Shoplifters Got Robbed While Shiplifting At Grocery Store

Some time there is justice in this world after all, and certainly to these two losers.

Security personnel were in the process of questioning Korin Vanhouten, 47, and Eldon Alexander, 36, at an Ogden, Utah WinCo supermarket, accused of stealing makeup, energy bars and batteries. At the end of the interrogation, they left with a citation for attempted shoplifting.

However, they soon stumbled on to the scene of a successful carlifting, with the awkward discovery that while they were in the WinCo, someone--or several someones--had broken into their car.

I've always wanted to know how these perpetrators feel to be on the receiving end of the same deeds they do on others. Like pickpocketers being pickpocketed, a burglar's house got broken in, and worse still, a drunk driver having a loved family member killed by another drunk driver.

Zz.

In line for black Friday

At jc Penney for the Disney snow globe and black Friday madness.

Missed opportunities

So this is a big travel day before Thanksgiving. It is 6am. I'm on I88 at the de kalb oasis. Starbucks is closed! A few people were looking for coffee had to go to MacDonald instead.

Silly Starbucks Z

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A warm, summer day in a quiet, rural Iowa farm land.

Zz.

iPad2 Halloween Costume

And incredibly clever idea for a Halloween Costume, assuming that you can get a hold of 2 iPads.



I chuckled at one of the comments that said that he looks like a Teletubby! :)

Zz.

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A gorgeous flower that I snapped a couple of weeks ago.

Zz.

Goodbye, Blackberry

Well, I finally did it. I dumped by Blackberry phone. for the first time in, oh, 10 years, I no longer am using a Blackberry.

I mentioned earlier that I want an iPhone, but I also want to stay with T-Mobile. I was a GSM phone since I do travel out of the country periodically, and so far, my Blackberry T-Mobile phones have worked perfectly. So my only option for a GSM iPhone is AT&T.

However, my dislike for AT&T outweighs my desire for an iPhone. So instead got an Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy S II. Going from the Blackberry Bold 9700 to the Android Galaxy S II is quite a jump, especially in screen size. I'm quite familiar with the touch screen aspect of it since I've used other touch screen phones and also the iPad. But having a rather huge phone display after using the tiny Blackberry screen takes some getting used to, and I'm getting used to it rather quickly.

So far, I've been playing and exploring what it can do, and what apps/widget are available, almost every couple of hours. It's still a new toy, and I'm having fun with it.

The only drawback is, of course, the battery life. With the Blackberry, I often go for a couple of days (or even more) before I have to charge the batteries. With this Samsung, I have to do it every day, which is usually at night when I go to bed. But then again, with the Blackberry, I seldom make use of it to surf the web, or use the apps. So the use habit is different for each phone.

So I have all the Angry Birds, many card games, and a few neat stuff loaded already onto the phone. Quite happy with it so far, so much so I'm thinking that I don't miss the iPhone at all. At least for the next 2 years of my contract, I'll be staying with this one.

Not sure what the future will hold of RIM and the Blackberries. They make very good phones, rugged and dependable. But somehow, they lost touch with the progress in mobile technology and interface, and now they're playing catch up, rather than setting the trend. While other companies are also playing catch-up with Apple and making almost look-alike iPhone, they are at least trying to keep up with Apple and providing cheaper options with almost the same capabilities. I hope RIM can survive this rough patch and reinvent itself. After all, Apple at one time was on the brink of collapse before Steve Jobs came back.

Zz.

I Want Some Schweddy Balls

Honestly, I didn't realize that Ben and Jerry's came out with this limited-release flavor, and I didn't know that it "offended" some people. But now that I have heard about it, I'll be damned if I'm not going to buy this.

But apparently some grocery store chains can, and so can supporters and members of the One Million Moms group.

That Mississippi-based moms organization has been putting the heat on retailers to keep Schweddy Balls out of their freezers and encouraging parents to ask the Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's to stop production of the item, saying the name is nothing but locker room humor that's not appropriate for young children.

