Chuck’s Hand-Picked Overnight Weird News for Wednesday
World's luckiest murderer
Kenneth Moore pleaded guilty to a 1995 killing, admitting that he shot a pal in the head during a beer bender. Then, he changed his mind and appealed, and won because his trial lawyer had ignored some evidence that undermined the prosecution's proof. At a subsequent trial, the prosecutor simply didn't have enough evidence, and Moore was found not guilty. And now the Ohio Court of Claims, pretty much following the letter of the law, has just approved Moore's demand for $600k in restitution for having "wrongfully" locked him up. Crime pays. Big. Columbus Dispatch
Comments 'kenneth_moore'
Update on Haiti's food crisis
News of the Weird reported in March [NOTW M051, 3-30-2008]:
Comments 'haiti_mud'
Second doctor's opinion? Check. Third opinion, fourth, fifth? Check, check, check. They're all wrong
A cautionary tale out of Arizona: A physician sought out a dermatologist for a major-turbo-itching problem; fancy treatment; got worse; another dermatologist; fancy treatment; got worse; immunologist; got worse; infectious disease person; got worse. Try one more dermatologist, who was Dr. Howard Luber, who instantly, correctly diagnosed the problem (and in fact, his nurse instantly, correctly diagnosed it before he did): scabies, a Dermatology-101 condition. Chuck's not a doctor, but he's sure you can learn something from this. Washington Post
Comments 'second_opinion'
Oregon Health Plan rationing hits the screen
They've got this "5 percent/5-yr" rule: State won't pay for any cancer treatment that doesn't offer at least a 1-in-20 change of survival for at least 5 yrs (or, more generously, they'll pay for it even if the chances are 95 out of 100 that you're doomed). Barbara Wagner is caught in the screen. And her family's ticked off that the state will, without regard to percentages, provide end-of-life palliative care, instead. The Oregonian [NOTE: I was not able to verify the link today]
Comments 'oregon_health'
More evidence from the gene pool that some people are destined to lose their money
A total stranger convinced a man in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to let him hold, on one of the flimsiest pretexts imaginable, $7k out of his bank account for just a couple of minutes (which was all it took, of course). The larger question is how a person that stupid was able to amass $7,000 to begin with. Almost as large a question is why a person like that would want anyone (such as the police) to know about it. "Pride"'s supposed to be a big thing. The Tennessean
Comments 'murfreesboro_scam'
It's ice cream season again in Tokyo, with "ox tongue" the flavor du jour
Mainichi Daily News used to have two slide shows, "The Wacky World of Japanese Ice Cream" and "The Wackier World of Japanese Ice Cream," with photos of the packaging for such flavors as cow tongue, cactus, and sardine, but appears to have taken them down (along with most of its other archives). You can see individual shots of one or more of the packages at various Internet sites and blogs by searching the above two "wacky" titles, using quote marks. Mainichi Daily News
Comments 'japan_icecream'
Your Daily Loser
We don't know his name, but he's the guy who pulled off the latest negative-cash-flow robbery (at Joe's Café in Metairie, La.). As a ruse to get a clerk to open the cash register, our guy dropped a Lincoln on the counter to pay for two donuts, and, with the register then open for change, pulled a gun and said, Gimme all of it. But then the clerk went nuts, screaming, and our guy got scared and fled, without his donuts or his $5. (Bonus: For a disguise, he was dressed, extremely clumsily, as a woman.) Times-Picayune
Comments 'joes_cafe'
Your Daily Jury Duty
[no fair examining the evidence; verdict must be based on mugshot only]
Ricky Dale Spears, 42, already in jail for kidnaping a teenage girl from a skating rink, might also be one of the two guys who escaped from lockup in Milton, Fla., by squeezing through a 12-inch by 12-inch vent in a recent-vintage facility. Northwest Florida Daily News
Comments 'ricky_spears'
More Things to Worry About on Wednesday
A quite-quite-large New York City woman incorrectly disembarked from her gym's abductor machine (the thing that you squeeze your thighs together on), and her pants caught, and she was "sling-shot" across the floor (and had to be hospitalized, taken away by paramedics using a "Stokes basket" instead of a stretcher) . . . . . There is such a thing as a voracious fish that looks part-gar, part-snake, and part-gator, right there in that lake near Tempe, Ariz. . . . . . The scrap-metal market grows: A guy was arrested in Miami, Fla., with a 40-ft municipal street lamp tied to the top of his car, headed for a recycling center (People gotta "do what they damn need to") . . . . . Complications in the family tree: A California lesbian couple each bore twins, 22 days [CORRECTION: 22 hours] apart, with the same donor's sperm, and one of the moms' eggs, so they're quads? . . . . . Shikukawa, in the center of Japan, celebrated its annual belly-button (i.e., center of the body) festival last weekend, with people drawing funny faces on their tummies and dancing through town.
