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"It's too bad stupidity isn't painful."
Volume 15, Number 12, March 21, 2010
Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. Starting us off are a few news stories you may have missed. First, GIGO! Blame it on a computer. Embarrassed police this past week blamed a "computer glitch" as the reason police targeted and burst into the home of an elderly, law-abiding couple more than 50 times in pointless, repetitive searches for bad guys. Apparently, the address of Walter and Rose Martin's Brooklyn home was used to test a department-wide computer system back eight years ago. What followed was years of cops appearing at the Martins' door looking for murderers, robbers and rapists - as often as three times a week. Wouldn’t you thing after the first two or three times…. (Maybe some lawsuits are justified) (www.nydailynews.com)
Next, from www.azcentral.com, Not satisfied with living in Florida, Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey wants to move to Washington, D.C., to become the nation's first vampire president. Sharkey, 45, spent Friday on a Greyhound bus with his new fiancee, Audrianna Foster, a 19-year-old girl from Ohio he met online. She too believes she is a vampire. "The Impaler" claims he's a direct descendent of Vlad II the Impaler, better known as Dracula. He has scheduled a news conference in Tampa to announce his plans to file paperwork to run for president of the United States in 2012. He recently switched his party affiliation from Independent to Republican so he can run with the GOP. (I think I’ve had enough of vampire politicians who keep sucking out our money.)
Finally, and indirectly related to the previous Bit, the rare spirits at a recent online auction in New Zealand weren't aged brandies or hard-to-find liqueurs. Instead, two glass vials allegedly containing the ghosts of two dead people sold for $2,830 New Zealand dollars ($1,983). The "ghosts" were put up for bidding by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch. She said they were captured in her house and stored in glass vials with stoppers and dipped in holy water, which she says "dulls the spirits' energy." She said they were the spirits of an old man who lived in the house during the 1920s, and a powerful, disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board. Since an exorcism at the property last summer led to their capture, there has been no further spooky activity in the house, she said. The auction attracted more than 214,000 page views and dozens of questions before the winning bid. The seller said that once an "exorcist's fee" has been deducted, the proceeds of the spirit sale will go to the animal welfare group the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (www.apnews.myway.com)
Payback! In a great irony, last month, the trade group Mortgage Bankers Association announced the sale of its Washington, D.C., headquarters for $41 million. The association had purchased the building in 2007, at the peak of the real estate bubble, for $79 million. [Wall Street Journal]
Stacking the deck? The Supreme Court of Spain tossed out assault charges against Henry Osagiede last summer because of unfairness by Madrid police. Osagiede, a black man, was convicted after the victim identified him as her attacker, in a lineup in which he was the only black man. [Reuters]
Why rich people want more and more money. A Swiss firm has made an exclusive $300,000 watch - containing real dinosaur bones. Makers Louis Moinet have inserted fragments of real Jurassic dinosaur bones into the faces of the 12 limited edition watches. The bones came from a huge plant munching diplodocus which was once 90-ft long and would have tipped the scales at 40,000 pounds. The Swiss firm that named the watch the Time Explorer - have surrounded the bones with 18 carat white gold and 56 baguette diamonds. "It's amazing that you really do have a genuine piece of dinosaur on your arm," said one fan. (Ananova) (Of course, for the rest of us who can’t spend that kind of money on a watch, we can go to eBay and find a “Fantastic fossil tooth [which to me is a lot better than some fragment in a watch] from a late Cretaceous age spinosaurus.96 to 66 million years ago” for only about $15 including shipping.)
It’s not all bad. Yahoo News offered the following Bit: Staff at the Dinnington Library are used to people bringing books back late but a package they recently received reset the bar. It contained a paperback first edition copy of "Quatermass and the Pit" by Nigel Kneale which had been borrowed on September 24, 1965. "I thought at first it was just a normal return, until I saw the color of the pages: they were very brown around the edges," said Alison Lawrie, the Principal Library Assistant. "It's true that some people like to take their time with a good book, but 45 years is an incredible amount of time!" Staff believe the book was borrowed from the old Dinnington Library, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire which opened in 1936 and is close to the current building which opened in 2000. However, the identity of the borrower remains a mystery because records do not go back that far -- and there would have been no danger of a huge accumulated fine because all fines are capped at 6 pounds ($9). "The person who posted it back to us would not be in any 'trouble' whatsoever," said Lawrie. "If the person who returned the book wants to come forward, we'd love to know the story behind it." (Must be a incredibly fascinating story: “I forgot to return it and just found it.”)
