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| Charlie Rose is playing the other room and it's his repeat of Friday's tribute to New York Socialite Brooke Astor, who died last week. As I'm listening, I was initially reminded of my post from last January about her family and thus far, I haven't heard much of anything about the controversy which was such a large part of her final years and my blog entry, so I thought I'd offer a link. PS) If anyone decides to visit Mr. Rose's site and if they're feeling particularly geeky or fearful, his recent hour about preparing for and protecting ourselves against a global pandemic is pretty dry, yet incredibly interesting. | |
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| Usually when I'm making a mid-evening run to the grocery store, I quickly flip through my radio presets for something to hear. Sometimes, I'll land on Alice Cooper's show (brought to you by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America); Sometimes it's Dr. Drew and because it's only a two minute drive to anywhere, I occasionally land on a syndicated program called "The Tom Leykis Show" which is sort of a chauvinistic, male-centric advice program. (Sample quote from this evening: "When you look at Victoria Beckham, don't think that all girls in England look like her. For every Victoria Beckham, there's a hundred fat girls with bad teeth") For years, whenever I've heard Tom Leykis, I'd wonder if he really was Jay Thomas doing a show under a different name because the voice sounds very similar to me. Not to mention the fact that the Leykis program is distributed by CBS Radio and is broadcast from the Paramount lot, which is where, I believe they did Mr Thomas' last couple of television shows. Tonight, I took a couple of minutes to look-up Mr. Leykis and found on his Wikipedia page that he's quite likely a real person, who has been in radio since the '70s. After I was fully satisfied about the person to whom I've been listening, I flipped over to read Jay Thomas' entry and though I knew he still has as good of a film career as he's ever had, I also discovered that he's on Sirius Satellite Radio and he moonlights as a licensed real estate broker, working with a Coldwell Banker office in Santa Barbara. ( More, Completely Useless Information about Similar Subjects after the Jump )
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| From Raleigh's News & ObserverDURHAM - Bound and gagged with dress ties in the back seat of his car, the man looked like he needed help.
Two passers-by released him Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of Erwin Terrace, a mix of apartments and shops near the Duke University campus. Police Officer A.W. Harris said the man had been involved in a sex game with his girlfriend, who had left him bound, with his fly down, in the back of the late model red sports car.
Two Duke students, who did not want to be identified, spotted him as they entered their car. They opened the unlocked door and freed the man's hands, then left hurriedly and called police. It was the second time in recent weeks that someone was found bound in a car as part of a sex game at Erwin Terrace, Harris said.
"We will be looking into that," he said.
Harris wouldn't identify the bound man. | |
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| I realize that it's nearing the end of a postastic day, but I really can't delay throwing this out, in case it disappears. By now, I'm sure everyone has heard about the lite-brite guerrilla advertising which shut down Boston today. Reportedly, the city was thrown because the little cartoon creatures were affixed to visible surfaces and because television blurred the whole thing to obstruct its middle finger, so people watching at home couldn't call the cops and tell them that they're stupid. (I've never seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but the things don't look threatening to me) Anyway, the fellow who was contracted to install the things and who has since been arrested, he was kind enough to document the installation in a fast-paced, quick-cut music video. And, if you are interested, you can just go to his website and activate the pop-up containing the Quicktime, by clicking on the topmost left image. For anyone who can't do Quicktime, but who might still be interested, the uppermost right image loads a huge gallery of screengrabs from the "mission". Also, if you have a MySpace and would like to offer Peter Berdovsky a few words of support, you can find his page, here. And finally, Turner Broadcasting's initial statement; "The 'packages' in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger." | |
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| According to news reports, Stephen F. Berl was obviously drunk and wandering around a Delaware Country Curtains store, when the clerks contacted police.
After they arrived and began an initial investigation, the cops learned that witnesses had seen him drop a plastic bag onto the floor, which he had not noticed, nor retrieved before leaving and which contained thirteen packets of heroin.
While canvassing the area, they discovered the intoxicated suspect next door in the Joseph A Bank Clothiers and upon his arrest, they found that he had an additional eleven packets on his person. As a result, he was charged with possession and felony possession with intent to deliver and was jailed on $11,500 cash bond. |
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| | The Scene: |
Nestled between the West and Connecticut Rivers, Brattleboro is a community of 12,000 which may best be known as a gateway into Vermont from western Massachusetts, but it also has a vibrant arts and alternative scene. FBI statistics show that in 2005, Brattleboro had no murders and 24 violent crimes, 18 of which were assaults. These same statistics also show that they had 331 property crimes, with 281 of them larcenies.
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| The Players: |
According to media reports, Paul Canon has multiple sclerosis and is on disability, while his wife is employed outside of the home. From his living room, he can see a lot of his residential neighborhood through the window.
