Indonesian singer performing with king cobra dies after being bitten onstage

10:37 Unknown 0 Comments

An Indonesian singer known for performing with live snakes has died after being bitten by a king cobra onstage. Irma Bule, 29, is not a household name in the English-speaking world. But in Indonesia, she is known as a singer of dangdut, a pop fusion of folk, South Asian film music, and rock and roll that rose to prominence in the 1980s. “With its nasal, melismatic vocal style and propulsive hand drum rhythms, dangdut is in many ways a music of the Islamic world,” Jeremy Wallach wrote in “Sonic Modernities in the Malay World,” though “most dangdut songs deal with non-religious, sentimental themes, and the genre is frequently denounced as sinful and morally corrupting by strict Muslims in Indonesia.” ...





Though once banned by the government, the style is now considered passe — so much so that Bule’s penchant for performing with king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah), reticulated pythons (Python reticulatus) and boa constrictors, as Reptiles Magazine noted, was thought a bit of a “gimmick” that brought a grisly end.
“Dangdut is such an oversaturated musical genre in Indonesia that it’s not surprising how many artists employ gimmicks in their act to stand out from the rest,” Cocunuts Jakarta, one of a network of sites that covers urban areas in Asia, wrote. “Unfortunately, dangdut singer Irma Bule’s deadly gimmick, combined with her dedication to showmanship, led to her untimely death.”

Bule was performing in a village in West Java when she was presented with a king cobra that was supposed to have been defanged. It was not.

“My daughter might not have known that the snake that was given to her for the show was a dangerous cobra,” Bule’s mother, Encum, told an Indonesian outlet quoted by the Daily Mail. (Indonesians sometimes do not have surnames.) “She was told she could wear it, even though its mouth was not closed with duct tape.”

This information proved tragically wrong.

“In the middle of the second song, Irma stepped on the snake’s tail,” Ferlando Octavion Auzura, who witnessed the attack, told an Indonesian news outlet. “The snake then bit Irma in her thigh.”
Cocunuts Jakarta posted a video that purportedly documented the attack:




A bite from a king cobra is, to say the least, very serious. The snakes can grow up to 18 feet long and, as their name implies, are a force to be reckoned with.

“It seems unfairly menacing that a snake that can literally ‘stand up’ and look a full-grown person in the eye would also be among the most venomous on the planet, but that describes the famous king cobra,” according to National Geographic. “… When confronted, they can raise up to one-third of their bodies straight off the ground and still move forward to attack. They will also flare out their iconic hoods and emit a bone-chilling hiss that sounds almost like a growling dog.”

The king cobra’s venom is also powerfully deadly.

Stories that will be the talk of the morning.
“Their venom is not the most potent among venomous snakes, but the amount of neurotoxin they can deliver in a single bite — up to two-tenths of a fluid ounce — is enough to kill 20 people, or even an elephant,” National Geographic wrote. “Fortunately, king cobras are shy and will avoid humans whenever possible, but they are fiercely aggressive when cornered.”

This proved true in Bule’s case. Though a snake handler with a venom antidote was on hand, the singer continued to perform for 45 minutes before collapsing.

“The effects were felt 45 minutes after the bite,” Ferlando Octavion Auzura. “She vomited, had seizures, and her body seized.”

Bule was transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She is survived by her husband and three young children, US Weekly reported, writing that police confirmed the singer’s death. Her death is under investigation by police.

‘I and her family are still trying to find out exactly what went wrong for our youngest child to die like this,” the singer’s mother said, as the Daily Mail noted. “We are waiting for the organizers of the show to tell us.”

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/08/indonesian-singer-performing-with-king-cobra-dies-after-being-bitten-onstage/

0 comments:

Post a Comment

US pushes Apple on iPhone access in two more cases

09:21 Unknown 0 Comments

A US federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered Apple to help the FBI unlock an iPhone in a gang case, court documents unsealed Friday revealed -- opening a new front in the government's battle with the high-tech giant over encryption.

The Justice Department is also pressing Apple to help crack a phone in a New York drug case, in more evidence that the showdown is far from over, despite the abrupt end to another challenge linked to the San Bernardino mass shooting.
In the San Bernardino case, the government dropped legal action against Apple when it announced investigators had extracted data from the iPhone of a gunman with the help of an unnamed "outside party."
But key questions remain about how much access law enforcement should have to encrypted devices and how to balance security issues with user privacy rights -- questions that could be answered by the pending cases.
A judge in Boston in February ordered Apple to help police extract data from an iPhone confiscated last year from an alleged gang member, according to documents posted online Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Apple told AFP it had challenged the order on legal grounds, and told the court it could not unlock the handset because it was powered by iOS 9 software with updated security features.
In the New York case, Justice Department lawyers told US District Court Judge Margo Brodie in a written filing: "The government continues to require Apple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant."
Apple lawyers said they were disappointed by what amounted to an appeal by the government, arguing anew that it was an attempt to set a troubling legal precedent and not really a pursuit of vital information for fighting crime.
In the New York case, the accused drug trafficker confessed and is set to be sentenced, according to Apple attorneys. Apple is being asked to extract data from an iPhone and provide it for purposes of sentencing.
In contrast, in the San Bernardino case, the government called on Apple to create a new tool to bypass iPhone security systems to crack into an iPhone used by one of the shooters in a December rampage that left 14 dead.
- Apple holds its ground -
Apple attorneys said they planned to oppose the government's effort in the New York case by pressing in court to find out whether it has done everything possible without the company's help to get the data it seeks and by continuing to argue the request is not backed by the law.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI went to court in New York to compel Apple to help it break into an iPhone confiscated in June 2014 from a suspected methamphetamine trafficker, according to court documents.
The US government sought to get Apple to help break into the iPhone under the auspices of the All Writs Act -- a 1789 law that gives wide latitude to law enforcement, and the same one cited in the San Bernardino case.
Earlier this year, a lower court judge in New York sided with Apple, saying law enforcement lacked the authority to compel the company to comply.
"The relief the government seeks is unavailable because Congress has considered legislation that would achieve the same result but has not adopted it," US Magistrate Judge James Orenstein wrote.
Apple on Friday maintained its position that the government was over-reaching its authority, and that the degree to which third parties can be compelled to work for the government was something that should be decided by elected lawmakers.
Congress is indeed expected to consider legislation which would require technology firms to retain "keys" that could retrieve data in a criminal investigation with a court order.
A broad coalition of technology companies and activists have argued against any encryption rules that would allow "special access" for law enforcement, claiming these would be vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers or repressive governments, and threaten security of banking, electronic commerce, trade secrets and more.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Michelle Carter Case: Teen Who Texted Boyfriend to Kill Himself Faces Mass. Court

