A Copycat Geezer Bandit?

Wow. I first thought that this guy and the geezer bandit were the same man, but RAIVE says they aren't. One is black, and one is white! That means there are two gun-wielding, oxygen-using robbers out there! Scary! Well, there were two robbers, but one of 'em is all outa oxygen now.

This fellow by the name of Arthur Williams came into a clothing store with an oxygen tank and a cane and was looking for pants to match a jacket. Then, he turned and tried to rob a customer. When the customer ran off, he shot at him, missing him. Then he turned on the manager, saying "You want one? You want another one?" firing shots at him, missing him too. Then he ambled out the door to his car and got away.

After he robbed some more places, a police chase ended badly, and Mr. Williams isn't breathing anymore.

That's crazy. there was a time where there were two guys running around attached to oxygen, robbing people. Weird. I'm almost scared for law-abiding folks who happen to be using oxygen. Just wait until some trigger-happy fool flips out because there's a dude on oxygen in the bank or the store.

If Ya Can't Hug 'Em, Slug 'Em!

It doesn't take much to get Dominique J. Conway mad. It also doesn't take much to get him drunk either. A blood alcohol level of 0.086 was enough to turn him into a drunken fool? Seriously?

I guess he was feeling friendly, so approached a random man and tried to hug him. He was pushed away, which made him very, very angry. He then startedpunching cars and the would-be huggee.

Uh, get some help.

He Was Tired Of Checking His Spelling

You would think that a cop, who likely had seen enough dumb forgeries done by criminals, would not commit one himself, But that's what Ryan Barker did. He had been off duty for a few days, and instead of getting a doctor's note, he just thought he'd make one. He might have gotten away with it, except he misspelled exhaustion. "Exaughtsion". Wow, that's some butchery right there. Now, he'll have a lot of time to recover and recharge because he's been fired.

Scare The Drug Dealer. Good Boy!

Hehehehe! I love it when stuff like this happens. It's just so awesome.

A couple of dudes were trafficking drugs, and happened to be making some transfers near where some cops were checking for prostitutes. They were wondering what was up with the dudes, so tried to stop them. The drug-trafficking dudes really didn't want to stop and chat, so sped off. Unfortunately for them,where they ended up was right in the middle of a k9 training exercise. Being somewhat smart, and seeing 12 police and 16 dogs, they surrendered.

That's so many kinds of awesome. There's a moment I would love to see on video.

So Now He Hears The Voice Of Reason?

Ha ha ha ha ha, Kenneth Hoknes, I laugh at you. I laugh and laugh and laugh. You managed to convince a judge that you were out of your tree, thus not responsible for some weird break-ins that you committed. Now that you realize that that label will be with you for a long, long time, you'd like to get that overturned, thank ya very much, and you'd rather have a criminal record than that lable.your appeal was denied. Ha ha ha ha ha. That is all.

Talk Is Cheap, Until It's Talk On National TV

Every time I think about this story, I giggle. I hope Dustin Kolodziej wins, and hands down.

Here's the story. While defending Nelson Serrano in a murder case, James Cheney Mason said that it was impossible for Serrano to deplane and get to a hotel 3 miles away in 28 minutes. He challenged anyone to make the trek from the airport to the inn in that time, and if they could do it, he'd pay them a million dollars. He made this claim on national news.

Dustin Kolodziej decided to take him up on that challenge. He videotaped himself doing the trek, complete with time stamps, sent the video to Mason and asked for his money, at which point Mason said he was just joking. So...Kolodziej is suing Mason.

He has tried suing once, and the case got dismissed for what sounds like a technicality. I hope, this time, he wins.

A Screamer Of A Lawsuit

If Valissa Bauer wins her lawsuit, the education system everywhere is in big trouble.

She claims that because she had a big class that had a lot of special needs kids in it, and she needed to yell a lot, she suffered an injury to her larynx, and it's all the school system's fault. I'm sorry, but no. If all you can do is yell to keep the kids in line, it's time to get yourself some training.

