Bizarre News

[MistWeaver]

I feel sorry for the wife...

This wife should be put to jail along with her freak-husband, and never ever see her child again.

[Corribus]

Not bizarre. More dispicable than anything really, this is a local news story that's been all over the TV and papers lately. You can read some of the complicated details here.

Here's the low-down.

19 year old drexel freshman, daughter of pretty wealthy parents, has a baby over Christmas break, allegedly in a bathroom stall. Nobody, not even her parents, knew (allegedly) that she was even pregnant. Girl proceeds to (allegedly, all of this) wrap the baby and bloody clothes in a plastic bag, upon which it suffocates, and she stuffs it in the trunk of a car, which is parked in front of her grandfather's home. Girl's mother finds the baby's corpse in the car three weeks later. Girl turns herself in and is charged with 1st degree murder.

This of itself is disturbing enough to me. Even if the baby was dead before she stuffed it in a bag, which is unlikely, the fact she didnt' tell anyone about it is very suspicious. But even so you hear about cases like this from time to time - girls ashamed of being pregnant, having the kid in secret and then leaving the baby to die. Disgusting but not too uncommon.

No the disturbing thing to me, which I heard on the news this morning, is that the girl's defense attorneys are saying that the girl suffers from "denial-of-pregnancy syndrome" and that "It's not a situation that would warrant the filing of murder charges".

Huh? Denial of Pregnancy Syndrome? Are you kidding me?

[Omega_Destroyer]

An interesting defense that will fail. How can you possibly deny pregnancy after you've given birth? Even better, it's inexcusable to think you can't get pregnant after having unprotected sex. What about all the other friggen symptoms? Hard to deny those. And trial attorney's wonder why they have such a bad wrap. That chick is toast. If a jury buys that defense, I'll eat my shoe.

[Corribus]

The funny thing is, and I don't know if I believe it, that the legal analyst they had on the news this morning was saying that in a lot of cases like this the jury takes sympathy on the accused and exonerates them, although admitting that the accused is legally guilty. Probably because defense attorneys carefully select the juries to include members who are susceptible to emotional manipulation, and proceed to paint the accused as a tragic figure, mentally ill for a moment but not evil.

I wish I could end up on a trial like this, but it would never happen. I'd be passed over very quickly by any defense attorney with two brain cells.

[Omega_Destroyer]

I'm not sure in this case. The lengths the woman went to are amazing. Put layer upon layer of clothes around the baby, find a plastic bag, sneak it around people, open a car trunk and toss a suspicous bag in there. Seems like a bit much too for a jury to buy. But I'm giving juries too much credit. Law school has really eroded my faith in humanity.

I could see that case being easily appealed by a prosecutor. Or I could see her pleading insanity, which is probably worse than a murder conviction. Mainly because you are kept in an institution until you are deemed sane and then you are tried again as a sane person.

[Gaidal Cain]

Reminds me about an article I recently read. Apparantly, there are som "researchers" out there, which less than scrupulous lawyers can contct to testify thath there's a disease called "temporary bone brittleness" or something like that, in order to get manhandling parents of the hook. The courts can of course dispense these claims by contacting serious researchers, but that costs money. In the end, the parents are still convicted, but it's costs a heck of a lot more money than it should have.

[Omega_Destroyer]

Lawyers are supposed to try their best to get their clients the justice they feel the are entitled to. This is a very grey area for ethics, because what is good for your client is often not good for justice. Not surprsingly, trial lawyers are often looked down upon by other attorneys for their tactics. That's why I could never be a trial attorney. I have no desire to defend someone who beats a child.

As to the "disease" they've been using, I'm surprised a prosecutor hasn't challanged the inclusion of such evidence as too speculative. Frankly I'm surprised a judge would allow something so inane to be argued.

[Corribus]

Here's a weird one:

Wealthy Couple Charged With Slavery
(Pictures by following the link - the woman looks evil)

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (May 24) - A millionaire couple accused of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves in their luxurious Long Island home and abusing them for years have been indicted on federal slavery charges.

Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, operate a worldwide perfume business out of their home, contracting with overseas factories to manufacture the fragrances.

