Category: Human Behavior

Maryland installs cameras to take pictures of cameras

On By A.P.In Big Brother, camera, Crime, government surveillance, Human Behavior, Maryland, The Singularity, traffic camera, vandalismLeave a comment

 

Many people find speed cameras frustrating, and some in the region are taking their rage out on the cameras themselves.

But now there’s a new solution: cameras to watch the cameras.

One is already in place, and Prince George’s County Police Maj. Robert V. Liberati hopes to have up to a dozen more before the end of the year.

“It’s not worth going to jail over a $40 ticket or an arson or destruction of property charge,” says Liberati.

Liberati is the Commander of the Automated Enforcement Section, which covers speed and red-light cameras.

Since April, six people have damaged speed cameras.

On April 6, someone pulled a gun out and shot a camera on the 11400 block of Duley Station Road near U.S. 301 in Upper Marlboro, Md.

Two weeks later, a speed camera was flipped over at 500 Harry S. Truman Drive, near Prince George’s Community College. Police believe several people were involved because of the weight of the camera itself.

Then in May, someone walked up to a camera on Brightseat Road near FedEx Field, cut off one of the four legs, and left.

“I guess that makes a statement, but we were able to just attach another leg,” says Liberati.

But when someone burned down a speed camera on Race Track Road near Bowie State College on July 3, Liberati and his colleagues began to rethink their strategy.

“It costs us $30,000 to $100,000 to replace a camera. That’s a significant loss in the program. Plus it also takes a camera off the street that operates and slows people down. So there’s a loss of safety for the community,” says Liberati

The Prince George’s County Police Department decided it needed to catch the vandals, or at least deter them.

“The roads are choked, there are lots of drivers on them. I think traffic itself is the cause of frustration (towards speed cameras). But, we have a duty to make the roads safe, even if takes a couple extra minutes to get to your destination. Unfortunately, that’s the Washington area, the place we live in,” says Liberati.

Speed cameras themselves can’t be used for security because under Maryland law speed cameras can only take pictures of speeding, says Liberati.

“We’ve taken the additional step of marking our cameras to let people know that there is surveillance.”

Liberati says the cameras aren’t a case of Big Brother nor a cash grab, police are simply trying to keep the public safe from reckless drivers.

http://www.wtop.com/41/3034979/New-cameras-to-watch-cameras-that-watch-you

Traffic ticket paid with 137 origami pigs

On By A.P.In Crime, origami, PigLeave a comment

A miffed motorist who received a $137 traffic ticket stuck it to the police when he paid the fine with 137 origami pigs made of  $1 bills in a couple of Dunkin’ Donuts boxes.

With a phone propped in his shirt pocket to record the transaction, a man that uses that moniker “Bacon Moose” on YouTube arrived to make a municipal court payment for a ticket that he thought was unfair. The video does not indicate the man’s name, the court jurisdiction or when the fine was paid.

“I got this ticket in a town where the cops (and absurd red light cameras) are pretty much a money trap and that’s it. I decided to pay in an appropriate manner — 137 origami pig $1 bills, put in a pair of dozen Dunkin’ Donuts boxes,” he wrote on YouTube.

In the video, which has now been viewed over 180,000 times on YouTube, “Bacon Moose” approaches the counter, where an office worker tries to accept the payment for the ticket, only to find that it presented in a very unique fashion. He refuses to accept it as “Bacon Moose” insists that its legal tender.

“I understand that, but the way that you have it folded, I’m not going to sit here and unfold all of that,” the employee says.

“Bacon Moose” continued to protest, insisting that his payment be accepted.

“How different is this then if I had crumpled bills in my pocket? I am offering you to pay in cash right now. I would have paid by card, but you offer a 5 percent fee for that,” he said.

The officer worker is baffled.

“Why would you do that? Times are tough. Why would you take the time to fold all of these up?” the employee asks.

Eventually, the clerk brings over a uniformed police officer to assess the situation. That officer quite politely asks “Bacon Moose” to step over to the counter and unfold the bills.

“Bacon Moose” finally agrees. Moments later in the clip, it suddenly dawns on that officer what he is looking at.

“Little piggies in a donut box! I got it, I got it!” he laughs.

Eventually while counting the bills, the officer worker begins to see the humor, particularly as “Bacon Moose” identifies one of the origami pigs as Admiral Ackbacon, the sole survivor of a great pig massacre of 2012.

“I will give you props,” the clerk says. “You have made me laugh for the day. I will give you mad props on you taking your time to do each and every one of these.”

