Month: July 2007

Today in History – Della Sorenson kills first victim

There are very few female serial killers. Whether it is because they are better at evading detection and capture (doubtful) or just because there are fewer women with psychopathic tendencies (psychotic – almost all of them; psychopathic – not so much), I don’t know. However, one of the few of this breed is Della Sorenson. On this date in 1918, Ms. Sorenson kills the infant daughter of her sister-in-law.

…Over the next seven years, friends, relatives, and acquaintances of Sorenson repeatedly died under mysterious circumstances before anyone finally realized that it had to be more than a coincidence.

. . .

Early in 1923, Sorenson killed her own daughter, Delia, on her first birthday. When Sorenson’s friend brought her infant daughter for a visit only a week later, the tiny infant was also poisoned. After an attempt on Sorenson’s second husband’s life left him sick–but not dead–authorities began to think that there might be a connection between these series of deaths.

I honestly believe that this type of killer would have a much shorter career in the modern era, but before the FBI get deeply involved in studying and classifying serial criminals it was easier. Especially since it was almost unthinkable back then that a woman could be a cold-blooded murderer.

Oddly, finding any information on Ms. Sorenson different from that available on The History Channel website has proven challenging. I have read about her in one of my serial killers books, but cannot find any more information about her online after a cursory search.

[tags]Della Sorenson, Today in History, Serial criminals, Female killers[/tags]

Just shut the hell up – stupidity reigns

I get it.  Don’t objectify women.  Respect.  Dignity.  All that stuff.  But really, I think holding 13-year-old kids to the same standard is fine until you start talking 10 years juvenile detention for horseplay.

Two 13-year-old Oregon boys are facing serious sex charges for allegedly slapping female classmates’ bottoms as a form of horseplay.

. . .

“These cases are devastating to children,” he [the DA prosecuting the case] said. “They are life-altering cases.”

So, um, today’s winner of the Blahg’s very first “Shut-the-hell-up-and-stop-being-stupid” award.  Sadly, I suspect I’ll have to award it repeatedly now that it exists.

And some people might disagree with me that the punishment is too harsh, doesn’t fit the act, and all that stuff.  It’s OK.  I’m fine with others being wrong.

[tags]Stupid, Shut the hell up, WTF?[/tags]

With friends like this, who needs an enema?

I have never been able to use that line more appropriately than now.  It is, perhaps, the most perfect summation of this dreadfully painful to read story that I could envision.

A MAN rammed a pool cue into the rectum of a drunken friend with such force it snapped off, leaving 31 centimetres stuck inside his bowel, the Tasmanian Supreme Court in Hobart has been told.

Roofer Matthew Noel Triffett, 21, who’d previously pleaded guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm, was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to perform 140 hours of community service.

. . .

He said Triffett thought it was a big joke until the full extent of what he had done was revealed.

In crippling pain, the complainant went home and removed the cue from his rectum.

Read the rest.  It’s even ickier (that’s a medical term, I believe) than what I’ve clipped here.

[tags]Owwwwww, Perforated colon, Rectum?  Damn near killed him, Man snaps pool cue off in buddies ass[/tags]

And what exactly is the problem with that?

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen them, but Dateline periodically works with police to do sex stings, filming people coming to houses where they think they will be having sex with underage boys or girls (when I’ve seen it, the targets were going to meet 13-year-old boys). They also include interviews with the people who work online pretending to be these boys and girls. Later, they run the stories including coming out to tell the filmed what is going on.

Last year, one man filmed doing this pulled a gun and shot himself when police tried to serve him with an arrest warrant.

A prosecutor killed himself as police tried to serve him with an arrest warrant alleging he solicited sex with a minor, authorities said.

Louis “Bill” Conradt Jr., 56, chief felony assistant district attorney for nearby Rockwall County and former district attorney in Kaufman County, died Sunday.

. . .

Police in the town of Murphy, in nearby Collin County, said Conradt solicited sex from a decoy posing online as a 13-year-old, said Murphy Police Sgt. Snow Robertson.

I trust I don’t need to point out the sad irony of a felony assistant DA soliciting sex with a 13-year-old. The extra stupid in this ordeal is the sister of this cretin is now suing NBC news for millions.

[tags]Dateline, To catch a Predator[/tags]

Disturbing idiots get caught, prosecuted for perversions

See, for the cost of a single bullet each, people like this could be removed from the gene pool, limiting their damage to what they’ve already inflicted on the world.

A woman accused of sexually assaulting her infant daughter and videotaping her husband performing sex acts on two children has pleaded guilty to three counts of child sex assault.

