SoManyThingz

Tuesday 4 October 2016

Man arrested in stabbing death of boy with clown mask

Anna October 04, 2016 No comments

Police say a dispute over a mask like one featured in the "Purge" horror movies contributed to the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old Pennsylvania boy.
Reading police say high school sophomore Christian Torres had the mask pushed up onto his head, not over his face, when he was stabbed Sunday night.
Twenty-nine-year-old Avery Valentin-Bair has been jailed on first-degree murder and other charges.
Police had said earlier this week that they were sifting through various accounts that included the victim wearing a clown-like mask, and someone else wearing it.
Police now say Torres had the mask and that it had created some sort of neighborhood controversy that led to the stabbing.
Valentin-Bair remained in the Berks County jail Friday and doesn't have an attorney listed in online court records.

Pennsylvania Clown Stabbing

Anna October 04, 2016 No comments

It’s been the summer of the clown sighting, and now that fall has rolled around, Pennsylvania is facing an unthinkable clown stabbing. Was the Pennsylvania clown stabbing related to the mysterious clown sightings that have plagued the U.S. South and Midwest all summer? Was it an isolated incident? What happened in the Pennsylvania clown stabbing? More importantly, what is law enforcement doing to bring an unidentified, clown mask-clad suspect to justice after he fatally stabbed a teen?
Here’s what we know so far.
As the Reading Eagle reports, the tragic Pennsylvania clown stabbing took place on Sunday night, September 25. That’s when a teenager was stabbed to death during a dispute in Pennsylvania. Reportedly, the violent stabbing took place on Locust Street. That’s where an as-yet-unidentified assailant showed up wearing a Halloween clown mask and stabbed the teen.
The victim has since been identified as 16-year-old Christian Torres. The young man who lost his life in the Pennsylvania clown stabbing was reportedly a sophomore at local Reading High School.
The city’s district attorney is imploring anyone who witnessed the fatal Pennsylvania clown stabbing to contact the local police department so that the clown mask-wearing attacker can be brought to justice.

“Someone was wearing a clown mask and a fight broke out. Anyone who knows anything about this, please contact the Reading police.”

The Pennsylvania clown stabbing reportedly took place just before 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. When first responders were called to the scene of the stabbing, they found the Pennsylvania clown stabbing victim on the front porch of a home, surrounded by a large crowd of neighbors and onlookers. Unfortunately for victim Christian Torres, EMTs and police were unable to save his young life, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. A decisive autopsy was scheduled for the next day (Monday).

While it has been widely reported that the Pennsylvania clown victim died as a result of being stabbed, police have not released an official cause of death in the case. That information will be determined during Monday’s autopsy and released at the discretion of investigators.
It seems likely that the perpetrator of the Pennsylvania clown stabbing will be apprehended over the course of the investigation, as the neighborhood where the stabbing took place is reportedly quite close-knit. According to witnesses, the Pennsylvania clown stabbing was the result of an argument or some other dispute that somehow got violently “out of control.”
Following the fatal Pennsylvania clown stabbing, a memorial for the victim has been erected on the block and is reportedly growing with every passing hour, as neighbors and mourners alike deposit photos, candles, and even toys at the site.

“The saddest part of the whole thing is that the dispute got out of control. The neighbors see each other every day. They know each other so well.”