The two were arrested last week after one of their servants was found wandering outside a doughnut shop on Long Island, wearing only pants and a towel. The woman was believed to have fled the home when she took the trash out the night before.

The couple pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court, and a magistrate judge set bail at $3.5 million and imposed home detention with electronic monitoring.

Charles A. Ross, who represents Varsha Sabhnani, has said that the couple traveled extensively and that the two Indonesian women were free to leave whenever they wished. He previously described them as "model citizens" who "only want to clear their names."

Friends and relatives indicated the two would be willing to post bail, but as of Wednesday, they remained in custody.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Demitri Jones called the allegations "truly a case of modern-day slavery."

The women, prosecutors said, were subjected to beatings, had scalding water thrown on them and were forced to repeatedly climb stairs as punishment for perceived misdeeds. In one case, prosecutors said, one of the women was forced to eat 25 hot chili peppers at one time.

One of the women also told authorities they were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen and were fed so little, they had to steal food.

The women legally arrived in the United States on B-1 visas in 2002; the Sabhnanis then confiscated their passports and refused to let them leave their home, authorities said. Identified in court papers as Samirah and Nona, the women said they were promised payments of $200 and $100 a month, but federal prosecutors said they were never given money directly. One of the victims' daughters living in Indonesia was sent $100 a month, prosecutors said.

They have since been cared for by Catholic Charities, according to a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

[Elvin]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, it's not as if we are too civilised even in these days...In any case it's sad that some people can abuse others just because they can

[asandir]

French-speaking policeman busts dopey tourists
Two tourists got a big surprise when they spoke in French so a police officer would not know they had marijuana after they had been stopped on the outskirts of Broken Hill in far western New South Wales.

The policeman also spoke French.

The pair were travelling in a hired van and were stopped for a random breath test on the Barrier Highway, west of the city.

Police say when one of them was asked for his licence, his companion said in French, "Don't pull it out when you show him".

The officer replied in French that he understood what they were saying and asked what it was they did not want taken out.

The pair apparently looked at each other in surprise.

Police took 13 grams of marijuana in resealable plastic bag from them and they were taken to the police station.

The 23-year-old and 24-year-old gave police an address in France and were given a cannabis caution and sent on their way.

Cautions are issued to people of good character when only small amounts of the drug are found.

[Elvin]

They spoke in the most obscure language of the planet to hide their secret

[asandir]

stealthy weren't they

[ThunderTitan]

They must have confused one colony where all the dregs of Europe went with the other.

[asandir]

does that happen a lot?

[ThunderTitan]

Sony touts tiny, film-thin TV screen that bends



TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- In the race for ever-thinner displays for TVs, cell phones and other gadgets, Sony may have developed one to beat them all -- a razor-thin display that bends like paper while showing full-color video.

Sony Corp. released video of the new 2.5-inch display Friday. In it, a hand squeezes a display that is 0.3 millimeters, or 0.01 inch, thick. The display shows color images of a bicyclist stuntman and a picturesque lake.

Although flat-panel TVs are getting slimmer, a display that's so thin it bends in a human hand marks a breakthrough.

Sony said it has yet to decide on commercial products using the technology.

"In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a person's wrist, even worn as clothing," said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. "Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper."

Tatsuo Mori, an engineering and computer science professor at Nagoya University, said some hurdles remained, including making the display bigger, ensuring durability and cutting costs.

But he said the display's pliancy is extremely difficult to imitate with liquid crystal displays and plasma display panels -- the two main display technologies now on the market.

"To come up with a flexible screen at that image quality is groundbreaking," Mori said. "You can drop it, and it won't break because it's as thin as paper."

The new display combines two technologies: Sony's organic thin film transistor, which is required to make flexible displays, and organic electroluminescent display.

Other companies, including LG. Philips LCD Co. and Seiko Epson Corp., are also working on a different kind of "electronic paper" technology, but Sony said the organic electroluminescent display delivers better color images and is more suited for video.

[MistWeaver]

Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself

It's becoming a trend: Evangelical Christian institutions that try to do science inevitably demonstrate breathtaking inanity of their own. The latest victim is the Pawleys Island Christian Academy. Take a gander at the first place winner in biology.

