By JESSICA GUYNN
San Francisco Chronicle
June 25, 2006
The 19th-century steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who late in life reshaped his legacy from predatory businessman to renowned philanthropist, famously said: "He who dies rich dies thus disgraced."
Like Carnegie, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates wants to be remembered not just for how ruthlessly he made his fortune, but for how he gave it away.
The world's richest man recently announced that in 2008 he will step back from day-to-day oversight of the company he founded with Paul Allen to focus his attention on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged to spend billions of dollars on health, education and overcoming poverty.
Gates' decision has led to speculation that he could influence other self-made philanthropists to step up their efforts in Silicon Valley.
"He's setting the standard for what wealthy entrepreneurs in this generation ought to be doing," said Kathleen Gwynn, chief executive officer of the Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation in San Jose, Calif. "He has the financial capacity, the intellect and the drive to make a real difference. He could be the Carnegie of our generation."
In Silicon Valley, David Packard and William Hewlett pioneered a philanthropic tradition emulated by everyone from Intel founder Gordon Moore to entrepreneur Steven Kirsch to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. But the region was dubbed "Stingy Valley" after a 1998 study showed that a quarter of households with incomes in excess of $100,000 gave $500 or less a year to charity.
In recent years, tech-boom beneficiaries have become tech-boom benefactors in greater numbers, helping Silicon Valley shed its tightwad image.
"This is one of the areas where there are new ventures in philanthropy and new directions in philanthropy," said Paul Schervish, director of the Center for Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College.
Schervish predicts Gates will become a prototype for the wealthy who, when faced with limitless quantity of choices, may begin to consider the quality of their choices.
"It's a fulfillment of a deeper purpose and something he will find bigger happiness in," Schervish said.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Buffett to give $54b to charity
June 26, 2006
Warren Buffett ... plans to become a trustee of the Gates Foundation.
Photo: Rocco Fazzari
Warren Buffett, the world's second richest man, plans to give away 85 per cent of his fortune to charities, including one run by Bill Gates, the wealthiest man on the planet, Fortune magazine reported today.
Buffett, 75, pledged in an interview with Fortune to give away 85 per cent of his stock - worth more than $54 billion - in his Berkshire Hathaway investment firm, starting in July.
"I know what I want to do," he was quoted as saying, "and it makes sense to get going."
The shares will go to five foundations. More than 80 per cent will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which already has a kitty of nearly $41 billion used to pay for medical research and give educational grants.
Buffett and the Gates are close friends. According to Fortune, Buffett plans to eventually become a trustee of the Gates foundation.
Fortune magazine estimated earlier this year that Buffett has a fortune of about $60 billion. Gates has about $68 billion.
AFP
Friday, June 16, 2006
Art ?
Empty plinth sidelines sculpture
BBC
Photo: The original sculpture Above and the plinth (below) now on display.
An artist's sculpture has been rejected by the Royal Academy of Arts which has instead opted to display the wooden support it was put on.
David Hensel, 64, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, was told the laughing head would be part of the summer exhibition.
But at a preview he found that just a piece of wood intended to support the head was on display on the plinth.
The Academy said the judging panel assumed the two pieces were separate and decided the support was better.
Final decision
Mr Hensel assumed staff had accidentally left the sculpture in the basement where it was being stored.
In a statement, the Academy said Mr Hensel's work, One Day Closer To Paradise, was submitted as two separate pieces.
"Given their separate submission, the two parts were judged independently.
"It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way that the artist might have intended."
It said the head had been safely stored ready to be collected by the artist.
The co-ordinators of the exhibition in Piccadilly, central London, have been called in to make a final decision over whether the head should be returned to its rightful place.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Drink-spike victims had one too many
Liz Porter
The Age
June 4, 2006
MANY young women who believed they were victims of drink spiking had instead drunk dangerously high levels of alcohol and had no date rape drugs in their system, ground-breaking research has shown.
Victims were more than five or six times over the .05 legal limit for driving in 37 per cent of cases. The alarming findings have prompted police and forensic doctors to call for campaigns to highlight the dangers of binge drinking to young women rather than the risks of drink-spiking.
The manager of Victoria Police's drug and alcohol strategy unit, Inspector Steve James, said the results confirmed his view that the incidence of drink-spiking had been exaggerated.
"Alcohol, in the majority of cases, is the problem. We have been saying this for years," he said.
Doctors at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine carried out a study of alcohol and drink-spiking — the first of its kind in Australia. They discovered that even though the average delay between the assault and a blood test was 11 hours, the average blood alcohol concentration in 37 per cent of the victims was between .22 and .33 at the time of the assault.
The doctors examined the files of 434 adult victims of sexual assault reported to Victoria Police between April 2002 and April 2003, identifying 76 as cases of suspected drink-spiking or "drug-facilitated sexual assault". But researchers found "unexpected" drugs in only 15 victims or 20 per cent of cases.
Moreover 13 of the 15 had also knowingly taken a range of other "psychoactive" drugs, including antidepressants and party drugs. No evidence was found of GHB or Rohypnol, two well-known "date rape" drugs.
Ninety-five per cent of victims in the survey were female, and the average age was 25.
VIFM staff forensic physician Angela Williams said the study was an attempt to find the truth about the much-publicised connection between drink-spiking and sexual assault.
Dr Williams said alcohol was the main risk to personal safety and that previous high-profile campaigns warning about the dangers of drink-spiking were tackling only a tiny area of the dangers faced by young women.