Despite the close-knit nature of the neighborhood where the Pennsylvania clown stabbing took place, so far nobody has been taken into custody.
While the Pennsylvania clown stabbing seems to be following a trend of widespread clown sightings over the summer of 2016, it seems unrelated to the larger trend that has taken the South and Midwest by storm for the last several weeks.
The summer clown sightings began in South Carolina at an apartment complex surrounded by a wooded area. Reportedly, in that instance, the clowns being sighted were trying to lure children into the forest with candy and money. Initially, the sightings were discounted by parents and law enforcement as the overactive imaginations of children, but eventually, parents and other adults began seeing the clowns, too. The situation at the Fleetwood Manor Apartments got so bad that the management sent out letters to residents, warning parents to keep an eye on their kids because clowns had been lurking in the surrounding woods.
Over the summer, the clown sightings spread to several states and multiple law enforcement agencies. Despite the widespread reports, police remained baffled. While cops continued to investigate, the clown sightings continued and witnesses became increasingly credible.
Parents became increasingly concerned that their children were going to disappear into the woods with an unidentified clown, never to be seen or heard from again.
In addition to becoming more widespread, the clown sightings became increasingly violent in disturbing. Just a few weeks ago, a student in Ohio reported being chased by a clown with a knife at a school bus stop.
Finally, last week in Kentucky, the first clown sighting arrest was made. In that instance, 20-year-old Jonathan Martin was taken into custody after he was caught lurking in the woods dressed as a clown. While dressing as a clown may not appear to be a crime, many states in the South and Midwest made it clear to their residents that the behavior wouldn’t be tolerated in the wake of a summer of disturbing clown sightings.
The stabbing in Pennsylvania is the first of the year (which has now transitioned from summer to fall) where a person has been injured, let alone killed, by a clown.
***Update: An arrest has been made in the case of the Pennsylvania clown stabbing. As PennLive reports, 29-year-old Avery Valentin-Bair has been arrested in connection with the horrific, unfathomable crime. Reportedly, he turned himself in to Pennsylvania police.
According to investigators, the mask involved in the slaying of 16-year-old Christian Torres was one similar to the masks featured in The Purge films, not a clown mask. It is now being reported that the victim and his alleged killer were arguing over the mask at the time of the fatal slaying, and that Torres himself may have had possession of or been wearing the disturbing disguise when he was allegedly stabbed last Sunday by Avery Valentin-Bair.
At this point, the suspect in the Pennsylvania clown stabbing (now known to be not a clown-related crime at all, contrary to the initial information released in the case) is being held on a multitude of charges, including first-degree murder.***

Friday 30 September 2016

Selfies Are Linked To THESE Personality Disorders!

Anna September 30, 2016 No comments

All of us have one or two friends we’ve seriously considered holding a selfie intervention for. And thanks to some new information, we’ve now got a few genuine reasons to be concerned. You see, psychologists have linked compulsive selfie-taking to a number of mental health and personality issues.
‘Oh, but surely that only applies to people who take an insane amount of selfies,’ you might be thinking. Actually, no. According to the American Psychiatric Association, even just three selfies daily is cause for concern.
Let’s take a look at a few of the issues experts say are at play in compulsive selfie taking.

Narcissism

Research has shown that individuals with higher narcissistic personality traits tend to post more selfies on social media. Editing a selfie before posting it is a sign of even greater narcissism.
Narcissistic individuals need admiration to function. Posting a selfie allows them to get this admiration by way of likes and comments. This sort of admiration is incredibly misleading due tothe disingenuous nature of social media. That doesn’t stop it from going to a narcissist’s head, of course.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

“Two out of three of all the patients who come to see me with body dysmorphic disorder since the rise of camera phones have a compulsion to repeatedly take and post selfies on social media sites,”says psychiatrist Dr. David Veale.

“The only thing I cared about was having my phone with me so I could satisfy the urge to capture a picture of myself at any time of the day.”

In body dysmorphic disorder patients, compulsive selfie-taking often accompanies an eating disorder.

Low Self-Esteem

According to mental health expert Tina Sadri, behavior such as frequent selfie posting “may be little more than a self-presentational strategy to compensate for very low and fragile self-esteem.”
While selfies may seem to boost one’s self-esteem, they actually do so in a negative way.
“Teenagers are often driven by insecurity to construct a desirable persona, they are particularly vulnerable to the negative side of self-portraiture,” says psychologist Lucie Hemmen. “If a young girl poses provocatively and gets 300 likes for that photo, that’s false self-esteem for that kid.”

