Odd News... November 2010

[Bungleau]

New York Judge rules 6-year-old can be sued NEW YORK (Reuters) – A girl can be sued over accusations she ran over an elderly woman with her training bicycle when she was 4 years old, a New York Supreme Court justice has ruled. The ruling by King's County Supreme Court Justice Paul Wooten stems from an incident in April 2009 when Juliet Breitman and Jacob Kohn, both aged four, struck an 87-year-old pedestrian, Claire Menagh, with their training bikes. Menagh underwent surgery for a fractured hip and died three months later. In a ruling made public late Thursday, the judge dismissed arguments by Breitman's lawyer that the case should be dismissed because of her young age. He ruled that she is old enough to be sued and the case can proceed. The decision also will allow for the lawsuit to proceed against the Kohn family for the incident. "For infants above the age of 4, there is no bright-line rule," Wooten wrote, adding that the girl had been three months shy of turning 5. Wooten also disagreed with the lawyer's assertion that Juliet Breitman should not be held responsible because her mother was supervising the children at the time. "A parent's presence alone does not give a reasonable child carte blanche to engage in risky behavior such as running across a street," Wooten wrote. He added that "the term 'supervising' is too vague to hold meaning here." Wooten concluded by writing that there was no indication or evidence that "another child of similar age and capacity under the circumstances could not have reasonably appreciated the danger of riding a bicycle into an elderly woman." (Reporting by Bernd Debusmann Jr.; editing by Jim Marshall)

I *KNEW* it! Now I can go back and get even with Billy Wiggles for running into me during recess!

As long as I sue him in NY, that is...

[Bungleau]

A feel-good story for you...

Cafe awning saves baby in seven-story fall By Vicky Buffery – Tue Nov 2, 9:48 am ET PARIS (Reuters) – A 15-month-old baby girl survived a fall from a seventh-floor apartment in Paris almost unscathed after bouncing off a cafe awning and into the arms of a passer-by, police said on Tuesday. The infant had been playing unsupervised with her four-year-old sister on Monday when she somehow fell out of the window, a spokesman for local city police said. A young man saw the baby starting to fall and alerted his father, who raced to get into position, arms outstretched, to catch her after she hit the awning, the daily Le Parisien reported. "He must have played rugby for years to have developed reflexes like that," a bystander who saw the incident told the paper. Police said the girl appeared to have no serious injuries and was under observation in a nearby hospital. The owner of the cafe, located at the foot of the block of flats in the northeast of Paris, said it was a stroke of luck he had decided to leave the awning open that afternoon. "I usually close it to stop it catching fire as people tend to throw their cigarette butts onto it," he told the television station i-tele. The police spokesman said the circumstances behind the accident were unclear. "The parents were absent, and it's a bit difficult questioning the two girls, given their age." (Editing by Catherine Bremer and Kevin Liffey)

Somehow, saying "Nice catch" doesn't seem to cover it...

[Timber Loftis]

One of the early cases you study in torts class is one regarding the general legal rule that parents are liable for the torts of their children. The question of whether or not this 4 year old acted recklessly will be ultimately decided by the jurors of course. But, yes, these cases can and do go forward.

And, no, you can't go back a sue Billy Badboy for punching you in the nose in grade school -- tort cases are subject to a statute of limitations. So, quite literally, you are S.O.L. :p

[Bungleau]

Snot outta luck, TL?