09:16 Unknown 0 Comments

If you encourage someone to end their life by suicide, or neglect to stop them going through with it, are you inherently implicated for their death? Michelle Carter, who encouraged her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to kill himself, is at the center of an involuntary manslaughter charge over his 2014 death and could face up to 20 years of imprisonment if convicted. Massachusetts' highest court will be hearing arguments Thursday on whether the case against Carter will go forward.



Boston.com reported that on July 13, 2014, Roy "parked his truck in a Fairhaven parking lot, turned on a generator inside the cab, and slowly died of carbon monoxide poisoning." Both Roy and Carter had been corresponding with each other via text and phone call prior to his death; at one point, when Roy expressed cold feet and said he became "afraid," Carter had sent him numerous text messages, encouraging him to get back into the truck.
Roy and Carter had met each other in Florida, though their two-year relationship was mostly over the phone. Roy had social anxiety and was severely depressed, according to Boston.com. Carter, who was also afflicted with an eating disorder, dissuaded Roy from seeking help during the days prior to his death, and proposed that he "just do it," instead of belaboring and talking about killing himself.
The defense's argument: Carter's attorney, Joseph Cataldo argues that Carter's actions didn't constitute serious bodily harm, arguing that Roy's decision to end his life by suicide had already been made through his own volition.
"All [Carter] did is talk to someone," Cataldo said, according to Boston.com. "[Roy] got the generator. He took all the necessary steps ... He ignored her repeated attempts to dissuade him from killing himself for a good month prior to him ending his own life." Cataldo also argued that the prosecutors were trying to criminalize Carter's texts and phone conversations, which are covered by the First Amendment.
Carter is being charged as a youthful offender, and the result of her trial can have longterm ramifications in future decisions and prosecutions, even in lesser cases. Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center, told Boston.com that however abhorrent Carter's texts were, she didn't have legal responsibility: "Under the law, she's not required to be a good human being."
Editor's note: For information about suicide prevention or to speak with someone confidentially, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1 (800) 273-8255 or the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Both provide free, anonymous support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

This Mother and Son Are Madly in Love — And They Don't Care Who Knows It

09:12 Unknown 0 Comments

One U.K. woman is currently making headlines for having a relationship with her adult son, whose baby she reportedly plans on having.
The Huffington Post U.K. reported that 51-year-old Kim West and her 32-year-old son Ben Ford "have now been in a relationship for two years, plan to marry, and have an 'incredible' sex life," according to a cover story in the new U.K. tabloid paper the New Day.
According to the New Day, West gave Ford up for adoption more than 30 years ago. It wasn't until 2013 when Ford decided to track her down, sending her a letter introducing himself. 
After talking on the phone and eventually meeting up IRL, sparks flew. It was like they had "known each other for years," West said, according to the New Day. She revealed that she soon started having recurring sex dreams about her son, who was married at the time.
The attraction was mutual. Ford divorced his wife so he could start a relationship with his biological mother.
Rather than viewing their relationship as incestuous, the duo insists that they are merely leaning into their Genetic Sexual Attraction.
"This is not incest, it is GSA," West said, according to the New Day. "We are like peas in a pod and meant to be together."
While the New Day story should be taken with a grain of salt, GSA is a legit phenomenon. In a nutshell, GSA is what occurs when biological family members who never knew each other in childhood meet for the first time as adults and experience an intense sexual attraction to each other. 
There's not a lot of legit research out there on the subject, but a website for the Genetic Sexual Attraction Forum, an online community/general resource for people dealing with GSA, loftily claims that "feelings of more than just a familiar level occur in up to 50% of all post adoption reunions."
In 2015, New York Magazine published an in-depth interview with an 18-year-old girl who lost her virginity to her father after being estranged from him for 12 years. Like West and Ford, the father-daughter pair claimed to have an immediate bond due to GSA and planned on marriage and babies in the future.
Unfortunately for both couples, parent-child incest is generally regarded as bad. And Psychology Today reported that when first-degree relatives have a baby together, there could be some serious, even fatal, complications.
Nevertheless, West said in the New Day story that she is undeterred by stigma.
"I know people will say we're disgusting, that we should be able to control our feelings," she said, according to the New Day. "But when you're hit by a love so consuming you are willing to give up everything for it, you have to fight for it."

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)