Horrors of the Night category archive

The International Air Transport Association reports that the skies are getting fiendlier. A nugget:

What worries IATA officials is that the severity of the situations is increasing, Tim Colehan, IATA’s assistant director of external affairs, told USA TODAY.

“We saw an increase in incidents where all other forms of de-escalation had been exhausted and the cabin crew had no other option but to restrain the unruly passenger for the safety of everyone onboard,” he said.

The numbers break down to approximately 30 serious “unruly passenger” incidents on U.S. flights every day, Forbes reported.

That’s 30 a day out of over 40,000 flights in the US, so it’s an inconsequential percentage, but still too high. The story goes on to point out that alcohol is often a factor. Few things ruin a air trip more than being trapped on a plane with an obstreperous drunk–not even a crying baby, because, remember, the baby can’t help it.

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Below the fold, if you dare.

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(If you are unclear as to what this cartoon refers to, just read this.)

Afterthought:

When I went to college, I briefly–oh so very briefly–considered rushing a frat.

Then I realized I could get drunk quite nicely on my own without having to waste my drinking money on dues.

Because, frankly, getting drunk is what college fraternities do. All the rest is window dressing.

. . . and there be monsters.

The innerwebs tell me that panicked pols are touting banning travel to west Africa, even though portions of west Africa have struggled with ebola for years, and the rest of the world, for all practical purposes, has done little or nothing to help, because (to be blunt) it was Africa and nobody outside of Africa cared much if at all.

Methinks, as regards the US right now, a ban on travel to Texas would be more to the point.

After all, Texas is the US epi(demic)center for the disease and, unlike, say, for example, just to mention one, Nigeria, has proven itself incapable of dealing with the contagion.

What Noz said.

Why does this make me think of an H. P. Lovecraft story?

At Psychology Today Blogs, Katherine Ramsland tries to find some explanations for the spate of mass shootings ending in the suicide of the shooter. The article does not purport to explain why they happen, but does find similarities among them that seldom get noted in the news coverage.

A nugget (emphasis in the original):

We often don’t think much about the suicide angle in the aftermath of mass shootings, but a high percentage of these offenders had been depressed, angry, unstable, and unhappy with their lives. Yet instead of just taking themselves out, they decide to take others with them. What used to be an inward act has increasingly become outward.

I call this coercive suicide. We don’t yet know Aguilar’s motive, but typically suicidal mass murderers have the added need to punish someone, to make a public show of their death as a “lesson,” and/or to add their own notch on the infamy scale.

Follow the link to find out what a “wound collector” is.

Tony Norman comments on Geraldo’s “selfie.”

While Geraldo has always been comfortable going wherever the intersection of narcissism and new media will lead him, most of us have an instinctive revulsion about the prospect of sharing too much about ourselves. Some things — like the way we look like in the steam of the bathroom mirror — should be private.

More selfie-awareness at the link.

FB status update spooks the spooks, leading to a haunting.

Via Comically Vintage.