Friends described 32 year-old, Tina Fiorillo as "meek, but not weak" and if the house numbers weren't clue enough, Google Maps confirms that her family's home is directly across the street from that of the Canons.
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| The Motivation: |
Paul believes that his neighborhood is a hotbed of crime, though the evidence doesn't really seem to back this up. During an interview with the local paper, he pointed at a group of teenagers and accused them of making a drug deal at that very moment. He said that he's seen cars with out-of-state plates pull up to neighborhood houses in the middle of the night, someone get out of the car and go inside, then re-emerge fifteen minutes later.
In the course of this same interview, he claimed that one of his neighbors is having an affair, local teens drive their parent's cars without permission. one person drives on a suspended license and he claims to have also witnessed people smoking marijuana on their porches.
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| The Act: |
For most of the past three years, Paul Canon had been videotaping everything that has been happening in the neighborhood. His wife says that he wasn't looking in people's windows, but he was filming the comings and goings of everyone between 8pm and 3am, as part of a high-tech variation of aneighborhood watch.
He regularly turned all of the footage over to the police and did sometimes claim that he was being paid to conduct this surveillance, but has since backed-off of that statement and modified it to say that the local police supplied him with the videotapes. The Chief of Police has also said that Mr Canon was not been getting paid, but several of his reports have been investigated and because of statements made by the the videographer, charges of racial profiling have been leveled against the police by an advocacy group.
As of last July, it appears that the tapes have only been used in two cases; Once to support a charge of disorderly conduct against Mr Canon and another, plus a video was used to cite someone in a case involving a dog.
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| The Result: |
Up until the time she killed herself, Tina Fiorillo was constantly complaining to town, state and federal officials. At a meeting of the town's "Civilian Police Communication Committee" which had been formed in response to the complaints about Paul's surveillance, she is described as having tears in her eyes, while she held her fussing baby and said; "My everyday life of nothing is being videotaped every single day".
The young mother of four regularly met with town officials to voice her complaints and though it seems the elected government may have been sympathetic, there was little they could do. One time, she unsuccessfully sought a zoning variance, hoping a screen could be built in front of her government-sponsored, four-family housing unit and she tried to get a restraining order, but most likely failed due to a lack of legal assistance.
As Mr Canon's relationship with the neighborhood deteriorated, so did the relationship between the two across-the-street neighbors. Ms Fiorillo and Mr Canon had gotten to the point that they only communicated by shouting at each other and things had gotten even more tense after someone paintballed Paul's house.
Throughout the whole ordeal, it appears no one ever accused Tina of doing wrong or being any type of criminal, but virtually everyone familiar with the case agrees that her frustration with the situation is what prompted her to commit suicide. After all on the day she surrendered, she tried citing another aspect of Vermont law and that very afternoon, the town manager, assistant manager, attorney and two police captains met to discuss her questions.
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| The Conclusion: |
Rep. Daryl Pillsbury, I-Brattleboro, is drafting a bill that would make prolonged videotaping a nuisance crime, actionable by civil court. Law enforcement, licensed private investigators, security guards and the media would be exempt and the bill does not make video surveillance a criminal offense because of constitutional concerns. Instead, if someone felt they were being video-stalked or harassed at their home by another's video camera, they would have to appear before a judge and the court would decide whether their claim was reasonable.
The bill is expected to be introduced in two weeks and since Ms Fiorillo's death, local police have completely distanced themselves from Paul and now he's being described, as having acted under his own volition. |
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| - Excerpted from the Associated Press;
A Walt Disney World employee dressed as the character "Tigger" was accused of hitting a child while posing for a photo, a spokeswoman for the theme park said Saturday.
Jerry Monaco of New Hampshire videotaped his son, Jerry Jr., posing with the costumed character at Disney-MGM Studios on Friday and recorded the confrontation, according to a statement from the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
The father said Fedelem intentionally hit his son "on or about the head," said sheriff's spokesman Carlos M. Padilla. "The tape only shows a fraction of what happened. Now it's up to us to find out what led up to that."
In 2004 a Walt Disney World employee dressed as Tigger was accused of touching the breast of a 13-year-old girl while she posed with him for a photo. A jury found the man not guilty.
