Whoa!

I was at Snapper Magee's this afternoon. This guy came in and was talking to Bekkey, the bartender. He said, "You probably know my son, Corey."

Bekkey replied, "You're Corey's dad?"

The guy is very taken aback, "Whoa! How did you know that?"

I couldn't look at Bekkey and she couldn't look at me. She, literally, ran to the other end of the bar while stifling laughter. While still stifling laughter she said she was going out for a cigarette. I said I'd join her. We got outside and couldn't help but start laughing. The guy came out and wanted to know what was so funny.

After he left Bekkey and I decided we've got to put a camera and microphone in there - what a reality show that would be!

“SURREAL”

The new word is: "surreal." Every eyewitness news account seems to have the person saying, "It was surreal." The latest was the plane vs helicopter crash over the Hudson. An NYC 10 year old was a witness and said, what else, "it was surreal."

Later they had a report of shooting somewhere. Eyewitness said, what else, "it was surreal."

"Human interest" story about some idiot falling and not getting hurt. "What was it like?" "It was surreal."

You'd almost think there's a school out there somewhere for eyewitnesses. It couldn't be that "reporters" are coaching people on what to say. Nah, reporters have ethical standards.

Like the reporter who was interviewing 2 witnesses to that plane/helicopter incident - a twelve year old girl and her father. The reporter says the girl was so upset seeing the plane go down that she "shook and cried for 20 minutes." Then the reporter proceeded to ask questions in a manner that it was obvious she was trying to get this little girl to respond emotionally: "When you saw that plane going down it was like you realized that it could be a family, a family just like yours in that plane and you knew they were going to die. What were your thoughts?" "When that plane hit the water you knew that at any time you could lose your sister, or mother, or father, or all of them, at any time and you love them, don't you?

Great ethics to blatantly try to get a little girl to break down for the camera!

Bill's Rules #7

For every hot chick you meet....

There's a guy who's fed up with her crap.

The Slim Clip

I don't carry a wallet and I break credit cards a few times a year from them being in my pocket. I decided to buy the advertised on TV, "Slim Clip." It holds up to 6 credit cards and thirty bills. When you order for "just $10, we'll include, for free, our handy pocket laser light. Act now and we'll double your order. That's 2 Slim Clips and 2 pocket laser lights for just $10. Just pay separate shipping and handling."

I went to their site. As I placed the order there was a page that offered three more for just another $10. I figured what the hell. It's just $10 plus separate shipping and handling.

Nowhere did the site have info about shipping and handling charges! I checked.

The final order amount was $75.97! $20 for merchandise and $50.97 for shipping and handling.

I called them to cancel. "We can't cancel yet. The order won't be delivered from the website until tomorrow. You'll have to call back tomorrow."

I went back to the site and found a "contact form." I cancelled through that form 52 times - Once for each dollar of shipping and handling charges.

Today the charge was posted to my card account!

Tomorrow it will be charged back.

Just Wondering….

If pro is opposite of con, then what is the opposite of progress?

Cambridge Police Department

Unlike ordinary citizens, a police officer does not have the luxury of walking away from a volatile situation. The cop will first try to defuse the situation and calm the out of control individual. If this fails, the cop is forced to take action. This action may include arrest of the out of control individual.

Cops are aware that age, gender, and race are not determining factors in the escalation of an out of control individual. Cops and ordinary citizens have been injured or killed when a person has escalated from a verbal tirade to physical violence. The cop is obligated to make an arrest in a situation where he believes an out of control person might become a danger to himself or others.

It is readily apparent to any reasonable person that Sgt Crowley acted in accordance with training, procedure and common sense. If anything, Sgt Crowley violated procedure by not doing a "pat down" (for weapons) before obtaining proper identification from Prof. Gates.

Pres Obama, the MA Governor and the Cambridge Mayor all should issue an apology to Sgt Crowley, the Cambridge Police Department and all police officers and departments throughout the nation. Their uninformed remarks have maligned police offers everywhere as well as making an already difficult job more difficult.

Does a police officer now have to pause to reflect, "What will the president think?" That could result in injury or death to police officers. Even innocent citizens could be injured or killed by an assailant if police officers hesitate to wonder if the president, governor or mayor will approve of their action.

Luckily, Sgt Crowley took action in this situation. A person out of control, as Prof Gates was, could easily escalate to physical violence with no warning.

When I attended police academy, we were told many times that police officers must take immediate action in a volatile situation. We were shown many case histories where police officers, or others, lost their lives because a cop hesitated.

There's an old saying: "Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six."

Woo

A man I knew was struck by a train and killed last week.

Local “authorities” said it was a “possible suicide” because he was walking on the tracks toward the train.

Anyone who knew “Woo” (Roy Bagley), also knows that he had a very serious motorcycle accident. As he said, “Woo, broke my helmet. broke my head.” He had a serious head injury and brain damage.

He was known as “Woo” because he would throw that into sentences, like: It sure is hot out, woo!” and, “Woo, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Most people who knew “Woo” know that he was a bit slow in interpreting things. If he was asked a question, it would take maybe 15-20 seconds before he started to formulate an answer.

Woo didn’t kill himself! Woo was not able to understand that a train coming toward him was danger – until it was too late.

I’ll miss Woo (as will many others). I remember one night standing outside Snapper’s with the woman I was going with at the time. Woo came over and told her, “Always have sex with him whenever he wants, woo. Woo, you never know when he’ll be gone.” Thanks Woo!