“First, Do No Harm” (However . . .), Plus Crazy Joe And Crazier Jesse
News of the Weird Daily
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 [still running behind the news a bit]
A potential game-changer for online comment boards
A judge in Tarrant County, Tex., ordered a news site (Topix) to disclose the ID's of 178 comment-posters to a story about three people accused of sexually assaulting a woman. Turned out that the three were found not guilty but that that didn't stop the commenters from accusing them of vile things, so two of the three (a married couple) are suing the commenters for libel. (But, but, but—the Internet's supposed to be anonymous. On the Internet, people are not supposed to be able to find out you're a dog.) WFAA-TV (Fort Worth)
Comments 'comments_libel'
Doctors think differently than we do
Tennessee anesthesiologist Visuvalingam Vilvarajah was arrested and charged in Kentucky with writing a lot of recreational prescriptions. His license had been revoked earlier after he was convicted of murdering his wife and mother-in-law, but then he "paid his debt to society" (by serving 5 yrs of his 20-yr sentence), and when he got out, the state re-licensed him. (Bonus: The state health dept. doctors said that was routine procedure, that murdering two people does not reflect on your ability to administer pain medication.) The Tennessean
Comments 'doctor_vilvarajah'
The tricky law of smokers' rights
Roxanne Stevenson claimed illegal discrimination in Kelowna, British Columbia, when she didn't get that job she wanted. The interviewer said Stevenson was hacking all the way through their session (but wait, that's a "medical condition," and ya can't discriminate), and besides, she has a history of missing work for being pulmonarily sick (but wait, that's beyond her control because she has an "addiction"). On the other hand, if she gives off the aroma of "large ashtray," the company is on safe ground because that interferes with co-workers' productivity. Vancouver Sun
Comments 'roxanne_stevenson'
More Things to Worry About
An Ohio woman is in trouble, not necessarily for her randiness about wanting to communicate online sexily with men, but because she needed someone to take nude pictures of her and recruited as photographers her kids (ages 8, 11, 12). Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio)
Who's more dangerous: The guy claiming to be a doctor, selling a hodgepodge of cheap pharmaceuticals (and injections!), or the guy's customers in Bastrop, La., who thought it was normal to buy from a doctor working out of a green pickup truck? (Bonus: The Bastrop Daily Enterprise thinks its readers understand the word "faux.") Bastrop Daily Enterprise [link from Fark.com]
Failure to keep a low profile: A former Bonanno crime family hit man ("Crazy Joe"), living quietly in witness-protection as a pizza parlor owner on the F State's east coast, blew his cover by beating the crap out of a customer who complained about his calzone. New York Daily News
Ice fishermen are different from us so they'll take ridiculous chances (e.g., What's a little 4-inch crack in the ice at dawn, not like it's gonna get bigger as the sun comes out, right?) just to get in a few hours of dangling that line for walleye (but one of 'em is no longer with us). Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
A judge in Malaysia couldn't decide which of the 27-yr-old identical twin brothers was the evil one (in a 2003 murder) so he had to let 'em both go (because eyewitness ID's are shaky enough as it is, but distinguishing these two guys . . .?). New Straits Times via Fox News
Latest stupid 911 call (Boynton Beach, Fla.): Send the cops because Burger King ran out of lemonade! Associated Press via Miami Herald
Comments on Things to Worry About?
Comments 'worry_090210'
Your Daily Loser
A 34-yr-old man in Kingston, Ontario, beat himself up pretty good with his fists (swollen lip; bloody nose, possibly broken) just to get a day off work. Whig-Standard (Kingston)
Comments 'kingston_nosepuncher'
Your Daily Jury Duty
["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
Jesse Shaw, 18, might have just gotten into a fight with an F State sheriff's deputy, but the reporter helpfully noted that Shaw's hair always looks like that. Star-Banner (Ocala, Fla.)
Comments 'jesse_shaw'
Editor's Note
Well, now, it was quite refreshing yesterday to see that so many people read News of the Weird Daily! Thanks to each of you. I'm afflicted with the same disorder that struck President Carter in 1980 when he paid tribute, at the Democratic Nat'l Convention, to that revered senator from Minnesota, "Hubert Horatio Hornblower." (Backstory, if you missed yesterday's edition: There was a mistake, but I don't need to "correct" it because everybody already knows it, anyway.)
