Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Media, Society

I’m Just Here For The Trademark: Lynch Files Claim Over Media Line

Marshawn_Lynch_Pro_Bowl_2013One of my colleagues sent me the latest example of people claiming common phrases or symbols as their own trademarked property. The latest trademark grab is by the normally taciturn Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. We previously discussed how Lynch refused to speak at press conference until he was fine and then went and kept repeating “I’m just here so I won’t get fine.” You guessed it. He has claimed a trademark to the phrase.

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Academia, Bizarre, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Saudi Arabian King Gives Controversial Islamic Cleric Top Award

220px-Dr_Zakir_NaikSaudi Arabia has long been criticized for its extreme religious beliefs as part of its devotion to Wahhabism. Now the Kingdom has generated more controversy by giving one of Saudi Arabia’s most prestigious prizes to Zakir Naik, an Islamic school who said that the Koran (Quran) “allows Muslims to have sex with female slaves” and seemed to support Osama Bin Laden, at least to the extent to which he was “fighting the enemies of Islam.” Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman gave Naik the King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) 2015 personally.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Long Island Man Arrested For 41st Time For Driving On Suspended License

42Jason Brown may be only 36 but he has just racked up his 41st driving offense in operating a vehicle on a suspended license. That’s right, 41 times. This time he was pulled over after police said that he was driving erratically and they found marijuana in the car as well as heroin and cocaine on his person.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Society

American Posts Criticism Of His Company In United Arab Emirates On Facebook . . . Company Brings Criminal Charges And Has Him Arrested Upon His Return To The UAE

AR-150309877We have previously discussed the common criminalization of speech found in Muslim countries (and the increasing criminalization seen in the West). The most recent victim is Ryan Pate, a civilian helicopter mechanic who was arrested for a derogatory comments made on Facebook in the United States toward his employer in the United Arab Emirates, Global Aerospace Logistics. After he returned to the United Arab Emirates, he was promptly arrested at the request of the company. This again is one of our closest allies that denies the basic protections of free speech not only to its citizens but even to Americans speaking in the United States.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, Society

Vandals Rescued From Cliff After Allegedly Trying To Flee From Historic Site In San Francisco

20150227_100243_cliff1_200Louis Murrillo and Zane Johnides were able to distinguish themselves this week in both their lack of values and intellect. The two men were busy vandalizing a historical military structure at Battery Yates, a historic military building along the water at Fort Baker, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge when they were spotted by park officers. The two attempted to escape by climbing over the cliff where they promptly got stuck — triggering a massive rescue effort including the lifting of one of the men of the cliff face with a helicopter.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering, Society

Disbarred or Rebarred? Defendant Arrested After Posing As Attorney While Waiting For His Own Plea Agreement

ArnoldKyle Arnold, 42, knows a thing or two about multitasking. Arnold was waiting to finalize his plea bargain for misdemeanor simple assault and reckless endangerment. He allegedly spotted the girlfriend of another defendant and decided to pose as an attorney and bilk her out of $1,300.

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Animals, Bizarre, International, Media, Society

South African App Helps Calculate Price Of A Bride

lobola-calc-1By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

If you have wondered how many cows your hand in marriage is worth, a new app may provide you with some important information–and more importantly, can you command More Cow (wedding) Bell.

Robert Matsaneng, a 26-year-old South African software developer, developed an app to measure how much Lobola the bride may expect from her potential suitor. Lobola is a custom in the Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi cultures where the bridegroom pays the family of the bride for her hand in marriage. Payment is made in the form of currency and live cows. The family of the bride sets the initial price.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Georgia Execution of First Woman In 70 Years Is Postponed Due To Weather

ht_kelly_renee_gissendaner_death_row_float_jc_150219_16x9_992The execution of Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 46, had a rare interruption this week. The first female prisoner to be executed by the state of Georgia in 70 years was halted not by an order of the governor or the Supreme Court. It was delayed on account of “inclimate weather.” I have not seen such a “called for weather” delay in an execution, which is generally set by order or statute as occurring on a set day.