Comments 'worry_080730'
Editor's Notes
Reminder: You can get Chuck's Hand-Picked Overnights by e-mail, free, every morning by joining the Google Group DailyWeird at this link: http://groups.google.com/group/DailyWeird?lnk=gschg
(Hyperlinks to the original news stories will show up in your copy if your e-mail platform is set to accept html.) No other mail, comments, spam, etc., will be sent to the Group. Today's Newsrangers: Aaron Geiger, Charlie Cummins, Karl Olson, Amber Mances
Comments 'editors_080730'
Kenneth Moore pleaded guilty to a 1995 killing, admitting that he shot a pal in the head during a beer bender. Then, he changed his mind and appealed, and won because his trial lawyer had ignored some evidence that undermined the prosecution's proof. At a subsequent trial, the prosecutor simply didn't have enough evidence, and Moore was found not guilty. And now the Ohio Court of Claims, pretty much following the letter of the law, has just approved Moore's demand for $600k in restitution for having "wrongfully" locked him up. Crime pays. Big. Columbus Dispatch
Comments 'kenneth_moore'
Update on Haiti's food crisis
News of the Weird reported in March [NOTW M051, 3-30-2008]:
In the worst slums of Port-au-Prince, Haiti (where 80 percent of the people live on less than $2 a day), rice now sells for 30 cents a cup (double the price of a year ago), according to a January Associated Press dispatch, leaving the poorest of the poor to subsist mainly on “cookies” made with dirt. Choice clay from the central plateau is at least a source of calcium and can be baked with salt and vegetable shortening. However, recently in the La Saline slum, the reporter noted, the price of dirt, too, has risen about 40 percent.It's worse than ever now, according to London's Guardian, which has a photo that looks like a field of ceramic pieces baking in the hot sun but, no, they're mud cakes, i.e., food. Guardian
Comments 'haiti_mud'
Second doctor's opinion? Check. Third opinion, fourth, fifth? Check, check, check. They're all wrong
A cautionary tale out of Arizona: A physician sought out a dermatologist for a major-turbo-itching problem; fancy treatment; got worse; another dermatologist; fancy treatment; got worse; immunologist; got worse; infectious disease person; got worse. Try one more dermatologist, who was Dr. Howard Luber, who instantly, correctly diagnosed the problem (and in fact, his nurse instantly, correctly diagnosed it before he did): scabies, a Dermatology-101 condition. Chuck's not a doctor, but he's sure you can learn something from this. Washington Post
Comments 'second_opinion'
Oregon Health Plan rationing hits the screen
They've got this "5 percent/5-yr" rule: State won't pay for any cancer treatment that doesn't offer at least a 1-in-20 change of survival for at least 5 yrs (or, more generously, they'll pay for it even if the chances are 95 out of 100 that you're doomed). Barbara Wagner is caught in the screen. And her family's ticked off that the state will, without regard to percentages, provide end-of-life palliative care, instead. The Oregonian [NOTE: I was not able to verify the link today]
Comments 'oregon_health'
More evidence from the gene pool that some people are destined to lose their money
A total stranger convinced a man in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to let him hold, on one of the flimsiest pretexts imaginable, $7k out of his bank account for just a couple of minutes (which was all it took, of course). The larger question is how a person that stupid was able to amass $7,000 to begin with. Almost as large a question is why a person like that would want anyone (such as the police) to know about it. "Pride"'s supposed to be a big thing. The Tennessean
Comments 'murfreesboro_scam'
It's ice cream season again in Tokyo, with "ox tongue" the flavor du jour
Mainichi Daily News used to have two slide shows, "The Wacky World of Japanese Ice Cream" and "The Wackier World of Japanese Ice Cream," with photos of the packaging for such flavors as cow tongue, cactus, and sardine, but appears to have taken them down (along with most of its other archives). You can see individual shots of one or more of the packages at various Internet sites and blogs by searching the above two "wacky" titles, using quote marks. Mainichi Daily News
Comments 'japan_icecream'
Your Daily Loser
We don't know his name, but he's the guy who pulled off the latest negative-cash-flow robbery (at Joe's Café in Metairie, La.). As a ruse to get a clerk to open the cash register, our guy dropped a Lincoln on the counter to pay for two donuts, and, with the register then open for change, pulled a gun and said, Gimme all of it. But then the clerk went nuts, screaming, and our guy got scared and fled, without his donuts or his $5. (Bonus: For a disguise, he was dressed, extremely clumsily, as a woman.) Times-Picayune
Comments 'joes_cafe'
Your Daily Jury Duty
[no fair examining the evidence; verdict must be based on mugshot only]
Ricky Dale Spears, 42, already in jail for kidnaping a teenage girl from a skating rink, might also be one of the two guys who escaped from lockup in Milton, Fla., by squeezing through a 12-inch by 12-inch vent in a recent-vintage facility. Northwest Florida Daily News
Comments 'ricky_spears'
More Things to Worry About on Wednesday
A quite-quite-large New York City woman incorrectly disembarked from her gym's abductor machine (the thing that you squeeze your thighs together on), and her pants caught, and she was "sling-shot" across the floor (and had to be hospitalized, taken away by paramedics using a "Stokes basket" instead of a stretcher) . . . . . There is such a thing as a voracious fish that looks part-gar, part-snake, and part-gator, right there in that lake near Tempe, Ariz. . . . . . The scrap-metal market grows: A guy was arrested in Miami, Fla., with a 40-ft municipal street lamp tied to the top of his car, headed for a recycling center (People gotta "do what they damn need to") . . . . . Complications in the family tree: A California lesbian couple each bore twins, 22 days [CORRECTION: 22 hours] apart, with the same donor's sperm, and one of the moms' eggs, so they're quads? . . . . . Shikukawa, in the center of Japan, celebrated its annual belly-button (i.e., center of the body) festival last weekend, with people drawing funny faces on their tummies and dancing through town.
Comments 'worry_080730'
Editor's Notes
Reminder: You can get Chuck's Hand-Picked Overnights by e-mail, free, every morning by joining the Google Group DailyWeird at this link: http://groups.google.com/group/DailyWeird?lnk=gschg
(Hyperlinks to the original news stories will show up in your copy if your e-mail platform is set to accept html.) No other mail, comments, spam, etc., will be sent to the Group. Today's Newsrangers: Aaron Geiger, Charlie Cummins, Karl Olson, Amber Mances
Comments 'editors_080730'
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