Tuesday 27 September 2016

Guy Got Catfished So Hard, Thought He Was Dating Katy Perry For Six Years

Anna September 27, 2016 No comments

I’ve always found the MTV show Catfish absolutely hilarious. If you’re not familiar with it, where have you been? Catfish is basically part detective show, part relationship advice and all round FUN. Its premise is to help people find out if men or women they have been dating online are being honest about who they are.
As you might imagine, the answer is often a resounding no. The stories are almost unbelievable and just when you think you’ve seen it all, an even more ridiculous case comes up.
My all time favourite Catfish story is the case of Dee Pimpin – an upcoming hip hop artist who impersonated rapper Bow Wow just to get girls. She became particularly interested in Keyonnah who genuinely believed she was in a relationship with a superstar rapper.
This story had a happy ending, at least for Dee’s music career. She went on to drop a music video for one of her tracks! Let’s hope her love life improved as well – without the need to impersonate celebrities.
After the Keyonnah/Dee Pimpin episode, I thought no other Catfish case could even come close. Enter Spencer Morrill from Texas. I have no idea how presenters Nev Schulman and Max Joseph keep finding these people

Spencer Morrill approached the Catfish team to help confirm the identity of a woman called Katy, whom he had been having an online relationship with for six years. He then explained that this Katy was none other than Katy “I Kissed A Girl” Perry.
Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve found Keyonnah’s heir. Yet another individual who believes that a known celebrity is having a secret online relationship with them. Am I missing something? Is this a regular thing celebrities do? I mean, that might explain why people keep falling for it.
I have to give it to Spencer, though. The man obviously has no shortage of confidence. Katy Perry’s marriage to Russell Brand and subsequent relationship with Orlando Bloom weren’t enough to make him doubt Katy’s love. He just knew he had it in the bag. Bless him.

I’ll definitely look forward to watching the full episode. So glad Catfish is back! If this show gets any more insane, we’ll be watching people claim they’ve been in a Whatsapp relationship with Marilyn Monroe.

Best Programming Languages to Learn in 2016

Anna September 27, 2016 No comments

TIOBE’s latest report assesses the popularity of programming languages using the number of skilled engineers and search engine rankings. The results:

Java
C
C++
C#
Python
PHP
VisualBasic.NET
JavaScript
Assembly Language
Ruby
Perl
Delphi
VisualBasic
Swift
MATLAB
Pascal
Groovy
Objective-C
R
PL/SQL

TIOBE states their chart is not an indicator of suitability or the number of lines written. Some languages rise because they’re still used and are relatively older than others. There are a few surprises: is VisualBasic still popular? It’s rarely used by professional developers, but it could be that many people use it for simple ad-hoc applications. That said, I don’t know of anyone who’s used assembly language for many, many years?

DevPost Student Hackers Report, January 2016

The DevPost report analyzes the work of 13,281 students participating on almost 10,000 projects during the 2014-2015 academic year. The results show technologies used, although it’s intermingled with programming languages:

HTML/CSS
JavaScript
Python
Java
C/C++
PHP
Objective-C
C#
Swift
JSON
Ruby
XML
Ajax
Shell
Processing
Lua
CoffeeScript
Go
MATLAB
OpenGL

The results mostly highlight what students are working on in their spare time. The projects tend to be dominated by native apps, embedded micro-controllers and wearables, which can be fairly niche technologies in the business world. In addition, these are languages the students wanted to use. Whether they were viable or pleasurable is another matter!

Learn to Program Today!

I’m going to state this clearly. Again:

never choose a language from survey results

It would be like choosing to live in a particular town because it has a higher population than others. These statistics are interesting, but they don’t help you pick the most appropriate language for your situation, project requirements or career objectives.
Forget choosing a language and start coding in something. It doesn’t matter what you choose. Learn the basic concepts and the majority of other languages become just an alternative syntax.