“Bacon Moose” added a title to the clip noting that it took eight minutes to count the money, but it only took three minutes to unfold it.  He notes that he lost track after four hours of how long it took him to fold all the dollar bills.  He documented the process here.

 

How childhood neglect affects the brain

On By A.P.In child abuse, child neglect, Communication, Empathy, Human Behavior, Kebmodee, parenting, Relationship, Science, The Brain1 Comment

 

Science is painting a dramatic picture of how childhood neglect damages developing brains, so stunting them that neglect might be likened to physically violent abuse.

The latest addition to this research narrative comes from a study of mice placed in isolation early in their lives, an experiment that, on its surface, might seem redundant: After all, we already know that neglect is bad for humans, much less mice.

But they key to the study is in the details. The researchers found striking abnormalities in tissues that transmit electrical messages across the brain, suggesting a specific mechanism for some of the dysfunctions seen in neglected human children.

“This is very strong evidence that changes in myelin cause some of the behavioral problems caused by isolation,” said neurologist Gabriel Corfas of Harvard Medical School, a co-author of the new study, released Sept. 13 in Science.

 

Corfas and his team, led by fellow Harvard Med neuroscientist Manabu Makinodan, put 21-day-old mice in isolation for two weeks, then returned them to their colonies. When the mice reached adolescence, the researchers compared their brains and behavior to mice who hadn’t been isolated.

The isolated mice were antisocial, with striking deficits in memory. Their myelin, a cell layer that forms around neuronal networks like insulation around wires, was unusually thin, especially in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region central to cognition and personality.

Similar patterns of behavior have been seen, again and again, in children raised in orphanages or neglected by parents, as have changes to a variety of brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex. The myelin deficiencies identified by Corfas and Makinodan may underlie these defects.

 

“This is incredibly important data, because it gives us the neural mechanisms associated with the deleterious changes in the brain” that arise from neglect, said Nathan Fox, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Maryland.

Fox was not involved in the new study, but is part of a research group working on a long-term study of childhood neglect that is scientifically striking and poignantly tragic. Led by Harvard Medical School pediatricians Charles Nelson and Margaret Sheridan, the project has tracked for the last 12 years children who started their lives in an orphanage in Bucharest, Romania, a country infamous for the spartan, impersonal conditions of its orphanages.

Among children who spent their first two years in the orphanage, the researchers observed high levels developmental problems, cognitive deficits, mental illness, and significant reductions in brain size. When the researchers measured the sheer amount of electrical activity generated by the brains of children who’d been isolated as toddlers, “it was like you’d had a rheostat, a dimmer, and dimmed down the amount of energy in these institutionalized children,” said Fox.

These problems persisted even when toddlers were later adopted, suggesting a crucial importance for those early years in setting a life’s neurological trajectory. “There’s a sensitive period for which, if a child is taken out of an institution, the effects appear to be remediated, and after which remediation is very, very difficult,” Fox said. The same pattern was observed in Corfas and Makinodan’s mice.

One phenomenon not studied in the mice, but regularly found in people neglected as children, are problems with stress: mood disorders, anxiety, and general dysfunction in a body’s stress responses.

Those mechanisms have been studied in another animal, the rhesus monkey. While deprivation studies on non-human primates — and in particular chimpanzees — are controversial, the results from the monkey studies have been instructive.

Early-life isolation sets off a flood of hormones that permanently warp their responses to stress, leaving them anxious and prone to violent swings in mood.

Isolation is so damaging because humans, especially as infants, literally depend on social stimulation to shape their minds, said psychologist John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago.

“Human social processes were once thought to have been incidental to learning and cognition,” Cacioppo wrote in an e-mail. “However, we now think that the complexities and demands of social species have contributed to the evolution of the brain and nervous system and to various aspects of cognition.”

Corfas and Makinodan’s team linked specific genetic changes to the abnormalities in their mice, and hope they might someday inform the development of drugs that can help reverse isolation’s effects.

A more immediate implication of the research is social. As evidence of neglect’s severe, long-term consequences accumulates, it could shape the way people think not just of orphanages, but policy matters like maternity and paternity leave, or the work requirements of single parents on welfare.

“What this work certainly says is that the first years of life are crucially important for brain architecture,” Fox said. “Infants and young children have to grow up in an environment of social relationships, and experiencing those is critical for healthy cognitive, social and psychological development. As a society, we should be figuring out how to encourage all that to happen.”

Thanks to Kebmobee for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/neuroscience-of-neglect/

Traveller caught in India with monkey in his underwear

On By A.P.In animal smuggling, Bangkok, Crime, Hamad Al-Dhaheri, India, Mohammed Al-Shamsi, monkey in pants, monkey in underwear, monkey smuggling, Mumbai, Rashid Al-Shamsi, smuggling, Thailand, Wildlife and CusomsLeave a comment

Customs authorities in India have arrested a man who was attempting to board a flight at New Delhi’s international airport with a monkey in his underwear, a report said on Monday.