In any case, here's another one:

Pizza chain offers $31,000/hour part-time job TOKYO (Reuters) – Take-out pizza chain hiring. Aged over 18, no experience required. Uniform provided. Salary: $31,000 an hour. As part of a series of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of its arrival in Japan, Domino's Pizza Japan is set to hire one lucky person at the rate of 2,500,000 yen ($31,030) for an hour's worth of work in December. A company spokesman declined to provide further details until November 10, but the company's website said that anyone who wants the job will need to file an application. Those passing to the next stage will undergo an interview. "Basically it's anybody over 18, no questions about education or experience," the spokesman said. "We're actually a little surprised by how much of a response it's getting." Hourly pay for part-time jobs in Japan averages just under 1,000 yen ($12.41). Many of the comments on a Japanese article about the offer noted that the salary was cheap for the probable advertising impact and that there might be better uses for the money, such as raising workers' pay overall. "If I got this, I couldn't work for being afraid of what the people around me were thinking," one wrote. In another of the promotions, anyone born on September 30 this year -- the actual date the first Domino's opened in Japan -- will receive a free pizza on their birthday until they turn 25. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; editing by Paul Casciato)

Damn. And all they offer here is guaranteed delivery...

If any IWer gets the job, please toss a couple of yen towards the IW coffers, wouldja? Ya don't want Choc headin' over there ta git some catnip...

[Bungleau]

Reported on Fox News...

Battery of an Officer A man arrested for driving under the influence in West Virginia got himself into a lot more trouble later at the police station. Jose Cruz was pulled over Monday night on Route 60 in South Charleston for driving with his headlights off. He was subsequently arrested after failing a series of sobriety tests, according to WSAZ TV in Charleston. During fingerprinting, Cruz then allegedly moved closer to one of the officers and passed gas, the station reported. In the complaint, the investigating officer wrote that police noticed a "very strong" odor. The alleged stunt led Cruz to be charged with another offense — battery on an officer — in addition to DUI and obstruction, WSAZ reported.

Okay... I guess we now have an answer to how many burritos until they throw you in jail....

[Hindsight]

Man Implants Camera in His Head

http://www.switched.com/2010/11/17/w...c3_lnk1|184808

Within the next few weeks, a man named Wafaa Bilal will undergo surgery on his head -- not to address any neurological malady or troublesome tumor, but to implant a small camera on the back of his noggin. Bilal, a new media artist and assistant professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, is going through the procedure as part of a project called 'The Third I.' For one year, the Iraqi professor's thumbnail-sized, implanted camera will capture images at one-minute intervals. These images will then be live-streamed to monitors at a new modern art museum in Qatar, which commissioned the project.

According to the museum, known as Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the work is intended to be "a comment on the inaccessibility of time, and the inability to capture memory and experience." Some, however, are worried that Bilal's constantly clicking camera may violate the privacy of those it captures. Bilal, who is currently teaching three courses this semester, initially intended to keep his camera on at all times -- even when he's in the classroom, or interacting with students during office hours. The proposal didn't sit too well with some of his colleagues. "Obviously, you don't want students to be under the burden of constant surveillance," says Fred Ritchin, associate chairman of the photography and imaging department at Tisch. "It's not a good teaching environment."

Following lengthy discussions with NYU faculty, Bilal agreed to put a lens cap on the camera while on campus property, and informed all of his students of his new project. When he's not at work, though, Bilal's free to capture anything and everything around him -- which may, of course, give rise to even more awkward interpersonal dynamics. As Ritchin points out, "I guess anybody accepting a dinner invitation will have to realize that certain things will be going on."

[Hindsight]

..get one more in here,

2 Killed in Funeral Home Shooting

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article...c4_lnk2|187306

(Nov. 30) -- Two people were shot dead today and two others wounded when gunfire erupted outside a St. Louis funeral home in an apparent gang-related incident, police said. The violence occurred outside the Reliable Funeral Home during a service for 27-year-old David Terell Davis Sr., who was shot dead last week. It was unclear whether today's shooting was related to Davis' death. Two of today's victims died at a hospital. One of the wounded was hospitalized in critical condition, and police were searching for a fourth person who was shot and fled the scene, police spokeswoman Katie O'Sullivan told AOL News. St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today that the shooting was the result of "an ongoing feud between gangs in St. Louis." A woman who answered the phone at the Reliable Funeral Home today declined to comment to AOL News.

handy I guess..