"When you teach young girls to cover their drinks and buy pretty straws or credit card-sized drink testers over the internet, you give the wrong message. It is less likely that there is an evil drink spiker lurking around ready to pop pills in your drink.
"Somebody wishing to offend looks for someone in a vulnerable situation. Having a lot of drinks and drugs on board, recreational or prescription, means you are less able to resist."
Helen Makregiorgos, manager of Centres Against Sexual Assault House, said it was impossible to generalise from the survey results because it drew on only the small proportion of victims of sexual assault who reported to police.
The Age
June 4, 2006
MANY young women who believed they were victims of drink spiking had instead drunk dangerously high levels of alcohol and had no date rape drugs in their system, ground-breaking research has shown.
Victims were more than five or six times over the .05 legal limit for driving in 37 per cent of cases. The alarming findings have prompted police and forensic doctors to call for campaigns to highlight the dangers of binge drinking to young women rather than the risks of drink-spiking.
The manager of Victoria Police's drug and alcohol strategy unit, Inspector Steve James, said the results confirmed his view that the incidence of drink-spiking had been exaggerated.
"Alcohol, in the majority of cases, is the problem. We have been saying this for years," he said.
Doctors at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine carried out a study of alcohol and drink-spiking — the first of its kind in Australia. They discovered that even though the average delay between the assault and a blood test was 11 hours, the average blood alcohol concentration in 37 per cent of the victims was between .22 and .33 at the time of the assault.
The doctors examined the files of 434 adult victims of sexual assault reported to Victoria Police between April 2002 and April 2003, identifying 76 as cases of suspected drink-spiking or "drug-facilitated sexual assault". But researchers found "unexpected" drugs in only 15 victims or 20 per cent of cases.
Moreover 13 of the 15 had also knowingly taken a range of other "psychoactive" drugs, including antidepressants and party drugs. No evidence was found of GHB or Rohypnol, two well-known "date rape" drugs.
Ninety-five per cent of victims in the survey were female, and the average age was 25.
VIFM staff forensic physician Angela Williams said the study was an attempt to find the truth about the much-publicised connection between drink-spiking and sexual assault.
Dr Williams said alcohol was the main risk to personal safety and that previous high-profile campaigns warning about the dangers of drink-spiking were tackling only a tiny area of the dangers faced by young women.
"When you teach young girls to cover their drinks and buy pretty straws or credit card-sized drink testers over the internet, you give the wrong message. It is less likely that there is an evil drink spiker lurking around ready to pop pills in your drink.
"Somebody wishing to offend looks for someone in a vulnerable situation. Having a lot of drinks and drugs on board, recreational or prescription, means you are less able to resist."
Helen Makregiorgos, manager of Centres Against Sexual Assault House, said it was impossible to generalise from the survey results because it drew on only the small proportion of victims of sexual assault who reported to police.
Helium balloon kills two uni students
Two students found dead inside balloon
SMH
June 5, 2006
Two university students were found dead inside a large, deflated helium balloon after apparently pulling it down and crawling inside it, officials said.
The deaths of Jason Ackerman and Sara Rydman, both 21, appear to be accidental, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Major Bob Schrader said.
Their bodies were found yesterday partially inside a deflated helium balloon at the entrance of a condominium complex a few kilometres north of Tampa. The 2.4-metre-diameter balloon was used to advertise the complex.
"It was more a fun thing they thought they were doing," said Linda Rydman, whose daughter was found dead. "You know how you blow up the balloon and suck the helium."
The county medical examiner said today the cause of death will not be released until toxicology tests are completed.
Inhaling helium can quickly lead to brain damage and death from lack of oxygen, according to the Compressed Gas Association, which develops safety standards in the gas industry.
AP
SMH
June 5, 2006
Two university students were found dead inside a large, deflated helium balloon after apparently pulling it down and crawling inside it, officials said.
The deaths of Jason Ackerman and Sara Rydman, both 21, appear to be accidental, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Major Bob Schrader said.
Their bodies were found yesterday partially inside a deflated helium balloon at the entrance of a condominium complex a few kilometres north of Tampa. The 2.4-metre-diameter balloon was used to advertise the complex.
"It was more a fun thing they thought they were doing," said Linda Rydman, whose daughter was found dead. "You know how you blow up the balloon and suck the helium."
The county medical examiner said today the cause of death will not be released until toxicology tests are completed.
Inhaling helium can quickly lead to brain damage and death from lack of oxygen, according to the Compressed Gas Association, which develops safety standards in the gas industry.
AP
Grateful Dead keyboardist dead
SMH
June 5, 2006
Vince Welnick, the Grateful Dead's last keyboard player.
Photo: Jon C. Hancock/Acoustic Images
Vince Welnick, who took over as the Grateful Dead's keyboard player in 1990 after a succession of predecessors met untimely deaths, has died at the age of 55, according to an announcement on his website.
"Vince passed from this earth on June 2, 2006 ... after a decade of battling tragedy while creating beauty and light around him," the announcement said. It did not give a cause of death.
The San Jose Mercury News said he died in a hospital yesterday after being taken from his home in Forestville, California, and it quoted a person at his home as saying: "It looks like he took his own life."
Welnick had previously spoken of a deep depression after Jerry Garcia, founding guitarist of the iconic psychedelic rock band, died in 1995 and the group disbanded.
Welnick is the fourth keyboard player for the band to have died, and his website referred to the position as a "particularly doomed spot."
He once told an interviewer, "A lot of people ask about that and my stock answer is that I am aware of the fact that you could die doing this job, but I was somewhat dying of boredom before the job came up so I thought I'd take my chances."