The man, who was detained along with two other travellers, had arrived from Bangkok and was about to take a connecting flight to Dubai on Jet Airways, the Press Trust of India reported.

Personnel at the airport found the seven-inch (17-centimetre) loris, a type of monkey native to India and southeast Asia, “in one of the passengers’ underwear during the security check,” PTI said.

Another loris was discovered in a dustbin at the Indira Gandhi International airport.

“They had abandoned him as they were unable to carry him,” a senior security official told the news agency.

The passengers, named as Hamad Al-Dhaheri, Mohammed Al-Shamsi and Rashid Al-Shamsi, were handed over to Wildlife and Customs Department for further questioning and were later arrested by customs police.

Authorities were trying to determine the exact origin of the monkeys.

Customs officials recently caught an Indian man at Mumbai’s main airport with 10 turtles in his underwear, which he was trying to smuggle into the city from Bangkok, the Hindustan Times reported last week.

They also seized six Persian cats, three poisonous tarantula spiders and 11 birds eggs from the man and his two accomplices, the report said.

The newspaper quoted a customs official saying the men were fined and sent back to Bangkok with the protected species and eggs they were trying to smuggle.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120910-traveller-caught-india-with-monkey-pants-report

Citizen mob in China pummels bag snatchers

On By A.P.In China, Crime, Human Behavior, mob, ViolenceLeave a comment

Two criminals riding a motorcycle snatched a woman’s purse in broad daylight. When surrounded by a crowd, one of them brandished a long blade, but unfazed residents attacked them broomsticks, rods, cardboard boxes, chairs, and other makeshift weapons. Some of the participants were reward with official recognition for their actions and display of bravery that day.

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2012/09/05/citizen-mob-china-pummels-bag-snatchers/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Drunk Maryland man wakes up to learn that he killed 70,000 chickens

On By A.P.In Addiction, alcohol abuse, chicken, Crime, Delmar, Human Behavior, intoxication, Joshua Shelton, Mark Shockley, Maryland, Stupidity, Tim RobinsonLeave a comment

 

A Delmar man faces several criminal charges after his alleged actions caused the deaths of almost 70,000 chickens.

Joshua D. Shelton, 21, was charged in connection with the incident. Police said Shelton reportedly shut off the power to three chickenhouses.

“The theory is that he may have been in there looking for a light switch,” said Lt. Tim Robinson of the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.

The value of these chickens, belonging to Mark Shockley of the 32000 block of E. Line Road in Delmar, is reported to be about $20,000, and damage also includes an unknown amount of cleanup costs, according to charging documents. After the incident, only about 100 chickens remained, charging documents state.

Shockley found the chickens Saturday morning and the flock, which had been deprived of food, water and cooling fans, was supposed to be delivered on Sunday.

“Shockley advised that without power, the chickens will begin to die within 15 minutes,” according to charging documents.

Shelton was found lying in the power control shed by the circuit breakers, wearing a T-shirt and boxers, the sheriff’s office reported.

He smelled of alcohol and did not know how he got into the shed or remember touching the breakers, according to charging documents.

Shelton is charged with second-and fourth-degree burglary, malicious destruction of property, trespassing on private property and animal cruelty.

Shelton was at a gathering outside the home with a few people — including Shockley’s daughter — according to charging documents. After his daughter told everyone to go home, she thought Shelton had left.

“Instead of leaving, he wandered into the shed where the power controls were and ended up turning off the power,” Robinson said.

Crimes involving the death of a mass number of chickens are not common, Robinson said.

“This is a first for me in my almost 20-year career,” Robinson said.

An incident like this is also surprising to Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc.

“I have never heard of a drunkard going in and killing chickens,” he said. “This is a new one on me, and it’s unfortunate that it occurred.”

Satterfield said occasionally there will be reminders in a newsletter that goes out about protecting chickens from intrusion, but the problem is more likely to be people bringing in bacteria, or potentially animal rights people.

He recommended growers install locks and gates, lock the doors on chickenhouses and put up “No trespassing” or “No admittance” signs.

While Satterfield wasn’t familiar with this particular case, he said it takes chickens about an average of seven weeks to grow, and a farmer may get five or five-and-a-half flocks per year.

