I stumbled across this essay quite by accident. I was laughing at the image to the right (seriously? snow globes? they must have watched that short by Pixar where the itty bitty plastic snowman tries to blow up his globe to reach the hot mermaid in the snow globe next to his and they thought it was reality TV). Under that image was a link to the following essay, Terrorism, Tweezers, and Terminal Madness: An Essay On Security. It's not a short read, but it is definitely worth reading if you want a pilot's perspective on what airline security has become since September 11, 2001. Perhaps even more interesting is the list of air crimes at the end of the essay, sorted by date, starting in 1970.
If all rugby players carried chairs, then I can see crime significantly decreasing.
Martin Richardson later broke his arm in a rugby match. When he showed up later to receive recognition for this smackdown, he was in a cast. I'll bet he still would have beat this guy even if he had an arm in a cast.
Sorry for the commercial before the video -- but it is well worth the wait. Especially the last part.
All I can say is thank goodness for closed-circuit television!!
Chuck might get an entire week's worth of material from this. Mischief makers, thefts, bear costumes, calling 911 because she was hungry, disturbances, one animal complaint after another, suspicious situations and more! I just want to say that after reading this police blotter from Cleveland, Ohio's Sun Star Courier, I feel much better about myself, and the small town in which I live.
(The image is from the July, 1946 issue of Popular Science.)
Never let it be said that Florida is boring. In April, In Port St. Lucie, Carl J. Frost was arrested and charged with aggravated domestic battery - for hitting his roommate's son (Jason) in the head with a five pound ceramic frog. Mr. Frost is claiming self defense, of course, because Jason punched him first. One of the folks who left a comment on the article made a valid point: "You people shouldn't make fun of this situation. A five-pound ceramic object can be very dangerous. If the victim had been hit hard enough, he could have croaked."
Every so often you come across an article in the news that leaves you shaking your head and wondering what the world is coming to. This is one of those stories. Joan Higgens, aged 66, a pet shop owner in northern England has been fined, given a curfew and electronically tagged, because she sold a goldfish to a fourteen year old. Apparently it is illegal to sell pets to anyone under the age of sixteen, as minors are deemed incapable of taking care of the animals.
Hemet, California, has traditionally been known as a quiet retirement community. Until now. For whatever reason, someone (or more likely, several someones) has decided that the police are the bad guys and that they should be dealt with. And while we might not approve of what these anonymous folks are doing, you have to admit that they are going to extraordinary measures: a gas line re-routed directly into the police station, a ballistic contraption designed to go off when the gate is opened, and explosive devices attached to police vehicles. Investigators have no idea who might be behind the recent attacks except to point out that the gang enforcement division has been targeted more than any other. Read more about it on Yahoo.
I live by the code of the parking chair. Someone (the writer didn't even know that the magnificent parking chair had a name, let alone all that it stands for) fired off a letter to my local paper today vilifying the practice, and it had me outraged. I've since submitted a rebuttal. In the course of research for the letter, I found the following recent story from The Morning Call in Allentown, PA detailing what can happen when you don't respect the parking chair. The police may have assured the man he did nothing wrong by moving the chair, but I bet he doesn't do it again. And if you believe in the chair like I do, you can always show it!
Police in North Vernon, Indiana say it is obvious this man had a death wish. That may not be so uncommon for men his age and perhaps in his profession, but he accomplished it in a very disturbing fashion. I've followed the events in The North Vernon Plain Dealer & Sun, but I do find it somewhat unnerving that the story is making the rounds through many newspapers in central and southern Indiana, as I fear widespread dissemination of the story may open the door to copycats. UPDATE: Meth, unsuprisingly, played a role. Greensburg Daily News
Unrelated bonus mugshot from the same paper of Nikkiah C. Weddle, a loving mother, that just appears slothful. I feel that her having smoked marijuana three weeks earlier will play a heavy role in her defense, since we've all smoked a joint that we took almost a full month to recover from.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.