This from the "It's Not Just Us" File

Phew! It's not only our courts that are filled with silly lawsuits (and our school system with a discipline breakdown), Germany's got 'em, too.

From the UK Telegraph:

A teacher with a phobia over rabbits is suing a 14-year-old pupil for compensation after she drew a bunny on the blackboard.

The teacher, from Vechta, Germany, says she was traumatised by the drawing, and claims the girl knew it would terrify her.

She had transferred to the school where a pupil from her former school had just become a pupil and told her new friends about the teacher's fear of rabbits.

"We did it for fun and out of curiosity", one of the girls told a court, adding, "We wanted to see if she would really freak out."

School officials removed her from the class and now the teacher is seeking compensation for her terror and her loss of earnings

I know phobias don't bow to reason--I have an aunt that was so freaked out by a spider pin (a very nice one, I might add) that my sister gave her as a joke that she couldn't touch it and eventually asked my sister to remove it from her home. But to be so freaked out over a drawing on a blackboard that you can't work? And then to turn around and sue a 14 year old? (who'd better have been suspended/expelled/whatever Germans do--which I'm guessing isn't pleasant) How detailed could a drawing on a blackboard be??

I'm trying to have compassion on the poor lady, but come on...

Not to be even more insensitive, but after thinking about this phobia, I just have to post this. Click play only if ye be men of valour, for the entrance to this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived. Bones of full fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So, brave knights, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth.

In Praise of the Fifth Amendment

Entertaining and Educational (and a little scary)

Sean Chercover, gumshoe turned crime novelist recently posted a couple of great videos over at The Outfit about why you should never talk to the police.

In the first, Regent Law professor James Duane lays out the case for why you should never, under any circumstances, submit to police questioning without your lawyer present. Especially if you are innocent. Both funny and enlightening, and I promise this video is worth watching. In the second video, Officer George Bruch of the Virginia Beach PD gets "equal time" to offer his perspective. Bruch's talk is equally fascinating, and full of great stuff to use in your fiction.

If you've got 48 minutes to spare, watch these vids. If you don't have 48 minutes to spare, find them. Yes, the videos will spark brilliant ideas for your fiction. But more than that, they could someday save your freedom.

Here they are.
Video 1:

Video 2:

(I should add, that the other videos on that post are well worth the time)