And what do some of these disabilities have to do with needing to yell? What does needing insolin or having a heart condition have to do with the teacher's perceived need to scream? It really sounds like she's grasping at straws. And why sue over an injured larynx? If class was really that tough and you felt you didn't have the support you needed, wouldn't you sue for the stress the situation caused as well? Isn't that the bigger issue?

There's something about this teacher that bugs the hell out of me. Maybe it's the way she talks about the kids as if they're horrible people with which contact needs to be limited. I really hope she gets laughed out of court.

Shot Through The Heart, And You're To Blame, You Give Custody Plots A Bad Name

I understand wanting custody of your kid and being desperate, but your choices of plans should not include getting your buddy to shoot you and making it look like your ex-wife's new boyfriend did it. For one, if the framing doesn't go well, you may end up going down hard, and then you certainly won't get your little dude back. But, more importantly, if your buddy shoots you a little too well, you may not live to see the next day. Then, when the police figure out it was all a plot to frame a guy to get the kid back, your buddy will get some nice hefty murder charges. This is what happened to Dwayne Lamont Moten, the dead one in the duo, and Jacob Wheeler, the shooter whose life is now probably ruined by this stupid plot. But I guess his life was already on the road to ruin, since the police said he had a long criminal history.

Some fine quotes that I have to pull out of this gem of a story.

However, the bullets that struck Moten on Saturday mortally wounded the forlorn father.

Bullets? Plural? Do you really need more than one?

Witness Michael Brown said he did what he could to help.

"Only thing we seen was this young man stopped in the middle of the street, and he got out hollering, 'Man, I been shot. Somebody help me,'" Brown said. "When he hit the ground there was no more conversation going."

Guess not.

All I know is there's a kid who's going to have some questions when he gets older.

Penny For Your Health?

Ug. Every time I hear about health insurance companies, it makes me so sad. Ann sent me this last week, don't know why I hadn't put it up yet.

La Rosa Carrington has cancer, and has been paying her health insurance. But because one of her payments was a penny short, they stopped her coverage. Then, as soon as she threatened to go to the media, they realized that they'd made an error. Funny the way that works. Apparently she'd already gone to the media, sucks to be Discovery Benefits. But I think they got what they deserved.

I hope she can get better, so she can switch insurance companies and stick it to 'em some more. They'll be quite a few pennies short then.

That's Not What I Meant When I Said I Was Thinking About Putting In A Pool Room

Two teenagers from the town of Campbell River, British Columbia, one 17 and one 18, could be facing charges afterpulling another one of those stupid so-called "pranks" that I for the life of me just don't get.

RCMP in Campbell River, B.C., say the pranksters had propped a garbage can containing at least 100 litres of water against the door of a home on Ash Street on Wednesday.

When the homeowner answered the door, the can tipped over and water gushed through the front hall, spilling into the sunken living room and washing over the hardwood floors of the dining room, according to Sgt. Mallard.

From there, the water seeped through the ceiling, dripping out of fixtures lighting the rooms below.

Damage is estimated at about $20,000, not counting the cost of the two weeks the owners must find somewhere else to live while their home is repaired.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time I'vewritten about similar aquatic asshattery in the same province.Have people no better things to do with there time there? I've always heard Vancouver is a lot of fun. Maybe go check it out, but leave the H2O at home.

Liar Liar, Can't Set Car On Fire

We've heard it since we were little children that it's better to tell the truth than to lie, because lies eventually catch up with you, and the truth makes more sense. Here's a perfect example of that.

The first story that Sara Blasse told upon arriving at the hospital with a broken arm was that she was carjacked and thrown from the car. When that story didn't add up, she said she would now tell the truth, that she was giving a blowjob to a male prostitute who was driving, and he crashed into a tree. When that story didn't pan out either, they then got the real truth. Here it comes. Are you sitting down?

