The 90-Minute Day
The whimsical premise of the iconic movie Groundhog Day (that someone can wake up every day believing it is the previous day) has largely come to life for a patient of British psychologist Dr. Gerald Burgess, who recently published his findings in the journal Neurocase. The patient, following anesthesia and root canal treatment, was left with a memory span of only about 90 minutes and awakens each day believing it is the day he is to report for the same root canal. He has been examined by numerous specialists, including neurologists who found no ostensible damage to the usual brain areas associated with amnesia. The patient is able to manage his day only by using an electronic diary with prompts.
Wait, What?
A shortage of teachers led Howard S. Billings high school in Chateauguay (in the French-sensitive province of Quebec, Canada) to announce that 11th grade French classes would this year be conducted using only the Rosetta Stone computer program.
Police Report
Cosbying 2.0: A court in Castrop-Rauxel, Germany, fined a 23-year-old man in July after he admitted that, one evening last year, he put “four or five drops” of a sedative into his girlfriend’s tea without her knowledge—so that she would doze off for the evening and not bother him while he played video games. She had come home after a hard day at work, expecting peace and quiet, but began complaining about the boyfriend’s machine-gun-fire game.
Perspective
Pharmaceutical companies justify huge drug price markups on the grounds that the research to develop the drug was itself hugely expensive. In February, a Canadian company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, decided to raise the price of two heart-saving drugs (Nitropress, Isuprel) by 212% and 525%, respectively, even though it had conducted no research on the drugs. That was because, reported The Wall Street Journal, all Valeant did was buy the rights to the already-approved drugs from another company (which, of course, had thought the drugs—research and all—had been fairly priced at the lower amounts). Said a Valeant spokesperson, “Our duty is to our shareholders and to maximize the value” of their products (even, apparently, if it owned the product for less than a day before jacking up the price as much as five-fold).
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Least Competent Criminals
But a Successful Parent: Scott Birk, 31, was arrested in New Berlin, Wis., in July, thanks to a big boost the police got from his 6-year-old daughter. A Walmart security guard noticed, on video, someone breaking into a jewelry case and pocketing earrings and approached Birk as a suspect in time to overhear the girl tell her dad “several times” to stop breaking into the jewelry case. Officers running an ID check found no driver’s license and asked how he had gotten to the store, and he said they walked. “But Daddy,” she said, “we came in our car,” and she cheerfully pointed it out to police. A search turned up more items stuffed in Birk’s shorts and he was charged with theft and violating a previous bail condition.
Recurring Themes
Summer is state fair season, i.e., the time of sugar- and fried-fat-based comfort snacks that rarely appear anywhere except at state fairs. Recent samplings: caviar-covered Twinkie (California), mac ’n’ cheese cupcake (Minnesota), deep-fried Oreo burger (Florida), deep-fried gummy bears (Ohio), deep-fried beer (Texas)—and old favorites such as chicken-fried bacon (Texas), spaghetti ice cream (Indiana), Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich (California) and the hot beef sundae (Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska).
A News of the Weird Classic (October 2010)
Playboy magazine has long published an audio edition and the Library of Congress produces a text edition in Braille. However, as a Houston Chronicle reporter learned in August (2010), a Texas organization (Taping for the Blind) goes one step further, with volunteer reader Suzi Hanks actually describing the photographs—even the Playmates and other nudes. “I’d say if she has large breasts or small breasts, piercings or tattoos,” said Hanks. “I’ll describe her genitalia. I take my time describing the girls. Hey, blind guys like pretty, naked girls, too!”
COPYRIGHT 2015 CHUCK SHEPHERD
