full bench as “un-Australian”.
“The client is very aggrieved by the decision,” Ms Streeter’s lawyer, Kelly Durant, told The Australian. “If (it) stands, it really is a serious licence for employers to intrude on the private lives of their employees and it’s very un-Australian.
“What this decision says is employers can control and regulate the private lives of employees, which is completely unfair. At the end of the day, what you do at two o’clock on a Sunday morning is really nothing to do with your employer.”
Telstra released a brief statement last night in which it said it was pleased the full bench had upheld the corporation’s appeal.
Telstra dismissed Ms Streeter last March, claiming she sexually harassed three female colleagues by having sex metres from where they were sleeping on a hotel room floor.
She was accused of sexually harassing another female employee by being naked in the hotel bath with two Telstra male workers. Telstra also claimed she dishonestly answered questions during a subsequent company investigation into the incident.
The incidents occurred in the early hours of February 25 following a belated Christmas party for staff from the Telstra retail outlet at Westfield Shopping Town in Miranda in Sydney’s south. In August last year, commission senior deputy president Jonathon Hamberger ruled that Ms Streeter had been unjustly sacked.
Although the employees were upset by Ms Streeter’s conduct, he found it was not enough to constitute sexual harassment.
Mr Hamberger, a former Howard government employment advocate, ruled the sexual conduct took place in a hotel room with the lights out in the early hours of the morning, when Ms Streeter thought the other employees were asleep. He ordered her to be reinstated and awarded compensation.
But the majority full bench decision upheld that Telstra was justified in sacking Ms Streeter because of her “dishonesty” during the subsequent investigation into her conduct.
Interviewed by Telstra management in February last year, Ms Streeter initially denied engaging in sexual activity, then said she could not really remember and that she might have been affected by alcohol “to the point she could not remember anything”. In subsequent evidence to the commission, Ms Streeter conceded she had sex with a male employee but had previously denied it because she was embarrassed.
Mr Hamberger found that most of Telstra’s concern related to her alleged sexual harassment of employees. He said the conduct about which Ms Streeter “lied” was of an inherently personal nature, and it was not enough to destroy the necessary relationship of trust between an employer and employee.
However, the full bench upheld Telstra’s argument that Mr Hamberger erred in finding that Ms Streeter’s dishonesty did not constitute a valid reason for her dismissal.
Internet group Anonymous declares war on Scientology
January 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
A Notorious group of internet users known as “Anonymous” have taken down a Scientology website after declaring war on the church.
Anonymous, whose membership included hackers, has begun a “third wave” of attacks in the week-old operation dubbed “Project Chanology”.
The group has already flooded Scientology servers, preventing access to at least one of the church’s websites.
Chief executive of the 7safe.com security firm Alan Phillips told Sky News in the UK that the group may have used a denial of service attack to take the Scientology website out of service.
“It would appear, that in this case, they’ve taken down the website by using a denial of service attack, where they basically fire lots and lots of different bits of information into the one place so… no one else can access it,” Mr Phillips said.
A spokesman for the Church of Scientology told NEWS.com.au that the church was not the “right target” for these kinds of attacks.
“These types of people have got some wrong information about us,” the spokesman said.
The group also claimed to have downloaded many of the church’s “secret documents” – which can now be downloaded from popular file-sharing sites.
Anonymous said their actions will not be restricted to their websites, with protests outside Scientology buildings being organized throughout the US.
Earlier today, a message about a possible attack point on the main Scientology website appeared on a Project Chanology webpage.
“We found the direct IP (Internet Protocol address) to www.scientology.org, not protected,” the message said.
Today Anonymous released an updated “Open letter to Scientology”, following its declaration of war last week.
“By now you have certainly become aware of us and our actions,” the statement said.
“We have commenced our assault upon your institution and would like to take this moment to enlighten you.
“We are Anonymous, you might know think of us as merely a hacker group, but we are much more.
“We are the protectors of knowledge, we are the ‘internet hate machine’.”
In a message posted on YouTube earlier this week, the group said it was tired of the methods used by the church to stem criticism of Scientology.
The church is famous for vigorously attacking its critics, often taking legal action against them or attempting to undermine their credibility.
“Anonymous has therefore decided your organization should be destroyed, for the good of your followers, for the good of mankind and for our own enjoyment,” a synthesized voice said in the clip.
“We shall systematically expel you from the internet and proceed to dismantle the Church of Scientology in its current form.”
According to respected technology magazine Wired, Anonymous usually focused on bullying and downloading pirated software and files.
“The group usually amuses itself by stealing passwords to downloading sites and finding ways to harass online communities that its members disdain,” a blog on the website said.
“They were last seen on (Wired security blog) Threat Level when a Los Angeles Fox News affiliate ran a story that hilariously implied the group’s arsenal included exploding vans.”