Related: Fathers Assault "Telly" and "Cookie Monster" at Sesame Place (from 2003) | |
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| For the past several days, I've been thinking about writing a book about something closer to home, but if I had the time and the inclination, there's probably another one which could be seeded from the following clips, which I'm putting under a cut. ( A Modern Day Soap ) | |
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| I ran across this wire story about some of the assorted laws that'll be taking effect on the first. A lot of it is the usual stuff; Seven states are raising their minimum wage; Alaska and South Carolina are going against bullying and a few states are lowering taxes. One that leapt out at me is that Illinois is making it a crime to advertise or conduct a musical performance, if it's not absolutely clear that you're not the real thing and just a tribute band. The way the law is written, there is an exception if you own or have been assigned the trademark, or if at least one member is from the group that had previously released a sound recording under that name and if they have the right to use that name. Otherwise, it will be illegal to claim a "false, deceptive, or misleading affiliation, connection, or association between the performing group and the recording group" and it's punishable by up to a $50,000 fine. When I was looking for the exact wording of this legislation, I read through a press release from Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich listing some of the other new laws taking effect. Unfortunately his release didn't mention the pox on cover bands, but it did include a paragraph that says it will become a crime to falsely identify oneself as a decorated war hero and there's another law going into effect to protect against "unscrupulous mortgage 'rescue' firms", who fraudulently take over a person's property. So, I gather there's a problem with people not being what they claim in Illinois, or at least it looks that way from here. | |
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| - November 30, 2006
- A man reported that he got drunk at a local bar the night before and remembered some woman helping him to the motel. When he got up in the morning, all of his money and cell phone were gone. The officer was able to identify the suspect as a 32 year-old woman who admitted to helping the man to the hotel. She denied taking the money or the phone. She said the man had a large amount of money, but took it out of his pocket while they were walking and the wind blew it away. She gathered up as much as she could and got him to the motel.
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| The Albuquerque Journal did a two-day series about crime increasing or moving to the southern suburbs. It was only in a related story that it was revealed there is ordinarily only two or three deputies on duty in the affected county, an area of 1068 square miles and none of the stories mention that a couple of years ago, it was reported that occasionally there would be no deputy on duty during the overnights due to budget issues. What struck me as amusing was the explanation which accompanied a table of crime statistics; According to FBI statistics that were published in October, Belen ranked second in the state in violent crime and first in the state in property crime per capita. It was also in the top percentile in the nation for both categories.
After the Journal and News-Bulletin presented the data to his department, Police Chief Mike Chavez contacted the FBI to change the numbers, saying that a former records clerk turned in wrong numbers. Under the new numbers, Belen would still rank first in the state in property crime. In violent crime, it falls to seventh. For the record: The town of Belen has a population of about 7,000. The FBI divides their crime statistics into towns with over 10k in population, over 25,000 and on up in a series of categories. So, we may be able to take some comfort from the fact that Belen ranks in the nation's top 4% for violent crime among the smaller towns, while Valencia's other major community of Los Lunas is in the top 1% nationally for those with a slightly larger population. --- Note: For anyone interested who might not have access to the Journal, the Valencia County News-Bulletin also ran the series. Part one can be accessed via this link; Part Two is here and some other information can be gathered from their recent news index, including an explanation for the conveniently revised statistics and information about the manpower shortage. | |
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|  Earlier, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nebris pointed toward a long piece from Friday's New York Post, in which Judith Regan offers an explanation for why she's publishing the O.J. book and recorded the infamous interview. Basically, she claims to have been a battered spouse and when the opportunity presented itself, where she could finagle a confession from O.J., it'd be like she was striking a blow for battered women, everywhere. She explains in the article that experts have told her, killers will often confess in the hypothetical and by doing the project, she feels that she may have diagnosed his psychological problem or mental defect and for all intents and purposes, she projects it onto batterers as a group. I can't see into the deepest recesses of her soul, but based on the book's cover design (pictured) and one of the pull quotes from the special, it appears that she has a definite point of view and isn't afraid to paint the picture, she feels to be accurate. So, if Ms Regan's motivations are noble, where does that put News Corp and Rupert Murdoch? News Corp owns Regan Books through their Harper Collins division. Her explanation was published in the New York Post, which is also owned by Mr Murdoch's company. I can't find the name of the company producing the television special, which reportedly will not be carried in the Albuquerque market, but it's scheduled for Fox Broadcasting and they probably produced it through one of its sister divisions, all owned by News Corp. Fox News, which is also owned by Murdoch and is under the direction of Roger Ailes, who also heads the Fox Television Station group has been railing against the show. Bill O'Reilly has been quoted as saying that he won't watch the program, look at the book or purchase anything from anyone who advertise during its broadcast. Throughout the entire personality chain of Fox News, the television special and sweeps stunt is being called the lowest of the low. Jon Stewart did a bit some time ago, where he drew attention to Fox's