Society's Child

After a half-decade, massive Wikipedia hoax finally exposed

Kevin Morris
The Daily Dot
Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:21 UTC

Up until a week ago, here is something you could have learned from Wikipedia:

From 1640 to 1641 the might of colonial Portugal clashed with India's massive Maratha Empire in an undeclared war that would later be known as the Bicholim Conflict. Named after the northern Indian region where most of the fighting took place, the conflict ended with a peace treaty that would later help cement Goa as an independent Indian state.

Except none of this ever actually happened. The Bicholim Conflict is a figment of a creative Wikipedian's imagination. It's a huge, laborious, 4,500 word hoax. And it fooled Wikipedia editors for more than 5 years.

But even exposed and deleted, Wikipedia's influence over the Web is such that the Bicholim Conflict continues to persist, like a resilient parasite.

France shaken by fresh scandal over weight-loss drug linked to deaths

Angelique Chrisafis
Guardian
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:18 UTC

© Photograph: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images
Mediator, which was prescribed as an appetite suppressant and is believed to have killed at least 500 people.

A weight-loss drug believed to have killed hundreds of people in France's biggest pharmaceutical scandal has sparked fresh controversy as victims complain of delays in state compensation and a leading drug-company boss has been placed under formal investigation for manslaughter.

The amphetamine derivative Mediator was marketed to overweight diabetics but often prescribed to healthy women as an appetite suppressant when they wanted to lose a few pounds.

According to the French health ministry, it has killed at least 500 people from heart-valve damage, but other studies put the death toll nearer to 2,000. Thousands more complain of cardiovascular complications that have limited their daily lives.

As many as 5 million people were given the drug between 1976 and November 2009, when it was withdrawn in France, years after being pulled in Spain and Italy. It was never authorised in the UK or US.

The scandal, which has prompted the resignation of the head of France's public health agency, sparked a furore about drugs regulation and the lobbying power of pharmaceutical companies in France, which has one of Europe's highest levels of consumption of prescription drugs.

Mediator is now at the centre of one of the most important medical legal battles of the year. Along with the prosecution over the French-made faulty PIP silicone breast implants, it has shaken the French medical world.

Tulsa church moves to block rape victim's mother from claiming damages

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:56 UTC

A megachurch in Tulsa, Oklahoma has asked for the dismissal of a civil suit by the mother of a 13-year-old girl raped on church grounds, saying she is ineligible from claiming damages.

According to the Associated Press, the Victory Christian Center will argue in a hearing on Monday that the child's mother is not entitled to any monetary relief under the law. She is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

The suit accuses employees at the center of not reporting the attack by Chris Denman, a former church janitor.

Denman was sentenced last month to 55 years in jail after pleading guilty to raping the girl and one more victim, a 15-year-old girl.

Japanese police taunted by anonymous hacker find clue on cat's collar

Raw Story
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:53 UTC

Police in Japan who have for months been taunted by an anonymous hacker have found a digital memory card attached to an animal's collar after solving a set of emailed riddles, reports said Monday.

The discovery was made after messages were sent to newspapers and broadcasters, with the sender claiming details of a computer virus were strapped to a cat living on an island near Tokyo.

The development is the latest in a bizarre investigation which has previously seen threats made against a number of venues - including a school and a kindergarten attended by grandchildren of Emperor Akihito - sent from computers around the country.

Japan's well-resourced National Police Agency (NPA) was embarrassed after it emerged officers had extracted "confessions" from four people who had nothing to do with the emails.

Police held one of the suspects for several weeks before a broadcaster and lawyer received another anonymous message containing information that investigators conceded could only have been known by the real culprit.

Arizona man threatening suicide fatally shot by officers

Andrew Michalscheck
azfamily.com
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:29 UTC

Surprise Police shot a man Saturday after he threatened to take his own life.

According to police, officers responded to a home in the 15000 block of West Aster Dr. just before 12 p.m. after receiving word that a man was threatening to kill himself.

Police arrived to find a 52-year-old man holding a rifle to his head.

Byne also made comments to police that he was going to get them to shoot him, according to police.

Judge: Release unredacted California priest files

CBS Sacramento
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:23 UTC

A judge on Monday ordered the release of thousands of pages of personnel files that would identify Roman Catholic priests accused of child molestation and their leaders in the church.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias contradicts a previous order in 2010 by another judge that allowed the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to redact the names of church higher-ups.

