And in no surprise to anyone

Academic Scientist has the worst study:final salary ratio going. At least according to this article.

So, apart from a complete disinterest in it, why didn't I study fashion?!? I could have been a fashion trend forecaster! Then again, with my fashion sense, probably not.

Still, better than an archaeologist. I know two of them, and one's currently retraining as a doctor because there is no work.

(no subject)

I've been thinking about the Tyra Hunter case and my mind's still boggling. The bare facts - as outlined by Wikipedia - are:

Tyra Hunter was a 24 year old transsexual woman who died on August 7, 1995 in Washington, DC after being injured as a passenger in a car accident. Emergency medical technicians at the scene of the accident uttered derogatory epithets and withdrew medical care after discovering her birth sex, and ER staff at DC General Hospital subsequently provided dilatory and inadequate care.

On December 11, 1998 a jury awarded Tyra's mother, Margie Hunter, $2,873,000 after finding the District of Columbia guilty of negligence and malpractice. While $500,000 of the amount was awarded for damages attributable to the withdrawal of medical care at the accident scene, a further $1,500,000 was for conscious pain and suffering endured by Tyra in the emergency room as the result of medical malpractice. Dana Priesing, an observer at the wrongful death trial, wrote that the evidence supported "the inference that a stereotype (namely that Tyra was an anonymous, drug using, TG street person) affected the treatment [Tyra] received," and that the "ER staff, as evidenced by their actions, did not consider her life worth saving."

"Withdrew medical care". That just astounds me. This was a person lying on the ground, covered in blood, in pain and conscious and they stopped treating her and laughed at her. I just... don't get it. How could anyone do that? What relevance could her genitalia possibly have to whether or not you continue treatment to try to save her life?

There are times when I just find myself hitting a blank wall of total incomprehension, and this is one of them.

What if the person they'd been treating was intersex? Or circumcised? Or had lost their genitalia in an accident? Or had abnormally small genitalia? Or abnormally large? Would they have stopped treatment then? I hope like hell that they're not still working, or God help anyone they come across who doesn't fit their expectations of 'normality'.

Another one is finding serial bigot Fred Phelps's websites - (www.godhatesfags.com and www.godhatesamerica.com - but of course, what else could they possibly be?) although that is at least tempered by some amusement. Mostly at his interpretation of the Columbia Shuttle crash, which frankly... I shouldn't laugh but I am.

To quote:

HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, ISRAEL

God Almighty has struck this evil nation a great blow yet again, and sends a message to Israel -- separate yourself from this leper colony, and return to God.

As America stirred and woke up on the morning of February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia raced toward its landing site in Florida. Over Texas, it mysteriously disintegrated as it streaked back to earth. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! THERE WERE NO TERRORISTS FOR YOU TO BLAME THIS ON at 200,000 feet traveling at MACH 18!!!! GOD STRUCK THE SYMBOL OF YOUR MIGHT AND ARROGANCE OUT OF THE SKY!!!

"And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?" Numbers 14:11

Or, you know, it crashed. Personally I prefer the mega lightning theory, which at least has the benefit of a pretty picture to go with it.