…but Don’t Expect to Become Proficient Immediately

Developers often make coding look easy — but anything seems easy once you’ve learned it. Unfortunately, our industry has a tendency to underestimate the challenge.
Have you ever seen books or courses titled “Learn Aeronautical Engineering in 21 Days” or “Bridge Construction for Idiots”? Of course not, yet good developers will spend just as long learning their craft. The primary difference is that development has a lower barrier to entry, and you’re less likely to hurt anyone with shoddy code … unless your software is used to design aircraft or bridges!
Coding is difficult. You’ll be able to create a few simple programs within days, but you’ll need many months’ knowledge to confidently tackle a large application. Most professional jobs require several years of solid experience. Even then, you’re always learning. We all look back at carefully constructed programs developed six months ago and think “who wrote that nonsense?”

Can You Become a Developer?

Absolutely — but relatively few people will. If the job was easy, developer demand would never exceed supply. However, I do not believe developers are born with innate coding skills. Anyone can learn to program. Just like anyone can learn to play the guitar or speak Japanese … if they’re prepared to put the effort in.
The key is passion. If you’re excited about seeing your name on-screen or moving a green blob from one point to another, programming could be for you. The best developers are motivated by tasks and are mostly self-taught. Education, books and courses will help, but you only learn coding by doing it.

Where Should I Start?

SitePoint is primarily a web development resource, but the web is a hostile environment for beginners. Even if you concentrate on client-side development, you won’t get far without some knowledge of browsers, HTML and CSS (they’re not programming languages and are considerably more quirky!) Here are solid introductions to HTMLand CSS from our Premium content collection.
Native OS development in something like Java or C# isn’t much easier. There may be fewer dependencies, but many novices are bamboozled by the IDEs and tools required to get going. A lengthy compile step — which translates your code into something the computer can understand — isn’t conducive to learning.
An interpreted language such as Python, Ruby (we have a great intro) or JavaScript (in Node.js) (ditto) may be a better option, but some are daunted by the command line. It’s also difficult to create anything graphically interesting to hold your excitement.
Modern development environments are complex, and the initial learning curve is steep. I’m showing my age, but I consider myself fortunate to have learned coding on a ZX Spectrum in Sinclair BASIC. The choice was limited — as was the memory and capabilities — but it allowed me to grasp the basics (of BASIC and coding) without getting bogged down in a stack of related technologies.
We’ll never return to the simpler 8-bit days, but there are a number of BASIC environments which could help introduce you to the concepts of code structure, variables, looping and branching, e.g. Basic for Qt, SmallBasic, Basic256 or the ancientQBasic. Snobbier developers berate BASIC because it can teach bad practices, but writing a few lines of terrible code will teach you more than writing none.

Can I Become a Great Coder?

Yes — in time. The best coders go through several phases on their programming journey:

The “I know nothing” phase
Everything is new, nothing is easy.
The “it’s starting to make sense” phase
You’ve written a few programs and are making fewer mistakes.
The “I’m invincible” phase
Your confidence matches your competence. No challenge seems too difficult.
The “I know nothing” phase, part II
The sudden realization that development is infinitely more complex and you begin to doubt your own abilities.
The “I know a bit and that’s OK” phase
You have decent coding skills but recognize your limitations and can find solutions to most problems (even if that means hiring another developer).

In my experience, the primary difference between good developers and great developers is curiosity. A great developer is never content to glue pre-written components together. They want to understand how things work. Completing a task in the quickest possible time is of lesser importance.
Consider writing your own libraries before using someone else’s work. For example, write your own JavaScript DOM manipulation functions or PHP database connectivity objects. Using jQuery or an ORM will allow you to produce something faster, but understanding the underlying technology is invaluable. Code re-use becomes increasingly important, but don’t be afraid to delve deeper while you’re learning.
Finally, never be afraid of picking the wrong language … there are no wrong ones. There are those that aren’t best suited to a specific project, but you’ll only discover that by trial and error. Pick an interesting project, choose any language and get going.
Best of luck!

Monday 19 September 2016

Anonymous Hacker Who Exposed the Steubenville Rapists May Get More Prison Time Than Rapists

Anna September 19, 2016 No comments

Deric Lostutter, the 26-year-old “hacktivist” who leaked the evidence that led to the conviction of two of the Steubenville, Ohio rapists is now facing more time behind bars than the rapists he exposed. The Steubenville Rape Case made national headlines when a video made by the rapists themselves, and their friends, proved that their victim was unconscious and unable to consent.