 So Ben and Jerry's should send a thank you letter to this "One Million Moms" group, because due to them, they got publicity that money just can't buy!  And this Million Moms group must not have other bigger problems to deal with than worry about some name on an ice cream corrupting their kids. They must be really horrible parent for their kids to be so easily corrupted by such a mundane thing!

Zz.

1-612-206-0449

I got a phone call this morning, on my cell phone, no less, with that caller ID number.

Now, I highly doubt that this is a valid number, or if this is the actual number of the 'scam artist'. The recording says that I can lower my interest rate on my credit cards, and to press "1" if I wish to speak to a representative. Sure, I pressed "1". It range for a few seconds, and then someone with a heavy .... er .... how shall I say this, "ghetto" accent answered and started mumbling some incoherent standard message. I asked him if he knows if my number was dialed randomly, or from a database. He replied but I could barely understood he said due to the slurring of his words, as if he just got up from sleep! I asked him to repeat what he just said, and of course, you can guess it. He hung up!

This is not the first time that has happened, and I'm sure many people have had this. I smells like a scam, and at some point, my guess is that this person would like info on your credit cards so that they can give you a lower interest rates. Sure, and I just rolled off the back of a turnip truck!

If you do a search on this number, you would have encountered many similar complaints about it, such as this. It is freaking annoying that, since they can hide behind some spoofed or fake numbers, one can't do much about it (even reporting due to violation of the Do-No-Call registry). Still, reporting it is all you can do.

Zz.

I Want An iPhone!

... but I can't get one. Well, I can, but I don't want to switch carrier. I kinda like the plan and service I have now with T-Mobile. Of course as we all know by now, the iPhone 4S will be available to AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, but no T-Mobile. That sucks.

I know Apple don't need me as a customer. I already bought, a long time ago, the iPod Classic. As of now, the contract on my Blackberry is up (and has been for a few months). If the iPhone were released on T-Mobile, I would have switched to it, AND bought an iPad on the same day. It was that easy.

But now, with no indication of an iPhone for T-Mobile anytime soon, and of course, with the possibility that big bad AT&T acquiring T-Mobile for no good reason other than to wipe out its only GSM competition, I am re-evaluating my plans. I may just get a mid-price Andriod phone and stick with it for the next 2 years. If AT&T gets its way and buys T-Mobile, I'll just jump to a different carrier at the end of the contract period. Maybe by then, Verizon's iPhone will also have GSM capability, or at least can easily switch to the GSM band that I can use outside of the US.

Zz.

Some people should not be saved from themselves.

This woman paid $180, in a MacDonalds parking lot, to a couple of strangers who said they had extra iPads in their vehicle. She paid for it and took the package home without opening it, only to find later that it was a slab of wood.

I lost count how many things in that scenario that would ring warning bells. I disagree with the part of the article that tries to evoke some sympathy for this woman.

Before you scream, snort or snicker, let he who has not been fooled at least once in this life cast the first tablet of wood.

There are scams, and there are SCAMS. Most of us who were taken in by scams were the ones that were done in such an elaborate fashion to pass them off for being legit. This is not the case here. When you are approached by some strangers, IN A MACDONALDS PARKING LOT, for heaven's sake, and then to not even check and see if you're getting what you were paying for, there is just something terribly wrong with you. Sorry, but you deserve to be taken in, and you should not be allowed to propagate your genes for the sake of humanity.

Zz.

Darwin Award - First Nominee

This will probably be a series of nomination for the Darwin Award - people who should be taken out of the gene pool.

My first nominee is a woman who is on oxygen, and then decided to smoke a cigarette.

A 51-year-old woman who uses oxygen tanks to breathe suffered face and inhalation burns this morning while she was smoking inside her Near West Side home.

Of course, the story doesn't say why she was on oxygen. Maybe her lungs isn't working well due to her addiction to cigarettes?

Zz.

25% of Traffic Accidents Tied To Electronic Use

The use of cell phones and other electronic devices have been linked to 25% of all traffic accidents in the US.

The study by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a nonprofit group that works to improve traffic safety, assessed research from more than 350 scientific papers published since 2000.

