In July, Horatio Toure, 31, was arrested in San Francisco aftersnatching an iPhone from a woman on the street and riding away on a bicycle.Unknown to him, the woman was conducting a real-time demonstration of globalpositioning software, and thus Toure's exact movement was registering on hercompany's computers. He was arrested within minutes.
Leading Economic Indicators
- In September, Russia'sfinance minister publicly urged citizens to step up their smoking and drinkingefforts, in that the government's new "sin" taxes would translate tomore revenue: "If you smoke a pack of cigarettes," he said,"that means you are giving more to help solve social problems."(Alcohol abuse already is estimated to kill 500,000 Russians a year and tosignificantly lower life expectancy.)
- Director Brigitte Stevens announced in September that her perpetuallyunderappreciated advocacy institution, Wombat Awareness Organisation, had justbeen pledged $8 million by a single donor. According to Stevens, the $1 millionannually she will receive in each of the next eight years is about 13 times theprevious annual budget for the Mannum, South Australia, organization. The U.S. donor, whodemanded anonymity, became interested in "southern hairy-nosed"wombats during an on-site visit in 2008
Bad Directions
A 45-year-old, out-of-town man was killed in astreet robbery in Oakland, Calif., in July while he and a friend weretrying to enter directions into the GPS unit of a rental car so that he couldfind his way back to his hotel.
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Retail Breakthroughs: (1) A shop that openedin September in Santa Cruz, Calif., is selling ice creaminfused with extract of marijuana. Customers with "medical marijuana"prescriptions can buy Creme De Canna, Bananabis Foster or Straw-Mari Cheesecakeat $15 a half-pintwith one bite supposedly equal to five puffs of "reallygood" weed, according to the proprietor. (2) Spotted outside subwaystations in Nanjing, China,in October: vending machines selling live Shanghaihairy crabs, in plastic containers chilled to 5 degrees C (41 degrees F), forthe equivalent of $1.50 to $7, depending on size.
Cutting-Edge Science
- Two University of Sydney researchers reported recently that thefood-acquisition "strategy" of the brainless, single-cell slime moldappeared to resemble one of the strategies familiar to us so-calledbrain-containing humansspecifically, making a selection based on comparisonsto readily available alternatives. Furthermore, Japanese researchers who mappedthe slime mold's search for food found that its nuclei are arranged in apattern that is seemingly just as logically helpful in food procurement as theservice arrangements are in Tokyo'sacclaimed railway system.
- Some obese patients with an array of symptoms known as"prediabetes" have seen their insulin sensitivity improveddramatically via "fecal transplants," i.e., receiving the stool of athin, healthy person into the bowel, according to researchers led by a University of North Carolina professor. Researcherssaid the strangers' implants were significantly more effective than those of acontrol group in which a person's own feces was implanted. (News of the Weirdhas previously reported on successful treatments of certain gastrointestinalinfections by stool transplants that contain the bacteria Clostridium difficile.)
A News of the Weird Classic
In September 1991, the town council in Avon, Colo., decided tohold a contest to name the new bridge linking Interstate 70 with U.S. Highway 6over the Eagle River. Sifting through 84 suggestions(such as "Eagle Crossing"), the council voted 4-2 to bestow thebridge with the official name of "Bob." "Bob the Bridge"garnered national attention and became a theme for several local festivals.
© 2010 Chuck Shepherd