Instead of giving Lostutter thanks for exposing these criminals, however, the FBI raided his house last April. At first, Lostutter had denied that he was the man in the video, but he decided to come forward after the appalling reaction of the rapists after they were exposed.
Lostutter is now facing ten years behind bars if indicted for obtaining tweets and social media posts which revealed the details of the rape as well as for threatening action against the Steubenville rapists and school officials who helped to cover up the crime. Lostutter posted the video to the Steubenville High School football team website, bringing national attention to the case and the cover-up.

Word of Lostutter’s 10-years comes just as one of the rapists themselves, Ma’Lik Richomond, 16, was just released from prison for “good behavior.”

The Richomond family released a statement, following the release, which focused on how hard the past 16 months have been for Ma’Lik. The attorney for Ma’Lik’s rape victim noted there was no apology made to her in that statement.
“Although everyone hopes convicted criminals are rehabilitated, it is disheartening that this convicted rapist’s press release does not make a single reference to the victim and her family — whom he and his co-defendant scarred for life. One would expect to see the defendant publicly apologize for all the pain he caused rather than make statements about himself. Rape is about victims, not defendants. Obviously, the people writing his press release have yet to learn this important lesson,” attorney Robert Fitzsimmons said.
Stay tuned. You will be hearing more about this story.

It’s a strange world that sees criminals sentenced to less prison time than those who expose their crimes, but it’s the world we live in. Anonymous vigilante hacktivist Deric Lostutter, who hacked into the Steubenville High School sports fan website to reveal incriminating evidence against two student rapists, now faces 16 years in prison. The students, Trent Mays and Ma’Lik Richmond, who were found guilty of raping an unconscious 16-year-old, served two years and ten months, respectively. - See more at: http://www.theunknownbutnothidden.com/hacker-facing-16-years-rapists-exposed-walk-free/#sthash.yopVQMVL.dpuf