Originally a member of the 1970s rock band The Tubes, Welnick joined the Grateful Dead after longest-serving keyboard player Brent Mydland died in 1990 of a drug overdose.
Previously, pianist Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in 1980, a year after he left the band, and founding vocalist and keyboard player Ron "Pigpen" McKernan died in 1973 of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.
After the Grateful Dead broke up and ended its 30-year run as one of America's biggest touring acts, Welnick formed his own group, Missing Man Formation. He also toured with other groups, including Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's band.
He did not take part in various reunions of the Dead's other surviving members.
"His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heartfelt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share," the band said in a statement.
In an extension of the band's "curse of the keyboard player", Scott Larned, cofounder and keyboard player for the nationally-touring Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra, died last year of a heart attack.
- Reuters
June 5, 2006
Vince Welnick, the Grateful Dead's last keyboard player.
Photo: Jon C. Hancock/Acoustic Images
Vince Welnick, who took over as the Grateful Dead's keyboard player in 1990 after a succession of predecessors met untimely deaths, has died at the age of 55, according to an announcement on his website.
"Vince passed from this earth on June 2, 2006 ... after a decade of battling tragedy while creating beauty and light around him," the announcement said. It did not give a cause of death.
The San Jose Mercury News said he died in a hospital yesterday after being taken from his home in Forestville, California, and it quoted a person at his home as saying: "It looks like he took his own life."
Welnick had previously spoken of a deep depression after Jerry Garcia, founding guitarist of the iconic psychedelic rock band, died in 1995 and the group disbanded.
Welnick is the fourth keyboard player for the band to have died, and his website referred to the position as a "particularly doomed spot."
He once told an interviewer, "A lot of people ask about that and my stock answer is that I am aware of the fact that you could die doing this job, but I was somewhat dying of boredom before the job came up so I thought I'd take my chances."
Originally a member of the 1970s rock band The Tubes, Welnick joined the Grateful Dead after longest-serving keyboard player Brent Mydland died in 1990 of a drug overdose.
Previously, pianist Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in 1980, a year after he left the band, and founding vocalist and keyboard player Ron "Pigpen" McKernan died in 1973 of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.
After the Grateful Dead broke up and ended its 30-year run as one of America's biggest touring acts, Welnick formed his own group, Missing Man Formation. He also toured with other groups, including Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's band.
He did not take part in various reunions of the Dead's other surviving members.
"His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heartfelt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share," the band said in a statement.
In an extension of the band's "curse of the keyboard player", Scott Larned, cofounder and keyboard player for the nationally-touring Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra, died last year of a heart attack.
- Reuters
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Share a drink between friends
Inhabitants of the Kamchitka Peninsula, in Northeastern Siberia, traditionally drank the urine of individuals who had ingested the psychedelic mushroom amanita muscaria.
It is believed to be the only hallucinogenic substance that does not alter it's chemical structure upon being passed through the human body.
Only well-to-do individuals could afford to purchase and consume the potent fungus. But they generously shared the prized intoxicant with poorer friends and relations by letting them drink bowls of their drug-laced urine.
These individuals then shared their urine, and so on, and so on -- ensuring that everyone shared in the high.
The intoxicant would also drink his own urine, thus keeping his high going for a few days at a time, without any additional expense.
World's biggest meteor crater
How Australia was born
Frank Walker
June 4, 2006
SCIENTISTS believe they have finally solved one of Earth's greatest mysteries: what caused the great extinction of life hundreds of millions of years ago.
The answer was revealed yesterday when an American team announced it had discovered the world's biggest meteor crater almost two kilometres under the ice in Antarctica.
They say a meteor almost 50 kilometres wide caused a 500-kilometre-wide crater deep under the Wilkes Land region of Antarctica, directly south of Australia.
The massive explosion from the impact probably created the continent of Australia, forcing it to break away from the existing land mass.
The incredible discovery caused huge excitement among Australian scientists last night. It could be the missing link in the geological formation of the continents. It would also answer why life on Earth was almost completely wiped out hundreds of millions of years ago.
The meteor the size of Sydney struck 250 million years ago and must have been the biggest explosion ever seen on the planet, far bigger than the 10-kilometre-wide meteor which hit east of Mexico 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs.
Ohio State University scientists who found the crater said the massive Antarctic crater could explain the global extinction in the Permian-Triassic period when all animal life on Earth died out, clearing the way for the dinosaurs.
The massive impact probably broke up the ancient continent of Gondwanaland, pushing Australia out on its long drift north to its current position. The landmass that became India shot off first, while Africa and South America broke off later.
"This Wilkes Land impact is much bigger than the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and probably would have caused catastrophic damage at the time," said Ralph von Frese, professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University.
Professor von Frese and Laramie Potts, a postdoctoral researcher in geological sciences, led the team of Ohio University, NASA, Russian and Korean scientists that discovered the crater.
They reported their preliminary results yesterday to the American Geophysical Union joint assembly meeting at Baltimore.
The scientists used gravity fluctuations measured by satellites to peer beneath Antarctica's icy surface, and found a 321-kilometre-wide plug of mantle material - a "mascon" in geological parlance - that had risen up into the Earth's crust.
Mascons are the planetary equivalent of a bump on the head. They form where large objects slam into a planet's surface. When the scientists overlaid their gravity image with airborne radar images of the ground beneath the ice, they found the mascon perfectly centred inside a circular ridge 482 kilometres wide.
