WEIRD NEWS
There's More Than One Way to Skin an Insurance Company
In Alberta, Canada, a man found a quick way to save over $1,000 on his car insurance - by simply stating on his insurance documents that he is female. In truth he identifies 100% as male and identified himself only as David to protect himself against possible legal consequences. He is in his early 20s and had already had a couple of speeding tickets and one collision, so he knew the insurance would be high - but the $4,500 he was quoted was even worse than he thought. At one point, he asked the insurer what the cost would be for a woman in his exact situation and learned that his annual bill would be about $1,100 lower. David said, "I was pretty angry about that. And I didn't feel like getting screwed over any more. So I asked them to change my gender on my auto policy, and she's like, we can't do that." Then he learned that it could actually be done, but he had to have his gender changed on his birth certificate and driver's license before it could be reflected on his insurance policy. So he proceeded to do just that. After doing some research, the young man found that all he needed to do was tell his doctor that he identified as a woman, or that he'd like to identify as one, and ask him for an official letter which he would later send to the Government along with a request for the gender change. (Oddity Central)
Serial Killer Kills Again... But It's a Good Thing
Egifius Schiffer is a convicted serial killer serving a life sentence in a German prison. Well, he was. It seems he has killed once more - only this time it was an accident - and it was himself. Schiffer died in what appears to be an autoerotic sex act in his cell. The 62-year-old was found hooked up to a lamp cable at Bochum prison. You don't want to know the details but a post-mortem listed the cause of death is accidental electrocution. Known as the "Aachen Strangler," Schiffer initially got away with murdering five female hitchhikers in the 1980s. But the former insurance salesman was picked up in 2007 for stealing scrap metal, and agreed to give up a DNA sample that linked him to the murders. A self-proclaimed sadomasochist, Schiffer then admitted his guilt because he was apparently excited about going to prison-but later changed his mind and claimed innocence. Police say they doubt anyone killed Schiffer and his lawyer says he wasn't at all suicidal. (Oxygen)
Revenge Porn Guy Meets Karma
California's Andre Pompey is known as the revenge porn guy and he just met karma. Pompey was ordered to pay his revenge-porn victim $5.15 million and fork out an additional $150,000 as punishment. Pompey, who worked in surveillance, pleaded no contest in criminal court to distributing sexually explicit materials without consent. As for Pompey's victim, the effect is still there: "She still has crying spells, she still has nightmares about it," says her attorney. "She's still embarrassed to see people she knows have seen the post." (KWBW)
Well, They Say Honesty is the Best Policy
It's illegal to grow marijuana in Georgia, so things didn't look good for Javonnie McCoy when police busted him with nearly a pound of home-grown pot in his residence. But then McCoy did something unheard of. He got in front of a jury in Dublin, Georgia, and flat-out admitted that the pot was his and, yes, he did grow it. This was no plea bargain - he just admitted it. The jury's decision was seemingly a no-brainer because the law is crystal clear-and yet jurors found him not guilty! It may have been due to an unusual legal strategy used by McCoy's attorney called jury nullification. Essentially, attorney Catherine Bernard told the panel that a jury has the power to "nullify a law it disagrees with-at least as it pertains to the specific case under consideration." In this case, she argued that it made no sense to send an otherwise law-abiding citizen to prison over some pot plants and the judge would have had no choice but to impose a mandatory one-year sentence if a guilty verdict had come back. McCoy had told the court that he was beaten into a coma in 2003 and that marijuana is about the only thing that helps with the lingering pain and trauma. "The jury appreciated his honesty throughout the case ... and recognized that a good, hard working man living a quiet life and not bothering anyone didn't deserve a felony conviction for his actions," writes Bernard in a Facebook post. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
When She Makes More Than He - They Both Lie
It's 2018 and these days it's no big deal if the woman makes more than the man in a relationship right? Well, not exactly. New research suggests that even the couples themselves haven't totally come around to the idea psychologically. When these couples report their income to the U.S. Census Bureau they tend to minimize the gap between their earnings by providing inaccurate information about their salaries, according to a study published by the Census Bureau. When a wife makes more than her husband, the income the couple reports for the wife is 1.5 percentage points lower on average than her actual income. The income the household reports for her husband is 2.9 percentage points higher. The study, which compared Census survey responses to tax data, found that couples will minimize the earnings gap between husband and wife regardless of whether the person answering the survey's questions is the husband or the wife. The pattern doesn't hold in couples where the husband earns more than his wife, the study found. (Market Watch)
Wait - People Still Say "Doggy Bag?"
Want to cut down on how much you eat when dining out? Researchers at Pennsylvania State University say ask for a doggy bag before your meal arrives. It seems if we know our food will go to waste, we'll eat more. But if we know up front we can take leftovers home, we eat less. In the report published in the journal Appetite, researchers said, "Packaging uneaten food after a meal could be an effective strategy to reduce over-consumption from large portions." (Daily Mail)
What the What?
