I saw a patient with “we-don’t-know-what-you-have” syndrome during my medical rounds last week. He was a little boy with severe cognitive and developmental disabilities. When we went to visit him, he seemed detached and uninterested in the world; he didn’t want to talk with the doctors, or answer questions and whatnot. This is very typical for patients with severe neurological disease and especially among the younger patients.

But then, one of the doctors among us pulled out an iPad and encouraged the kid to start playing with it. The little boy suddenly came to life. He was swiping, smiling, and was doing things a typical young boy is supposed to do. This is something the traditional physician-patient interaction seemingly can’t achieve. Technology can really do wonders for the world of medicine, and I’m just fascinated what potential this has in the treatment of patients especially those with neurological diseases.

If this doesn’t describe magical, I really don’t know what does.

• China and Russia block UN resolution on Syria.
• Rick Santorum wins CO caucuses (this man gives me the feeling the world will end in 2012).
• Boehner wants to overturn Obama’s birth control policy.
• Maldives Protests Spread After Leader Ousted.
• Signs build that Iran sanctions disrupt food imports.
• Teen Thrill Killer Alyssa Bustamante Could Get Paroled Some Day.
• Los Angeles School Sex Abuse Scandal Implicates Fourth Staffer.
• UVA lacrosse player murder case (is it just me or does lax have the most amount of scandals per any sport out there?)
• Gingrich Warns of Iranian Nuclear Attack.

This is why I can’t ever imagine a career in politics, law, business, or public policy. There’s just so much negativity. The only positive bits of life comes from the sports, science, and technology sections. Hence why I’m in science. Instead of pushing monies around or trying to impose personal ideologies on other people, scientists and athletes seek to innovate, entertain, and inspire the world. Some headlines from these sections:

• Gene therapy ‘gave me sight back’.
• LeRoy Mystery Illness Symptoms May Be Spreading Through Social Media.
• How will Pats approach Welker contract?
• Next supercontinent will amaze you.
• Breathtaking Carina nebula photo provides window into star nursery

Of course, science, technology, and sports all have their share of scandals, but as a bigger picture, I think world events speak for themselves.

And 50cc of Ziprasidone to whomever the author is. Stat.

But the most amazing piece of advice I took away from just the first 40 pages of the book is their unusual technique to tackling reading questions. In fact, the first problem set asked you to answer reading passage questions without giving you the reading passage! At first, I was like “What the hell. Where’s the passage?”. It turns out, however, you can answer most of the questions by just looking at the questions. Interesting techniques such as eliminating extreme answer choices, choices that say the same thing, etc… along with a bit of thought can come a long way. I tried it out myself, and I’m averaging only 1–2 wrong answers per passage, and thats without even reading the damn thing.

So here it is. I’m usually skeptical of exam taking “strategies”, but hats off to Examcrackers. You’ve got me convinced. I might even go out and buy a copy for myself instead of freeloading off my peers.

Tom: So what are you studying for?
Me: The MCAT. It’s pretty awful.
Tom: You know, when I took the MCAT back in the 70s, it was a little different.

During my summer break between my junior and senior years of college, I was hanging out on the lawn of my fraternity. One of my fraternity brothers gave me a lawn mower, a pack of 40s, and a MCAT preparation book. I did a “pre-test” in the prep book and looked at my results. The book suggested that I shouldn’t even consider medicine for a career.

The next thing I did was (1) throw the MCAT book in the trash, (2) mowed the lawn, and (3) chugged the 40s. I then took the MCAT, and got one question wrong.

Morale of the story: WHY THE HELL IS THE MCAT SO FREAKING COMPLICATED NOWADAYS?!

1. Biology [+organic chemistry]
2. Reading (wtf?)
3. Physics
4. Essay
5. Inorganic Chemistry (wtf also, since I took 5 graduate level chemistry classes in undergrad and TA’d an organic chemistry class)

Progress (from most complete to most incomplete):

1. Biological Sciences
2. Physics
3. Chemistry (including Organic)
4. Writing
5. Reading (ugh)

The USMC Urination Scandal
This is probably the most recent event I’m going to be talking about since it just broke the news two days ago. In short, a video was posted on Youtube depicting four marines urinating on the corpses of three Afgani men. Whether these three men were insurgents or merely civilians is not known at this point. The deceptions in the video has outraged top officials in the US government and military from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the commandant of the USMC, General James Amos. Now, before I explain what my opinions are, I wanted to collectively see this situation from both sides of any potential argument (i.e. playing devil’s advocate with myself).

