WTF Sh*t's F*cked Up and Bullsh*t - a "Who Cares" thread for news

[Innula Zenovka]

The issue seems to be that there's insufficient research data about sycamore DNA, as opposed to human DNA, to make it useful evidence in court. If the prosecution tries to rely on evidence derived from traces of tree DNA found on the chainsaw, the forensic expert who produces that evidence will have to explain why the jury can be sure the DNA is that of a sycamore and, if they can be sure of that, how this proves the chainsaw was used to cut down that particular sycamore rather than any other sycamore in the area.

The Times article to which I linked says

I didn’t cut down the Sycamore Gap tree — a murderer would get less hassle

“Whoever has done it is going to get ten years for a tree,” Walter Renwick said in the dim light of his ramshackle camper van. The farmer and former lumberj

www.thetimes.co.uk

More background

Sycamore Gap tree investigation: Walter Renwick released on bail

A former lumberjack who was arrested in connection with the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has been released on bail and declared his innocence.Walter Renwick

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link

Evernote link

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[detrius]

I didn’t cut down the Sycamore Gap tree — a murderer would get less hassle

“Whoever has done it is going to get ten years for a tree,” Walter Renwick said in the dim light of his ramshackle camper van. The farmer and former lumberj

www.thetimes.co.uk

More background

Sycamore Gap tree investigation: Walter Renwick released on bail

A former lumberjack who was arrested in connection with the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has been released on bail and declared his innocence.Walter Renwick

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link

Evernote link

It should be pointed out that the tree actually isn't dead.

The roots made up about half of its mass before it was cut down, and those roots are still in the ground and full of power.

In the next spring, new shoots will start growing from the stump, which will quickly be larger than a man.

Give it some time and it'll be back.

That'll also be quicker than planting a new tree.

 

[Khamon]

Yes, considering the weather there, the greater bulk of the tree lives underground. Several sprouts will grow into a small wood that will spread into a beautiful forest sloping down the hillside. It is a little sad that humans live only long enough to see a tree grow once.

 

[detrius]

Yes, considering the weather there, the greater bulk of the tree lives underground. Several sprouts will grow into a small wood that will spread into a beautiful forest sloping down the hillside. It is a little sad that humans live only long enough to see a tree grow once.

Ironically, coppicing rejuvenates trees.

An acer pseudoplatanus like this one will usually live up to several hundred years before it dies of old age, maybe up to 500 or 600 years. But now this tree may very well end up producing new sprouts for a couple of thousand years.

This is the Martyrs' Tree at Tolpuddle in Dorset, England, it was pollarded a few years ago:

 

[Innula Zenovka]

According to this, there's a reasonable chance the tree will survive, though we won't know that for sure until next spring.

But we don't know how it's going to look when it regrows, and it's going to take a couple of hundred years for it to reach anything like its former size.

Sycamore Gap: ‘Minutes to cut down and centuries to grow back, if it ever does’

Experts say vandal likely had previous experience chopping down trees but is not a professional

www.independent.co.uk

Evernote link

 

[Free]

South Korean man killed by industrial robot that identified him as a box

The industrial robot was lifting boxes filled with bell peppers and placing them on a pallet. Read more at straitstimes.com.

www.straitstimes.com

A man was crushed to death by a robot in South Korea after the machine apparently failed to differentiate him from the boxes of produce it was handling, Yonhap News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The man, a robotics company worker in his 40s, was inspecting the robot’s sensor operations at a distribution centre for agricultural produce in South Gyeongsang province.

The industrial robot, which was lifting boxes filled with bell peppers and placing them on a pallet, appeared to have malfunctioned and identified the man as a box, Yonhap reported, citing the police.

The robot "appeared to have malfunctioned."

 

[Khamon]

Programming something to work properly does not debug it working improperly.

 

[Soen Eber]

There's also pesky little things like shutting the power off and depowering the hydraulic systems, and putting machines in "safe mode". Ten gets you one they were intentionally ignoring safety procedures for the sake of production.

 

[Casey Pelous]

The robot "appeared to have malfunctioned."

At least they're not jumping to any hasty conclusions.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

The robot "appeared to have malfunctioned."

I wonder what was their first clue?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Free]

What???

Day laborers say they were hired to move bags with body parts

A group of day laborers said Friday they were hired by a suspected killer to help move trash bags containing body parts out of his Tarzana home.The workers

heysocal.com

A group of day laborers said Friday they were hired by a suspected killer to help move trash bags containing body parts out of his Tarzana home.

