Bio-Science at the Crossroads No comment



http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1980978,00.html

Is it time to recognize Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians? No comment



http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1980978,00.html

Speculation on the Life Hereafter Re: # 15

Abee, I have nt missed any point.

Since you have written your first message now, maybe you should look back at the flow of the debate.

And as for schizophrenia, it is a very important disease to understand, particularly in the light of superstitions and the curse that religion has turned ouot to be.

Its Another New Year... What\'s to Celebrate? Re: # 5


Most times, I dont find your innuendoes even worth responding to, but suffice it to remind you of a tamil saying that goes : only ripe mangoes have stones thrown at them.

Right-wingers like you need to be circumscised - both on New Year and repeated at Hindu New Year too! Cheers to whoever `discovered` circumscision.


Happy New Year!

The Impact of Iraq Study Group Report Iraq has gone EXACTLY according to as planned by the neo-cons.

This is being twisted by the judeo-christian media, which is trying to present the situation as `unacceptable` to Bush, and may sacrifice him for the process.

The destruction of the muslim country and destroying its security apparatus making conditions favourable for a law and order break-down thus appeasing Israel and creating an intimidating presence in the Gulf were dreamed off by the neo-cons and supported by the western media.

Speculation on the Life Hereafter Re: # 9

Maybe these links will educate the faithful masses on hallucination and schizophrenia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia


SYMPTOMS AND CLASSIFICATION OF SCHIZOPHRENIA


Criteria (signs and symptoms)
Like many mental illnesses, the diagnosis of schizophrenia is based upon the behavior of the person being assessed. There is a list of criteria that must be met for someone to be so diagnosed. These depend on both the presence and duration of certain signs and symptoms.

The most commonly used criteria for diagnosing schizophrenia are from the American Psychiatric Association`s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the World Health Organization`s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The most recent versions are ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR.

Below is an abbreviated version of the diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV-TR; the full version is available here.

To be diagnosed as having schizophrenia, a person must display:

A) Characteristic symptoms: Two or more of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a one-month period (or less, if successfully treated)
delusions
hallucinations
disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence; speaking in abstracts). See thought disorder.
grossly disorganized behavior (e.g. dressing inappropriately, crying frequently) or catatonic behavior
negative symptoms, i.e., affective flattening (lack or decline in emotional response), alogia (lack or decline in speech), or avolition (lack or decline in motivation).
Note: Only one Criterion A symptom is required if delusions are bizarre or hallucinations consist of hearing one voice participating in a running commentary of the patient`s actions or of hearing two or more voices conversing with each other.
B) Social/occupational dysfunction: For a significant portion of the time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of functioning such as work, interpersonal relations, or self-care, are markedly below the level achieved prior to the onset.
C) Duration: Continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least six months. This six-month period must include at least one month of symptoms (or less, if successfully treated) that meet Criterion A.
Additional criteria (D, E and F) are also given that exclude a diagnosis of schizophrenia if symptoms of mood disorder or pervasive developmental disorder are present. Additionally a diagnosis of schizophrenia is excluded if the symptoms are the direct result of a substance (e.g., abuse of a drug, medication) or a general medical condition.


Subtypes
Historically, schizophrenia in the West was classified into simple, catatonic, hebephrenic, and paranoid. The DSM now contains five sub-classifications of schizophrenia, the ICD-10 identifies 7:

(295.2/F20.2) catatonic type (where marked absences or peculiarities of movement are present),
(295.1/F20.1) disorganized type (where thought disorder and flat affect are present together),
(295.3/F20.0) paranoid type (where delusions and hallucinations are present but thought disorder, disorganized behavior, and affective flattening is absent),
(295.6/F20.5) residual type (where positive symptoms are present at a low intensity only) and
(295.9/F20.3) undifferentiated type (psychotic symptoms are present but the criteria for paranoid, disorganized, or catatonic types has not been met).


... studies examining the diagnosis of schizophrenia have typically shown relatively low or inconsistent levels of diagnostic reliability. Most famously, David Rosenhan`s 1972 study, published as On being sane in insane places, demonstrated that the diagnosis of schizophrenia was (at least at the time) often subjective and unreliable. More recent studies have found agreement between any two psychiatrists when diagnosing schizophrenia tends to reach about 65% at best.

Save our Children from Mental Abuse A true scholar of his times ( and the future ) : J. K.



http://tchl.freeweb.hu/

Bio-Science at the Crossroads #28, hmm...interesting indeed. Consider the possibility that the lack of faith is THE reason for a population without tensions?

Its Another New Year... What\'s to Celebrate? Jesus Christs circumcision!