"Based on what we know about the geologic history of the region, this Wilkes Land mascon formed recently by geologic standards - probably about 250 million years ago," Professor von Frese said.
Professor Michael Archer, dean of the Faculty of Science at University of NSW, said the crater could prove to be the missing link science has been waiting for.
"A meteor that size would have punctured right through the crust of the Earth and caused enormous damage to the planet," he said.
In that period 95 per cent of life on Earth was destroyed, he said.
"It's possible this is the missing key to what caused it."
Frank Walker
June 4, 2006
SCIENTISTS believe they have finally solved one of Earth's greatest mysteries: what caused the great extinction of life hundreds of millions of years ago.
The answer was revealed yesterday when an American team announced it had discovered the world's biggest meteor crater almost two kilometres under the ice in Antarctica.
They say a meteor almost 50 kilometres wide caused a 500-kilometre-wide crater deep under the Wilkes Land region of Antarctica, directly south of Australia.
The massive explosion from the impact probably created the continent of Australia, forcing it to break away from the existing land mass.
The incredible discovery caused huge excitement among Australian scientists last night. It could be the missing link in the geological formation of the continents. It would also answer why life on Earth was almost completely wiped out hundreds of millions of years ago.
The meteor the size of Sydney struck 250 million years ago and must have been the biggest explosion ever seen on the planet, far bigger than the 10-kilometre-wide meteor which hit east of Mexico 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs.
Ohio State University scientists who found the crater said the massive Antarctic crater could explain the global extinction in the Permian-Triassic period when all animal life on Earth died out, clearing the way for the dinosaurs.
The massive impact probably broke up the ancient continent of Gondwanaland, pushing Australia out on its long drift north to its current position. The landmass that became India shot off first, while Africa and South America broke off later.
"This Wilkes Land impact is much bigger than the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and probably would have caused catastrophic damage at the time," said Ralph von Frese, professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University.
Professor von Frese and Laramie Potts, a postdoctoral researcher in geological sciences, led the team of Ohio University, NASA, Russian and Korean scientists that discovered the crater.
They reported their preliminary results yesterday to the American Geophysical Union joint assembly meeting at Baltimore.
The scientists used gravity fluctuations measured by satellites to peer beneath Antarctica's icy surface, and found a 321-kilometre-wide plug of mantle material - a "mascon" in geological parlance - that had risen up into the Earth's crust.
Mascons are the planetary equivalent of a bump on the head. They form where large objects slam into a planet's surface. When the scientists overlaid their gravity image with airborne radar images of the ground beneath the ice, they found the mascon perfectly centred inside a circular ridge 482 kilometres wide.
"Based on what we know about the geologic history of the region, this Wilkes Land mascon formed recently by geologic standards - probably about 250 million years ago," Professor von Frese said.
Professor Michael Archer, dean of the Faculty of Science at University of NSW, said the crater could prove to be the missing link science has been waiting for.
"A meteor that size would have punctured right through the crust of the Earth and caused enormous damage to the planet," he said.
In that period 95 per cent of life on Earth was destroyed, he said.
"It's possible this is the missing key to what caused it."
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Wet baby in tumble dryer : man charged
SMH
May 30, 2006
A 13-month-old baby suffered horrific burns when she was put in a clothes dryer, police say.
The baby was left with her mother's boyfriend at a home in the Perth suburb of Warwick while the woman went to a gym for about an hour last Thursday, police said.
Police were told the baby had spilt liquid on herself and the man put her in the clothes dryer and turned it on.
"The person we allege has done the act has stated that he has put the child into a clothes tumble dryer, closed the door and turned it on for a couple of minutes,'' Senior Detective Deb Newman said.
"The child had burns to both feet, to one of her hands, burns and bruising to her back and bruising to her forehead,'' she said.
"The injuries are horrific. In my years of being a police officer I have not seen or heard of this type of injury before.''
The mother returned home to find her daughter suffering serious burns but her boyfriend did not mention the dryer, she said.
Police investigated after the hospital where the baby was treated informed them the child's injuries were suspicious and highly unusual.
Snr Det Newman said the mother was distraught but the toddler should make a full recovery and be released from the burns unit at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children later this week.
Samuel Marc Barnes Siddall, 21, of suburban Beldon, appeared in Perth Magistrates' Court today charged with causing bodily harm or danger.
He was granted bail on condition that he did not approach, or contact, the mother and child.
He is due to appear in the Joondalup Magistrates' Court at a date to be set next month.
AAP
May 30, 2006
A 13-month-old baby suffered horrific burns when she was put in a clothes dryer, police say.
The baby was left with her mother's boyfriend at a home in the Perth suburb of Warwick while the woman went to a gym for about an hour last Thursday, police said.
Police were told the baby had spilt liquid on herself and the man put her in the clothes dryer and turned it on.
"The person we allege has done the act has stated that he has put the child into a clothes tumble dryer, closed the door and turned it on for a couple of minutes,'' Senior Detective Deb Newman said.
"The child had burns to both feet, to one of her hands, burns and bruising to her back and bruising to her forehead,'' she said.
"The injuries are horrific. In my years of being a police officer I have not seen or heard of this type of injury before.''
The mother returned home to find her daughter suffering serious burns but her boyfriend did not mention the dryer, she said.
Police investigated after the hospital where the baby was treated informed them the child's injuries were suspicious and highly unusual.
Snr Det Newman said the mother was distraught but the toddler should make a full recovery and be released from the burns unit at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children later this week.
