NEVER FORGET
Welcome to Sunday OND, tonight's edition of the daily feature. The Overnight News Digest crew consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir and ScottyUrb, guest editors maggiejean and annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent.
A special shout-out and round of applause to rfall, who produced 3 OND's this last week. Amazingly well done!
You are all welcome to read and comment, share links and news, and spend some time winding down this evening with the day's news.
Doctors target gun violence as a social disease
Is a gun like a virus, a car, tobacco or alcohol? Yes say public health experts, who in the wake of recent mass shootings are calling for a fresh look at gun violence as a social disease.
What we need, they say, is a public health approach to the problem, like the highway safety measures, product changes and driving laws that slashed deaths from car crashes decades ago, even as the number of vehicles on the road rose.
It wasn't enough back then to curb deaths just by trying to make people better drivers, and it isn't enough now to tackle gun violence by focusing solely on the people doing the shooting, he and other doctors say.
They want a science-based, pragmatic approach based on the reality of a society saturated with guns and seek better ways of preventing harm from them.
The need for a new approach crystallized last Sunday for one of the nation's leading gun violence experts, Dr. Stephen Hargarten. He found himself treating victims of the Sikh temple shootings at the emergency department he heads in Milwaukee. Seven people were killed, including the gunman, and three were seriously injured.
WAR
At Afghan orphanage, boys from war's rival sides are best friends
Hamidullah, 12, and Rahmatullah, 10, have nearly everything in common. They have the same haircuts, the same blue uniforms, the same jokes, the same notebooks with sailboats and convertibles on the cover. They sleep next to each other in a big room where a ceiling fan stirs warm air. They eat together and play on the same cricket team. When they get older, they want to be neighbors. They arrived here — bunkmates in southern Afghanistan's largest orphanage — under the same tragic circumstances.
Just one detail separates the best friends. Their fathers were killed fighting on opposite sides of the war.
Rahmatullah's father was killed by the Taliban.
Hamidullah's father was killed fighting for the Taliban.
Many of their mothers are alive. But women in southern Afghanistan are seen by many as being incapable of independently providing for their children.
A Tale of Two Diagnoses: Records Show How Army Doctors Downgrade PTSD
How does one doctor diagnose an Iraq war veteran with PTSD while another says the same soldier has a less severe condition called adjustment disorder? Medical records shared by one of the characters in our feature story this week offer some insight into the workings the controversial forensic psychiatry team at Madigan Army Medical Center.
Unlike other illnesses, there's no X-ray, blood test, or MRI that can definitively spot PTSD. It's a subjective decision made by a psychiatrist who relies almost exclusively on the testimony given by the patient. There are specific criteria outlined by the DSM (the official guide used by doctors to diagnose mental illness) but ultimately it's a judgement call.
Those who struggle with trauma-related issues but don't quite meet the criteria for PTSD are typically diagnosed with adjustment disorder. To a layperson, adjustment disorder sounds an awful lot like PTSD. It is defined as "the development of emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to an identifiable stressor," followed by "marked distress" and "significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."
IN OUR GALAXY
Mars as you've never seen it: Nasa's Curiosity Rover transmits more stunning images of the red planet
On Friday, engineers detailed how Curiosity landed approximately 1.5 miles from its predicted touchdown spot.
The excellent panoramic images, released on Thursday, were the first colour landscape photographs provided from the $2.5 billion Martian rover and were taken with the probe's MastCams which extend above the spacecraft.
The panoramic mosaic, comprising 130 separate images that Curiosity captured with its newly activated navigation cameras, shows a rust-colored, pebble-strewn expanse stretching to a wall of the crater's rim in one direction and a tall mound of layered rock in another.
That formation, named Mount Sharp, stands at the center of the vast, ancient impact crater and several miles from where Curiosity touched down at the end of an eight-month voyage across 352 million mile (566 million km) of space.
The layers of exposed rock are thought to hold a wealth of Mars' geologic history, making it the main target of exploration for scientists who will use the rover to seek evidence of whether the planet most similar to Earth might now harbor or once have hosted key ingredients for microbial life.
The mission controllers also released the rover's first self-portrait which was stitched together to show an uninterrupted view of Curiosity standing on the surface of the Red Planet.