The real story is that she and her boyfriend Henry Goode had just stolen a laptop from someone, who spotted them and started chasing them. In attempting to get away from him, they crashed into a tree, and that's when Blasse broke her arm. Then they tried to set their car on fire and failed. Failed? I mean, I've never tried to set a car on fire, but a line from the Austin Lounge Lizards comes to mind. "Match in the gas tank, boom boom." I would think the hardest part of trying to set your car on fire would be to get the hell out of there after the flames took hold.

Then, they ran off in different directions. Goode proceeded to break into a gas station and steal a company van, which he then drove through a fense and unsuccessfully tried to set on fire. This is the second vehicle he couldn't set on fire. Then he just went home.

They caught up to him after the story unravelled, and found the laptop, so that looks like the truth.

Now, wasn't that a whole lot simpler than those other twisted tales?

Take The Religion Off The Bus

Ok, I have started this post 3 times and deleted what I had, only to start again. Let's hope this one sticks.

Here's the story, according to Edwin Graning, a bus driver at a transit service that picks people up in the more rural parts of wherever this story came from. He picked up two women who said they were going to planned parenthood. At this point, he decided that he was a religious man, and could not, in good concience, drive them somewhere where one of them could have an abortion. He called his supervisor to say he could not drive them there because of his religion, and the supervisor told him then he must be resigning then. He said no, she told him to drive his bus back to the yard, where he was fired. Now, he's suing based on religious grounds, and has lawyers from the American Center for Law & Justice, head of which is Pat Robertson.

I hope he loses, and resoundingly. If he wins, that sets a dangerous, dangerous precedent. That would mean that any bus driver could trump up any old reason not to transport someone somewhere. What if a bus driver decided not to transport a bus load of people to a bar because he hates drinking? What if a bus driver refused to let someone off at the stop by Dairy Queen because he thought the person was already too fat? What if a paratransit driver refused to drive someone to the disability pension office because he can't stand people who use the system?

I'm sorry, Mr. Graning, but you're the bus driver. You don't get to make moral decisions about where your passengers are going. Your only concern is the proper operation of your vehicle. The reason you got fired was because you refused to do your job. I hope you have to pay hefty legal bills for this stupidity.

He Didn't Pay For The Items, And He Didn't Pay His Bail Either!

Ronald T. White sounds like quite the dumbass. He was arrested on shoplifting charges. He paid his bail, $400 worth of it, but some of the money was fake.

Then, after getting home, he realized that he shouldn't have been made to pay bail for one of the warrants. So, he marched right back in there and asked for his money back.

Meanwhile, officials had figured out that some of that bail money was counterfeit, so instead of getting his money back, he got thrown back in jail, and his bail got set to $5000.

Good luck making that many fake bills this time, dude.

GI Jail

Tiffany and Shawn Barkdoll are in a whole lot of trouble. I guess their son was into the pot. For some reason, they thought they should find him a legal alternative to pot. so they found out about this GI Jain stuff, also known as K2 or something. I can find little to no info about it. All I know is on one hand, it's supposed to be used as incense, but on the other, it's sold up by the cigarettes and pipes. But apparently, in some states, it's legal.

Well, they bought it for their son, and smoked it themselves a few times, and all seemed good, so they gave it to him. Um, he wound up in the ER, and they wound up in jail. I find it kind of funny that daddy got out, but mommy's still locked up. Every man for himself, eh?

I love how they asked the kid what happened to him, and he said he smoked this stuff because it wouldn't turn up on a urinalysis.

Hey guys, if your kid wants to smoke that much, maybe you should figure out why he wants to smoke that much. Maybe finding him a way to beat the system isn't the answer.

Our House Smells Like A Little Skunk's Hole, and Steve and Carin Said Well Bless My Soul, Take It Out, Take It Out, Re-Move It!

This morning, I went out for Trix's morning routine of visiting the doggy crapper, and my good lord she wanted to pull. I had to actually plant my feet and give her a good correction to tell her to quit with that crap and get down to, well, business.

Then...what's that I smell? Skunk? Jesus, that's close! My mind begins to spin. "I have a recipe for removing skunk smell from dog fur, but what do you do for humans? Are we about to find out? Is Trix going to be confined to the balcony until we can deskunk her? If I'm skunky, and the whole place smells like skunk, how will I ever know if she's clean?"