Samuel Marc Barnes Siddall, 21, of suburban Beldon, appeared in Perth Magistrates' Court today charged with causing bodily harm or danger.
He was granted bail on condition that he did not approach, or contact, the mother and child.
He is due to appear in the Joondalup Magistrates' Court at a date to be set next month.
AAP
Thursday, May 25, 2006
From the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
Many of you may have read the story this morning regarding ecstasy deaths, reported in the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun.
The opening paragraph claims the following: The party drug ecstasy is killing more than one person every fortnight nationwide, with almost a third of deaths occurring in car crashes.
As is often the case the story is not entirely accurate, so I would like to give you a little more information.
Unfortunately the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) mortality register does not distinguish between ecstasy and other amphetamine type substances (ATS) related deaths. However, the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) does make this distinction, however these data are quite limited in the information they provide.
The NCIS defines a primary contribution as “producing the actual physical harm, most closely linked to the cause of deathâ€, secondary contribution as “involved at the start of the injury eventâ€, tertiary contribution as “other mechanisms involved in the injury eventâ€.
If it is thought that drug use contributed to the risk of road traffic crashes, for example, it would be a secondary contribution; if the cause of death was drug toxicity or drug overdose and a drug was one of those detected, it would be implicated as one of the primary contributions to death (note that since ecstasy was usually one of a range of drugs detected, other drugs would also be classed as a primary contribution).
So what does the data tell us? Over the four year period 2001-2004, NCIS identified 112 ecstasy-related deaths. Although ecstasy was deemed to be a primary contributor in 51 (46%) of these, MDMA was the sole drug present in only six (5%) of these deaths. It is important to note that the majority of deaths were due to either a road traffic crash (RTC, 28%) or drug toxicity (40%).
Importantly, MDMA was rarely the only drug identified in drug toxicity deaths (3 of 45 deaths), and never the only drug in the overdose deaths. Some of the causes of the ecstasy-related deaths are particularly interesting and quite bizarre – three deaths were due to drowning, six were hangings and 8 were falls from a height!
Two implications of this data are firstly that death as a direct result of ecstasy consumption seems to be very rare in Australia compared to the extent of use, and ecstasy is usually only one of a range of drugs detected at death (a point that the newspapers chose to ignore!). Secondly, a substantial proportion of ecstasy-related deaths involve a motor vehicle accident. If you wish to read more about this, you will find the full PDI Bulletin (Kinner, Fowler, Fischer, et al (2005)) at the following location:
http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/NDARCWeb.nsf/resources/BulletinsPDI_2005/$file/PDI+APRIL+2005.pdf
Paul Dillon
Manager
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052
The opening paragraph claims the following: The party drug ecstasy is killing more than one person every fortnight nationwide, with almost a third of deaths occurring in car crashes.
As is often the case the story is not entirely accurate, so I would like to give you a little more information.
Unfortunately the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) mortality register does not distinguish between ecstasy and other amphetamine type substances (ATS) related deaths. However, the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) does make this distinction, however these data are quite limited in the information they provide.
The NCIS defines a primary contribution as “producing the actual physical harm, most closely linked to the cause of deathâ€, secondary contribution as “involved at the start of the injury eventâ€, tertiary contribution as “other mechanisms involved in the injury eventâ€.
If it is thought that drug use contributed to the risk of road traffic crashes, for example, it would be a secondary contribution; if the cause of death was drug toxicity or drug overdose and a drug was one of those detected, it would be implicated as one of the primary contributions to death (note that since ecstasy was usually one of a range of drugs detected, other drugs would also be classed as a primary contribution).
So what does the data tell us? Over the four year period 2001-2004, NCIS identified 112 ecstasy-related deaths. Although ecstasy was deemed to be a primary contributor in 51 (46%) of these, MDMA was the sole drug present in only six (5%) of these deaths. It is important to note that the majority of deaths were due to either a road traffic crash (RTC, 28%) or drug toxicity (40%).
Importantly, MDMA was rarely the only drug identified in drug toxicity deaths (3 of 45 deaths), and never the only drug in the overdose deaths. Some of the causes of the ecstasy-related deaths are particularly interesting and quite bizarre – three deaths were due to drowning, six were hangings and 8 were falls from a height!
Two implications of this data are firstly that death as a direct result of ecstasy consumption seems to be very rare in Australia compared to the extent of use, and ecstasy is usually only one of a range of drugs detected at death (a point that the newspapers chose to ignore!). Secondly, a substantial proportion of ecstasy-related deaths involve a motor vehicle accident. If you wish to read more about this, you will find the full PDI Bulletin (Kinner, Fowler, Fischer, et al (2005)) at the following location:
http://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/NDARCWeb.nsf/resources/BulletinsPDI_2005/$file/PDI+APRIL+2005.pdf
Paul Dillon
Manager
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre
UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Monday, May 15, 2006
Dr Mendelsohn
A North Shore doctor who appeared on the television show RPA has been accused of raping one of his female patients at his Chatswood rooms.
Martyn Stuart Mendelsohn, an ear, nose and throat surgeon and former visiting medical officer at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, is charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault.
Mendelsohn, 46, allegedly had non-consensual sexual intercourse with the woman during a consultation at his surgery on Malvern Avenue between 6pm and 7.40pm on May 30.
The Scots College and University of Sydney graduate is now under strict bail conditions which require an approved "chaperone" be present during any consultations with patients.
Mendelsohn carries out plastic surgery work through his business, Stuart Clinic.
His website details several appearances on the medical reality television show RPA.