Haha! Pass me another drink!

Speculation on the Life Hereafter # 7, ntsyed, of COURSE GOD created him and placed him there in the womb.

How silly if someone suggested anything else?

Save our Children from Mental Abuse Religion DEPENDS on brainwashing children for survival.

Give me a child less than 12 years, and I ll make him believe in any god or religion you want me to. From private missionary schools to public `secular` schools, this is the principle applied by religious fans.

From the survey done by the Times of India people with TNS,

Three fourths of Indians are strong believers; 72 per cent of those in their twenties strongly believe in god .

92 % in the north had expressed their belief in God, the figure slipped to 86% in South.

Children are the most influencible and that is why most religious target children to ingrain their blind beliefs, which become hard to erase later in life.

Seeing the direct and indirect religious conflicts around the world, should nt there be a minimum age enforced urgently, say 16, after which children can be exposed to this ``opium`` of the masses?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1978045,00.html


A very timely article, considering the recent exponential growth of superstition and religion.

Speculation on the Life Hereafter You die - you become part of the soil.

Unless of course, you are an undiagnosed schizophrenic with a mass appeal.

Bio-Science at the Crossroads The world is nt all senseless! Some good news!!



http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1978045,00.html

Bio-Science at the Crossroads If religion were just a private club for loonies and the misguided and those being taken advantage of, carrying on its practices behind closed doors with its incense and its candles and its dressing up and its peculiar rituals and its collections, that would be okay, more or less.

But it isn`t just a private club. It has taken custody of ``good``. Religion claims the right to determine what is good, and what is bad/evil, and it appropriates unto itself the right to tell the rest of us what to think and how to think on various subjects, and what `being bad` is.

We are put in this club or that (Muslim, Christian, Protestant, Church of the Yellow Rabbit) before we can think for ourselves. There, often, we tend to stay, even once we can think for ourselves. The music may be rather nice. The social gatherings may be rather nice. What being religious (and therefore righteous?) says about us may be rather nice. Too nice to leave, whatever we believe.

If religion can`t say, hand on heart, ``this is definitely what a god thinks, he told us so``, then they should shut up and stop making it up.

The problem with debates on religion is that they turn into an ``us-versus-them`` affair with all secularists branded as unreconstructed atheists and enemies of the faith, and all believers as irrational and fanatical.

Will the world ever manage to get rid of religion? Probably not. We are stuck with it.
I am always shocked when those who consider themselves to be `intelligent` (I am thinking of Bush and Blair, among others) continue to believe that their lives are controlled by a man who lives in the sky.

If an alien landed from another planet and was told `I have never seen God, I just know he`s there, and he can see what everyone is doing at the same time, and I go into a building and sing songs to Him..` they would faint with incredulity.

Not to mention `when I am dead, I will carry on living, if I behave myself now`...

Unfortunately people who believe this sort of stuff have the ear and maybe heart (if not brain) of the world`s only remaining super-power. Christianity doesn`t have the monopoly on religious bigots. Religion and its obsession with genitalia may be mildly amusing at first glance....but sadly I don`t think it`s harmless and I don`t think it`s going away.

Invasion of Iraq-II Who are close to Bush?

Even his father has made it clear that he is not responsible for his son`s actions!

US President George W Bush is battling criticism over Iraq and many other issues but now it is his father who says that he is not responsible for his table manners. During a chance encounter with Manmohan Singh in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel here last night, Bush Sr. asked the Indian Prime Minister how he was getting on with his son. ``I said very well,`` Singh told reporters onboard his flight to Delhi today. But the former US President said something more which Singh did not reveal. ``If you do not like his table manners don`t blame me,`` Bush joked and pointing to his wife Barbara said, ``blame her!``


http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/003200612161921.htm

Invasion of Iraq-II It is wrong to assume that the media have stopped all propaganda since the Iraq war. It has nt.

While WMDs are media history, it is now about : `how wrong the war went` and `how sorry the western powers really are` = when in fact, the war has gone EXACTLY as planned by the neo-cons ( break up Iraq, leave it open to anarchy and sectarian violence among muslim fanatic groups by dismantling the security apparatus, while indirectly weakening Iran and appeasing Israel, and maybe enrich Bushs companies ).

The projection of Donald Rumsfeld as the star neo con by the judeo-christian media, when in fact Bushs views are the ones that actually matter - the king con - is another example.

The underreported death toll and news about the `secret` CIA jails are some more.

The ongoing unrelenting anti-muslim fanaticism hype by the judeo-christian media can only help the likes of Bush - the king of the cons.