False Confessions, Fulsome Compulsions
and the Morning Edition of Chuck's News of the Weird Daily for Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The other major multiple-false-confession case
Two weeks ago we reported the new U.S. one-case record for multiple false confessions (6), but there's still this one going on from Norfolk, Va. The parents of the murder victim listened to at least one direct, personal, unequivocal admission and understandingly can't get beyond that. On the other hand, there's only DNA from one of the five confessors, and he said he did it alone, and the "Norfolk 4" have become Hurricane-Carter-type celebrities. Anyone can understand a guy weary of police questioning who just, exasperated, says, Yeah, OK, I did it, Whatever, but then there are these four guys, who tell how they "did" it. Except that they probably didn't do it. Washington Post
Comments 'norfolk_confessions'
Nikki Ebben is a handful
She's 31, kinda cute, husband stands by her even though she's maxed out 15 credit cards totaling $80k causing her parents not to speak to her for a while because she owed them so much money. Her story's the lede in the Wall Street Journal illustration of compulsive shopping in this time of steep retailer discounting. "I loved the high I got when I clicked the 'submit' button" when ordering clothes online (e.g., 17 pairs of $400 designer jeans). Big unopened inventory of stuff at home. Another victim of the disorder had 220 pairs of shoes. It's a coke habit sanctioned by the entire global economy. Wall Street Journal
Comments 'nikki_ebben'
Can't possibly be true: underappreciated poets?
Twelve Seattle poets went for a polar-bear dip in Green Lake for the sole purpose of calling to public attention the fact that poets don't get no respect, y'know? Seattle Times
Comments 'poets_swim'
Last 9-11 lawsuit holdouts may get the go-ahead today
Of the nearly infinite ways in which there can be "two kinds of people in the world": Some people grieve their loss of loved one on 9-11 over months or years, accept the generous gov't compensation, and move on. Some, like these three, won't give it up, creating a perpetuating, life-consuming level of grieving that also offers no guarantee that they'll ever learn anything useful that they didn't know seven Decembers ago. This week, a judge in New York may set a trial date. Boston Herald
Comments '911_lawsuits'
A cyanide-spewing millipede, a spider bigger than a dinner plate
About 600 sq. km of land around the Mekong River that runs from through Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam has at least 1,000 species of plant and animal that no scientist had ever seen before. Rabbits with stripes, Laotian rock rat . . . mmmm, good eatin'. The Times (London) via The Australian
Comments 'mekong_species'
People Whose Sex Lives Are Worse Than Yours
Buying real estate is stressful, which might be why this client, doing a home walk-through with his broker, felt that he had to make himself feel good as he was talking to her. Fond du Lac (Wis.) Reporter
Comments 'masturbating_client'
Your Daily Jury Duty
[no fair examining the evidence; verdict must be based on mugshot only]
Jon Solnicka, 41, who might have done nothing more than invite some neighborhood girls to swim in his pool. KTAR Radio (Phoenix)
Comments 'jon_solnicka'
More Things to Worry About on Tuesday
The sour economy hits Las Vegas hookers, but only the mid-rangers (not streetwalkers or top-shelvers) because, in economists' lingo, the business is a "Giffen good," and if you lower price, you bring on sleazier clients. Las Vegas Sun
Mayor Blanca Figueroa of South El Monte (a Los Angeles suburb) prefers the quiet of late night to get her office work done, but she's feuding with the city council, which has just retaliated by locking city hall at 11 p.m. and taking the mayor's key away. Seriously. New York Times
Kidnaped (probably for ransom) in Saltillo, Mex.: Felix Batista, 55, one of Latin America's foremost consultants on how to deal with kidnaping for ransom. New York Times
Sonia Ringoir, 31, was charged with selling her newborn twins to get money for liposuction, but she indignantly denied it, pointing out that she actually gave the babies away for free. The Sunday Times (London) via Fox News
Comments on More Things to Worry About on Tuesday?