Eight shots were used to create the panoramic picture using the rover's twin navigation cameras, or Navcam which are used to capture 3D images.
AROUND OUR WORLD
No man’s land: Women-only city planned for Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is to build a new city exclusively for women. The Gulf kingdom is working on the narrow junction between strict Sharia law and the aspirations of active females who wish to pursue their own careers.
The new plan is to combine women’s desire to work in the modern age and provide a job environment that would go hand-in-hand with the country’s Sharia law. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has been charged to lead the country into a new era.
The ambitious mono-city is now being designed with construction to begin next year. The municipality in the Eastern city of Hafuf is expected to attract 500 million riyals (US$133 million) in investments and it will create around 5,000 jobs in the textiles, pharmaceuticals and food processing industries. There will be women-run firms and production lines for women.
Saudi Sharia law does allow women to work, given that her essential duties of homemaking should not be neglected. But in reality around 15 per cent of women are represented in the workforce, according to some estimates.
I guess this is where Saudi Arabia is right now, and at least they are doing something. Someday I hope stories like this come from the future version of The Onion. Also, please note that our nominal allies, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, treat over 50% of their populations like helpless children.
Scientists Finally Conclude Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious Beings
Every now and again I receive an email message I ignore after reading the subject line. I know I'm not alone in following this rule of thumb, but today I broke down and opened a message the subject line of which read "Scientists Declare: Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious". I honestly thought it was a joke, likely from one of my favorite newspapers, The Onion. However, it wasn't.
My colleague Michael Mountain published a summary of a recent meeting held in Cambridge, England at which "Science leaders have reached a critical consensus: Humans are not the only conscious beings; other animals, specifically mammals and birds, are indeed conscious, too." At this gathering, called The Francis Crick Memorial Conference, a number of scientists presented evidence that led to this self-obvious conclusion. It's difficult to believe that those who have shared their homes with companion animals didn't already know this. And, of course, many renowned and award-winning field researchers had reached the same conclusion years ago (see also).
This turns toward animal rights later in the article, but I was struck by the "science supports the obvious" concept. Of course, sometimes science does not support the obvious. Also.
The Raoul Wallenberg Calendar: Q&A with Brian Palmer
The birthday of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, missing since 1945, is celebrated worldwide and for a whole year his courage and deeds during WWII, rescuing tens of thousands of Jews from the holocaust, will be remembered.
Brian Palmer, a social anthropologist and a lecturer on civic courage at Uppsala University is one of many people finding a unique way of honouring Wallenberg's legacy.
Together with author Ola Larsmo and Marie Grefberg, of the Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) in Sweden, Palmer has produced a calendar commemorating 365 people who've shown exceptional civic courage.
“We hope that the calendar will make people think about the meaning of civic courage and inspire people to ponder what’s worth doing and how we use our lives,” Palmer told The Local.
WHAT DO SWEDES KNOW OF RAOUL WALLENBERG? My favorite is #5.
FROM OUR COUNTRY
Resilient community will educate, forgive
We Sikhs are a resilient lot. Our 500-year history is a gritty tale of survival. Our character was forged in the crucible of the 18th century when each one of us was declared an outlaw and a price was placed on our heads. It is said that in 1762, roughly half of our population was decimated in an orgy of violence unleashed by the invading army of Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan. We survived. No, we thrived.
A scant 37 years later, a young Sikh chief named Ranjit Singh triumphantly entered the gates of the mighty city of Lahore and established an empire that spanned modern-day Pakistan and Northern India, stretching all the way to the Khyber Pass, and successfully stared down the British Raj.
The Sikhs will survive the Oak Creek shooting as well. Of course, we are shocked, disconcerted and saddened. But it is important to understand that we would be equally shocked and saddened if our Muslim brothers had been attacked while praying at a mosque or if a church had been firebombed. To be a Sikh is to be fiercely committed to the rights of anyone who is oppressed.
On the resiliency of humans.
In Drought-Stricken Midwest, It's Fodder Vs. Fuel
As the drought continues to afflict the nation's corn belt, hog and chicken farmers are competing with ethanol factories for scarce and increasingly expensive corn. Meat producers say it's not a fair competition, because government rules call for a minimum level of ethanol production, no matter what the cost. They're campaigning for a suspension of those rules.
