Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

DIY execution drugs in Arizona

The state of Arizona has apparently decided to allow condemned prisoners to supply their own lethal injection drugs.

the Arizona Department of Corrections has issued a revised procedures manual that says death row inmates, through their lawyers or other representatives, can provide their own pentobarbital or sodium pentothal to ensure a smooth execution.

This is apparently due to a series of badly messed up executions, and not a budget crunch.

(thanks to Jason K)

When the robot watches at night

Nice image from Simon Stålenhag:

National Geographic's guide to selected body horror

Speaking of insects burrowing into the human body, National Geographic published a fine guide to the many ways critters can invade the human body.

The article is filled with wonderfully disturbing passages:

Apart from intestinal parasites, few species brave the human rectum. Flies are not picky, though, and will invade and consume human flesh by laying eggs that hatch into maggots. And that’s a common enough problem that there’s a medical term for maggot infestation: myiasis, reported throughout human history, including in the eyes and rectum...

[O]ne patient came to an emergency room with roaches in both ears—when sprayed with numbing lidocaine, one of the roaches shot out "at a convulsive rate of speed and attempted to escape."

Though the roach in the Indian video seems large, Schal could tell immediately it was young and likely a nymph, or pre-adult form, of Periplaneta, a group that includes the large American cockroach sometimes found in houses. (See "Giant Roaches Can Grow Big Testicles When They Need Them.")

In 2010, scientists described a particularly unnerving leech species in Peru with huge teeth and dubbed it Tyranobdella rex, or T. rex.

Clever creatures.  Nature is Gothic indeed, when you look at it the right way.

(thanks to Todd Bryant)

Murder by circular saw

Today's real-life Gothic murder comes from Germany, where a woman decapitated her lover with a circular saw.  Of course it was part of a sex game:

On the night of the killing, Alex H blindfolded himself with a pair of diving goggles blacked out with masking tape and told Gabrielle P to tie him to the bed.

Once he was secured, she is accused of killing him by holding the running circular saw through his chest.

Think about that for a moment.  

The story doesn't end there.  It gets more Infocult-ish, then becomes part of the heroine's next relationship:

After Alex H was dead, Gabrielle P used the saw to remove his head from his body then covered his remains with a sheet. She did not return to the room and left the body undisturbed for six months.

It was not until she brought a new lover, Christian K, to the house that the body was discovered.

Instead of alerting the authorities, Christian K helped her bury the dismembered corpse in the garden of the house.

"the body was discovered" - passive voice conceals so much.  Did Christian stumble across the decayed corpse on his own?  Or did Gabrielle present it to him, and, if so, how?

And even more Gothic still:

She had been driven to despair after Alex H forced her to take part in degrading sex games, they told the court as the trial opened on Monday.

Brutal sex killing, decapitation, a rotting corpse, hiding a dismembered body - every day the world becomes more like Infocult.

(circular saw blade photo by sentineljjk)

Insectile intrusion: real-life Gothic in Chennai

An Indian woman experienced some very personal Gothic horror, as medical staff removed a most disturbing intruder from her body.

Let's take this story in stages to fully appreciate its horror.  First, the discovery:

The 42-year-old Injambakkam resident had woken up on Tuesday night with an itchy sensation in the nasal cavity. "At first, I thought I was coming down with a cold," said the homemaker. But, the obstacle began to wriggle and she was taken to a private hospital.

Next, the mystery deepens:

Doctors suspected a nasal growth. At a second hospital, a contraption was used to pump it out with water, but failed. At the third hospital, doctors attributed the discomfort to a "foreign body that seemed to be mobile", and recommended a scan.

"a 'foreign body that seemed to be mobile'" is a great phrase, no?  Next, the discovery:

On Wednesday morning, Selvi, who was struggling to breathe, was referred to Stanley Medical College and Hospital. Doctors in the ENT department used a endoscope and found the blob had a pair of antennae. "It was a full grown cockroach," said Dr M N Shankar, head of the department. It was in the nasal cavity between the eyes, close to the brain. 

"It was alive. And it didn't seem to want to come out," said Dr Shankar.

The tough little bug(ger) survived the process, menacingly: "Muthuchitra... show[ed] the 'invader' on its back in a container, its wings spread and legs moving excitedly."

When medical care turns Gothic, Infocult is there.

(thanks to Thomas Burkdall for the link; photo by brentbristolsr)

British banks take an Infocult step

Some British banks have taken a very Gothic approach to robbers, and Infocult approves.  The question concerns the classic use of a bank employee's severed finger to get past identification technology, and coming up with a way to stop that:

London’s centuries-old gold market is to usher in an era of transparency with plans to reveal how much bullion is held in vaults in and around the city...

The vaults, in secret locations within the M25 orbital motorway, are normally equipped with extreme security measures such as blast doors and fingerprint sensors that detect the flow of blood to prevent the use of severed digits. (emphases added)

Very smart!  Although one wonders exactly how this works.  Are capillary scanners involved?  Could they get an anemic but innocent employee in trouble?

However, we anticipate clever robbers coming up with ways to spoof blood flow.  Keep your eyes open, Infocult readers.

(via David Wessel on Twitter)