You’ll have to hit Fox news’ web site to read the full disgusting story and the penalties she and her husband face. There is at least one tiny good thing to come of this:

The victimized children have been adopted and are in new homes, authorities said.

I’ve said this too many times, but some people just don’t need to be left around to consume our planetary resources.

[tags]Parents who need to be shot, Bad parenting, Disturbing parental behavior[/tags]

The safest place to sit on a plane

You’ve heard the comments that it doesn’t matter which seat you sit in on a plane in case of a crash, right? Well, conventional wisdom is apparently based on the assumption that if the plane crashes, it will get all explodified and you will, therefore, be all deadified. But rather than accept conventional wisdom, some smarties (people, not the candies) at Popular Mechanics looked at the hard data and figured where the safest seat in a plane is if there is a crash.

In the wake of nearly 200 passenger deaths in a Brazilian airliner accident, we take an exclusive look at 36 years’ worth of NTSB reports and seating charts. The best way to live through a disaster in the sky? Move to the back of the Airbus.

Well crap. The authors may be smarties, but they suck at telling jokes and stories – they give away the ending in the first paragraph. I guess that can’t be helped now. Let’s go on and see why that is.

The funny thing about all those expert opinions [that there is no safe seat in a crash]: They’re not really based on hard data about actual airline accidents. A look at real-world crash stats, however, suggests that the farther back you sit, the better your odds of survival. Passengers near the tail of a plane are about 40 percent more likely to survive a crash than those in the first few rows up front.

That’s the conclusion of an exclusive Popular Mechanics study that examined every commercial jet crash in the United States, since 1971, that had both fatalities and survivors. The raw data from these 20 accidents has been languishing for decades in National Transportation Safety Board files, waiting to be analyzed by anyone curious enough to look and willing to do the statistical drudgework.

Real numbers. Real analysis. Real work. They explain the survivor numbers and how they arrived at the conclusion. Good news for us cheapskates that always end up in the back because we bought the $27 ticket 39 weeks ago over Carls-Cheapest-Tickets-Ya-Weasel.com when we heard we were going to travel.

[tags]The safest seat on the plane, Air travel, Safety, Popular Mechanics[/tags]

Judge gives probation to child molester based on his stature?

Ultimately, the judge’s decision was based on more than the molester’s 5 foot 1 inch height, but that’s the only criteria she apparently mentioned during sentencing.

A judge had valid reasons for sentencing a 5-foot-1 sex offender to probation, even though she cited the offender’s height as part of her rationale, the Nebraska Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

An examination by a clinical psychologist and the results of a test used to determine the risk that Richard W. Thompson would reoffend both indicated that Thompson, 52, is neither a pedophile nor a sexual predator, the court said.

I’m not an expert. My opinion means nothing. But based on a number of books I’ve read by people who seem to be experts in criminal behavior, recidivism, and sexual criminals’ rehabilitation prospects, I would guess that the test is probably inaccurate. The judges stated view in court didn’t mention the tests, though.

So I’m sitting here thinking this guy has earned his way to prison, but then I look at you and I look at your physical size. I look at your basic ability to cope with people and, quite frankly, I shake to think what might happen to you in prison because I don’t think you’ll do well in prison

When I was in high school, I had a history teacher who told us that even among criminals, child molesters are viewed badly. He said most child molesters and abusers had to be kept in solitary most of the time to protect them from rape, abuse, and possible death. To me, that sounds exactly like what this molester needs. Only without the protection of solitary. I don’t see why small stature should protect this low-life from that.

Oh, in case you can’t tell – I despise those who prey on children.

[tags]Child Molester given probation for small stature, Let the bastard rot in jail[/tags]

Named laws of software development

The Global Nerdy blog (no, I’d never heard of it before either) has a compilation of named laws of software development. These are comments from relatively well-known (to the geek community, at least) folks that got tied to their names because they’ve held true for so long. Here are a few as a sample.

Brooks’ Law – Fred Brooks – Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

Clarke’s Third Law – Arthur C. Clarke – Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. [ed note: One of my favorite attributed quotes ever, BTW]

The Law of False Alerts – George Spafford – As the rate of erroneous alerts increases, operator reliance, or belief, in subsequent warnings decreases. [ed note: Yes, that’s pretty much a “Boy who cried wolf” law, but I know from experience that it is sooooo true]

Sixty-sixty Rule – Robert Glass – Sixty percent of software’s dollar is spent on maintenance, and sixty percent of that maintenance is enhancement.

The list is long, but very, very interesting. There were a few that I hadn’t heard before, but most of them I knew at least somewhat. (via boingboing)

[tags]Laws of software development, Named laws, Global Nerdy[/tags]