“If he’s losing the entire flock, that would be about one-fifth of his income for the year,” Satterfield said.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120828/WIC01/208280380/Farmer-finds-nearly-70-000-chickens-dead

Delaware daycare employees arrested for organizing toddler fights

On By A.P.In antisocial personality, Crime, D.K., day care, Delaware, Human Behavior, toddler fight club, ViolenceLeave a comment

 

Three Delaware day care employees have been accused of encouraging toddlers to fight each other while the children were under their care.

CBS Philly reported that Tiana Harris, 19, Lisa Parker, 47, and Estefania Myers, 21, employees of the Hands of Our Future Daycare in Dover, were arrested after a cellphone video emerged of them allegedly encouraging two 3-year-olds to fight in an organized battle.

Police said in the video one child is heard yelling, “He’s pinching me!” A day care worker allegedly responded, “No pinching, only punching.”

“It was a difficult video to watch,” Dover Police Capt. Tim Stump told FoxNews.com.  “One of the kids involved ran over to one of the adults for protection, but she turned him around back into the fight.”

The video was taken in March, Stump said. Two of the suspects could be seen encouraging the fight, while the other filmed it with her cellphone camera, he said.

Stump said neither of the toddlers suffered serious injuries, but said it was “painfully clear that they were hurting each other.”

“The bottom line is that the kids were whaling on each other and the adults were doing nothing to stop it,” Stump said. “In fact, they were egging it on.”

Parents of day care students went to a meeting Monday and were informed about the alleged video. Stump said the parents voiced concern, but commended them for their composure.

“It’s very disturbing to think anything like that could go on,” Amy Bickerling, whose 4-year-old son is enrolled at the center, told Delaware Online. “I know these teachers. I go on all the field trips. I’ve never seen anything irregular.”

Stump said a full investigation is under way. There is no evidence yet to suggest these fights occurred more than once, but authorities will be conducting interviews  with some of the students, he said.

He called the suspects “cooperative” and said they posted $10,000 bond.

The three women were charged with assault, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangering and conspiracy.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/21/daycare-workers-accused-running-toddler-fight-club/

Thanks to D.K. for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

Pupil dilation in response to viewing erotic videos indicates sexual orientation

On By A.P.In bisexuality, Cornell University, erotic video, heterosexuality, homosexuality, Human Behavior, New York City, pupil dilation, pupillary reponse, Science, sexual orientation, sexuality, The Brain, Weill Medical CollegeLeave a comment

For the first time, researchers have used a specialized camera to measure pupillary changes in people watching erotic videos, the changes in pupil dilation revealing where the participant is located on the heterosexual-homosexual spectrum. The researchers at Cornell University who developed the technique say it provides an accurate method of gauging the precise sexual orientation of a subject. The work is detailed in the journal PLoS ONE.

Previously, researchers trying to assess sexual orientation simply asked people about their sexuality or used intrusive physiological measures, such as assessing their genital arousal.

“We wanted to find an alternative measure that would be an automatic indication of sexual orientation, but without being as invasive as previous measures. Pupillary responses are exactly that,” says lead researcher Gerulf Rieger. “With this new technology we are able to explore sexual orientation of people who would never participate in a study on genital arousal, such as people from traditional cultures. This will give us a much better understanding how sexuality is expressed across the planet.”

Experimenting with the technique, the researchers found heterosexual men showed strong pupillary responses to sexual videos of women, and little to men. Heterosexual women, however, showed pupillary responses to both sexes. This result confirms previous research suggesting that women have a very different type of sexuality than men.

Interestingly, the new study sheds new light on the long-standing debate on male bisexuality. Previous notions were that most bisexual men do not base their sexual identity on their physiological sexual arousal but on romantic and identity issues. Contrary to this claim, bisexual men in the new study showed substantial pupil dilations to sexual videos of both men and women.

“We can now finally argue that a flexible sexual desire is not simply restricted to women – some men have it, too, and it is reflected in their pupils,” said co-researcher Ritch C. Savin-Williams. “In fact, not even a division into ‘straight,’ ‘bi,’ and ‘gay’ tells the full story. Men who identity as ‘mostly straight’ really exist both in their identity and their pupil response; they are more aroused to males than straight men, but much less so than both bisexual and gay men.”

Thanks to Dr. A.R. for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

Couples can soon get married at Denny’s in Las Vegas

On By A.P.In Denny's, Denny's restaurant, Denny's wedding chapel, Las Vegas, Marriage, NevadaLeave a comment

A new Denny’s planned for downtown Vegas will include a wedding chapel, photo  booth, and flapjack “wedding cakes.”

Denny’s CEO John Miller told the Associated Press that the restaurant/knot spot will be open 24 hours.

Thanks to the future Dr. Goldman for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.