Curses, Foiled Again
Investigators identified Thomas McMartin, 56, as the person who planted a motion-activated camera in a women’s locker room at New York’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute because he inadvertently photographed himself setting up the camera. “We have recovered numerous still photos which do indicate numerous female adults in various stages of undress, and we have recovered digital evidence which implicates the defendant,” Troy police Capt. John Cooney said. (Troy’s The Record)
State police said Christopher Wallace, 42, broke into a home in Lake Ariel, Pa., and stole several items, but “was greedy” and returned to the residence looking for more loot. The suspect went to the second floor, where he opened a door that led to the outside and fell approximately 20 feet to the ground. He broke his back, his hip and an arm. (Honesdale’s Wayne Independent)
When Guns Are Outlawed
Police accused Lawrence Deptola, 49, of trying to rob three banks in Utica, N.Y., by threatening tellers with a toilet plunger. He was apprehended outside the third bank. (Utica’s WKTV-TV)
Police charged Gregory Derrell Lea, 42, with assaulting a 27-year-old woman in Charles County, Md. They said he “threw a couch on top of her.” (The Washington Post)
What Could Go Wrong?
After more than 60 years of strict regulation and licensing requirements, Tokyo’s city government announced it is relaxing rules governing the preparation of blowfish, known as fugu. Until now, aspiring fugu chefs had to apprentice with a veteran chef for at least two years before taking rigorous written and practical exams, whose fee runs to $220. The requirements assure that chefs know how to separate the edible parts of the fish from organs filled with tetrododoxin, which is deadlier than cyanide. “There is the hope that the number of restaurants with unlicensed chefs serving blowfish will rise, and that blowfish as an ingredient will be used not only for traditional Japanese foods, but also others such as Chinese and Western foods,” said Hironobu Kondo, an official at the city’s Food Control Department, indicating that outside Tokyo, where blowfish regulations are already more relaxed, “there are hardly any poison-related accidents.” (Reuters)
How Other Governments Define Cheating
Pal Schmitt announced his resignation as president of Hungary after Budapest’s Semmelweis University revoked his doctorate because he plagiarized most of his dissertation. Schmitt, who was elected to a five-year term in 2010, told Parliament his “personal issue” is dividing the country. (Associated Press)
Unclear on the Concept
The new 3-D version of the 1997 movie Titanic is being shown in China, but the scene where Leonardo DiCaprio sketches Kate Winslet topless has been edited to show Winslet only from the neck up. “We’ve decided to cut off the nudity scenes,” the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced, explaining, “Considering the vivid 3-D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch and thus interrupt other people’s viewing.” (United Press International)
Litigation Nation
Dean Cochrun, 28, filed a federal lawsuit against the hospital that circumcised him after he was born, declaring that the procedure robbed him of his sexual prowess. The suit charges that the procedure was unnecessary, unethical and without medical benefit. “I was recently made aware of the fact that I had been (circumcised) and that ... I was robbed of sensitivity during sexual intercourse as well as the sense of security and well-being I am entitled to in my person,” he declared, adding that neither he nor his partners would “have that sensitivity during sexual intercourse and have a normal sex life.” Cochrun, who is currently imprisoned in Sioux Falls, S.D., for kidnapping, wants $1,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, and his foreskin restored “in the hopes I could feel whole again.” (Associated Press)
Second-Amendment Follies
Michael L. Deel, 54, and his wife, Michelle Deel, 49, were attending a firearms safety course in Roanoke, Va., when, according to the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office, Michael Deel shot himself in the hand with a .45-caliber handgun. The bullet went through his hand and hit Michelle Deel, seated next to him, in the leg. (Roanoke Times)
A 56-year-old man told police he was lifting dumbbells in Modesto, Calif., when he accidentally dropped one on a rimfire .22-caliber bullet. He said the weight of the dumbbell caused the bullet to fire, wounding him in the shoulder. Officer Chris Adams said the man’s story sounded suspicious but wasn’t impossible. (The Modesto Bee)
After a verbal exchange between two drivers vying to be first at a toll booth in Hooksett, N.H., Nicholas Richer, 18, pointed a flare gun out the window at the other driver and fired. “The flare gun discharged inside the suspect’s vehicle, ignited, caught the right passenger’s front seat on fire,” just missing another youth riding with Richer, state police Sgt. Charles Johnson reported after the other driver called 911 and a trooper caught up with Richer in Bow. “The windshield was smashed, and the front seat where the juvenile was seated was burned.” (Manchester’s WMUR-TV)
Stalling Crime
Britain’s surveillance-addicted government began installing cameras at gas stations to stop uninsured or untaxed vehicles from refueling. The cameras feature automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), which is designed to identify motorists who drive off without paying for gas. Under the new system, the same cameras will automatically cross-reference all license plates against a government database before drivers may pump gas. The pumps won’t operate for vehicles the database shows lack insurance. The government estimates 1.4 million motorists drive without insurance. (Britain’s Daily Mirror)
Beating the System
When an undercover investigative reporter found people charging $30 for the answers to Florida’s written driving test outside three driver’s license offices, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said selling the information isn’t against current rules because the Florida Driver’s Handbook contains sample questions and answers. A representative noted, however, that printed versions of the 62-page handbook aren’t available at all DMV offices because of pending legal action against the vendor. (Miami’s WPLG-TV)
Double Whammy
When a car got stuck on railroad tracks in Riverdale Park, Md., police called a tow truck to remove it. It was in the process when a CSX freight train plowed into both vehicles, which were unoccupied at the time. (Associated Press)
Instant Gratification
The California-based bakery Sprinkles introduced a high-tech vending machine that dispenses cupcakes around the clock. Owner Candace Nelson said she got the idea when she was pregnant and realized she couldn’t satisfy her late-night cupcake cravings, even though she owns a bakery. The ATM-like machine features a touch screen and a robotic arm that pulls the desired flavor cupcake from a wall of single-serving boxes inside the store. After installing the first cupcake dispenser at her Beverly Hills store, Nelson said Sprinkles plans to operate machines at three New York City locations. (Associated Press)
Shortsighted Marketing
A Chinese company whose slogan is “You see the world, the world sees you” has begun selling Helen Keller-brand sunglasses. Company official Chen Wenjing said the marketing team was aware of Keller’s blindness but insisted the glasses were inspired by her traditions of philanthropy and optimism. (Time)
Quantifying Intangibles
The Department of Health and Human Services is funding a panel to try to define and measure happiness. If successful in determining reliable measures of “subjective well-being,” they could become official statistics. The panel, organized by the non-profit National Academies, includes experts in psychology and economics and has already met with two key figures in the U.S. statistical bureaucracy. “There has been a lot of momentum,” said Arthur Stone, a professor of psychiatry at Stony Book University who chairs the panel. Its budget is $370,000. (The Washington Post)
Deal of a Lifetime
After Antoinette Galluzzo admitted stealing $51,601.62 from a New Jersey youth program while employed by the city of Englewood and using the money to gamble, pay debts and cover rent, she was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay $10 a month restitution. Galluzzo’s attorney, Robert Galantucci, said even $10 a month is a lot for someone who is unemployed to pay. When Bergen County prosecutors argued that Galluzzo cashed in her pension and should have made a lump-sum payment, Judge Eugene H. Austin upheld the restitution arrangement, explaining, “I’m certainly not going to require her to pay more to set her up for failure so she gets a jail sentence.” (Bergen County’s The Record)