Mendelsohn, who resigned from RPA in 2003, also appeared in newspapers and magazines in relation to work earlier this year on the face of a Big Brother contestant, Aphrodite Vuitton.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Koch and Mel need a good kick up the bum
By Jane Holroyd
May 12, 2006
smh
Claims that Channel Seven television presenters were not responsible for broadcasts identifying a child who divorced his mother have been disputed in court.
Sunrise hosts David Koch and Melissa Doyle, newsreaders Jennifer Keyte and Natalie Barr and Today Tonight host Naomi Robson are among a group of employees from Channel Seven and The Sunday Herald Sun to plead not guilty to charges stemming from the identification of a child involved in a Children's Court proceeding in 2004.
The charges stem from the identification of a boy who divorced his mother in May 2004, when a children's court judge allowed the Department of Human Services to become his legal guardian.
Sunday Herald Sun journalist Chris Tinkler wrote an article about the boy and his mother, published on June 20, 2004, under the headline: "Divorced by my son: teen may never see mum again."
The article detailed the case in which the boy divorced his mother, citing irreconcilable differences.
The individual defendants face a maximum penalty of up to two years' jail, or a $10,481 fine, while the companies involved The Herald and Weekly Times, Channel Seven Melbourne and Nationwide News face fines of up to $52,405 each.
Magistrate Lisa Hannan, who is due to hand down her decision at 3.30pm on Monday, said the charges were very serious and carried a jail sentence.
Mr Koch, Ms Doyle and Ms Barr sat in court this morning, listening to Prosecutor Jim Kennan, QC, make his final submission. Ms Robson and Ms Keyte, who were in court yesterday, did not attend the hearing today.
Mr Kennan said the stories clearly identified a matter that was proceeding in the Children's Court and the parties involved in that matter.
He disputed the defendants' argument that identifying the child was in the public interest, saying the story could have been published or broadcast without identifying the parties concerned.
Publishing the identities of the child and his mother "was all gratuitous," Mr Kennan said.
Channel 7 news director Stephen Carey and Sunrise executive producer Adam Boland told the court yesterday that they were responsible, and not the defendants, for the items broadcast on the program.
Mr Kennan today disputed that, saying the person presenting or writing the story was legally responsible.
He said Mr Tinkler's story, which also published the names of the child's siblings, clearly related to the Children's Court proceedings, he said.
All defendants told the court they had sought legal advice before broadcasting and publishing their respective stories.
"They knew there was a problem publishing identifying details, and yet they went ahead," Mr Kennan said.
"Mr Tinkler's story expressly refers to the Children's Court in the interstate publication" he said, referring to other News Ltd newspapers who ran the story.
But he said the Melbourne publication, knowing it was a likely infringement, tried to get around it through "careful choice of words", Mr Kennan said.
Yesterday, former Sunday Herald Sun editor Alan Howe told the court that he took responsibility for his newspaper first publishing the story in June 2004.
Mr Howe said he was "not necessarily" aware the matter was before the Children's Court.
"It was a fair and balanced report using the facts that we had," he said.
"It was my belief that the Children's Court was not necessarily involved. Another court may have been involved."
The story was then covered by Seven News as well as the network's current affairs program, Today Tonight. It was also discussed on Sunrise, where Mr Koch said: "This kid is a brat, obviously. This kid needs a kick up the backside."
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Cannibal jailed
May 10 2006
Armin Meiwes waits for the verdict in his retrial at a regional court in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
Photo: AP
A German self-confessed cannibal was jailed for life after a court in Frankfurt found him guilty of murder for killing and partly eating an allegedly willing victim he had met on the internet.
The court in the western German city of Frankfurt found that Armin Meiwes, known as the "cannibal of Rotenburg", killed his victim to satisfy his sexual urges.
But it rejected the prosecution's demand that Meiwes be disqualified for release after 15 years, as is usual for prisoners serving life sentences in Germany. This means he could, potentially, be freed in 2021.
Meiwes, 44, immediately indicated that he would appeal, signalling another round in a long legal process that has laid bare a hitherto secret market in cannibalism.
The Frankfurt trial was the second time Meiwes has been tried for killing Bernd Juergen Brandes in Rotenburg, Meiwes' home town, in western Germany in March 2001.
He was originally convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8½ years in prison in 2004.
But on appeal, a federal judge dismissed the sentence as too lenient and ordered a retrial on the higher charge of murder.
Meiwes, a computer technician, has insisted throughout both trials that his victim had a death wish and had begged to be killed and eaten, saying it was the "ultimate kick" that both of them were seeking.
"He had wanted everything just the way it eventually happened," he said last week.
He met Brandes after advertising on the internet for a "slaughter victim" and invited him to his farm house.
Brandes, who had written a will, bought a one-way rail ticket, while Meiwes set up a beer-tent table in his house to serve as a butcher's block.
When the two men met, they made a videotape of their fatal encounter. It showed them having sex, then Meiwes severing Brandes' penis, which the two men then fried and tried to eat.
Meiwes later stabbed his bleeding, unconscious victim in the throat and cut away other parts of his body.
He admitted he eventually ate about 20 kilograms of Brandes's flesh, accompanied by potatoes and a pepper or wine sauce, served on "good crockery".
His lawyers argued that he was not guilty of murder but rather of the crime of "killing on demand", which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Psychologists told the court Meiwes was a deeply disturbed and lonely man but mentally fit to stand trial.
