 |
|
|
|
Disks in Rotation: Books Lying
Open What's For Lunch? Soul-Devouring
Worry When I Grow Up:
|
Wednesday May 8, 2002 |
| Quote
of the Day I envy people who drink, at least they know what to blame everything on. -- Oscar Levant |
|
Daily
Blog Nah, I'd probably just fritter it away with way too much surfing. Which is what I did most of the night. I've got a colossal amount of news items written up to post here though, enough for probably the rest of the week, if I wanted to space them out. The trick there is not saving something for tomorrow or Friday that will be irrelevant by then. Well, actually the trick is to not do just as much surfing tomorrow and find as many more stories to blab about as I did today. Ironically, yesterday's update was the longest thus far, but only just. 30326 vs 30093, and upon starting to type it I had no idea what I'd do for the bottom essay part, since I had no ideas on anything to discuss. Obviously I found something. The 2nd longest was from April 19th, if you were curious. I'd like to keep them under 20k, but I seem to either find too much news stuff I want to comment on, or I go on too long in some essay thing. Or both. The shortest on date are March 4, Feb 2, March 11. Neither March 4th nor February 2nd count since they're both computer (operator) error, which makes March 11th, at 8458 bytes, the shortest ever, and that one even has extenuating circumstances, namely that my back was killing me to the point that I couldn't sit down w/o shooting pain, which sort of cuts into the surfing/typing time. There are 5 others from February, AKA the early days, that are around 9k in size, and I doubt I'll ever do another one under 10k. Or probably even under 15k. Why? For one thing, I can't shut up, but also since I've added so much crap to the nav bar that just this page, with one sentence here and one below in the essay section, is over 7500 bytes. Actually I'll have a few 0 bytes days soon enough, since I'll be up in LA for a night or two come E3 later this month, and won't have computer access, at least not to update this site. Though in theory I'll have some interesting stuff to write about upon my return. Here we go with the news. • Amazingly-successful con-man with his "magic box" is discussed in a story here. He's bilked several million dollars from companies such as Intel, Blockbuster, and others, with promises of impossible technology, and perpetual scams, schemes, delays, and so on. The guy and his wife have moved from a trailer to a massive mansion with multiple cars, motorcycles, planes, etc. It seems impossible that given the companies he's scammed, none have pursued legal revenge eagerly-enough to put him into jail, though you know it would turn out like most such things, with investors finding that all of the money had already been pissed away on frivolous junk, leaving them nothing to recover monetarily. Which seems all the more reason to want him in jail. • Turns out that teens who get body piercings (not including ears) are all whores and punks. As expected.
So you know who to hit on if you're in high school now. • This is maybe the worst thing I've ever heard. "Medical" procedure to add height. It's done by cutting your shin or thigh bone in half, and attaching a little rack device to it. You have to turn it a bit four times a day, pulling your bones apart, and as the bone fills in between the severed bones you are winching apart, you can grow up to a centimeter a month. And quite likely cripple yourself for life. You of course have to be in a sort of cast or brace the entire time since you can't walk on a broken leg. According to the article, victims, I mean patients, can add up to an inch of height every 2.5 months, or 5-6 inches a year. They say that's the limit, about 15cm added. Apparently your skin and ligaments and muscles and such will grow as well. According to the article, height is of enormous importance in China now, and thousands of people are doing this to get taller, land a better mate, better job, etc. • The obligatory "something you don't see every day" link can be found here. • And the obligatory "scumbag of the month" story can be seen here. Second place awardee. • This is the coolest story I've seen in a long time. Some asshole on a bus starts hassling the driver to go faster, and then attacks him physically, including stabbing him in the back with a 5 inch knife. In the struggle the bus driver takes the knife away, and stabs the attacker through the heart, killing him. Hopefully the driver will get a medal or three. • Now Anna Kournikova is suing over those topless pics that Penthouse said were of her.
Odd law that last one, eh?
