Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher of state secrets who remains holed up in the embassy of Ecuador in London, has signed on with an Icelandic licensing agent to sell Assange-branded high-end clothing, shoes and various household goods in India and much of Europe, and is negotiating to put his logo on apparel in Japan and the U.S. The agent told The New York Times in October that 鈥淲ikiLeaks鈥� and 鈥淎ssange鈥� 鈥渃an be as big as Coca-Cola.鈥� A 46-page book sets out licensing standards (e.g., no tacky slogans, such as 鈥淲e Steal Secrets鈥�) and includes the one approved Assange portrait (an 鈥渋dealized line drawing鈥� of him 鈥済azing soulfully into what is presumably a better future,鈥� wrote the Times).
When a stampede killed pigs and induced sows鈥� abortions on a farm near York, England, two years ago, the operator of a noisy hot-air balloon denied responsibility, referring to a court order keeping balloons 500 meters away. Using GPS coordinates and the location of dead pigs, a mathematics professor at York University (employing trigonometry, he said) proved that the balloon could not have been more than 300 meters away. After the professor 鈥渟howed his work鈥� on the problem, the balloon鈥檚 insurer upped the settlement to almost four times its initial offer.
Lucky Dog Retreat Rescue in Indianapolis reported in October that, even after many heroic saves, they had never heard of a dog like Adam, who is apparently allergic to humans. Following a blood test to determine why he remained so sickly despite therapies, a doctor reported that Adam is allergic to human dander, and researchers told WRTV that a special serum was being prepared.
Britain鈥檚 The Guardian reported in October that repairing the 鈥渇ashion鈥� holes in earlobes is one of the fastest-growing cosmetic procedures in the U.K., as millennial generation radicals tire of their half- to 3/4-inch, see-through lobes. Doctors charge up to $3,000 to remove the entire area around the hole (originally created by stretching the tissue) and connect the healthy parts back so they fuse together. (A Hawaiian man, not currently a patient, supposedly has the largest ear hole, nearly 4 inches in diameter.)
George Byrd IV was charged in September in Middletown, Pennsylvania, with shooting a gun into an occupied structure when he fired a round that accidentally broke a neighbor鈥檚 window. Byrd told police that he fired because it was the only way he knew to 鈥渦nload鈥� the gun.
Police in Bayonne, France, were contemplating charges in October against Kappa Clinic anesthetist Helga Wauters, 45, after a patient died from an improperly placed breathing tube. Wauters, appearing inebriated, said she requires vodka so that she doesn鈥檛 鈥渟hake鈥� when she works.
Carolina has enacted 鈥渟tand your ground鈥� defenses for use of deadly force, but prosecutors are refusing to recognize it in one logical category 鈥� 鈥渟tanding your ground鈥� in the home against life-threatening assaults by one鈥檚 spouse. A Supreme Court decision, said that it was to be used only against intruders and not against people with a right to be there, even to ward off a vicious assault by, for example, a husband against a wife.
