David Henderson, a Korean War veteran long suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, applied 15 days past the deadline for enhanced care under a 2001 veterans-benefits law and thus was, as required by the statute, disqualified from the additional benefits.
Henderson’s doctor pointed out that major disorders such as Henderson’s often leave victims unable to understand concepts like “deadlines.” As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer asked, during argument on the case, did Congress (which wrote the statute) really intend to deprive Henderson of care because of the very disability for which he sought help?
A decision is expected in the spring.
Chicks
can be
fickle
Swinging bachelors often try to impress potential mates with their fancy cars, houses and jewelry, and it appears that male bowerbirds of Papua New Guinea employ a similar mating strategy by building elaborate tree homes.
National Geographic magazine noted that the birds can “build a hut that looks like a doll’s house” or “arrange flowers, leaves and mushrooms in such an artistic manner” that researchers liken them to the craftsmanship of humans.
Biologists observed females gravitating to males who had such structures as a three-foot tower of twigs, nuts and beetles, decorated with “garlands of caterpillar feces glistening with dew.”
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa Fla. 33679 or go to www.newsoftheweird.com.)