Unusual News
North Dakota: The State that Loves Drones
Since May 2013, there have been nine instances in which drones have been used in the Grand Forks area. They include searching a flooded river for drowning victims, photographing a train collision, photographing river bank erosion and damage to historic buildings, searching for two suspects accused of auto theft and child molestation and taking photos of an outdoor murder scene. read more
Baltimore County Solves its Homicides; North Richmond Doesn’t
Law enforcement in Baltimore County, Maryland, say they closed 100% of their homicide cases last year—a remarkable feat for any jurisdiction, even one that has only 20 killings a year.
North Richmond, an unincorporated stretch of Contra Costa County measuring only 1.5 square miles, recorded 19 homicides last year. Most went unsolved, with charges being filed in only five of the cases. read more
Hackers Break into Corporate Systems through Vending Machines and Online Restaurant Menus
When an employee uses a company computer to order food through an online menu, they can open up a cyber door for intruders to slip through and gain access to the local network of servers.
Vending machines can provide a backdoor into a secure network. Many machines contain minicomputers that allow the vendor to remotely check on the supplies of soft drinks. But that system can be used by hackers to infiltrate the computers of the company hosting the vending machines. read more
Religious Candy Cane Case Enters 10th Year
In 2003, a teacher refused to let third-grader Jonathan Morgan pass out the pens attached to cards describing “The Legend of the Candy Cane.” Some Christians believe that the “J” shape of candy canes stands for Jesus and that the red stripes symbolize Jesus’ blood.
Jonathan’s parents and three other couples sued the school district in December 2004. Most of the claims were killed by a Fifth Circuit ruling in 2011.
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Supreme Court Says “Genug” to Kvetching Rabbi
A rabbi who frequently complained about service on his favorite airline has lost his case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which said enough-is-enough to the kvetching plaintiff.
Rabbi Ginsberg brought suit against Northwest Airlines after it kicked him out of its frequent flyer program in 2008.
The airline claimed he abused the program. In six months, the rabbi filed 24 complaints over travel problems, nine of which were related to his luggage arriving late at baggage pickup.
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Labor Dept. Rejects NFL Cheerleaders’ Request for Minimum Wage Protection
Even team mascots are paid better—much better—than cheerleaders: $23,000 a year. And the cheerleaders are required to pay for their travel and team-mandated cosmetics.
The Raiderettes are also subject to fines for various infractions, such as wearing unapproved underwear or having the wrong shade of fake tan.
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Navy Gives up on $900 Million Nuclear Sub after Employee Set it on Fire So He Could Go Home Early
The USS Miami nuclear submarine survived military campaigns in the Middle East and the Balkans, but couldn’t overcome the petty sabotage of an American civilian worker who just wanted to go home early.
Casey Fury started a blaze on the sub that grew into an inferno which raged for more than 12 hours before 100 firefighters put it out.
The reason he set the fire, Fury said, was because he wanted to leave work early due to anxiety caused by heated text messages with his girlfriend. read more
In Defense of Government Fonts
Font nerds have been upset since a 14-year-old student became a media darling for figuring out that the U.S. government could save half a billion dollars a year if it switched to a different font for printed materials.
Suvir Mirchandani compared four different fonts to see if any one of them used less ink. He determined the Garamond font required 24% less.
But experts in the world of fonts weren’t convinced. Thomas Phinney said the student’s conclusions were “a bit off-base.”
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Court Rules that Wells Fargo is a Citizen of South Dakota, not California
Citing the principle of “diversity jurisdiction,”—that when a civil case involves residents of different states, the case can be heard by a federal court—the bank had the case removed to federal court, where it was dismissed. McKeown noted “One might think that 150 years after Congress established national banks in 1863, the question of their citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction would be well established. Not so." read more
ABC Faces Continued Billion-Dollar Lawsuit for Calling “Lean, Finely Textured Beef” “Pink Slime”
The three meat companies filed a $1.2 billion suit in 2012 against ABC, claiming the network, including anchor Diane Sawyer, ran a “disinformation campaign” against the additive. According to the suit, “There is not a more offensive way of describing a food product than to call it ‘slime,’ which is a noxious, repulsive, and filthy fluid not safe for human consumption.” read more
14-Year-Old Calculates U.S. Government could Save $136 Million a Year by Changing Fonts
The Pittsburgh-area student tested four fonts, Garamond, Times New Roman, Century Gothic and Comic Sans to see which used the least amount of ink in printing various letters. Garamond came up the winner. Based on the General Services Administration’s (GSA) estimated cost of ink, which is $467 million annually, Mirchandani found the federal government could save nearly 30% of its ink costs, or $136 million a year, if it used Garamond exclusively. read more
Prosecutors Ask for Secrecy in Anti-Muslim “Death Ray” Case
As for the death ray, prosecutors described it in their motion as a “weaponized, mobilized and remotely controlled radiation-emitting device designed to kill or seriously injure unsuspecting human targets.” Prosecutors insist the weapon was not a pipe dream, and that Crawford was powering it up last summer when agents stormed a garage in the village of Galway, north of Albany. read more
House Republicans Try to Make it Harder to Create New National Monuments by Altering 108-Year-Old Law
President Barack Obama has again overstepped his presidential authority, according to House Republicans, who now want to curtail his ability to turn public lands into national monuments.
So under their proposed legislation, no new national monuments would be created unless studies are performed and input is gathered from local citizens.
National monuments have been established by presidents since Theodore Roosevelt, who created Grand Canyon National Monument. read more
Half of GI Bill Veterans Completed Educational Program
Military veterans are making good use of the GI Bill and its support for those seeking college education.
More than half of vets on the bill have completed their two-year or four-year postsecondary education programs, according to a Student Veterans of America study.
Many veterans don’t stop at achieving just one degree. More than 30% who earned vocational certificates, nearly 36% who received an associate’s degree, and 21% of bachelor’s degree grads went on for more schooling. read more
Republican Male Judges in the South Give Longer Sentences
Female judges on average sentenced people to 1.7 fewer months than male judges. Judges appointed by a Democratic president were 2.2% more likely to exercise leniency, Yang found. read more
They’re Injecting Fracking Waste into Shale; Is Nuclear Waste Next?
The biggest controversies related to this procedure, known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” have to do not with the drilling itself, but with the injection of wastewater back into the earth. These injection wells are thought to have caused earthquakes and groundwater contamination.
Now, a geologist is proposing that a way to solve the United States’ problem of nuclear waste is to inject it, as well, into shale formations.
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