Archive for September 23rd, 2011
Five Historically Infamous Executions: Justice Served or Grave Mistake? – TIME NewsFeed
The Troy Anthony Davis case is just the latest in a long list of executions carried out amidst serious doubt of the guilt of the condemned.
Some are federal, some are state executions, but people on either side of the death penalty debate have helped raise issues on these and other cases. Here are a few of the most controversial
via Five Historically Infamous Executions: Justice Served or Grave Mistake? – TIME NewsFeed.
Jumping Off a Building With Bubble Wrap | Wired Science | Wired.com
Why would anyone ask a question like this? Why would I even attempt to answer it? It’s what I do, that’s why. I serve the Interwebs. Perhaps someone in the Reddit comments has already answered this – but I shall proceed anyway.
Before I start, I would like to change the question. I am pretty sure you can jump out of a first story window without any bubble wrap. Here I am assuming first story means second story window (or one floor above the ground). Really, this shouldn’t be too difficult to jump from this high. Here is my dangerous jumping calculator. Essentially, the important thing is how far do you travel while stopping. It can be done.
The modified question will be: How much bubble wrap do you need to survive jumping out of the 6th floor of a building? Let me randomly say this is a height of 20 meters.
Where would you start with a question like this? Well, first, we need some bubble wrap. What properties can I even measure from bubble wrap?
via Jumping Off a Building With Bubble Wrap | Wired Science | Wired.com.
BBC News – ‘First Irish case’ of death by spontaneous combustion
A man who burned to death in his home died as a result of spontaneous combustion, an Irish coroner has ruled.
West Galway coroner Dr Ciaran McLoughlin said it was the first time in 25 years of investigating deaths that he had recorded such a verdict.
Michael Faherty, 76, died at his home in Galway on 22 December 2010.
Deaths attributed by some to “spontaneous combustion” occur when a living human body is burned without an apparent external source of ignition.
Typically police or fire investigators find burned corpses but no burned furniture.
An inquest in Galway on Thursday heard how investigators had been baffled as to the cause of Mr Faherty’s death at his home at Clareview Park, Ballybane.
via BBC News – ‘First Irish case’ of death by spontaneous combustion.
FBI’s ‘Stingray’ Cellphone Tracker Stirs a Fight Over Search Warrants, Fourth Amendment – WSJ.com
For more than a year, federal authorities pursued a man they called simply “the Hacker.” Only after using a little known cellphone-tracking device—a stingray—were they able to zero in on a California home and make the arrest.
Stingrays are designed to locate a mobile phone even when it’s not being used to make a call. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the devices to be so critical that it has a policy of deleting the data gathered in their use, mainly to keep suspects in the dark about their capabilities, an FBI official told The Wall Street Journal in response to inquiries.
A stingray’s role in nabbing the alleged “Hacker”—Daniel David Rigmaiden—is shaping up as a possible test of the legal standards for using these devices in investigations. The FBI says it obtains appropriate court approval to use the device.
via FBI’s ‘Stingray’ Cellphone Tracker Stirs a Fight Over Search Warrants, Fourth Amendment – WSJ.com.
Boys and Girls: The Beatles! | BlogHer
The Music Minis review a new iPad/iPhone app with educational storybooks set to Beatles songs. They especially liked the music, saying
Enter the StoryChimes app, which has downloadable story books and songbooks featuring classic music (the $2.99 app comes with 2 songs). Well, that’s a win-win. Because anytime you take something new (like an app) and combine it with awesome music, that makes a Music Mama happy.
A Brief History of the Emoticon
Did you know the emoticon is almost 30 years old? Twenty-nine years ago, Scott Fahlman, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, first proposed a colon, hyphen and bracket as a way of conveying emotional meaning via plain text.
Fast-forward and the simple smiley has evolved — some might say mutated — into various, and very varied, multi-colored, animated characters leering at you from your computer or phone screen.
To mark this anniversary, we’ve taken an abridged look at some interesting moments in the history of the emoticon. Have a look through the gallery and let us know in the comments your thoughts on this form of communication.