Brian Benson, an eighth-grade student who won first place in the Life Science/Biology category for his project "Creation Wins!!!," says he disproved part of the theory of evolution. Using a rolled-up paper towel suspended between two glasses of water with Epsom Salts, the paper towel formed stalactites. He states that the theory that they take millions of years to develop is incorrect.

"Scientists say it takes millions of years to form stalactites," Benson said. "However, in only a couple of hours, I have formed stalactites just by using paper towel and Epsom Salts."

This isn't just wrong, it's appallingly wrong. He's wrong on the facts, wrong on the interpretations, wrong on the understanding of how science works. If we're charitable and grant that a 14 year old has some reasonable excuse for ignorance, we can still indict his parents, his science teacher, and the judges at this fair on gross incompetence on multiple charges.
This experiment has nothing to do with biology.
Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate; stalactites are made of calcium carbonate.
Stalactite growth rates are estimated to be around 0.1-10 centimeters per thousand years. If we assume his 'stalactite' was 10 cm long and use the slowest growth rate, that's 100 thousand years, not millions.
Even if he had demonstrated an accelerated rate of stalactite growth, stalactite length isn't the method used to date the age of the earth.
To quote the unquestionable authority, Terry Pratchett: "And all those exclamation points? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head." Mister Benson comes perilously close to the underpants limit in his title.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007 ... e_fair.php

[ThunderTitan]

Wow, now that's trying...

[asandir]

that's scary!

Mid-flight drama ends in airborne birth
A woman has given birth to a baby boy while on board a flight from Munich, Germany, to Atlanta in the Untied States.

When flight stewards on board Delta Flight 131 asked if there was a doctor on the plane, American doctors Robert Vincent and Dieter Gunkle stepped forward.

They were about 10,000 metres above Washington DC when a young woman went into labour a month early.

Dr Vincent says he and Dr Gunkle had to use any tool they could get their hands on.

"We tied the rope (umbilical cord) with some rope from somewhere, we cut it with something - I don't know what it was because you're not allowed knives and things on aeroplanes any more," he said.

At first the child had no heart-beat and was not breathing, but the men were eventually able to resuscitate the baby boy.

After the birth, the pilot made a detour to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Staff at the hospital there say mother and son are in good health.

funniest thing in that is the spelling mistake

[winterfate]

Perhaps it was intentional?

[Corribus]

Jack in the Box Ads Called Misleading

By GARY GENTILE

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The parent company of the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast food chains sued rival Jack In The Box Inc. (JBX) on Friday to stop TV ads that it says suggest Carl's Jr. and Hardee's use cow anus to make Angus beef hamburgers.

CKE Restaurants Inc. (CKR) sued Jack In The Box in U.S. District Court on Friday over an ad in which executives laugh hysterically at the word "Angus" and another where the chain's pingpong ball-headed mascot, Jack, is asked to point to a diagram of a cow and show where Angus meat comes from.

"I'd rather not," the pointy-nosed Jack replies.

The employee asking the question traces a circle in the air with his pen while pronouncing the word Angus.

CKE claims the ads create the misleading impression that Jack In The Box's new 100 percent sirloin burgers use a better quality of meat than the Angus beef used by Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. CKE claims the spots confuse consumers by comparing sirloin, a cut of meat found on all cattle, with Angus, which is a breed of cattle.

Executives at San Diego-based Jack In The Box had not seen the lawsuit and could not respond, company spokeswoman Kathleen Anthony said.

Restaurants owned by Burger King Holdings Inc. (BKC) and McDonald's Corp. (MCD) also serve Angus beef burgers.

CKE is known for running controversial ads for its chains, including one featuring a scantily clad Paris Hilton washing a car while eating a burger. But CKE claims the Jack In the Box ads go too far.

"They're not being funny," CKE chief executive Andrew F. Puzder said Friday. "They need to stop misleading people about what Angus beef is."

Puzder said that the company asked Jack In the Box to drop the ads, but that the chain refused and pointed to a Carl's Jr. TV spot suggesting Carl's Jr. milk shakes were superior to those served by competitors.

Puzder said the comparison was not valid because the Carl's Jr. ads did not suggest that Jack In the Box shakes were made from milk that came from an unsavory part of the cow.