EMT posts photo of corpse on Facebook

Prosecutors say an EMT took a cell-phone photo of a corpse while working a crime scene and posted it on Facebook, AP reported Thursday.

Mark Musarella was awaiting arraignment Thursday on an official misconduct charge. Defense lawyer Edward J. Pavia Jr. says Musarella will plead not guilty, noting that the photo was posted by accident and that Musarella is sorry.

Just how does someone take a photo of a corpse and post it on Facebook by accident?

Musarella was working for Richmond University Medical Center on March 30 and responded to an emergency call on Staten Island. The victim, Caroline Wimmer (shown above), was found strangled with her hair dryer, AP reported.

Prosecutors say Musarella snapped a picture of Wimmer's body and posted the image on his page on the social networking Web site, AP reported.

A retired police officer, Musarella lost his job as an EMT this year when his superiors learned about the photograph.

Musarella faces up to a year in jail if convicted.

Source: The Associated Press
Copyright © 2009

No more "cheeeeese" for you!

Photo by H. Darr Beiser, USA Today

Wipe that grin off your face!

Four states have adopted a "no-smiles" policy for driver's licenses, USA Today reported Tuesday. "Neutral facial expressions" are required at departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia, meaning you can't smile or grin, according to the report, written by Thomas

Say what? :)

Believe it or not, the decision to ban smiles from the photos has a logical basis. Its purpose is to stop driver's license fraud by cutting down the use of fake IDs.

What does smiling have to do with it? you ask. Allow me to explain.

In one word: technology. The no-smile policy is being implemented in DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others previously shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends alarms that someone may be trying to assume another person's identity, USA Today reported.

It turns out this technology frowns at smiles. Face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same person if facial expressions differ in each photo, Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor Takeo Kanade told USA Today.

Dull expressions "make the comparison process more accurate," said Karen Chappell, deputy commissioner of the Virginia DMV, whose no-smile policy took effect in March.

Yet, the other three states, Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada, allow "slight" smiles. "You just can't grin really large," Arkansas driver services chief Tonie Shields told USA Today.

Uh...define "really large." Can you imagine the new guidelines for the photo-talking clerks?

1. Guide the subject to stand in front of the blue screen.
   
2. Instruct the subject to sustain a neutral or dull facial expression.
3. Take a moment to ascertain that the subject's upper and lower lip are joined.
4. A slight opening of the lips is allowed for those who suffer from any medical condition that forces them to breathe through their mouths.
5. In these cases, only the bottom edge of the two front teeth may show through the opening.
6. Should the subject have difficulty maintaining a neutral or dull facial expression, state you have been notified the subject has a criminal record.
7. Take the photo immediately upon making that statement.
8. You may also report non-cooperative subjects to the shift supervisor.

Yet, most of the 31 states currently using computerized matching of driver's license photos claim their software matches faces regardless of facial expression, according to the report.

"People can smile here in Pennsylvania," state Transportation Department spokesman Craig Yetter told USA Today.

Three other states are considering adding the technology, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators reportedly said. Photo matching has stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses since the technology was launched in 1999 in Illinois, Beth Langen, the state head of Drivers Services, told USA Today.

Me? I don't mind. It's not like I'm in the mood to smile whenever I have to allocate a chunk of my time on Earth to go stand in line at the DMV for who knows how long to comply with some bureaucratic rule--plus I hate posing for photos. Yeah, yeah...I know it has to be done. But that doesn't mean I have to like it or be happy about it.

It's nothing to smile about...

Source: "Four states adopt "no-smile" policies for driver's licenses" by Thomas Frank, USA Today
Copyright © 2009