Ketchup killing proves sauce of fun for Brazilian town | World news | The Guardian
In all his years in Brazilian law enforcement, police chief Marconi Almino de Lima had never faced a case like this: a sordid tale of love, jealousy, a contract killer and kitchen condiments.It all began in June when Maria Nilza Simões, a housewife in the small town of Pindobaçu, around 240 miles from Salvador, in the north-eastern state of Bahia, allegedly sought out a local gun for hire to do away with her husband’s lover.Carlos Roberto de Jesus, an unemployed ex-con, accepted the mission. For around £350 he agreed to kill Erenildes Aguiar Araújo, known simply as Lupita. According to one version, Lupita had been having an affair with Simões’ partner and Simões wanted her rival out of the way. The day of the murder was to be 24 June.All was going to plan until the novice hitman located his target. The hit turned out to be a childhood friend. Unable to go through with it, De Jesus grappled for a way out, eventually devising what he apparently thought was an ingenious solution: tomato ketchup.Armed with two bottles of the sauce, he opened up to his friend, led her into the forest and staged a mock-execution with a mouth gag and a machete. Lupita was doused in tomato ketchup and a photo was taken as proof of death.”I tore my own top, I stuck the knife in my side,” she told a local newspaper. “He tied me up and threw the ketchup. He took a photo and delivered it to her.”The photograph – this week splashed over the front pages of Brazil’s tabloids – shows Lupita’s head tilted backwards, her body smothered with distinctly unrealistic-looking “blood” and a long knife, jammed comically under her arm-pit.More Monty Python than CSI Miami, the photo nevertheless worked. Simões is said to have been taken-in by the image, shown to her on a mobile phone. The fee was paid.But another twist was to come. Days later, Simões was walking in the local market when she saw her contract killer canoodling with the supposedly dead Lupita.Furious, she marched into the local police station and reported him for theft. Her decision triggered the strangest investigation police chief Almino de Lima is ever likely to face.”In eight years service I have never heard of anything like it and we hear a lot of stories,” the police chief told the local Correio da Bahia newspaper.All three characters are now facing charges. Simões for issuing death threats against Lupita; Lupita and De Jesus for extortion.De Jesus, the ketchup killer, has reportedly skipped town while Simões faces public humiliation.”Did she really not notice that the knife was stuck in the arm-pit?” Vera Márcia de Araújo, a local shopkeeper, told a local newspaper. “The whole town is laughing in her face.”Lupita, now a local celebrity nicknamed the “ketchup woman”, seems to have come off best.Reports on Friday suggested her newfound fame had led to her name being touted for a seat in the local town hall.”That’s what people are saying around here, but it’s something I’ll have to think about,” she said.Hélio Palmeira, the town’s mayor, has claimed she has a good chance of being elected while Walterley Kuhin, a local radio-show host, also backed a future campaign: “The people around here are pretty fed up with the town hall. Why not get some ketchup in there?”
via Ketchup killing proves sauce of fun for Brazilian town | World news | The Guardian.
Three arrested in bungled beer heist in Covina – latimes.com
Three Covina men are behind bars after they allegedly stole a 30-pack of Tecate beer from a market and attempted to escape but crashed a car and hit an employee who chased them, then one ran through a car wash and another left behind his ID.
Andy Huynh, Nicholas Kalscheuer and Nicholas Fiumetto, all 19, were arrested Wednesday on charges of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, according to a Covina police report.
Kalscheuer and Fiumetto entered the Baja Ranch Market about 3 p.m. Wednesday while Huynh remained behind the wheel of a car nearby.
Inside the store, Fiumetto grabbed a 30-pack of beer and the two men ran out. Employees ran after the pair into the parking lot, grabbing and detaining Kalscheuer and later turning him over to police, according to the report.
Fiumetto, meanwhile, threw the beer in the car and jumped in the front passenger seat.
As Huynh pulled out, an employee jumped on the hood of the car to avoid getting run over. Huynh careened through the parking lot, hitting a curb and sending the employee onto the pavement, scraping his arms in the fall, according to the report.
Huynh and Fiumetto ran off. Fiumetto climbed a fence and ran into the Citrus Car Wash next door.
Pepe Pinedo, the car wash manager, was standing amid drying cars when he saw Fiumetto, pursued by two officers, run into the car wash tunnel.
At the time, “there were two cars being washed in the tunnel,” Pinedo said. “He got into the wash and the rollers and got all wet.
“By the time, he came out of the car wash, the officer was already on the other end of the tunnel,” he continued. “It was kind of funny. It was a nice show.”
Huynh ran off but had left his wallet and identification in the car. Police officers contacted him later and convinced him to turn himself in.
All three men are expected to be arraigned in court Friday. Until then, they are being held in Covina City Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
via Three arrested in bungled beer heist in Covina – latimes.com.
