• Dina Babbitt, who as a teenager kept herself and her mother alive at Auschwitz by painting portraits of prisoners for the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, has died at 86. Ms. Babbitt later worked as a commercial artist in America. • U2 is set to become the topic of discussion at an academic conference held at North Carolina Central University in October. U2: The Hype and The Feedback will examine the role of the mega-band in "changing the worlds of music, entertainment, popular culture, humanitarian relief, peace and social justice efforts." • Scientists from the University of Leeds believe that they may have discovered a unique "DNA signature" in human sperm that can only be recognized by eggs from the same species. The "lock and key" model may explain why otherwise healthy men are infertile and why we've never spotted any centaurs roaming around. • Speaking of horses, filly Rachel Alexandra beat out the competition at the Haskell Invitational this Sunday with the New York Times is calling a "preternatural performance." Rachel Alexandra is the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness Stakes, and she is the only filly to win the Haskell. • 13-year-old Jackie Rodriguez is pretty awesome: She has thrown 25 no-hitters in the past four seasons, but she still tells NPR that practicing an instrument is more difficult than playing softball. • Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes on her new career in television journalism: "I realized I love motivating and I love empowering and I love inspiring people. I did that as an athlete for 18 years, and I am able to do that as a motivational speaker now as well as doing work on television." •  Police in northern Nigeria have found another group of women and children that may have been abducted by the Boko Haram sect. The group of 140 was found locked in buildings in Maiduguri, and many of them were suffering from pneumonia, fever and rashes. • On Sunday, a bid to set a new world record for the number of women photographed wearing bikinis in one place failed when only several hundred ladies showed up at Southend-on-Sea in Essex. The current record was set earlier this month in Russia, when 1,923 women participated in the prearranged photo shoot. • New research conducted by the Tokyo police indicates that 24% of elderly shoplifters are driven to steal by feelings of loneliness, and another 8% cited lack of motivation in life as their main reason for shoplifting. • The 14-year-old Liberian boy charged with raping an 8-year-old girl in Arizona will be tried as an adult, said the Maricopa County attorney. Steven Tuopeh is facing more than 57 years in prison if convicted on all counts. • Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital have examined the brain scans of women suffering from anorexia and found that patients with eating disorders are more likely to stick to familiar behavior responses than those in the control group. They linked the patterns in behavior to a certain network pathway, which plays a role in controlling actions under rapidly changing environmental demands. •

Kevahn Thorpe, described in a profile in New York magazine as "a slight 17-year-old standing no more than five foot seven" who lives with a single mother in a housing project, has only been shoplifting designer duds for a year, but in that time has managed to do serious damage. An honors student with an aptitude for Calculus, the teen quickly developed a taste for good clothes and stealing high-end merchandise became an addictive challenge.

"I experimented and took this Comme des Garçons shirt...I was just testing, like, how easy it is. That was my first high-class shirt I took. Then me and my brother went to Bergdorf Goodman, and we stole vintage Ralph Lauren polos-and that's the hardest store to steal from. The next day, we went to Barneys again, and we took some 7 for All Mankind jeans. And I went in Bergdorf Goodman and stole a navy-blue Gucci V-neck T-shirt, and then I was like, Damn, I need a pair of shoes with these, so I went right to Prada and I crafted-I took those lavender patent-leather Pradas."

The more wardrobe he accumulated, the easier it became to blend into high-end stores, and despite a series of arrests (and the fact that under New York law he's charged as an adult), jail time and a stint in a group home, he found his reputation as a style maven and his newfound status too heady to give up. He's been arrested literally dozens of times and stolen thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of clothing. Despite countless chances from sympathetic judges, his compulsive thieving finally lands him in jail for good.

When I ask about his plans for after he gets out of prison, all he wants to talk about is fashion, firing questions at me: "Who does Dior now?" "Who designs Paul Smith?" "Remember Louis Vuitton? Like, a few seasons ago, he did a SpongeBob theme? You know Louis Vuitton started off making trunks, right? In the 1800s?" "Balenciaga, who does it for women's?" He pauses to learn how to correctly pronounce Nicolás Ghesquière's name. "You know that Yves Saint Laurent died, right? At 71 years old. He's the first person, the first designer, to have black people model his clothing." A burly Department of Corrections captain is supervising our visit, and I've been imagining his disdain as he listens to this conversation. Now he interrupts. "He could be good working for a fashion publicist," he says. "That's something I can see you at, right there."