Attorneys for the archdiocese previously said they planned to make the confidential files public by the middle of this month with the names of the church hierarchy blacked out.

It was unclear how long it would take to adhere to the new ruling. Church attorneys expressed concern about combing through 30,000 pages of documents.

Elias continued to meet with attorneys following the hearing.

Tulsa police: Four women found shot to death In apartment

Russell Hulstine
newson6.com
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:20 UTC

Four women have been found dead in a south Tulsa apartment Monday afternoon.

Tulsa Police got a 911 call shortly after 12:30 p.m. about four people found dead at the Fairmont Terrace Apartments in the 5800 block of South Owasso.

News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright says police told her the victims are four women who were shot to death in one apartment. A 4-year-old boy was also inside but was not hurt.

Delta prevents musician from bringing vintage gibson guitar on board, ends up destroying it

Dylan Stableford
Yahoo News
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:10 UTC

It was a musician's worst nightmare.

At least that's how Dave Schneider, guitarist and singer for Hanukkah-themed rock band The LeeVees, described it when his guitar - a 1965 Gibson ES-335 - got jammed in an elevator by baggage handlers at a Detroit airport.

Schneider was traveling with fellow LeeVees guitarist Adam Gardner from Portland, Maine, to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a gig last month at a conservative temple when their flight was diverted to Rochester, N.Y., due to bad weather, causing them to miss their connection in Philadelphia, Pa. They then drove to Buffalo, N.Y., to hop on a plane destined for Detroit, Mich., where they planned to make a connecting flight to Tampa, Fla.

While boarding in Buffalo, Schneider says he asked Delta staffers not to check in the vintage guitar - which he estimates is worth about $10,000 - and allow him to carry it on the plane and place it in an available space, as he did on the flight from Portland.

"I've always carried it on," Schneider, who also tours as the lead singer of the hockey-themed rock group the Zambonis, told Yahoo News. "Never been a problem before."

Mall cops harass breast-feeding moms for "exposing themselves"

Monique Braxton and David Chang
NBC Philadelphia
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:03 UTC

© NBC10Philadelphia.com - Monique Braxton
Three moms are speaking out after they were allegedly harassed by two security guards while they were breastfeeding inside a mall in Delaware.

Diana Hitchens, Autumne Murray and Jessica Hitchens all say their message was clear when they arrived at the Hollister store at the Concord Mall in Delaware Saturday afternoon. The three women were staging a nurse-in to raise awareness about a woman's right to breastfeed in public. The protest from the three mothers was in response to an incident at a Houston, Texas mall in which a Hollister store manager threw out a mother who was breastfeeding inside the store. The mothers carried posters which read, "Hey Hollister, my baby has a right to eat. It's the law," as well as "Normalize breastfeeding in public. Do you eat in public? Why shouldn't our babies?"

"We walked through the store and the employees asked if we needed help with anything," said Diana Hitchens of Elkton, Maryland. "We were actually nursing as we were walking through the store."

But in the midst of their protest, the three mothers say they encountered some problems of their own. Moments after they staged a sit-in, mall security arrived.

"Two security guards walked up to us," said Autumne Murray of Elkton, Maryland. "They started questioning us and asking us why we were exposing ourselves and saying that we needed to leave or cover up. We got in an argument with them about it for a little bit and then they left."

Fast-food robber suspect returns to eat, is nabbed

Salon
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:17 UTC

Officials say a suspected robber of a suburban Detroit restaurant who apparently returned months later to get some food is under arrest after being recognized by employees.

The Oakland County sheriff's department says workers at a McDonald's in Pontiac spotted the 40-year-old man Saturday in the drive-thru.

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Society's Child

After a half-decade, massive Wikipedia hoax finally exposed

France shaken by fresh scandal over weight-loss drug linked to deaths

Tulsa church moves to block rape victim's mother from claiming damages

Japanese police taunted by anonymous hacker find clue on cat's collar

Arizona man threatening suicide fatally shot by officers

Judge: Release unredacted California priest files

Tulsa police: Four women found shot to death In apartment

Delta prevents musician from bringing vintage gibson guitar on board, ends up destroying it

Mall cops harass breast-feeding moms for "exposing themselves"

Fast-food robber suspect returns to eat, is nabbed

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