It showed that drivers are distracted up to half the time and that crashes caused by distractions range from minor damage to fatal injury. Cellphone use raises the risk of crashing, but texting is likely to increase crash risk more than cellphone use.

I've mentioned before of numerous studies that showed that drivers using cell phones while driving has the same reaction rate as someone who is legally drunk. I am at a loss for any rational explanation on why using a cell phone while driving has not been banned. To me, it is more of an issue than someone not using a seatbelt. At least someone who isn't using a seat belt is a danger to him/herself. Someone who is using a cell phone is a danger to ME!

BAN CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING ALREADY!

Zz.

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Dusk at Monterey Bay, California.

Zz.

Do You Have To Protest Against Fossile Fuel In The Nude?

I guess doing it in the nude gets you media coverage that would otherwise have been another ho-hum event.

Cyclist in Portland this past week celebrated the, wait for it, World Naked Bike Ride event, by riding bikes, you guessed it, naked.

World Naked Bike Ride is a globally observed event among hard-core bikers designed, at least ostensibly, to promote the use of the bicycle for transportation. But Portland cyclists have been especially adamant about making it another of the Pacific Northwest city's quirky traditions.

"This is just a way of drawing attention to the need to be more green and replace fossil fuels with natural power," said Ken Johnson, who was completely nude and body-painted grey.
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The purpose of the naked rides, SHIFT says, is "a light-hearted protest against fossil fuel. ... A comment on the vulnerability of cyclists. Choose your message, ride with us! As bare as you dare."

So, other than to garner publicity, I don't see any direct reason why one would want to ride in the nude. Besides, do these people aware on how those bikes were made in the first place? You don't think fossil fuel was used in the manufacturing of those bikes, do you?

Come to think of it, maybe they are in the nude so that they don't wear nylons and spandex, etc., all synthetic fabrics that could have been made out of hydrocarbons. Hum... why not do a World Nude Walking event? Use of less material that could have been constructed using fossil fuel.

Zz.

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Somewhere high up in the Smokey Mountain range.

Zz.

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High above Starved Rock State Park in Illinois. Flood water overflowing the Illinois river.

Zz.

It's The Little Things...

Sometime, it's the little things you do for someone, or your family, that gets you famous and appreciated. This dad started this as a prank to embarrass his son on his school bus. But it has now made him quite a celebrity.

And so began Dale’s hazing ritual that continued every day for the rest of his son's school year. The first day may have been the most shocking for Rain, but in the days to follow, the surprises kept coming.

Since the fall, Dale has waved at his son in 180 different outlandish costumes. The second day of school he wore a football helmet and jersey, and in the months that followed he opened the front door dressed as a blushing bride, a superhero, a Star Trek fan, Michael Jackson, and a giant chicken. One day he even lugged an old toilet bowl onto the street and sat on it reading a newspaper, stopping to wave as the bus rolled by.

It certainly help to have a sense of humor in such a situation.

Zz.

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A tranquil, quiet morning along the Chicago lakefront.

Zz.

Geographer Had Predicted Osama In Abbottabad

An amazing prediction by a UCLA Geographer and his students on the possible location of Osama Bin Laden as far back as in 2009.

...... predictions of UCLA geographer Thomas Gillespie, who, along with colleague John Agnew and a class of undergraduates, authored a 2009 paper predicting the terrorist’s whereabouts, were none too shabby. According to a probabilistic model they created, there was an 80.9% chance that bin Laden was hiding out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed last night. And they correctly predicted that he would be in a large town, not a cave.

And it's not as if they were using some classified information or techniques to make such a prediction.

“It’s not my thing to do this type of [terrorism] stuff,” he says. “But the same theories we use to study endangered birds can be used to do this.”

A lot of knowledge is interrelated like that. So one could study endangered birds, and the same mathematical formalism can be used in a military operation. Or one could study transport phenomenon in solids, and apply it to the financial markets. Not unheard of.

Zz.

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Oooh.. that looks like a lot of fun.

Downhill slide near Gatlinburg, TN.

Zz.

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Sunrise at 30,000 ft.

Zz.

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Somewhere in the Smokey Mountain, Tennessee.