The workers told NBC4 they were paid $500 by Samuel Haskell to haul away three large trash bags from inside the garage at his home on the 4100 block of Coldstream Terrace.

The workers told NBC4 Haskell told them the bags were full of rocks, but once they picked up the bags, it felt like there was meat inside.

Horrible, but I'm not sure this is the worst part of the story...

The men told NBC4 they drove immediately to the police, but were turned away from two law enforcement stations when they tried to report what they saw.

They told NBC4 they initially went to the California Highway Patrol’s West Valley Area office in Woodland Hills where they were directed to the Los Angeles Police Department, going to the Topanga Community Police Station, where they were told to leave and call 911 from the courtyard.

 

[Isabeau]

The more things change…

 

[Free]

I cannot believe this shit happens.

Rio Rancho woman killed after police respond to her home

"I said you're fine until I kill you," her caretaker said with Rio Rancho officers present in the room.

www.koat.com

Then, the conversation continues between Cardana and Fannell once the officers say they have to go.

"What did you say?" Fannell asked.

"I said you're fine until I kill you," Cardana said.

"All right? He's threatened to do that," Fannell said to the Rio Rancho police officers.

"Get out of here now," Cardana said to the officers. "Go away."

The two officers leave, and four hours later, 911 receives another call. This time from a neighbor.

"The neighbor man was screaming for help and told us to call the police," the neighbor said. "He says he's killed her."

Police returned to find Cardana covered in blood. He had just shot and killed Fannell, according to court documents. KOAT legal expert John Day says more could have been done.

It took a legal expert to point that out?!

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Somehow I guess I didn't hear about this case when it originally went down?

Feds charge eBay over employees who sent live spiders and cockroaches to couple; company to pay $3M

Online retailer eBay has agreed to pay a $3 million fine to resolve criminal charges over employees who harassed a Massachusetts couple by sending live spiders, cockroaches and other disturbing items to their home.

apnews.com

Evidently two years ago some employees from Ebay, including the company's former safety & security director, received jail sentences after they started sending threatening and bizarre packages to the home of a journalist who had written a story the company didn't like. Just now the company itself has also been found liable for the harassment campaign and was fined.

 

[Free]

Dios mio...

Families in disbelief after hundreds of bodies found buried behind Mississippi jail

The discovery of 215 bodies buried in unmarked graves behind a jail outside of Jackson, Mississippi, has left a community in disbelief. The families are angry they were never notified of the deaths and how their loved ones are buried in graves marked by just a metal rod and a number. Amna Nawaz...

www.pbs.org

The gruesome discovery of 215 bodies buried in unmarked graves behind a jail outside of Jackson, Mississippi, has left a community in disbelief.

The families are angry their loved ones were buried in so-called pauper's graves marked by just a metal rod and a number and families were never notified of their deaths. The startling revelation came months after the mother of 37-year-old Dexter Wade filed a missing persons report last March. It wasn't until August when Bettersten Wade learned her son had been hit by a police car and killed, then buried in that same cemetery.

215 is just the start.

We know, based on the records from the coroner's office, that, since 2016, in the last eight years, we can identify 215 individuals that were buried behind that jail, and their families have not been notified.

Furthermore, Mr. Wade was number 672. That means there are 671 other people buried behind that jail marked with only a number.

Fuck the police.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Oooh, were they still getting state funds per prisoner?

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

What. The. Actual. Fuck???

Teammates put peanuts in allergic student’s locker. District said it wasn’t bullying

Connor’s mother dreads getting calls about his allergy. When he was a baby, his family discovered he was allergic to peanuts. At 16, he doesn’t leave his house without AirPods and an Epipen in his …

www.kxan.com

They're right, it's not bullying. It's attempted fucking murder!

 

[Innula Zenovka]

What. The. Actual. Fuck???

Teammates put peanuts in allergic student’s locker. District said it wasn’t bullying

Connor’s mother dreads getting calls about his allergy. When he was a baby, his family discovered he was allergic to peanuts. At 16, he doesn’t leave his house without AirPods and an Epipen in his …

www.kxan.com

They're right, it's not bullying. It's attempted fucking murder!

It wouldn't be attempted murder in the UK (the prosecution would have to prove intent to kill) but poisoning is an offence in its own right here (section 24 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861). I'd imagine Texas must have a similar provision.