An Incredible Birth, An Incredible Surgery

This story is both tragic and triumphant. Lakshmi Tatma, a 2yo Indian girl underwent surgery to remove what was, in fact, remnants of an undeveloped twin sister attached to the lower region of her body. Not only did the young girl have an extra pelvis, she also had an extra set of arms and legs. The surgery lasted 27 hours.

Although for many, such an abnormal birth (conjoined twins occur once for ever 200,000 births) would be tragic, some members of the family’s village hailed the young girl’s body as a reincarnation of the multi-limbed Hindu goddess Lakshmi (from whom the girl got her name) who brings wealth to her followers.

Lakshmi is currently still on a ventilator, but doctors seem optimistic about her recovery. If Lakshmi does survive without further complications, it will be a miracle, seeing as 75-95% of conjoined twins do not live long due to complications in organ-sharing.

Front Page of The Times Very Disturbing

When I went to timesonline.co.uk today, the front page was plastered with murder. Headlining was "Eight die as school murder comes to Europe" and right beneath it was "I heard Meredith's dying screams, says suspect." At first, I thought these two stories were related because of how they were layed out on the page. But they are, in fact, to separate tragedies.

You can read the "Eight die" story here. Pekka-Eric Auvinen (the killer), 18, began by posting a video to Youtube wearing a shirt declaring "Humanity is Overrated" and points his gun at the camera and says, “I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit.” Within hours, he went to Jokela High School in southern Finland and shot dead five boys, two girls and the headmistress and wounded about a dozen more. He later failed in his suicide attempt.

The "Meredith's screams" story is here but the part I want to focus on is here. A friend of mine from high school is quoted in it, so it makes this whole mess a little personal. For anyone who's tried to even follow this event, it's a huge, nasty mess. I'm not sure what elements of it are more scandalous than others. Essentially, an American Amanda Knox is a suspect in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Italy. There is a lot of evidence that Knox and her boyfriend had been lying to the police about their involvement (or alleged lack thereof) in the murder. Knox and her boyfriend have posted several MySpace stories about rape, fetishizing and glorifying it--which makes them bigger suspects in this investigation since there is evidence Kercher was held down by one person and raped by another before she was killed.

Sex Ban on the Airbus A380

First of all, I must say that if I miss anything about living in London—and this would be the ONLY thing—it’s The Times. If you aren’t familiar with this quirky, but very respectable English paper, browse it online sometime. Brits have a slightly different view of what’s newsworthy and amusing than we do that’s refreshing.

This article from The Times responds to the sex ban in the new double suite-airplanes. If you haven’t heard about the new Airbus, essentially it’s taken passenger comfort and luxury to the next level, providing rooms with beds (which can be raised and lowered as chairs) and other amenities for those willing to pay. O.K. Fine. Maybe they’ve gone a bit overboard. But now Singapore Airlines has implemented a strict ‘no sex’ rule. Two questions: 1) Why would you fly a jet with beds in it if you’re concerned about on-board coitus? 2) How will this ban be enforced? patrols every five minutes?

If you have nothing better to do right now, read the whole thing here.