Steve, apparently, is thinking the same thing, because just then, I get a text. "Please tell me you and Trix didn't get sprayed by that skunk I can smell up here."

Amazingly, we did not, but we aren't grooming right now because the balcony stinks pretty hardcore, which makes me wonder where the hell Old Peppey LePew is.

But I thought I would post the old deskunker remedy that I found years ago, which was recommended by the guide dog email list I'm on. I have never had to use it, but this morning I was thinking I would have to. Here's where I found it. In case that site ever disappears, I will copy it here.

The Skunk Remedy Recipe

In a plastic bucket, mix well the following ingredients:

1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 to 2 teaspoons liquid soap

for very large pets one quart of tepid tap water may be added to enable complete coverage.

Wash pet promptly and thoroughly, work the solution deep into the fur. Let your nose guide you, leave the solution on about 5 minutes or until the odor is gone. Some heavily oiled areas may require a "rinse and repeat" washing.

Skunks usually aim for the face, but try to keep the solution out of the eyes - it stings. If you have any cuts on your hands you might want to wear latex gloves for the same reason.

After treatment, thoroughly rinse your pet with tepid tap water.

Pour the spent solution down the drain with running water.

NEVER, ever, store mixed solution in a closed bottle, sprayer,etc. Pressure will build up until the container bursts. This can cause severe injury.

**********Notes**************

1) Clean plastic mixing containers and utensils are preferred. Metals encourage auto-decomposition of the peroxide.

2) Hydrogen Peroxide 3% solution is usually sold in pint (500ml) bottles, so you'll need two. The 3% grade is often marked "U.S.P.", meaning that it meets the standards for medical use and purity as set forth in the United States Pharmacopoeia.

The use of other strengths/grades is not recommended unless you're a chemist, and even then a trip to the 24-hour drugstore is much better than a trip to the emergency room.

3) Use baking soda, not baking powder. "Arm and Hammer" is one popular brand. Baking soda is also called: Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, U.S.P., Bicarbonate of Soda, and Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate. Do not confuse any of the above with Washing Soda, which is Sodium Carbonate. Washing Soda is about 100 times more alkaline than Baking Soda and can cause skin burns to both you and your pet.

4) Two preferred brands are "Softsoap" and "Ivory Liquid". As far as auto-decomposition of the peroxide is concerned, the surfactant package in these two is fairly inert. Heavy-duty grease-cutting brands such as "Dawn" are less inert, and hair shampoo is probably the worst.

5) Once mixed, the peroxide slowly breaks down into water and oxygen gas. Thus it gets weaker with time and so it should be used promptly. The exact rate depends on temperature, pH, and catalysts such as trace amounts of metals (iron,etc.) in the soap and/or tap water.

How much pressure will the complete decomposition of 3% hydrogen peroxide produce in a closed container ??? It depends on how full the container is. Assuming
negligible solubility of Oxygen in water, a bottle half-full of peroxide will develop about 140 psi. A bottle 3/4 full would develop 420 psi. This can do a lot of damage.

Highly pure hydrogen peroxide decomposes very slowly if kept cool and in a dark place, a few percent a year. The more dilute solutions usually decompose faster (due to impurities in the dilution water) and have a trace of stabilizer added. So why aren't the bottles in the store bloated or bursting ? Look carefully inside the cap... you'll see some very tiny holes in the cap liner to let the oxygen gas escape. A good reason to always store bottles upright.

Look for an expiration date on your peroxide. If you're using stuff which has been sitting around in your medicine cabinet for years, buy fresh peroxide.

6) Tepid: lukewarm.

7) All brand names mentioned in this website are trademarks of their various owners.

So there ya be. Pretty scary stuff, so use and then get rid of it. It's funny how the memory fades. I could have sworn Dawn was recommended, but it appears either my memory is foggy, or this person has changed his/her mind.

So, if your pet ever gets skunked, that remedy apparently works better than tomato juice! I have no personal experience with it, but several people recommended it.