Meiwes testified that his fantasies about eating flesh dated back some 30 years. He said that after his father abandoned his family, he realised that he wanted to eat a school friend as a way of keeping somebody with him forever.
He has admitted recently that, even in his prison cell, he still fantasises about killing people when he sees attractive young bodies on television or in magazines.
Prosecutors said this was an indication that there was a high risk he would try to kill and eat somebody again.
Meiwes was arrested months after killing Brandes when an Austrian student noticed another internet advertisement and alerted police.
Investigators found that he had been in touch with more than 200 people who shared his fantasies, while Meiwes himself said there were about 800 cannibals in Germany who hoped to fulfil their urges.
He has urged them to seek psychological help.
His story inspired a US-made horror film called Butterfly, A Grimm Love Story, but Meiwes succeeded in blocking its release on the grounds that it was an infringement of his privacy.
AFP
Friday, May 05, 2006
Fake Botox injection with cooking oil leads to murder charge
Bay City News Service
SALINAS - Monterey County prosecutors announced late this afternoon that the charge against Martha Mata Vasquez has been upgraded to murder for allegedly injecting cooking oil into a woman's buttocks, causing her death.
According to authorities, Vasquez, 39, injected the substance into the buttocks of Olivia Castillo last fall, leading to her death on November 24 from an embolism.
Castillo believed the substance would `enhance her buttocks'' and may have believed it was Botox, Monterey County Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon said in March after Vasquez's initial arrest.
Vasquez had been charged with manslaughter in connection with Castillo's death but further investigation uncovered additional witnesses and evidence that led prosecutors to file a murder charge, according to a statement from the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.
Vasquez is currently in custody on $1 million bail.
SALINAS - Monterey County prosecutors announced late this afternoon that the charge against Martha Mata Vasquez has been upgraded to murder for allegedly injecting cooking oil into a woman's buttocks, causing her death.
According to authorities, Vasquez, 39, injected the substance into the buttocks of Olivia Castillo last fall, leading to her death on November 24 from an embolism.
Castillo believed the substance would `enhance her buttocks'' and may have believed it was Botox, Monterey County Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon said in March after Vasquez's initial arrest.
Vasquez had been charged with manslaughter in connection with Castillo's death but further investigation uncovered additional witnesses and evidence that led prosecutors to file a murder charge, according to a statement from the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.
Vasquez is currently in custody on $1 million bail.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Winner and loser
John Daly says he has lost between $66 million and $79 million during 12 years of heavy gambling, and that it has become a problem that could "flat-out ruin me" if he doesn't bring it under control.
Daly discussed his addiction to gambling in the final chapter of his autobiography, John Daly: My Life In and Out of the Rough, to be released next Monday.
He told one story of earning $992,000 when he lost in a playoff to Tiger Woods last year in San Francisco at a World Golf Championship event.
Instead of going home, he drove to Las Vegas and says he lost $2.18 million in five hours playing mostly $6,600 slot machines.
He entered himself into a drug rehabilitation clinic for alcoholism in 1993 and has been divorced three times.
He said he owed $5.3 million to casinos in two years of gambling until he won the 1995 British Open at St. Andrews, his second major. That victory and the ability to get handsome appearance fees, enabled him to pay off the debt.
Daly says he has taken more control of his life in the last six years.
"I'm off those ... medications. I don't drink JD (Jack Daniels) anymore. I don't beat up on hotel rooms and cars as much. Only gambling remains a problem," he wrote.
AP
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Physical Education
April 27, 2006
SMH
A teacher jailed for having sex with a 13-year-old has been arrested again.
Pamela Rogers, 28, of Tennessee, is accused of violating her probation conditions by sending photos and videos of herself naked by mobile phone to the boy.
The former physical education teacher was sent to jail for nine months in a plea deal last August for the three-month affair with the boy.
She was released in February for good behaviour.
But the Tennessean reports that authorites claim that after her release she created a MySpace.com web site and blog.
She denies posting messages to the boy on her site.
Her arrest this week follows allegations that she has breached probation by contacting the boy by phone, e-mails and text messages along with the nude photos and sex videos, according to court documents.
"Some of the naked photos and videos she sent after her most recent court appearance on April 12, a warrant says", reports the Tenneassean.
Her jail term was part of an eight-year sentence for the attractive former homecoming queen, who was directed to surrender her teaching certificate, and barred from granting interviews or profiting from her story.
smh.com.au
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Girl Power
By Jason Hill
April 20, 2006
smh
Lara Croft's creator has been reunited with his million-dollar baby but controversy still surrounds his high-kicking adventurer.
A decade after she raided her first tomb, Lara Croft remains the world's most recognised game character.
Lara was instrumental in gaming's rise to mainstream entertainment as well as in attracting many women to pick up a joypad for the first time.
After six Tomb Raider games selling 25 million copies and two films grossing more than $500 million, it is easy to forget how revolutionary Lara was in 1996. At the time, the game industry was focused on adolescent males and few titles featured female characters, let alone in starring roles.
Lara Croft's rise to pop culture stardom included appearing on stage with U2, on countless magazine covers, television commercials and even a music single. Lara also became PlayStation's de facto mascot just as gaming hit the mainstream - a modern icon to replace the childish heroes of the past such as Mario and Sonic.
Lara's creator, Toby Gard, wanted to create a smart, athletic archaeologist in the Indiana Jones mould.
"Lara is fire and ice, mind and passion, strength and agility, but she is also an unusual anti-hero," he says.
"She pursues knowledge of the past, uncovers mysteries, but for her own personal reasons, and nothing stands between her and those goals. She inhabits a world full of mystery, not least of which is Lara herself."
