Post-Schna-ulations

"Don't you dare!! Don't you dare!!"

Ah, songs from "Amahl and the Night Visitors" are running through my head for the third day this week (and the fun will continue probably into next week, as the performances for the show start tonight and run through Sunday!).

Yesterday, while walking to my bus stop, I was graced with the sight of a mini-cooper painted with a cow pattern. Hmm? Why would someone PAY for that? Maybe the guy won it on the Price is Right....?

Happy and Sad news in baseball today:
- HAPPY: The Pirates have aquired Benito Santiago for a right-handed prospect (Leo Nunez, I believe???). Yay!
- SAD: The Yankees have landed Randy Johnson. This makes me very sad. I REALLY like Randy Johnson. I can't like him now though - he sold out. He was an awesome player who had, for years, avoided the curse of the Yankees. Now, he has given in. *sigh* I still predict, though, that the Yankees will lose AGAIN in the post-season (though sadly this means I do think they will make it to the post-season).
BUT, baseball is a long way off yet, so enough of that.

Here are some fun and disturbing news stories for you today:
Physicist, 82, to Marry 'Gift from God' Student

BEIJING (Reuters) - An 82-year-old Chinese Nobel physicist has popped the question to a 28-year-old student whom he described as his last gift from God, the Beijing Morning Post said on Friday.

Don't Read This One...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican man killed his lover in a drunken, drugged fight then cooked the man's body in tomato and onion sauce and ate it over three days

EEYYWWW! The rest of the story gets even worse - yuck yuck yuck!!!!

Gollum Gets a Health Check

LONDON (Reuters) - Gollum, the creepy character in "Lord of the Rings" with the dual personality and eerie voice, suffered from a schizoid personality disorder, according to a group of medical students.
Thirty students at University College London were asked to explain the odd behaviour the character displayed in the films based on the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy.
The students noted his solitary habits, spiteful behaviour, odd interests, difficulty in forming friendships, emotional changeability, nervousness and paranoia.
"He fulfils seven of the nine criteria for schizoid personality disorder, and, if we must label Gollum's problems, we believe this is the most likely diagnosis," Dr Elizabeth Sampson, who headed the research team, said in the British Medical Journal on Friday.
His two personalities -- Gollum and Smeagol -- convinced some students it was a case of schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder.
But schizophrenia was ruled out because delusions were not in keeping with Gollum's culture. The interaction between the two personalities shows Gollum is aware of both Smeagol and Gollum at the same time, which is inconsistent with multiple personality disorder, in which one is usually suppressed.
His bulging eyes and weight loss also suggests a thyroid problem, they added.

I am somewhat amused, though it's a little unsettling that THIS is what some researchers are spending their time doing. And I would like to say that whoever thought Gollum had MPD has obviously never even opened an abnormal psych book. I find it interesting that the effects of the Ring were not taken into consideration (in the same way that dropping acid would be taking into consideration) as an outside cause to his problems. A schizoid personality disorder would imply that Gollum was prone to the same types of problems prior to obtaining the Ring, wouldn't it? Perhaps I'm wrong - personality disorders are a difficult thing. Any thoughts?

posted by Schna @ 10:17 AM