Bits & Bytes

• Warning! Open heart surgery can be hazardous to your health!--On November 3, the Associated Press quoted Dr. John Klein of the University of Rochester school of medicine as saying the revelation of Arthur Ashe's HIV status was a "seminal event" in educating people on how to avoid HIV through safer sex. Ashe contracted HIV through a blood transfusion.
• Just how dumb are we?--The November 10 National Review reports on a science project where a 14-year old student explained how dihydrogen monoxide is a major component of acid rain, may be lethal if inhaled, and causes severe burns in gaseous form. When surveyed, 86% of people who saw the project would favor a ban on this substance, which happens to be water. Ralph Nader would be proud.
• IDS helping to fill ZBT scavenger hunt?--One week after it announced the expulsion of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity for a scavenger hunt list including "a picture of two chicks making out," the front page of the IDS featured two pictures of female couples kissing at an OUT event.
• Since when is opposing child abuse the trait of a "right-wing demagogue"?--In its November issue, the Bloomington Beacon refers to Judith Reisman as a "right-wing demagogue" in an interview with an official from the Kinsey institute. Reisman's "sin" of attacking the Kinsey institute was for a topic we would hope the Beacon would agree with, that children cannot be experimented on to get "scientific" data.