Gard famously quit Tomb Raider developer Core Design after the first game was released, in protest at how Lara's physical dimensions had been drastically inflated to titillate, turning his back on millions of dollars in royalty payments.
"I left as a result of my disapproval of the sexualised marketing of Tomb Raider," Gard says.
"Over the years she was marketed in more and more sleazy ways, which were completely contrary to the goal of the character, and as a result lost a little of her popularity."
The latest Tomb Raider game released last week reunited Lara's creator and the buxom heroine for the first time in a decade.
After leaving developer Core Design in protest at the sexualisation of his beloved character, Toby Gard established a new studio, Confounding Factor. But the venture closed in 2004 after the failure of its first project, a critically panned pirate adventure called Galleon.
Returning to where he began, Gard was recruited by publisher Eidos to work on Tomb Raider: Legend with developer Crystal Dynamics. Eidos hope Legend will resurrect what many critics consider a flagging franchise after the disastrous reception to 2003's Angel of Darkness.
"I was brought in primarily to create the new look for Lara," says Gard, "but I ended up having input on the story, and overseeing all the other characters' designs, directing the cinematic, working on Lara's movement system and generally consulting on the design."
Despite his famous exit from Core, Gard still feels pride in his creation.
"It's a really cool thing to see Lara being so popular. It's especially mind boggling when I think that a character I made up ended up being turned into two Hollywood movies," he says.
Despite turning his back on millions in royalties, Gard has no regrets. "You are who you are because of your choices. I learned a great deal by leaving Core that I could not have learned if I'd stayed."
The Death of a brother in Arms
By Les Kennedy and Kate McClymont
April 22, 2006 smh
INTERNAL warfare in the Bandidos bike gang - and a dispute over an affair one of its members had with a female parole officer - were catalysts for a killing outside a Sydney restaurant strip, police believe.
Police have named Russell Merrick Oldham, 39, as their chief suspect in Thursday night's shooting of the gang's chapter president, Rodney "Hooks" Monk, in Little Italy in East Sydney. They warned the public not to approach Oldham, saying he was armed and extremely dangerous.
Oldham is the Bandidos' former sergeant-at-arms. He had been a student at Sydney University, in science then in medicine, in the 1980s but eventually dropped out to become a security guard. He has a passion for astronomy and a history of violence.
He lost his post when he went to jail for five years for the manslaughter of two men at Bankstown in 1998, a post Monk, 32, was later to fill. Monk is the brother of senior police officer Detective Inspector Brad Monk.
Police believe the two Bandidos had been arguing about Oldham's relationship with his parole officer - against club rules.
The dinner at Bar Reggio on Thursday was to have been a farewell supper for Oldham. Police believe Monk, who was on bail for driving offences, told him he could no longer wear the gang's black, red and gold colours of a bandit brandishing a machete and pistol. They also believe that when Monk told him he could no longer ride with the gang the two men began shouting at each other.
Oldham, Monk and several other Bandidos entered the crowded restaurant about 9pm, taking a table at the back. It is not known whether Monk had taken his bodyguard, Raymond Curry, who was also jailed over the Bankstown killings.
Superintendent Mark Murdoch said Monk asked Oldham to step outside so they "could continue their discussion".
Monk was unarmed, and police suspect Oldham was carrying a firearm in a small black handbag. No one in the restaurant heard a thing, but neighbours say they heard at least three shots. Then two men ran into Reggios and said a man had been shot at the corner of nearby Chapel and Riley streets.
At 9.15pm police, who were on an undercover sting in neighbouring suburbs, arrived and found Monk sprawled on the ground with two gunshot wounds. He had been shot in the head by a heavy calibre semi-automatic pistol.
Superintendent Murdoch said a man was seen running from the body towards the nearby Lord Roberts Hotel, where he hailed a taxi. At Sydney Town Hall the same man abandoned the taxi and ran off, possibly to Town Hall station.
"Witnesses tell us there was more than one shot," he said. "What we have been told is the deceased and another man had a conversation. The conversation became heated and the two went outside to discuss their differences. We believe we have a good idea who we are looking for … That man has links to the Bandido outlaw motorcycle gang."
Tensions had been simmering within the Bandidos since it had stripped Monk's predecessor, Felix Lyle, of his colours after a dispute over the gang's finances and an alleged assault of a gang member. Matters reached fever pitch when Lyle's 24-year-old son, Dallas Fitzgerald, was kidnapped.
The Herald understands he was released on the payment of a large sum of money and the promise of a further $2 million. Suspicion first fell on a rival gang, the Nomads, but the Bandidos now suspect the job was carried out by some of their own. The resulting dispute threatened Monk's presidency, and it was against this backdrop that Oldham came out in support of Lyle.
Superintendent Murdoch said police had met Bandidos officials yesterday amid concerns of revenge attacks. "It is something that we can't dismiss … We have put plans in place to minimise the impact of that retribution."
Although the gang had given police no promises, "they certainly appreciate what we are trying to do".
"We are confident that we will be able to locate this fellow fairly quickly and put an end to the matter," he said.
Superintendent Murdoch said there had been some discussion that "the person we are looking for was obviously upset with some decisions that had been made by the hierarchy of the Bandidos … It is our understanding they were meeting to resolve those issues, but obviously that didn't occur."
Monk's brother, Inspector Monk, who is Redfern police crime manager, was in shock last night at the news of the shooting. Police said there was no suggestion he was involved in the Bandidos.
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