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Academia, Bizarre, International, Science, Society

Study: The Gerbils Did It

250px-GerbilBurying_Plague_Victims_of_TournaiI had one as a kid named Garibaldi. Millions of people embraced them as pets. However, a study is attributing one of the greatest plagues in history to the cute little rodents: the bubonic plague. While long blamed on rats hiding away on ships, the scientists at the University of Oslo in Norway now believe that the 14th Century plague began with gerbils via the Silk Road.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law

Foustian Bargain: Elementary Principal Arrested For Alleged Heroin Dealing

Heroin Principal-1Mark Twain’s hometown usually brings up images of lazy summer evenings or tales of a mischievous Huck Finn. This month however the talk is about Hannibal elementary school principal Joshua Foust. A local success story of a boy who graduated from the Hannibal High and came back to his home town to run the elementary school, Foust has been arrested for possession of heroin as part of a drug sale conspiracy.

 

 

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Bad Hair Day Made Worse: Connecticut Man Allegedly Trashes Hair Salon Over Bad Cut

hc-stamford-bad-haircut-arrest-0221-20150220-001This may be a case where the mugshot is admissible as core evidence in a case. Alan Becker, 47, reportedly objected to a haircut at the Loft Salon in Stamford and became even more irate when he was told it would cost $50. What happened next may guarantee an institutional cut for some time to come for Becker.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

The Crime Of “Shameful Movements”: Saudi Vice Police Raid Birthday Party And Arrest Men For Dancing

220px-Juliana_Tea_Party170px-Ministry_of_Interior_Saudi_Arabia.svgIn Saudi Arabia, the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is a religious police force that has been a constant presence in the Kingdom arresting woman having coffee with colleagues or forcing young girls to burn to death in fire rather than run out without their scarves. Then there was the time that the religious police in Dammam marched into a popular dinosaur exhibit and shut it down without any explanation of why the dinosaurs threatened the virtue of good Muslims. Then there was the flogging of a women who insulted them. Then there are the round ups of religious people for simply praying at home. Then there is the arrest of a man for standing in line with his wife at a grocery store. The list goes on and on. The latest entry is the arrest of young men for simply dancing at a birthday party. Birthday parties have been denounced by Saudi clerics as unIslamic, but this the first such arrest that many can recall that did not involve dancing with women.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, Society

Hawaii Diver Pleads Guilty In Controversial Scuba Attack On Conservationist

Screen Shot 2015-02-20 at 3.36.32 PM

There is an interesting criminal case out of Hawaii where Jay Lowell, a diver who pulled off the breathing apparatus (regulator) of a conservationist, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. The case itself is different in a response to the filming by a coral reef conservation group For the Fishes, but also the specific charge: Terroristic threatening.

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Academia, Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Science, Society

Saudi Cleric: Earth Does Not Move And Sits At Center Of The Universe

0d2b602e-181e-48e5-a6e4-57331c579cec_16x9_600x338We have previously discussed the sometimes curious notion of an intellectual in Saudi Arabia. The fact is that I have met many brilliant Saudi academics and that fact is that every country has their wing nuts. However, Saudi has had a litany of these respected clerics or academics spouting nonsense. The latest is Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari who corrected a student and told him that it is a myth that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Al-Khaibari’s defense of the Ptolemaic system would seem a few hundred years out of date but he appears to view geocentrism as commanded by Allah.

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Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

Oklahoma Legislator Introduces Bill To Ban Advanced Placement History Classes

Fisher-Danx175Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Fisher presumably has an array of tough issues to tackle for his state from unemployment to the environment to crime. However, Fisher has decided to take on the ignoble task of banning Advanced Placement history classes in the state because he objects to the inclusion of negative aspects of American history and the omission of material embracing “American exceptionalism.” As an academic, I have previously criticized politicians (here and here and here and here) intervening in our school system to impose their own values or priorities on educators. This however ranks as one of the worst such intrusions that we have seen.

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