Lead Story
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The New York Times reported in April on a Japanese electronics company looking to sell its art collection–which included a Cezanne, a Picasso, and a van Gogh–that asked the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s to play rock-paper-scissors to determine which would conduct the sale. (The writer said that making such decisions via games of chance is not unusual in Japan.) Christie’s researched the psychology of the game and solicited advice from the 11-year-old twin daughters of one executive, then went with scissors. Sotheby’s negotiators concluded the process was essentially random, didn’t formulate a strategy, and lost out on millions in commissions by choosing paper. (One of the 11-year-olds later told the Times, “Everybody knows you always start with scissors.”)
In July a judge ordered Lindy Heaster to pay $21,290 for having bought two newspapers at a 7-Eleven in Manassas, Virginia, in April; at the time, she was a member of a jury that later convicted Gerardo Lara of murder, and thus had been told to avoid reading or watching the news. The judge threw out the verdict and determined that Heaster should bear the cost of a second trial.
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
According to police in Winona, Minnesota, Thomas Mason robbed a bank in June using a holdup note that began, “Hi, I am Thomas Mason.” Officers found him about 20 minutes later behind a nearby liquor store with a wad of cash, a case of beer, and $100 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets. Also in June, Henrick Alemba Kutwa, 29, was arrested in Durham, North Carolina, for repeated use of a stolen credit card; he was caught when he allegedly tried to use the card at a motel but accidentally signed the receipt with his own name.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Shawn Belschwender.
