Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department. Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months. The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care. Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments. A key part of the new data shows the suicide rate is lower for veterans aged 18 to 29 who are using VA health care services than those who are not. That leads VA officials to believe that about 250 lives have been saved each year as a result of VA treatment. VA’s suicide hotline has been receiving about 10,000 […]
NEW YORK — The big white pill was brought to her in an earthenware chalice. She’d already held hands with her two therapists and expressed her wishes for what it would help her do. She swallowed it, lay on the couch with her eyes covered, and waited. And then it came. ‘The world was made up of jewels and I was in a dome,’ she recalled. Surrounded by brilliant, kaleidoscopic colors, she saw the dome open up to admit ‘this most incredible luminescence that made everything even more beautiful.’ Tears trickled down her face as she saw ‘how beautiful the world could actually be.’ That’s how Nicky Edlich, 67, began her first-ever trip on a psychedelic drug last year. She says it has greatly helped her psychotherapeutic treatment for anxiety from her advanced ovarian cancer. And for researchers, it was another small step toward showing that hallucinogenic drugs, famous but condemned in the 1960s, can one day help doctors treat conditions like cancer anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. The New York University study Edlich participated in is among a handful now going on in the United States and elsewhere with drugs like LSD, […]
Some months ago an American philosopher explained to a highly sophisticated audience in Britain what, in his opinion, was wrong, indeed fatally wrong, with the standard neo-Darwinian theory of biological evolution. He made it crystal clear that his criticism was not inspired by creationism, intelligent design or any remotely religious motivation. A senior gentleman in the audience erupted, in indignation: ‘You should not say such things, you should not write such things! The creationists will treasure them and use them against science.’ The lecturer politely asked: ‘Even if they are true?’ To which the instant and vibrant retort was: ‘Especially if they are true!’ with emphasis on the ‘especially.’ This stunning exchange exemplifies the religious fervour with which some scholars and laypersons adhere to the Darwinian doctrine. It’s a secular religion, for sure, an atheistic banner under which the white knights of scientific rationality rally in their fight against the forces of darkness. There are countless manifestations of this unwholesome religious Darwinian fervour, more than can be listed here. It happened more than once to my co-author, Jerry Fodor, and myself, as we put the finishing touches to an essay entitled ‘What Darwin Got Wrong’ (now just published by […]
A deadly, airborne new strain of fungus has emerged in Oregon. It has killed nearly one out of four known affected people so far and might also attack animals ranging from dogs to dolphins. And it is likely to spread, researchers now warn. The new strain known as VGIIc of the fungus Cryptococcus gattii not only targets humans but has also proven capable of infecting dogs, cats, alpacas, sheep and elk. Other strains have even infected porpoises. Although it can spread to mammals, it does not jump from animal to animal. Instead, people and other animals get it from inhaling spores released by samples of the fungus that infect trees. ‘It’s in the environment, and we’re exposed to the environment,’ researcher Edmond Byrnes III of Duke University Medical Center told LiveScience. ‘And the environmental range of this has been expanding.’ California next? While scientists aren’t sure how the highly infectious or virulent fungus emerged in Oregon, they caution the new strain now looks set to expand to California and other neighboring areas. ‘This novel fungus is worrisome because it appears to be a threat to otherwise healthy people,’ Byrnes said. ‘Typically, we more often […]
It might not even be safe to call them bastards. ‘After receiving a ‘warning’ from a radical Islamic Web site following their Prophet Muhammed parody on ‘South Park’ last week, Trey Parker and Matt Stone aren’t taking any chances,’ the New York Daily News reports. ‘On Wednesday’s episode, the prophet was referred to only with a ‘bleep’ sound and his image was blocked out with the word ‘censored,” the paper notes. At the South Park Studios website, a message was posted that notes, ‘After we delivered the show, and prior to broadcast, Comedy Central placed numerous additional audio bleeps throughout the episode. We do not have network approval to stream our original version of the show.’ The New York Times adds, ‘On Thursday morning, a spokesman for Comedy Central confirmed that the network had added more bleeps to the episode than were in the cut delivered by South Park Studios, and that it was not giving permission for the episode to run on the studio’s Web site.’ The New York-based Revolution Muslim group on Wednesday issued a ‘call to protest,’ after long-running cable television show ‘South Park’ portrayed the Prophet wearing a bear costume, CNN […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
