Category: Bizarre

Mr. Smith Goes To Boston: Utah Professor Arrested After Allegedly Viewing Child Porn on Flight

Grant Smith, 47, of Utah is the subject of a rare case of child pornography involving witnesses. Usually child porn cases arise from searches of personal or work computers. Smith, however, allegedly decided to review his cache of child porn on a flight from Utah to Boston. Another passenger in First Class reported him to flight attendants who called in the police. [Update: Smith is a professor at the University of Utah and has pleaded not guilty].

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Florida Judge Combines Criminal Sentencing With Weight Loss Offer

Florida Judge Donna Miller is delighted by the results of a novel sentence that she handed down to a 345-pound man jailed for driving with a suspended license. Miller told George McCovery, 37, that she would reduce his time by a pound a day for weight loss. He lost 25 pounds in 20 days and received early release. Miller is one of the judges who has merged justice with the entertainment industry — replaying proceedings on the television show “Lake Courts.” I have previously written about the dangers of such “novel” sentencing in judges using their courtrooms for entertainment or self-aggrandizement. While some judges have been sanctioned for crossing the line in merging judicial with their entertainment careers, Miller appears to be flourishing in the practice.
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British Medical Schools Facing Backlash Over Evolution From Muslim Students

It appears that British medical schools are facing a growing problem of Muslim medical students and doctors walking out of courses in protest when evolution is taught as part of biology. The students and teachers believe that Darwin’s theories conflict with the Koran, as do many Christians (and apparently most — but not all — GOP presidential contenders) believe in the United States. The view is a bit more unsettling when future doctors refuse to even hear about evolution as a blasphemous subject.
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A Black Friday For A Nation of Spectators

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

America’s newest national holy day is upon us — Black Friday. It seems we’re all co-opted into getting multinational retailers like Wal-Mart out of the red and into the black just in time for Christmas bonuses to their execs.  Quite the achievement. The blog has chronicled the holiday spirit on display with one  pepper spray assault by an exuberant shopper getting the best bargain available. All this despite the New York Times telling us that our friendly, apron-clad senior citizen’s employer might be holding back on the deals.

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California Woman Pepper Sprays Other Customers To Get “Upper Hand” in Black Friday Deal

They don’t call it Black Friday for nothing. A woman in a Los Angeles Walmart hit the store at 10:20 pm to grab the holiday deals only to find other customers rushing toward the items that she wanted. Police say that, as the coverings on the items were removed, she pepper sprayed the other customers. Twenty people were injured.
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Family Sues Wisconsin Prosecutor After She Charges 6-Year-Old Boy With First-Degree Sexual Assault After “Playing Doctor’

I previously wrote a column about the ongoing controversy over statutory rape prosecutions, the subject of prior blogs. Now, Grant County District Attorney Lisa Riniker appears intent on outdoing other prosecutors by charging a 6-year-old boy with first-degree sexual assault for what the family says was playing doctor with a 5-year-old girl.

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Abandon Memory All Ye Who Enter Here: Study Finds Doorways Cause Forgetfulness

There is an interesting study out by University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky, which appears to show that one of the causes of forgetfulness may be doorways. Radvansky’s study shows that “entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away.” Does this mean that we need a type of psychological feng shui movement with homes built with fewer doorways?
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Virginia Woman Accused of Stabbing and Decapitating Piglet

In Chesapeake, Virginia, Ashley Fowler, 22, is our latest example of an a human who allegedly expresses her feelings by killing or torturing a pet. In this case, it was a pet piglet of her friend’s former boyfriend, Zach Sawyer, who raised piglets as therapy after an accident. Fowler is accused of decapitating the piglet.

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Suffolk Professor Resigns Over Anti-Military Statements of Colleague

We have been following the uproar over Suffolk Professor Michael Avery’s email criticizing the sending of care packages to troops abroad. Many of us joined in that criticism while supporting Avery’s right to raise his objections. Now, an adjunct professor, U.S. Army Reserve Major Robert Roughsedge, serving in Afghanistan has resigned over the controversy — a curious response that seems to suggest that Avery should not have been allowed to voice such positions.

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