What's so strange about this story - well, besides the teen's compulsion - is that for once it is not a story of the system failing someone, so much as society's influence resoundingly beating the system out. Quite simply, fashion, and what it connotes, have become more important to this boy than his freedom. Even though everyone knows his clothing is stolen, it no longer matters - so it's gone beyond projecting an image to giving the garments themselves an odd Talismanic power. In some ways it seems like the sympathetic judges with whom he deals want to go easy on him because the fetish seems to them so frivolous. And because, as the guard says, it seems like here's a young man who could easily turn his talents and passion to a career with far less effort than it takes to survive a long stint up the river. Reading it, you want him so badly to get himself together, maybe get an internship with a fashion P.R. house. But it's obvious that he's in the grip of something so much bigger than himself, where the only concrete thing is - well, things. And who can wonder at someone wanting to forcibly grasp stability?

The Fashion Thief [New York]

As times get tougher more desperate people are shoplifting for the first time. Richard Johnson from Indiana got laid off and attempted to steal a bottle of sleep medication but was caught and is now awaiting trial for misdemeanor theft charges. Johnson had never been arrested or shoplifted before and his desperate economic situation would make many people see his prosecution over a $4.99 bottle of sleeping pills as a little harsh. But retailers are also facing hard economic times and they are becoming more vulnerable to shoplifting:

“More people are desperate economically, retailers are operating with leaner staffs and police forces are cutting back or being told to deprioritize shoplifting calls,” said Paul Jones, the vice president of asset protection for the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

The problem, he said, could be particularly acute this December, “the month of the year when shoplifting always goes way up.”

Two of the largest retail associations say that more than 80 percent of their members are reporting sharp increases in shoplifting, according to surveys conducted in the last two months.

Compounding the problem, stores are more reluctant to stop suspicious customers because they fear scaring away much-needed business. And retailers are increasingly trying to save money by hiring seasonal workers who, security experts say, are themselves more likely to commit fraud or theft and are less practiced at catching shoplifters than full-time employees are.

Anyone who has ever worked retail knows that a certain amount of shoplifting is almost expected, and when an understaffed store is faced with an overwhelming amount of holiday shoppers, shoplifting increases dramatically. However, will prosecuting the shoplifters help curb what looks like an unstoppable cycle of theft? Probably not, otherwise more retailers would prosecute misdemeanor shoplifters (many shoplifters go unreported to police).

So then, should misdemeanor shoplifters with desperate situations be let off the hook, so to speak? Or should we always report shoplifters no matter what?

As Economy Dips. Arrests In Shoplifting Soar [NYT]

• Winona Ryder is speaking out now about her shoplifting. Honestly? No one gives a shit. [People]
  
• In the UK, one in four 18-to-25-year olds cannot answer the following question: What is one eighth of 32? [BBC]
  
• Al-Qaeda said to be "stepping-up" its presence in the U.S. Please God, no one tell Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The thought of her ranting and raving about this is scarier than the threat of a terrorist act itself. [BBC]
  
• Memo to Hillary: The woman who is to be India's first female president - not so popular. [NYT]
  
• Harry Potter the book? Too long. Harry Potter the movie? Too heavy-handed. But Harry Potter the postage stamp? Now we're talking! [USA Today]

• And meanwhile, Harry Potter is also the latest problem to afflict Israel, with the new book being released on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Religious leaders = not happy. And now we wonder, are there that many Orthodox rabbis worried about whether Snape is evil or not? [USA Today]
• The lawyer with TB who claimed he had no idea he was contagious had surgery to help treat his condition today. Um, too little too late, bub. [CNN]
• The current crop of Republican presidential candidates? Losers, all of 'em. [CNN]
• 2 U.S. casualties identified. [DoD]