use of a question mark to get away with putting any outrageous statement on the screen. Several divisions of News Corp have questioned the objectivity of "60 Minutes" doing newsmaker interviews, in advance of a book release from another division of Viacom, Simon & Shuster. Bob Woodward's and Richard Clarke's book come to mind, as do a few others. Perhaps, by screaming about the morality of something done by other divisions from their same parent, the whole exercise could be called another method of applying a question mark or a "Cavuto" to the matter. As I said, I don't know if Ms Regan's reasonings are based entirely in reality, I've never met the woman. Though, it does make sense, especially when you consider the way the ads have been cut, her public statements and the creative use of color on the book jacket. Nevertheless, News Corp is fueled entirely by money and by playing both sides of the fence, they're making it coming and going. --- Update: Both projects have now been cancelled by Rupert Murdoch, himself and I've posted additional thoughts on the subject. | |
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| "Attention associates! We have a Code Adam. There's a lost little boy wearing a cowboy outfit and a brown shirt."Once the announcement had been made, Walmart employees started flowing from everywhere. They came from the back and out from behind their specialty counters, then they all literally started fanning throughout the store. The lost kid was found in less than two minutes, so they canceled the alert. All in all, this left me wondering if it's a "Code Adam" because "A" is the first letter of the alphabet, so it's the most important thing or was it named after the Walsh kid, who was abducted from a Sears store? | |
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| I try not to be too self-referential, but earlier I was telling someone offline about the perfume I recently linked. I don't know if anyone clicked the bottle of "Eau de Play-Doh", but I had it set to lead to the press release because it listed a couple of other 50th Anniversary events for the product and from there, you could click through to the manufacturer. The fragrance company also makes a ton of other scents including "Sugar Cookie", "Dirt", "Snow", "Sushi" and "Piña Colada" to name only a few. Though, one of the "flavors" that got my attention the most from their big, long list was labeled " Cannibis Flower", which is described as "The shredded flowers of Cannabis Sativa, the hemp plant." It occurs to me that if someone could be subjected to a drug-sniffing dog in an institutional setting, such as a high school, if they had some of this cologne on hand, they might be able to secretly squirt random things or people to discredit the animal. When and if the accused were taken to court and if the dog reacted the way I suspected, the search could be tossed because of the high failure rate of the dog. The court would have no choice because if the dog was wrong more than it was right, there would be no probable cause and the fruits of the search would have to be excluded. Without evidence, they'd have no choice but to set the person free. And, if for some reason they were unable to spray enough random items, they could always spray the Principal in the crotch, or if the search was not in school and it's just a cop with a dog, they may be able to squirt them in the ass and be done with it. --- Disclaimer: I have never seen the scent and I do not know if this would work. It is only a theory. | |
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| New Mexico's Secretary of State, Rebecca Vigil-Giron has been starring in a public service announcement about the new election reform laws, which passed through the legislature last session. The funny thing about her ad is when she says "vote early" because every time I hear it, I want to tack on "and often", but to be perfectly honestly, it's the bulk of the commercial causes me concern. Most of the focus is on the new voter identification cards. I can't find an image or an online copy of the PSA, but she walks the viewer through the card onscreen. It features the voter's full name and address, their date of birth and their voter identification number, which is the last four digits of their Social Security number. It is these elements that set off my alarm bells because some combination of these things are often used to verify identity, when one does business over the phone. A few weeks ago, I needed some information from my online broker. When I called, the operator asked for the address they had on file and the last four digits of my Social Security number, before he could talk. For more than twenty years, I banked at one of the world's largest. I started with them my freshman year of college and we only closed our accounts, when we moved to New Mexico. Throughout all of our moves, we stayed with this bank as our main. We'd always open an account locally, but it was cheaper and easier to keep the bulk of our banking in one place. Besides the fact that I was already established with the firm, we expanded our dealings and stayed with them because they were among the first to offer debit cards featuring the Visa logo, they allowed larger ATM withdrawals than most banks and were among the first with an in-house brokerage, which we used for mutual funds. They also kept a staff of telephone bankers, who were available 24/7. Whenever we'd call, which was fairly often, they'd verify our identity through our dates of birth and the last four digits of our Social Security number. By having all of this information stored on one card, it seems to me that it's an invitation for identity theft and though she didn't personally pass the legislation and by all rights, Bill Richardson should get more of the blame; It's her face we see, when we hear about this horribly bad idea. New Mexico has a problem with identity theft. I have a locking mailbox and as I mentioned in a previous post, a lot of the crime in my town is an invited guest, who rummages through their host's purse or belongings. Numerous people have been arrested for creating false identification and for opening credit card accounts in other people's names. Therefore, it seems to me that because there have been gangs who would systematically steal people's mail throughout a neighborhood and reports of criminals filing change of address cards with the post office, diverting a victim's mail to their house; By having a single card with the answers to many of the questions that financial institutions use to verify identity, it's just asking for trouble and an all around bad idea. | |
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occupymytime