Reasons why the acts committed by the Marines were wrong.

• Desecration of a corpse is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention, which the United States signed and ratified in 1955.
• These acts clearly violate the core values of the USMC, some of which the Corps describe themselves, as “justice, judgement, dependability, integrity, decisiveness, unselfishness, knowledge” among others.
• The United States is at a very delicate place in time in negotiations with the Middle East regarding peace and stability, especially when the Taliban has recently decided to open a political office in Doha, Qatar to foster dialogue among themselves, the United States, and the current administration in Afganistan.
• Contribution to anti-American sentiments in the Middle East is especially damaging to the ongoing democratic effort in Afganistan. Many middle easterners may try to use this scandal to galvanize riots and attacks against the United States.

I would presume the majority of Americans, the rest of the world, and top government officials agree with the above points. But after reading around, I can see reasons why the Marines were justified in their actions:

• Combat situations are clearly very different from our normal civilian lives. Soldiers continually endure stress and PTSD which may cloud their judgement and cause them to do things they would have never done under normal circumstances.
• The Taliban and other insurgents do not respect the bodies of fallen US soldiers. There are many videos on the internet showing the desecration of the bodies of US military and civilian personnel, such as the notorious beheading videos and the dragging of their bodies through the streets.
• In addition, the Taliban et al commit inhumane acts (i.e. extreme implementation of Sharia law, massacring of civilians, etc…).
• We should respect whatever actions the military takes because soldiers are continually putting their lives on the line fighting for the freedom we so enjoy here back at home.

Now, in formulating my own opinion after examining both sides of the argument, I’d wish to point out the following:

• The United States, unquestionably, is a sovereign state and is held to the standards of the Geneva convention. The actions of the Marines was in clear violation of a 50+ year old policy.
• To refute point #2 in the argument for their actions, we have to note that the Taliban et al is not the legitimate seat-of-government for Afganistan and therefore not considered a sovereign state. Therefore, no matter what heinous acts they commit, they are not in violation of the Geneva convention simply because they never agreed to anything of the sort. So we can’t really say “they do it… so can we.” Anyways, do we really want to bring ourselves down to their level?
• To address point #4 in the argument for their actions, we must realize that our current military is composed of a 100% volunteer force. The men and women who serve are undoubtedly brave people, but they clearly know the risk and occupational hazard of serving. In light of this, they still need to be held to a professional standard for the sake of social trust for the military and the safety of their fellow colleagues.
• The four marines kind of shot themselves in the foot here. As the old adage says “It’s only a crime if you get caught“. Even keeping this in mind, they willingly taped the video (as seen in the footage) and I’m sure they were well aware of what they were doing and the potential consequences that follow. It’s like robbing a bank, having your buddy video tape the whole ordeal, then posting it online.

I wish to say that I strongly admire what the men and women of our military does. I’ve seen this first hand (I work for the US federal government, right across the street from Walter Reed) but it is so unfortunate that such a small number of rogue personell can tarnish the image of an institution that has fought for our freedom countless numbers of times. Now back to my conclusion on this whole ordeal: I want to say that (1) I clearly disagree with the actions portrayed in the video, but at the same time, (2) this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. The actions of few should not ruin the reputation of a whole institution and destabilize talks for peace. I really hope that the media will put this to rest and society will end up marking this as irrelevant to the grander scheme of things.

Whew, what a post. I’ll write about my thoughts on some other current events in a future post. It’ll probably be some thoughts on CES, the GOP race, or something healthcare related. Disclaimer: This is pure personal opinion. I try my best to approach everything objectively and get my facts straight. But sometimes I can slip up. Let me know if I need a fact check.

• David Kelley: He’s an incredible designer and the founder of IDEO. On a more personal level, we were both part of the same chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon back at Carnegie Mellon. I remember seeing his picture on the old composite hanging on our first floor. Small world!
• Reggie Watts: He recently spoke at TEDxMidAtlantic 2011. I was a part of the organizing team then and had a chance to meet him. What an incredible fellow! Watch his TEDx talk here.

In other TED news, I applied to attend TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar. TEDxSummit is a TEDx event specifically for organizers of TEDx events. Hopefully, I’ll find myself in the beautiful desert (away from this crappy DC weather) in April meeting some awesome like-minded people!