What Else Is News?
What Else Is News?
A lot of bad stuff and a couple of happy moments.
Negativity breeds more negativity. So while much of the news this past week was nothing short of bleak, we will finish this list with some hopeful news.
Purdue Student Stabbed to Death by Roommate. Varun Manish Chheda, a 20-year-old science major at Purdue University, was stabbed to death by his roommate in what authorities are calling an unprovoked attack. The Indianapolis native was apparently playing video games over voice chat when his roommate, Ji Min "Jimmy" Sha, 22, attacked Chheda. People who were playing video games with Chheda said they could hear the screams as he was being attacked. Sha, a junior cybersecurity major from South Korea, apologized after he was taken into custody and said that he had been “blackmailed,” but did not specify what that had to do with his actions.
University of Arizona Professor Killed by Former Student. Meanwhile, on the University of Arizona campus, Dr. Thomas Meixner, a professor and the head of the university's Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, was shot and killed inside a school building. Police had been notified that Murad Dervish, 46, a former University of Arizona student, was in a building where he was not allowed to be. Before police could arrive and escort Dervish off campus, he fatally shot Meixner and wounded another person. Dervish then fled, but was apprehended about 120 miles away. After he was arrested by police, Dervish said, “I just felt so disrespected by that whole department.” Dervish had been expelled in February for threatening behavior.
NYU Fires Teacher for Making Organic Chemistry Too Hard. Far less tragic but quite curious is this story from the hallowed halls of higher education. Maitland Jones, Jr., 84, was fired from New York University after a student petition claimed that his teaching style and harsh grading were making it difficult for them to pass organic chemistry. The students claim that their intent was not to get Jones fired.
Jones is well-regarded as a mastermind in organic chemistry and even wrote a textbook based on his teaching ideas. Organic chemistry is a notoriously difficult college course that is sometimes used to “weed out” pre-med students. The incident has drawn plenty of opinions, with some saying that colleges treat education like it’s a product (an expensive one at that) and students and their parents like customers who must always be satisfied (and hopefully not want their money back). Others have argued that the Uber-difficult weed out classes disproportionately favor well-off students while leaving first-generation and lower-income students in the lurch.
Dozens Killed in Thailand Daycare Massacre. We tend to think of mass killings as an American phenomenon, and thus don't pay as much attention when they happen elsewhere. But it was impossible to ignore the devastation in Thailand last week, when a former police officer entered the Young Children’s Development Center with a shotgun, a pistol and a knife and proceeded to shoot teachers and stab sleeping children. Of the 38 people who were killed, 23 of them were young children.
Panya Khamrab, 34, was identified as the killer. He fled the scene, went back to his house and eventually took his own life. Police did not know of a motive. Khamrah had been dismissed from the police force in June after charges of drug use.
Sad Ways to Go. These two stories, while initially providing a Darwinian sense of what not to do, illustrate the fragility of life and split-second decisions. A woman in Santa Clarita, California was found dead and partially trapped in a donations bin she had apparently crawled into. In Myrtle Beach, a man from Akron died after falling from a balcony. Police reports indicate the man was attempting to do a handstand on the balcony during Hurricane Ian when he lost his balance and fell.
Biden Talks Armageddon. President Biden said that the United States has “not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” but that might be changing since Vladimir Putin “was not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.” Don’t worry, though, because Biden’s press secretary said the United States has “not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor do we have indications that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons.”
Well, that was a relief, until it was revealed that the government bought $290 million worth of a drug to treat blood cell injuries from radiological and nuclear attacks. What better time to stock up, right?
And now for some good news.
Here are a couple of upbeat stories from the past week.
Hawaii Reduces Number of Girls in Juvenile Detention to Zero. Hawaii recently reported that for the first time in history it had no girls in juvenile detention. Authorities and advocates credit a years-long effort to meet the needs of at-risk girls in Hawaii by providing important resources such as community-based programs. The goal now is to keep the number of incarcerated girls at zero for as long as possible.
Boy Uses Ancient Tool to Become Math Genius. When Dr. Rashmi Mantri saw her son, Dhruv, struggling with math, she didn’t get him a tutor. She got him an abacus. Dhruv’s math skills improved within a week of using the abacus, his mother says. “It was something I used as a child in India and it was always helpful.” And it certainly helped her son. Dhruv became the kid at school whom others looked to for help with math, and he now has a math-related apprenticeship. Dr. Mantri launched a tutoring service to help other children better their math skills using an abacus. “They become a playing tool for younger children; it feels like a game,” she says. “I think the success comes because children can touch and feel an abacus and visualize them.”