Luciano Benetton, the woman in the pics (yes, that's one, to the right), is suing also. It's not clear what sort of case she has, being as they were taken on a public beach in Florida, and if you are in public you are fair game for photographs, as far as I know, as long as they're not poking up your clothing or something like that. Penthouse has even given up on the game and admitted they're not Anna. It's somewhat of a mystery what they (Penthouse) were thinking. They don't especially look like Kournikova, so obviously Penthouse really wanted to believe it was her to convince themselves, or else they just thought they would get away with it, or at least sell enough magazines to be worth the legal problems? They appear to be wrong in all areas; all of the magazines now in circulation will probably sell, for the collectible value if nothing else. But there are only 1.2m in circulation now, according to news reports, which I'd assume is far too few to make much of a profit on things. Especially if they get killed in lawsuits; Benetton is suing them $10m, and Kournikova certainly has a far stronger case to press, and she probably will. It doesn't appear that she's some sort of herpes-riddled slut like Pamela Anderson, secretly delighted to be nude on the internet. Anna could probably get $10m from Playboy for a layout if she so desired. Or sell a movie of herself nude, and make even more. |
|
|
He'd sent a letter to his college paper that was partially identical to the notes left with the bombs, so from that it was pretty obvious he was involved. The FBI had been tipped by his roommate that he'd vanished and left suspicious stuff (pipe parts and gunpowder) lying around, so the cops searched his dorm, found the bomb parts, and issued a nation-wide APB. With a description of his car out, half of America was keeping an eye out, and a motorist in Nevada spotted him and called the cops. Word of that went out, and probably every cop in a 500 mile radius came down like the wrath of God. The guy is out in the desert on some lonely highway, no way on earth he's going to get away once spotted, with nowhere to hide or turn or ditch the car. He gave it a try though, leading the cops on a 40 mile chase at speeds up to 100MPH. Which sounds somewhat impressive, until you consider that the average speed of cars out there is probably 85, so he was hardly faster than the flow of traffic. And at 100MPH you can go 40 miles in 24 minutes. They had negotiators calling him on his cell phone during the chase, no doubt telling him he had no way on earth to escape. They even patched in his parents, and somehow he was talked into surrendering peacefully. He'll be going to prison for probably about 2000 years, which pretty well sucks when you're soft, white, and in your early twenties. If he lives to 80, he could be in prison for 50+ years. Imagine him sitting in jail with a hacking cough and lung cancer in 2060, remembering what an idiot he was? He doesn't even have any prior criminal record; he's just some white kid who got some nutty ideas and couldn't keep from expressing them in this mad fashion.
So there will be about 18 charges of that, plus at least 6 charges of injuring with a pipe bomb, and every other assorted interstate felony, evading arrest, acts of terror, etc. Seems unlikely that there will be a trial, given that they caught him red-handed, with five more pipe bombs in his trunk; he'll surely plea-bargain for life w/o possibility of parole. More info in this article, including the first tip off that he vanished and left pipe parts and gunpowder on the floor of his dorm room, and had sent letters identical to the bomb notes to the school paper. The last bomb found in Texas had no battery on it, so wasn't explosive, and he didn't pack the bombs to kill, they were just gunpowder. Bombs to kill, like the suicide bombers in Israel use, are filled with ball-bearings, screws, nails, etc. Anything sharp and hard, that when blasted out at bullet-speed will tear through nearby flesh. If a bomb is just gunpowder it's basically a large fire cracker, certainly loud and scary, but not especially deadly if you aren't holding it up to your face when it goes off. Though hooks of metal from the detonating mailbox could certainly be dangerous. Be interesting to hear what the hell he was thinking he'd accomplish. Seems from the total lack of planning on getting away with it, he was basically nuts. Did he snap from something in particular? Girlfriend dumped him or what? He was obsessed with Kurt Cobain, was arrested in a Nirvana t-shirt, and Cobain killed himself May 5, 1994, but the bombings started before then, so the anniversary of his suicide doesn't appear to be a trigger for the kid. Overall this is probably best way this could have turned out. It's not a bunch of neo-Nazis, or some insane cult, and no one died. The kid had guns but didn't shoot anyone. He could have caused a lot more loss of life by just going into his college or any store and blowing a dozen people away, and he did get the attention he wanted. Not that it really made any difference, but perhaps he'll have something more articulate to say in the future, which will be totally ignored given the acts he committed to gain his fame in the first place. |
|
|
<-- Yesterday -- Daily Main Page -- Tomorrow --> |
|
All site content copyright "Flux" (Eric Bruce), 2002-2007. |