Saturday 10 September 2016

Phoenix Serial Killer: Everything You Need to Know

Anna September 10, 2016 No comments

There is unease amongst residents of Phoenix, Arizona and its suburbs, who have spent the past six months fearing for their lives after a serial killer has made the city and its surrounding area his target zone. The killer, dubbed the "Serial Street Shooter" by local police, has attacked unassuming citizens at random, beginning on March 17th, 2016, when he shot a publicly unidentified 16-year-old man, who survived.
This sadly, has become an all too familiar feeling for the people of Phoenix, who from August 2005 to June 2006 were terrorized by two serial killers – The Serial Shooter and The Baseline Killer – simultaneously. These murderers were collectively responsible for the deaths of 11 citizens.
Since the Serial Street Shooter's first attack, Phoenix Police have linked him to nine attacks in all, resulting in the murder of seven civilians. It is now city officials' top priority to bring the shooter to justice. Here, everything you need to know about the Serial Street Shooter, and the ongoing investigation.
Who has been shot?On March 17th, the Serial Street Shooter struck his first victim, a 16-year-old man who was walking down the street around 11:30 at night, but he survived. (The names of surviving victims haven't been released.) The next night, a 21-year-old male was also wounded while standing outside of his car, but also survived. Then, on April 1st, the shooter murdered his first victim, 21-year-old Diego Verdugo Sanchez, outside of his home. It would be nearly three weeks before he would strike again, but when he did, he shot and fatally wounded Krystal Annette White, 55, on the street. His next victim was 32-year-old Horacio De Jesus Pena, who was shot and killed on June 3rd. Just one week later, Manuel Castro Garcia, 19, became the fourth victim. On June 12, at approximately 2:35 a.m. he shot into an empty car, and less than 30 minutes later, took the lives of Angela Linner, 31, Stefanie Ellis, 33, and Ellis's young daughter Maleah, who was just 12-years-old when she died. It was around this time that Phoenix Police began to believe they had a serial killer on their hands. The latest Serial Street Shooter attack came on July 11th, when the shooter attempted to kill a 22-year-old man, and his toddler nephew, who is just 4-years-old. Both of these victims escaped the incident uninjured, but the next day, Phoenix police announced to the public that they were on the hunt for a serial killer.
How do they know what the shooter looks like?Phoenix Police have confirmed that the composite sketch of the "serial street shooter" matches that of the description given to them by the 22-year-old man who survived the July 11th attack. The victim described the suspect as a light-skinned latino man, in his early twenties. A separate report from CNN indicated that the man may also have a lanky build.
The July 11th incident took place when the unidentified man and his 4-year-old nephew were at a stop sign after leaving a nearby laundromat. A man in a black BMW sedan opened fire on them at point blank range using a handgun. Their vehicle was struck by two bullets, one on the driver's side and one on the passenger's side. Despite the circumstances, the victim managed to get a good look at the shooter and his vehicle. Both victims were uninjured.
Is there a motive?Establishing a motive for the serial shooter has proven a difficult task for Phoenix police, since he appears to choose his victims at random. There is also no indication of racial motivation, as his victims have been both hispanic and black – though he has targeted the predominantly lower-class latino neighborhood of Maryvale on multiple occasions, which could suggest a familiarity with the are. Furthermore, the victims have ranged in sex and age, with the oldest victim aged 55, and the youngest, just 12.
What's his modus operandi?The shooter tends to target unsuspecting people sitting in cars or standing outside at night. He arrives to the scene of the crime in a vehicle, and departs in it as well. He has fired shots from inside of his vehicle, and on at least one occasion, exited his vehicle to shoot three victims listening to music in their driveway. As far as the kind of car he drives, eye witness accounts have varied, leading police to assume that the he may have access to more than one vehicle. The majority of witness descriptions have matched the photograph of a black BMW sedan – though other witnesses claim to have seen the man in a light-colored Lincoln or Cadillac. Police have not officially ruled out the possibility of multiple suspects working together.
Do the police have any leads?The police are looking to the public for help in solving the serial shooter case, and know that they will play an integral role in bringing the shooter to justice. Members of the Maryvale neighborhood, and surrounding communities have provided more than 1,500 leads, none of which have lead to an arrest.
During a press conference on August 25th, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said "We know that someone out there knows who this person is." Brnovich also mentioned that the reward for information leading to the capture of the shooter had increased to $75,000, which has been confirmed via a status update posted on the Phoenix Police Department’s Facebook page.
Where are the Feds in all this?Phoenix police are so desperate to solve this case before there is any more bloodshed that the FBI has brought in its Behavioral Analysis Unit – or BAU, famous as the basis for, among other things the long-running CBS procedural Criminal Minds – to help look for clues that could help solve it. However, the BAU is playing their cards close to their chest, and won't discuss any details of the profile they are building, as to not tip the shooter off.
Could this be the work of the "Phoenix Freeway Shooter"?Between August 27th and September 10th, 2015, eight vehicles were struck by bullets and three other vehicles on Interstate 10 were struck by "unspecified projectiles." Police have explored every possibility that these new shootings could be connected – although there are some similarities between these shootings and the new string, Police have yet to find forensic evidence connecting the crimes.
"They give us a list of things and then we kind of go through each one individually and see, this one might match, this one doesn't match," Phoenix Police homicide Lt. Ed DeCastro told the Arizona Republic in an early August interview. "Then we go old school and go through each report."
Police originally arrested a 21-year-old in September 2015 in connection to the highway shootings, though he was cleared of all charges last April.
You can help, even anonymouslyAnyone with information is encouraged to contact Phoenix Police Department's violent crimes bureau, or to leave a tip using the anonymous website Silent Witness, if they wish.
Investigators have also made it clear that solving this case is their top priority, and anyone fearing an immigration issue can come forward with information, without the fear of consequence – a real worry in Arizona these days.

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