The Null Device

A court was told that a 25-year-old Sydney woman with a history of mental illness, who stands accused of murdering her parents, tried to get medication to treat her illness, but her parents objected because their Scientologist beliefs prohibited psychiatric drugs. Unfortunately, the young woman's thetans got the better of her.

A psychiatric report tendered to Bankstown Local Court yesterday said the 25-year-old woman accused of murdering her father and sister in Revesby last Thursday had tried to get help twice last year, but her Scientologist parents had a religious objection to psychiatric intervention.

Mr Brooks went on to argue that modern psychiatry used many methods that were largely "unproven" and such psychiatric assumptions - such as chemical imbalances in the brain - simply did not exist.

What is safe to say that, if they find a gene responsible for Scientology, its incidence in the gene pool is slightly less frequent now.

¶ australia clams crime darwin mental illness psychoceramics religion scientology 2

What mobile-phone-related juvenile-delinquency fad could come after "happy slapping"? How about train-dodging, where kids use their camera phones to film themselves playing chicken with trains, and proving how hardc0re they are by staying on the track until the last possible minute, and then post the videos to dedicated train-dodging web sites. Of course, the hardest of the hardcore are the ones who don't jump out of the way like a big girl's blouse, instead choosing to become track chutney (and, rumour has it, extra-valuable video files for trading). Which seems even more Darwinian than the old-sk00l craze of train-surfing.

(And then, one imagines, there are probably those who combine train-dodging with gricing, filming themselves jumping out of the path of trains in the nude.)

(via districtdriver) ¶ darwin railway stupidity train-dodging 2

A new range of stickers for believers in evolution and the scientific method wishing to take the fight to the streets:

¶ darwin evolution stickers 3

For your amusement, this charming photo-essay titled "Why Women Live Longer Than Men", and giving eight scenes which, had it not been for luck, could have been Darwin Award material. (via darwin, of course)

¶ amusing darwin photos stupidity 0

Loud music can do more than damage your hearing; it can make your lungs collapse:

One man was driving when he experienced a pneumothorax, characterised by breathlessness and chest pain. Doctors linked it to a 1,000 watt "bass box" fitted to his car to boost the power of his stereo.

It is thought the intense pulses of low-frequency, high-energy sound causes the lung to rupture because air and tissue respond differently to sound. The usual risk factors for collapsed lungs are smoking, illness that has weakened the patient, chronic obstructive lung disease or use of drugs that depress alertness or consciousness, such as sedatives, barbiturates, tranquilizers, or alcohol.

(via darwin)

¶ darwin health music stupidity 2

Recently, a few women decided to attend a 5,000-person LAN gaming party in Norway. When the geek boys at the party saw that there were actual chyxx attending, they decided to make the most of the unprecedented opportunity, by getting a camera and filming close-ups of their breasts and buttocks, apparently even following them into the showers, and, of course, ending up with a girl-free LAN party. Here's to terminal social ineptness. (via bOING bOING)

(The people who, upon seeing real live girls, decided to make a spontaneous LAN-party-tits'n'ass video (and I'll say that again: " LAN party tits'n'ass video"; that really speaks for itself) are probably the same types who complain on Slashdot about how they're so sexually frustrated because there are no girls around who are into Linux/Quake/Star Wars fandom and will admit it. Though, when you think about it, perhaps we're witnessing evolution in action?)

¶ darwin geek stupidity 0

A new Ku Klux Klan recruit has been critically wounded when a bullet fired into the air fell on his head, penetrating his skull. Champagne comedy, folks...

About 10 people, including two children, had gathered for the ceremony. The man who was being initiated was blindfolded, tied with a noose to a tree and shot with paintball guns as Freeman fired a pistol in the air to provide the sound of real gunfire, Sheriff Fred Phillips said.

Freeman fled the ceremony but was arrested near his home, authorities said. He was released on $7,500 bail.

Ah, those Klansmen. Every bit as brave as they are smart.

¶ darwin ku klux klan stupidity 3

Remember those nice, idealistic young people who went to Iraq to be "human shields" (or "war tourists" as Salam so incisively called them) to protect the peace-loving Iraqi state from Yanqui imperialist aggression, and get put up in 5-star luxury for their trouble? Well, most of them just turned tail and fled when they realised that the Iraqi government wasn't so nice and was going to station them near military facilities rather than hospitals full of big-eyed orphans and such. Still, one could argue that they've managed to scam a holiday for free and get away with their lives; meanwhile, two have elected to stay behind, perhaps in the hope of winning a Darwin Award.)

(Perhaps they should send the local Spartacists/lunatic-fringe Marx/Maoists to replace them? They'd get a chance to selflessly protect the people's liberation government of Iraq from the capitalist imperialist running-dog aggressors, and the places they came from would get a bit more chlorine in their gene pools.)

¶ darwin human shields stupidity war tourists 1

"watcht this bitch!" 21-year-old IRC user overdoses online, taking lots of drugs in front of his webcam, while his friends on IRC cheered him on. Suicide or just stupidity? (via MeFi)

¶ darwin irc stupidity suicide webcam 4

The amazing story of childhood prodigy David Hahn, who built a nuclear reactor in his garden shed at age 15.

Of his exposure to radioactivity he says, "I don't believe I took more than five years off my life."

(via Slashdot)

¶ darwin diy hacks nuclear power 0

If professional wrestling is fake, what about amateur wrestling? The latest trend among bored teenage boys in the US is amateur pro wrestling, done in suburban backyards by outfits with names like Xtreme Championship Wrestling, and imitating the carefully choreographed moves of pro wrestling. Not surprisingly, many of the participants end up injured. (via Leviathan)

¶ darwin machismo redneck stupidity testosterone wrestling 0