A man in Jacksonville, Fla., chased people in a convenience store while brandishing a live alligator! The man, whose identity has not yet been confirmed, walked into the store holding the gator with his right hand. The animal's mouth appeared to be taped shut. Video footage shows he then yelled, "Ya'll ain't out of beer, are you?" Moments later, the man with the gator jokingly ran at another man as people in the store laugh. He then grabbed a 12-pack of beer. The video was also shared by a Jacksonville man named Robby Stratton, who would not confirm if he was the same person who carried the gator in the video. He said via Facebook Messenger, "All I have to say is it was all fun and games. Everybody in the store was friends and everyone was laughing and having a good time. No one in the situation was scared or mad." (FOX News)
In Alberta, Canada, a man found a quick way to save over $1,000 on his car insurance - by simply stating on his insurance documents that he is female. In truth he identifies 100% as male and identified himself only as David to protect himself against possible legal consequences. He is in his early 20s and had already had a couple of speeding tickets and one collision, so he knew the insurance would be high - but the $4,500 he was quoted was even worse than he thought. At one point, he asked the insurer what the cost would be for a woman in his exact situation and learned that his annual bill would be about $1,100 lower. David said, "I was pretty angry about that. And I didn't feel like getting screwed over any more. So I asked them to change my gender on my auto policy, and she's like, we can't do that." Then he learned that it could actually be done, but he had to have his gender changed on his birth certificate and driver's license before it could be reflected on his insurance policy. So he proceeded to do just that. After doing some research, the young man found that all he needed to do was tell his doctor that he identified as a woman, or that he'd like to identify as one, and ask him for an official letter which he would later send to the Government along with a request for the gender change. (Oddity Central)
Serial Killer Kills Again... But It's a Good Thing
Egifius Schiffer is a convicted serial killer serving a life sentence in a German prison. Well, he was. It seems he has killed once more - only this time it was an accident - and it was himself. Schiffer died in what appears to be an autoerotic sex act in his cell. The 62-year-old was found hooked up to a lamp cable at Bochum prison. You don't want to know the details but a post-mortem listed the cause of death is accidental electrocution. Known as the "Aachen Strangler," Schiffer initially got away with murdering five female hitchhikers in the 1980s. But the former insurance salesman was picked up in 2007 for stealing scrap metal, and agreed to give up a DNA sample that linked him to the murders. A self-proclaimed sadomasochist, Schiffer then admitted his guilt because he was apparently excited about going to prison-but later changed his mind and claimed innocence. Police say they doubt anyone killed Schiffer and his lawyer says he wasn't at all suicidal. (Oxygen)
Revenge Porn Guy Meets Karma
California's Andre Pompey is known as the revenge porn guy and he just met karma. Pompey was ordered to pay his revenge-porn victim $5.15 million and fork out an additional $150,000 as punishment. Pompey, who worked in surveillance, pleaded no contest in criminal court to distributing sexually explicit materials without consent. As for Pompey's victim, the effect is still there: "She still has crying spells, she still has nightmares about it," says her attorney. "She's still embarrassed to see people she knows have seen the post." (KWBW)
Well, They Say Honesty is the Best Policy
It's illegal to grow marijuana in Georgia, so things didn't look good for Javonnie McCoy when police busted him with nearly a pound of home-grown pot in his residence. But then McCoy did something unheard of. He got in front of a jury in Dublin, Georgia, and flat-out admitted that the pot was his and, yes, he did grow it. This was no plea bargain - he just admitted it. The jury's decision was seemingly a no-brainer because the law is crystal clear-and yet jurors found him not guilty! It may have been due to an unusual legal strategy used by McCoy's attorney called jury nullification. Essentially, attorney Catherine Bernard told the panel that a jury has the power to "nullify a law it disagrees with-at least as it pertains to the specific case under consideration." In this case, she argued that it made no sense to send an otherwise law-abiding citizen to prison over some pot plants and the judge would have had no choice but to impose a mandatory one-year sentence if a guilty verdict had come back. McCoy had told the court that he was beaten into a coma in 2003 and that marijuana is about the only thing that helps with the lingering pain and trauma. "The jury appreciated his honesty throughout the case ... and recognized that a good, hard working man living a quiet life and not bothering anyone didn't deserve a felony conviction for his actions," writes Bernard in a Facebook post. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
When She Makes More Than He - They Both Lie
It's 2018 and these days it's no big deal if the woman makes more than the man in a relationship right? Well, not exactly. New research suggests that even the couples themselves haven't totally come around to the idea psychologically. When these couples report their income to the U.S. Census Bureau they tend to minimize the gap between their earnings by providing inaccurate information about their salaries, according to a study published by the Census Bureau. When a wife makes more than her husband, the income the couple reports for the wife is 1.5 percentage points lower on average than her actual income. The income the household reports for her husband is 2.9 percentage points higher. The study, which compared Census survey responses to tax data, found that couples will minimize the earnings gap between husband and wife regardless of whether the person answering the survey's questions is the husband or the wife. The pattern doesn't hold in couples where the husband earns more than his wife, the study found. (Market Watch)
Wait - People Still Say "Doggy Bag?"
Want to cut down on how much you eat when dining out? Researchers at Pennsylvania State University say ask for a doggy bag before your meal arrives. It seems if we know our food will go to waste, we'll eat more. But if we know up front we can take leftovers home, we eat less. In the report published in the journal Appetite, researchers said, "Packaging uneaten food after a meal could be an effective strategy to reduce over-consumption from large portions." (Daily Mail)
What the What?
A man in Jacksonville, Fla., chased people in a convenience store while brandishing a live alligator! The man, whose identity has not yet been confirmed, walked into the store holding the gator with his right hand. The animal's mouth appeared to be taped shut. Video footage shows he then yelled, "Ya'll ain't out of beer, are you?" Moments later, the man with the gator jokingly ran at another man as people in the store laugh. He then grabbed a 12-pack of beer. The video was also shared by a Jacksonville man named Robby Stratton, who would not confirm if he was the same person who carried the gator in the video. He said via Facebook Messenger, "All I have to say is it was all fun and games. Everybody in the store was friends and everyone was laughing and having a good time. No one in the situation was scared or mad." (FOX News)
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