Herouxville Did Something Cool!

Remember Herouxville? The ones with that little code making a big thing of immigrants? Well, After André Drouin left council, it appears the rest of the village has come out from under his spell, and council is thinking about scrapping the code. Good for them. I guess the little town was unknown until this code came around, and then everybody knew it, and nobody from Herouxville wanted to say where they were from.

André Druin is quite the piece of...work? Piece of something, as Steve says. Saying this code was historic, and that it was a symbol were interesting choices of words. It was historic in the sense that it brought the town back to the stone age, and it was a symbol...of bigotry.

What I can't understand is how he managed to convince council to pass it, when now they all hate it. He must have some kind of hidden charisma, because I see no charisma in his quotes.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad Herouxville is coming to its senses. Sadly, it will take a long time before people forget that code. It's human nature. We remember a negative event far longer than a positive one.

Wayfinder Access Update

Woohoo, I have some news on Wayfinder. the code is going open source! So, anybody can take it and use it and make something around it. And, those who bought Wayfinder Access will get money back.

I'm going to pull a Michael Cole, just to be a tool. It says, and I quote:

Group Press Releases (2010)

Vodafone Group will make its location based services software open source on
http://oss.wayfinder.com. The code will be made available on github. The aim is to offer other organisations the opportunity to use a code base which has been developed over the past decade so that they can build new and innovative navigation products which widen choice for consumers.

"Given our decision to stop developing turn by turn location based services as part of our core business, it seemed an obvious choice to make the code we own open source" said Pieter Knook, Director of Internet Services at Vodafone Group. "We look forward to seeing its continued use in all sorts of different applications in the future."

In addition to making the software open source and in recognition of the specific needs of the blind and partially sighted community Wayfinder Systems will offer all Wayfinder Access subscribers a fixed refund on their existing service. Further details are available on
http://access.wayfinder.com.

Product developers are supportive of the decision. "At Code Factory we welcome this Vodafone initiative and we are willing to add new products to our accessible navigation software product line. Mobile Geo, our GPS solution for Windows Mobile has become a world reference among the blind community and we are now ready to start new GPS projects", explained Eduard Sanchez, Code Factory's CEO.

More information regarding this service is also available via Vodafone's
open source portal, www.betavine.net/wayfinder

For further information:

Vodafone Group
Media Relations
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 664444

About Vodafone
Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile communications group with approximately 341 million proportionate customers as at 31 March 2010. Vodafone currently has equity interests in 31 countries across five continents and around 40 partner networks worldwide. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com.

So yea! There's the update, for those who signed the petition, and anyone else interested.

Expensive Tweezers

Here's one for ya. Troy J. Montgomery shoplifted a pair of tweezers worth $8, and when he was busted, he said he didn't even need the things. Now that he shoved a pharmacist and caused him to get cut, he has theft and assault charges. Yup, I agree with him, that was the stupidest thing somebody could do.

Dealing With The New Adobe Flash Installer

A while back, something happened to Adobe Flash's installer, and it got buggered for screenreader-users. If you ran the installer from the site, you'd be fine, but if it appeared after a restart, or if you installed it via Firefox's plugin-finder service, or if you had to remove it, you ran into this ugly version of their installer. All it said was button, q button, and if you were lucky, i button. Blech! Adobe knows about this, and I hope will have the problem resolved soon.

But until they do, I have figured out a little trick. The first screen just says button and q button. That button actually is the checkbox for the license agreement. Wow! They managed to gork a checkbox and turn it into a button! Once you've hit space on that button, there's a q button and an i button. The i button is install, and the q button is quit. So if you hit the i button, all should go well. I have managed to install it on Firefox, for some reason, my Firefox forgot it had Flash in it. But it remembers now.

So if you stumble across that installer, you know what to do.

Come To Australia

Steve's post about that spider chomping on that guy's nether regions made me think of this little ditty. It's called "Come To Australia" and it's by The Scared Weird Little Guys. Aww, come on, Australia and New Zealand are damn close.