This is a radio piece, and there is a transcript. Of course, if we were all bicycling vegans, this would not be a problem.
Police: Man fired pellet gun at Morton Grove mosque
A man allegedly fired a pellet gun at a mosque in north suburban Morton Grove Friday night while 500 people prayed inside, authorities said.
The shooting took place at about 9:20 p.m., while worshippers were performing prayers for the holy month of Ramadan at the Muslim Education Center, located at 8601 N. Menard Ave., authorities said.
Off-duty Chicago police officers hired to provide additional security at the mosque during Ramadan, called Morton Grove Police after they saw an object whiz by and hit the building just above the head of an officer, mosque officials said.
Biodiversity: North America’s freshwater fish disappearing
At least 57 North American species and subspecies, and 3 unique populations, have gone extinct since 1898, about 3.2 percent of the total. Freshwater species generally are known to suffer higher rates of extinction than terrestrial vertebrates.
Extinctions in fishes are mostly caused by loss of habitat and the introduction of nonindigenous species. In North America, there are more freshwater fish species in a typical drainage to the east of the Great Continental Divide than to the west, where a greater proportion of species have gone extinct or are found nowhere else.
Estimating the number of extinctions relies on scrutiny of historical records and careful estimation procedures, since the last populations of a species are often recognized as such only in hindsight—there is typically a lag of several years from the last observation of a species and its estimated year of extinction.
This is a blog entry based on an academic journal article. Apparently. I'm not sure if I can get to the source.
HAPPENING IN UTAH
New state auditor won’t be a CPA — is it a problem?
For the first time in 40 years, Utah is about to elect a state auditor who is not a certified public accountant.
Outgoing Auditor Auston Johnson, who lost the Republican primary, and his predecessor worry that could make the office less professional and independent, and even cost Utah its AAA bond rating. So Johnson is declining to endorse any of the remaining candidates, who are not CPAs.
But those candidates — Republican John Dougall, Democrat Mark Sage and Constitution Party nominee Richard Proctor — say being a CPA is not essential, even though the new state auditor personally will not be able to sign the state’s financial audits.
Former Auditor Tom Allen, who heads a board that sets accounting standards for the federal government and is former chairman for a similar board over state and local governments, compares it to having a non-attorney as state attorney general.
I have some personal connections to this story, but the more important aspect is from BallerinaX, kos-friend from Salt Lake City and ALEC expert. She said this Rep. Dougall is straight from ALEC and wants to use the state auditor's office as a focused investigative tool/weapon. Normally, the state auditors verify all the financial documents of the state. And perform the Single audit for the Feds. The Legislative auditors tend to do more directed investigations.
Herbert waits on presidential election to decide on Medicaid expansion
Gov. Gary Herbert wants to know who will occupy the White House before making any decisions about expanding Medicaid in Utah.
"I think it's prudent to wait and see what happens in November," he said Tuesday.
"If President Obama is re-elected that will tell us one thing about the direction of health care in this country. If Gov. Romney is elected — and I'm an unabashed supporter of Gov. Romney for a lot of reasons — it will change the direction of health care and hence, Medicaid as we go forward for the next four years."
Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the requirement that individuals either have insurance or pay a fine, the justices ruled that states can opt out of the expansion of Medicaid. People earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level qualify for Medicaid under the health care law, except in states that reject the expansion.
He's concerned with what the Legislature wants. Not what the state needs. Such "leadership."
Utah farmers hurt by dry weather
Hot, dry weather across the nation are bad news for Utah’s farmers, who say it’s one of the worst summers for them in years. Crop yields are predicted to be the lowest in decades, which means higher food prices for everyone.
Farmers say they’re having to make tough decisions about how much wheat and corn to grow and whether or not to keep cattle. Dry-land farmers who rely on rain, are struggling with a mild winter and hot summer.
All 29 counties in Utah are included in the federal disaster declaration for this year’s drought, something farmer Joel Ferry says is a problem that will impact everyone.
Farmers say they can go a summer without rain, but they can’t go another winter without snow.