First Looks category archive

Seen in the back allies of the internet:

Man: Hello, I’d like to report a mugging.

Officer: A mugging, eh? Where did it take place?

Man: I was walking by 21st and Dundritch Street and a man pulled out a gun and said, “Give me all your money.”

Officer: And did you?

Man: Yes, I co-operated.

Officer: So you willingly gave the man your money without fighting back, calling for help or trying to escape?

Man: Well, yes, but I was terrified. I thought he was going to kill me!

Officer: Mmm. But you did co-operate with him. And I’ve been informed that you’re quite a philanthropist, too.

Man: I give to charity, yes.

Officer: So you like to give money away. You make a habit of giving money away.

Man: What does that have to do with this situation?

Officer: You knowingly walked down Dundritch Street in your suit when everyone knows you like to give away money, and then you didn’t fight back. It sounds like you gave money to someone, but now you’re having after-donation regret. Tell me, do you really want to ruin his life because of your mistake?

Man: This is ridiculous!

Officer: This is what women face every single day when they try to report a rape.

Karen and I have been carrying on a desultory email exchange regarding the Casey Anthony case, a media circus which I have avoided most diligently.

I have no comment on the verdict.

This video puts the news coverage of it in some perspective.

Thanks to Bob Cesca for the video.

I might even go see that one for the sheer absurdity of it all.

Then, again, it might not be so absurd. Thoreau points out in discussing something else

. . . to those who assume that alien technological superiority would ensure an easy victory, the technology gap between a high-tech drone and an Afghan villager who’s never made a telephone call is quite substantial. Despite that, the Afghan villagers are currently pwning the most technologically sophisticated force on the planet.

Aside: I seriously have to learn to count. I look forward to these things so much I skipped a week.

Drinking Liberally is a support group for liberals, where you can realize you are not alone.

When: 6 p., Wednesday, July 7.

Where:
Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub
241 Granby Street
Norfolk, Va. (map)

More about Drinking Liberally.

Street parking is tight at the tail end of rush hour, but the Freemason Street Parking Garage is two blocks away.

I understand why persons want to ride without helmets.

It’s fun.

It’s also not very bright. When I had a bike, I wore my helmet.

A motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws went over his handlebars, hit his head on the pavement and was killed, police said Sunday.

The motorcyclist, 55-year-old Philip A. Contos, likely would have survived the accident if he’d been wearing a helmet, state troopers said.

If you have never read it all the way through, doing so would be a good way to celebrate Independence Day and takes less time than an episode of Jersey Shore and is a damned sight more coherent.

After you read it, open your blue books and answer this discussion question:

To what extent does what you have just read resemble the representation made of it by the current Republican Party? Support your conclusions with examples.

Portions in italics were altered by subsequent amendment.

Source: The National Archives.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Read more »

Presented by Comically Vintage.

Radio Times looks at part of the collection of Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum. From the website:

Philadelphia is home to the Mutter Museum, a medical museum famous for its anatomical specimens and medical oddities. One of the most interesting collections is in a set of drawers that contain nearly 2,000 objects that were swallowed and then extracted without surgery by renowned laryngologist Chevalier Jackson in the early 20th century. Jackson’s Foreign Body Collection at the Mutter Museum includes wristwatches, nails, umbrella tips, toy opera glasses, pins, and Christmas ornaments.

Follow the link to listen.

Now showing at Comically Vintage.

Via Mano Singham.

Local scientists attempt to combat the invasion of the turtles:

He brought a boat. He brought a stack of hoop nets. And he brought Ryan Niccoli, whose job it was to put on chest waders, hop out of the boat periodically and plant the hoop nets in shallow water around Lake Whitehurst, baited with a slightly opened can of sardines packed in soybean oil.

What they expected to happen, overnight, was for a Chinese softshell turtle to follow its piglike nose into the net, proof positive that the invasive species had taken up residence in the Norfolk city reservoir.

He didn’t find one, but he found a bunch of other infiltrators.

Neat pictures at the link.

H/T Susan for calling the article to my attention.

Taking the day off.

Scientists have shown off a “cloaking device” that makes objects invisible – to sound waves.

Such acoustic cloaking was proposed theoretically in 2008 but has only this year been put into practice.

The link gives a brief description of the mechanism, but not enough to DIY.

(Link fixed.)

Ever since I worked on the railroad, I have thought this would be the ultimate in luxurious self-indulgence.

I also want x-ray vision. I’m unlikely to get either.

Via MarkeiWatch.

. . . where PC stands for “police constable,” not for “politically correct.”

A Police constable has been sacked for posting offensive messages about a colleague on Facebook and harassing a female colleague.

Unrelated Afterthought:

I notice that, in many cases, those who complain about pressure to be “politically correct” actually seek permission to be rude, obnoxious, and nasty.

Off to drink liberally.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us.

When: Wednesday, June 22, 6 p

Where:
Kelly’s Tavern
1936 Laskin Rd, # 201
Virginia Beach, Va. (Map)

More here.

I hope to shake my summer cold by them.

Punished for being:

As the Statue of Liberty says

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
So I may deride, debase, deport them.