Archive for April, 2008
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
‘Ruthlessness gene’ discovered
Selfish dictators may owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study that claims to have found a genetic link to ruthlessness. The study might help to explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak — from national dictators down to ‘little Hitlers’ found in workplaces the world over.
Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and ruthless behaviour in an economic exercise called the ‘Dictator Game’. The exercise allows players to behave selflessly, or like money-grabbing dictators such as former Zaire President Mobutu, who plundered the mineral wealth of his country to become one of the world’s richest men while its citizens suffered in poverty.
Posted in Crazed Dictatorships, Weird Science | Comments Off
Friday, April 4th, 2008
Farmer takes literal appraoch to divorce settlement
A Serb farmer used a grinding machine to cut in half his farm tools and machines to comply with a court ruling that he must share all his property with his ex-wife, local media reported on Thursday.
Branko Zivkov, 76, told Belgrade daily Kurir he had been ready to give his wife Vukadinka her equal share of everthing earned during their 45-year marriage, but was furious at being asked to give away half his farming equipment.
Instead, he bought a grinder and cut in two all his tools, including large items such as cattle scales, a harrow and a sowing machine.
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does | Comments Off
Friday, April 4th, 2008
Opposition: Mugabe ‘Unleashed a War’
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party says President Robert Mugabe has “unleashed a war” in his bid to stay in power after party offices were raided and foreign journalists detained five days after presidential elections.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission had not released official election results by Thursday, despite increasing international pressure. Mugabe was said to be pondering conflicting advice from his advisers on whether to quietly cede power or face a run-off, both humiliating prospects for the 84-year-old president.
Diplomats said Thursday’s events indicated he might be considering a third option: declaring a state of emergency and suppressing the opposition.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the presidency outright, but that it is prepared to compete in a run-off.
MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti said hotel rooms used as offices by the opposition at a Harare hotel were ransacked Thursday by intruders he believed were either police or agents of the feared Central Intelligence Organization.
“Mugabe has started a crackdown,” Biti told The Associated Press. “It is quite clear he has unleashed a war.”
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Career Limiting Move, Crazed Dictatorships, Crazy is as Crazy Does | Comments Off
Friday, April 4th, 2008
Witchdoctor killings condemned
Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete has condemned witchdoctors who kill albinos and harvest their body parts in the hope it will bring prosperity.
He said 19 albinos had been murdered since March 2007, and another two were missing presumed dead in the east African country.
“Sometimes, word spreads around that body parts of people with certain physical attributes like bald people or albinos contribute greatly to attaining quick prosperity,” Kikwete said in a monthly state of the nation speech late on Wednesday.
“These killings are shameful and distressing to our society,” he added.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Concentrated Criminality, Cultural Oddities | Comments Off
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
New York `Borat’ Lawsuit Is Dismissed
A judge has tossed out a defamation lawsuit brought by a businessman shown in the movie “Borat” as he is chased down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
The 2006 hit, starring Cohen as a crass Kazakhstan journalist, can be deemed “newsworthy,” defined in its most liberal and far-reaching terms, U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska said.
New York civil rights law provides limited protection for any person whose image is used for advertising or trade purposes without his written consent, she said, and the nonconsensual use of a person’s image to depict newsworthy events or matters of public interest is exempt from the law.
The lawsuit had sought unspecified damages from the movie’s producer, Twentieth Century Fox, for Jeffrey Lemerond, who claimed he was humiliated when the Borat character tried to catch him.
In the movie, Lemerond, a Dartmouth College graduate and financial analyst, is shown running and yelling “Go away!” as Borat chases him in an attempt to hug strangers.
Posted in Anarchy, Greed is Good, Idiot Authorities, Idiot Celebrities | Comments Off
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
First movie of ‘tsunami’ on Sun
Astronomers have captured the first footage of a solar “tsunami” hurtling through the Sun’s atmosphere at over a million kilometres per hour.
The event was captured by Nasa’s twin Stereo spacecraft designed to make 3D images of our parent star.
Naturally, this type of tsunami does not involve water; instead, it is a wave of pressure that travels across the Sun very fast.
Details are to be presented at the UK National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.
In a solar tsunami, a huge explosion near the Sun, such as a coronal mass ejection or flare, causes a pressure pulse to propagate outwards in a circular pattern.
Last year’s solar tsunami, which took place on 19 May 2007, lasted for about 35 minutes, reaching peak speeds around 20 minutes after the initial blast.
…
“In half an hour, we saw the tsunami cover almost the full disc of the Sun, nearly a million kilometres away from the epicentre.”
Posted in Space, Weird Science | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
Anti-Emo Riots Break Out Across Mexico
Riot police have taken to the streets of several cities in Mexico to … defend emo kids?
A series of attacks on dyed-hair, eye-makeup-wearing emo kids began in early March when several hundred people went on an emo-beating rampage in Querétaro, a town of 1.5 million about 160 miles north of Mexico City.
The next week, shaggy-haired emo teenagers were harassed again by punks and rockabillys in the capital, prompting police protection and a segment on the TV news. Most recently, a Mexican newspaper reported that metal heads and gangsters have warned Tijuana’s emo kids to stay away from the town’s fair next month.
But the so-called emos are organizing, too. Last week, they demonstrated against the violence, pictured above, and Wednesday some met with police in Mexico City.
“They’re organizing to defend their right to be emo,” wrote Daniel Hernandez of LA Weekly on his personal blog, which has provided stellar coverage of the whole affair.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Anarchy, Teen Antics | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
Theft-to-order ring went from Cleveland to Pittsburgh
The pitch to co-workers or bar patrons, police say, went like this:
“Hey, anybody interested in buying a trailer?”
Somebody was. Big-screen TVs, riding mowers, motorcycles, frozen food and more exchanged hands in what authorities charge was a sophisticated theft-to-order ring in the Rust Belt region stretching from Cleveland to Western Pennsylvania.
Police said the thieves, seeking quick cash for drugs, stole and sold high-demand items for more than 1 1/2 years, often at up to 85 percent discount from retail prices and sometimes to return customers.
“You don’t steal these things unless you have a customer,” said Canfield police Detective Sgt. Andy Bodzak.
Hat tip to Kara!
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Drugs, Greed is Good, Kara's Classics | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
Saudi woman killed for chatting on Facebook
A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook, it has emerged.
The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported.
The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the “strife” the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.
Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation.
“Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food,” he said.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Bad Parents, Concentrated Criminality, T.R.O.P. | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
Nun Pleads Guilty to Taking Archdiocese Money, Using It to Gamble
A Roman Catholic nun accused of taking more than $250,000 from the Archdiocese of Omaha and gambling much of it away has pleaded guilty to theft.
Sister Barbara Markey entered the plea to a charge of theft of more than $1,500 on Monday in Douglas County District Court, according to her attorney, J. William Gallup. She also agreed to pay $125,000 in restitution to the archdiocese.
In exchange, Gallup said, the state and the archdiocese agreed not to object to probation for the 73-year-old Markey. Her sentencing is set for July, and she faces up to 20 years in prison.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Concentrated Criminality, Gambling, Greed is Good | Comments Off