Comments 'worry_081216'
The other major multiple-false-confession case
Two weeks ago we reported the new U.S. one-case record for multiple false confessions (6), but there's still this one going on from Norfolk, Va. The parents of the murder victim listened to at least one direct, personal, unequivocal admission and understandingly can't get beyond that. On the other hand, there's only DNA from one of the five confessors, and he said he did it alone, and the "Norfolk 4" have become Hurricane-Carter-type celebrities. Anyone can understand a guy weary of police questioning who just, exasperated, says, Yeah, OK, I did it, Whatever, but then there are these four guys, who tell how they "did" it. Except that they probably didn't do it. Washington Post
Comments 'norfolk_confessions'
Nikki Ebben is a handful
She's 31, kinda cute, husband stands by her even though she's maxed out 15 credit cards totaling $80k causing her parents not to speak to her for a while because she owed them so much money. Her story's the lede in the Wall Street Journal illustration of compulsive shopping in this time of steep retailer discounting. "I loved the high I got when I clicked the 'submit' button" when ordering clothes online (e.g., 17 pairs of $400 designer jeans). Big unopened inventory of stuff at home. Another victim of the disorder had 220 pairs of shoes. It's a coke habit sanctioned by the entire global economy. Wall Street Journal
Comments 'nikki_ebben'
Can't possibly be true: underappreciated poets?
Twelve Seattle poets went for a polar-bear dip in Green Lake for the sole purpose of calling to public attention the fact that poets don't get no respect, y'know? Seattle Times
Comments 'poets_swim'
Last 9-11 lawsuit holdouts may get the go-ahead today
Of the nearly infinite ways in which there can be "two kinds of people in the world": Some people grieve their loss of loved one on 9-11 over months or years, accept the generous gov't compensation, and move on. Some, like these three, won't give it up, creating a perpetuating, life-consuming level of grieving that also offers no guarantee that they'll ever learn anything useful that they didn't know seven Decembers ago. This week, a judge in New York may set a trial date. Boston Herald
Comments '911_lawsuits'
A cyanide-spewing millipede, a spider bigger than a dinner plate
About 600 sq. km of land around the Mekong River that runs from through Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam has at least 1,000 species of plant and animal that no scientist had ever seen before. Rabbits with stripes, Laotian rock rat . . . mmmm, good eatin'. The Times (London) via The Australian
Comments 'mekong_species'
People Whose Sex Lives Are Worse Than Yours
Buying real estate is stressful, which might be why this client, doing a home walk-through with his broker, felt that he had to make himself feel good as he was talking to her. Fond du Lac (Wis.) Reporter
Comments 'masturbating_client'
Your Daily Jury Duty
[no fair examining the evidence; verdict must be based on mugshot only]
Jon Solnicka, 41, who might have done nothing more than invite some neighborhood girls to swim in his pool. KTAR Radio (Phoenix)
Comments 'jon_solnicka'
More Things to Worry About on Tuesday
The sour economy hits Las Vegas hookers, but only the mid-rangers (not streetwalkers or top-shelvers) because, in economists' lingo, the business is a "Giffen good," and if you lower price, you bring on sleazier clients. Las Vegas Sun
Mayor Blanca Figueroa of South El Monte (a Los Angeles suburb) prefers the quiet of late night to get her office work done, but she's feuding with the city council, which has just retaliated by locking city hall at 11 p.m. and taking the mayor's key away. Seriously. New York Times
Kidnaped (probably for ransom) in Saltillo, Mex.: Felix Batista, 55, one of Latin America's foremost consultants on how to deal with kidnaping for ransom. New York Times
Sonia Ringoir, 31, was charged with selling her newborn twins to get money for liposuction, but she indignantly denied it, pointing out that she actually gave the babies away for free. The Sunday Times (London) via Fox News
Comments on More Things to Worry About on Tuesday?
Comments 'worry_081216'
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