Unusual News

Having Daughters Increases Parents’ Identification with the Republican Party

Parents who vote Republican may do so because of their daughters, researchers have concluded. Sociologists Dalton Conley and Emily Rauscher say families with more girls than boys or those whose first child is a girl are more likely to have parents who identify with the GOP. It also “significantly reduces the likelihood of Democratic identification and significantly increases the strength of Republican Party identification,” Conley and Rauscher found. read more

Online Merchant Charges Customer $3,500 for Writing Bad Review

Little did Palmer know that her action left her liable for $3,500—the amount KlearGear charges any customer who agrees to the site’s terms and conditions, which included for a time a Non-Disparagement Clause. Palmer wasn’t billed for the $3,500 for three years. Once she learned about the fee, she tried to take down her negative review on Ripoffreport.com—but they charged $2,000 to do so. read more

Thanks to Bill Gates, Condoms of Future May Have Saran-Wrap Fit, Shape Memory and Pull Tabs

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offered $100,000 each to anyone coming up with ways to encourage condom use and reduce unwarranted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Those ideas include using cow tendon or fish skin to make condoms, crafting them with “shape memory” so they mold to a specific man, or including “pull tabs” to allow for easy donning. read more

What to do with the Half-Million Dollars Travelers Leave at TSA Checkpoints Every Year?

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives now want to limit what TSA does with the money. They have introduced legislation, H.R. 1095, the TSA Loose Change Act (pdf), which would require the agency to donate the coinage to charities that “provide certain travel-related assistance to military personnel and their families.” read more

Ohio Gov. Kasich Delays Execution to Allow Organ Donation

In what may be the first death penalty case of its kind, an Ohio convicted killer avoided execution with only hours to spare after Governor John Kasich (R) issued a stay for the purposes of organ donation. Ronald Phillips asked that his death by lethal injection be delayed so doctors could remove one of his kidneys and transplant it into his ailing mother. He also wants to donate his heart to his sister, who suffers from heart disease. read more

Washington DC Doesn’t Lead U.S. Cities in Concentration of Federal Jobs

Given Republicans’ persistent efforts to downsize the federal government—and reduce the number of federal jobs in the process—one would assume that GOP areas wouldn’t have much to lose as a result of such cost-cutting measures. But it turns out the highest concentrations of federal employment actually exist across the Sunbelt of the United States, where Republicans tend to dominate political office. read more

Anti-Discrimination Group Challenges High School’s Arab Mascot

Defenders of Coachella Valley High School, located in the Mojave Desert outside of Los Angeles, say the mascot was chosen in the 1920s to honor the importance of farming dates—a traditional Middle East food—to the local economy. Nearly all the country’s dates are grown there. The school’s alumni association points a few miles down the road to the town of Mecca. read more

Voters Don’t Want to Fund New Jails? Just Rename Them “Inmate Processing Centers”

Six years ago, local officials put a bond measure on the ballot to fund a new jail, only to watch it get rejected. So they tried again…but instead of asking for funding for a jail, politicians called the project a joint city-county “inmate processing center.” The bond measure squeaked by on Election Day this week, by a margin of only 456 votes (out of 224,126 ballots cast). read more

Louisiana Medicaid Paid $2 Million in Health Coverage for 1,700 Dead People

The mistakes took place over a year and a half (February 2012 to June 2013), during which the Department of Health and Hospitals paid $1.9 million to several insurance companies participating in the state’s Medicaid programs. The agency relied on outdated information contained in the Social Security Administration database to determine if a Medicaid participant was still living. read more

Computer-Generated Girl Catches 1,000 Pedophiles in U.S. and Around the World

A children’s rights group located more than 1,000 pedophiles in the United States and dozens of other countries using a computer-generated girl as bait on the Internet. Sweetie, a 10-year-old Filipina girl, was created by Terre des Hommes Netherlands. The group established Sweetie’s identity in online chat rooms, saying she was available for webcam-based sex. More than 20,000 pedophiles from 71 countries responded within a 10-week period. read more

Woman Gets Ticket for Driving Distracted with Google Glass

Cecilia Abadie, a Google Glass test participant, was pulled over for speeding, but the officer added driving distracted to the ticket, which Abadie posted online. The ticket reads in part: “Driving with Monitor visible to Driver (Google Glass).” Google Glass is a wearable computer device that allows hands-free access to information that is displayed on a lens strapped to the user’s head. read more

Homeland Security and NSA Show No Sense of Humor in Trying to Quash Parody Merchandise Sales

McCall has criticized Zazzle for buckling under to the government threats rather than fighting back. Furthermore, Zazzle refused to supply copies of the government letters to McCall’s lawyer, offering only to read them over the phone. Meanwhile, McCall found another online partner, CafePress, to help him sell his shirts and mugs. read more

Police begin Using Hi-Tech “Post-Its” to Track Speeding Suspects

The device—known as StarChase—fires a GPS bullet that sticks to the vehicle. From there, law enforcement can more safely track where the person is going without pursuing at top speed. Another advantage of StarChase is that once a police car falls back, a suspect might mistakenly assume his pursuers have given up and slow down as well. This increases the chance of them being caught and decreases risks to other motorists and pedestrians. read more

Dentists Create Halloween Candy Buyback Program

Boren offers kids $1 for every pound of candy they bring in. He says it’s important to limit a child’s sugar intake because of the damage it can do to their teeth. Too much sugar can cause caries disease that leads to enamel decay, dental research shows. read more

38% of Toddlers Use Mobile Devices by the Time They Turn 2

Games constituted the most common mobile media activity among young children, 63% of parents reported. Only 30% of kids used these devices for reading. The study also found that children eight years and younger still spend more time with “traditional” screen media such as television, DVDs, computers, and video games. read more

Case of Cigarettes with Asbestos Filters Still Unsettled after 60 Years

The asbestos was present in about 13 billion Kents, which were sold between March 1952 and May 1956 with Lorillard’s patented “Micronite” filter, which was made out of cotton, acetate, crepe paper and a particularly virulent form of asbestos called crocidolite. . read more