A sensible Bit for a change… maybe. A Scottish charity says it is holding classes on proper sleep habits for teenagers in a bid to boost the students' energy during the school day as sleep deprivation has been linked to increased risks of depression and obesity. "You wouldn't send somebody to school without having the right amount of food, so why would you send them without enough sleep?" she said. In the classes, the teenagers are being taught to avoid TV late at night and keep to a strict schedule allowing for at least nine hours of sleep per night. Yup, gotta have classes for that since there is no longer any Common Sense. (Bizarre News)
A man who broke into as many as nine cars was arrested after he chose the wrong target: an unmarked Ocoee, Fla., police vehicle. Lake County sheriff's deputies say the thief took a Taser, a baton, two pair of handcuffs, a magazine for a police pistol, and other items. Investigators discovered that when the thief found the Taser, he accidentally discharged it, shocking himself. Then, he "locked the handcuffs on himself and had to call the Clermont Police Department to respond to release him," reports say. Shane Thomas Williams-Allen, 19, was arrested before he could accidentally beat
himself with the baton. (Orlando Sentinel)
From my Canadian Correspondent PJ, some quote worthy of inclusion here: (1) "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein. (2) "Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle." Ken Hakuta. (3) "The world is governed more by appearances than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it." Daniel Webster. (4) "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me." Henry Ford. (5) "Action is the foundational key to all success." Pablo Picasso. (6) “From your latest column… ‘bon chance’ should be:..... ‘bonne chance.’ But you're excused as there are Quebec born people who make the same mistake.” PJ. (As an FYI, currently, a totally different version of my column appears at: http://www.northcountrynewsnh.com/ Check it out [or else])
You’ve heard all the hoopla about the Health Care thing. A bottom line should be is it accessible, affordable, and truly for the people. If those three things are in place, little else should matter. There is such a big yank to pass a bill, but does anyone know WHAT’S IN IT? (How can you tell who watches Fox TV? They keep saying “They’re ramming it down our throats!” (They don’t think much – they just repeat). On the other hand, something I have suspected all along: “Key House Dem Declares: 'There Ain't No Rules Here ... We Make 'Em Up As We Go Along'....” That from The Drudge Report- does the context really matter?
Well, is Ed “Too-Tall” Jones really too tall?
Headlines of Interest: (1) “Iraq War Seventh Anniversary: 'We'll Know Better Next Time.'” Sure, sure we will! (Huffington Post) (2) “Sandra Bullock's love life: Why do we care? “ (Uh, aren’t ‘they’ making an assumption there?) (3) “Running Public Schools Like a CEO” (CNN) Yeah, but wouldn’t that mean standards and accountability? (4) A two-fer: “Lawsuit Claim: Boy Scouts Abuse Coverup” (ABC News) and “Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal goes global” (CNN News) – why are these still an issue? (5) “Two women stung about 100 times each by swarm of bees in N. Phoenix” (www.azfamily.com) Ouchies! x 100) (6) “NYPD: Dracula Wannabe Repeatedly Bites Driver On Neck...” (Drudge Report). (7) “Is the Afghan Army in Danger of Growing Too Strong?” (Slate) (Wouldn’t want that to happen – we might have to leave). (8) On the other hand, “Six billion dollars later, the Afghan National Police can't begin to do their jobs right—never mind relieve American forces.” (Newsweek) So who do we believe? (9) “Colo topless gardener complaints prompt new rules.” (Yahoo News) (Must have been a woman who complained I I probably wouldn’t). (10) Finally showing their true colors: “Tea Party Protests: 'Ni**er,' 'Fa**ot' Shouted At Members Of Congress.” Sorry, but to me there are some lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Sigh.
Later.
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