Comments 'editors_090210'
Today's Newsrangers: Sandy Pearlman, Tom Barker, Joe Littrell, Leonard Dozois, Harry Farkas
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 [still running behind the news a bit]
A potential game-changer for online comment boards
A judge in Tarrant County, Tex., ordered a news site (Topix) to disclose the ID's of 178 comment-posters to a story about three people accused of sexually assaulting a woman. Turned out that the three were found not guilty but that that didn't stop the commenters from accusing them of vile things, so two of the three (a married couple) are suing the commenters for libel. (But, but, but—the Internet's supposed to be anonymous. On the Internet, people are not supposed to be able to find out you're a dog.) WFAA-TV (Fort Worth)
Comments 'comments_libel'
Doctors think differently than we do
Tennessee anesthesiologist Visuvalingam Vilvarajah was arrested and charged in Kentucky with writing a lot of recreational prescriptions. His license had been revoked earlier after he was convicted of murdering his wife and mother-in-law, but then he "paid his debt to society" (by serving 5 yrs of his 20-yr sentence), and when he got out, the state re-licensed him. (Bonus: The state health dept. doctors said that was routine procedure, that murdering two people does not reflect on your ability to administer pain medication.) The Tennessean
Comments 'doctor_vilvarajah'
The tricky law of smokers' rights
Roxanne Stevenson claimed illegal discrimination in Kelowna, British Columbia, when she didn't get that job she wanted. The interviewer said Stevenson was hacking all the way through their session (but wait, that's a "medical condition," and ya can't discriminate), and besides, she has a history of missing work for being pulmonarily sick (but wait, that's beyond her control because she has an "addiction"). On the other hand, if she gives off the aroma of "large ashtray," the company is on safe ground because that interferes with co-workers' productivity. Vancouver Sun
Comments 'roxanne_stevenson'
More Things to Worry About
An Ohio woman is in trouble, not necessarily for her randiness about wanting to communicate online sexily with men, but because she needed someone to take nude pictures of her and recruited as photographers her kids (ages 8, 11, 12). Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio)
Who's more dangerous: The guy claiming to be a doctor, selling a hodgepodge of cheap pharmaceuticals (and injections!), or the guy's customers in Bastrop, La., who thought it was normal to buy from a doctor working out of a green pickup truck? (Bonus: The Bastrop Daily Enterprise thinks its readers understand the word "faux.") Bastrop Daily Enterprise [link from Fark.com]
Failure to keep a low profile: A former Bonanno crime family hit man ("Crazy Joe"), living quietly in witness-protection as a pizza parlor owner on the F State's east coast, blew his cover by beating the crap out of a customer who complained about his calzone. New York Daily News
Ice fishermen are different from us so they'll take ridiculous chances (e.g., What's a little 4-inch crack in the ice at dawn, not like it's gonna get bigger as the sun comes out, right?) just to get in a few hours of dangling that line for walleye (but one of 'em is no longer with us). Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
A judge in Malaysia couldn't decide which of the 27-yr-old identical twin brothers was the evil one (in a 2003 murder) so he had to let 'em both go (because eyewitness ID's are shaky enough as it is, but distinguishing these two guys . . .?). New Straits Times via Fox News
Latest stupid 911 call (Boynton Beach, Fla.): Send the cops because Burger King ran out of lemonade! Associated Press via Miami Herald
Comments on Things to Worry About?
Comments 'worry_090210'
Your Daily Loser
A 34-yr-old man in Kingston, Ontario, beat himself up pretty good with his fists (swollen lip; bloody nose, possibly broken) just to get a day off work. Whig-Standard (Kingston)
Comments 'kingston_nosepuncher'
Your Daily Jury Duty
["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
Jesse Shaw, 18, might have just gotten into a fight with an F State sheriff's deputy, but the reporter helpfully noted that Shaw's hair always looks like that. Star-Banner (Ocala, Fla.)
Comments 'jesse_shaw'
Editor's Note
Well, now, it was quite refreshing yesterday to see that so many people read News of the Weird Daily! Thanks to each of you. I'm afflicted with the same disorder that struck President Carter in 1980 when he paid tribute, at the Democratic Nat'l Convention, to that revered senator from Minnesota, "Hubert Horatio Hornblower." (Backstory, if you missed yesterday's edition: There was a mistake, but I don't need to "correct" it because everybody already knows it, anyway.)
Comments 'editors_090210'
Today's Newsrangers: Sandy Pearlman, Tom Barker, Joe Littrell, Leonard Dozois, Harry Farkas
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