The Trials of Father MacRae

Another chapter in the [Catholic] "clergy sex abuse scandal":
Dorothy Rabinowitz, The Trials of Father MacRae Wall Street Journal (May 10, 2013):
"Last Christmas Eve, his 18th behind bars, Catholic priest Gordon MacRae offered Mass in his cell at the New Hampshire state penitentiary. A quarter-ounce of unfermented wine and the host had been provided for the occasion, celebrated with the priest's cellmate in attendance. Sentenced to 33½-67 years following his 1994 conviction for sexual assault against a teenage male, Father MacRae has just turned 60.
"The path that led inexorably to that conviction would have been familiar to witnesses of the manufactured sex-abuse prosecutions that swept the nation in the 1980s and early 1990s and left an extraordinary number of ruined lives in its wake. Here once more, in the MacRae case, was a set of charges built by a determined sex-abuse investigator and an atmosphere in which accusation was, in effect, all the proof required to bring a guilty verdict. But now there was another factor: huge financial payouts for victims' claims.
"That a great many of the accusations against the priests were amply documented, that they involved the crimes of true predators all too often hidden or ignored, no one can doubt.
"Neither should anyone doubt the ripe opportunities there were for fraudulent abuse claims filed in the hope of a large payoff. Busy civil attorneys—working on behalf of clients suddenly alive to the possibilities of a molestation claim, or open to suggestions that they remembered having been molested—could and did reap handsome rewards for themselves and their clients. The Diocese of Manchester, where Father MacRae had served, had by 2004 paid out $22,210,400 in settlements to those who had accused its priests of abuse.
[snip, snip]
"... Among [the charges made by Mr. Grover was] that he had been sexually assaulted by Father MacRae when he was 15 during five successive counseling sessions. Why, after the first horrifying attack, had Mr. Grover willingly returned for four more sessions, in each of which he had been forcibly molested? Because, he explained, he had come to each new meeting with no memory of the previous attack. In addition, Mr. Grover said, he had experienced 'out of body' episodes that had blocked his recollection."
&&&
The dynamic evidence page

Evidence marshaling software MarshalPlan

A Single Underlying Logic of "Intelligence"?

Consider the contrast between

(1) an article trumpeting the hoped-for development of artificial intelligence that is rooted in a single form of logic (allegedly) displayed by, or incorporated in, the physical architecture -- the neuronal physical architecture -- of the brain

with

(2) an article questioning a theory about intelligence (and more) that is rooted in a different kind of "grand unified theory" (a theory called "grand entropic forces").

Contrast

Daniela Hernandez, The Man Behind the Google Brain: Andrew Ng and the Quest for the New AI Wired (May 7, 2013)

with

Gary Marcus & Ernest Davis, A Grand Unified Theory of Everything (Post on Blog "Elements"), New Yorker (May 6, 2013).

&&& The dynamic evidence page

Evidence marshaling software MarshalPlan

Darwinian Selection at Large Law Firms

Everett Bellamy, Review: Dirty secrets of legal profession (May 5, 2013):

"[Stephen J. Harper, LAWYER BUBBLE: A PROFESSION IN CRISIS (2013)] argues that the role top law schools play in putting their graduates in large law firms is misguided, particularly in light of the high turnover rate of associates at big firms (the fifth-year associate turnover rate exceeds 80%)."
&&&
Is it even clear that large law firms generally select the "fittest" associates for partnerships?
&&&
The dynamic evidence page

Evidence marshaling software MarshalPlan