Men Used To Have Penises Studded With Hard Spines?

OUCH!

An interesting new investigation has revealed a molecular mechanism on how human males evolved into having smooth penises, rather than penises studded with small, hard spines such as those in our closes cousins, the chimps {link open for free only for a limited time}.

They first systematically identified 510 DNA sequences missing in humans and present in chimps, finding that those sequences were almost exclusively from the non-coding regions of the genome, between genes. They then homed in on two sequences whose absence in humans they thought might be interesting — one from near the androgen receptor (AR) gene and one from near a gene involved in tumour suppression (GADD45G).

Inserting the chimpanzee sequences into mouse embryos revealed that the former sequence produced both the hard penile spines and sensory whiskers present in some animals. The latter sequence acted as a kind of brake on the growth of specific brain regions — with the removal of its function appearing to have paved the way for the evolution of the larger human brain.

This study is published in Nature (McLean, C. Y. et al. Nature 471, 216-219 (2011)).

Zz.

Five Amazing Cockpit Views

This is an amazing collection of 5 cockpit views during landing approach and the landing itself. It's something most of us do not get a chance to see.











Well, I tell ya, those landings are at least not as frightening as the video of the landings at the old Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport. I would say that that landing would have been memorable but for different reasons! :)

Zz.

Not All 4 Wheels Came To A Stop?

Well, this is rather hilarious. A women got a traffic ticket because, when she came to a stop sign, it appears that, according to the police officer, a few of her wheels didn't come to a stop. Or at least, that's how one could interpret what was said.

I was ticketed recently for not stopping at a stop sign. I was sure I had. When I questioned the officer, he said all four wheels have to stop. The implication was that one or more of my wheels stopped and the others didn't. Is this possible?

Read the rest of the news article to see how this could be interpreted.

Of course, the question is, what will she do?

RAY: But if you have time, you can go to traffic court and ask him to explain how one or more of your wheels stopped and the others didn't. It might get a laugh from the judge, and he might reduce your fine. Or he might double your fine for being a wiseacre. Good luck, Linda.

:)

Zz.

Smart Phones Foster Dumb Habits Among Pedestrians

Don't tell me that you have never done this, or encountered stupid pedestrian walking along and busy looking at their smart phones for something. This news article describes such act of silliness by many pedestrians who should know better.

I have a smart phone, and yes, I do read my messages and sent e-mail/text message with it. But still, I really do not understand at all this obsession with using cell phones while in the middle of doing other things. The writer in that news article described people walking on the sidewalk while using their mobile devices. While that's bad (and can even be dangerous if that person doesn't pay attention to the traffic), another highly annoying location for such a habit is in the grocery store. Most of the people who are also on their mobile devices are totally oblivious to their surroundings while they are either texting or yapping away on their cell phones. This results in them or their carts blocking the aisle, or them moving slower than a turtle along an aisle, causing a backup behind them.

As we all would want to know, WHAT IS SO DAMN IMPORTANT THAT YOU CAN'T EITHER STEP ASIDE AND FINISH YOUR CALL, OR DO THIS ANOTHER TIME?

The only justice here is that one would hope that such a person would be inconvenienced by another cell phone addict .. but then again, he/she probably won't notice because he/she will be busy using a mobile device.

Zz.

The Marvels of Singapore Airport

I mentioned earlier about the amazing amenities and facilities at Singapore's Changi Airport that would put the majority of major US airports to shame. Today, a CNET article are extolling the same praises for this airport.

You can test Microsoft's new Kinect motion controller, sit and rest in front of a 103-inch plasma TV, charge any number of mobile devices, shop for Rolexes, Hermes scarves, expensive Scotch, and the latest best-sellers, even see an exhibit of the 600 daily flights out of Changi, each represented by an individual paper airplane.

And lest I get too rapturous about the bathrooms here, I'd also scoff at your skepticism about this idea: it may actually be worth flying half-way around the world for a shower. For, those staying in the airport overnight can book a room in its transit hotel which, other than being a featureless motel-like experience right inside the terminal (no passport control needed), offers what I say confidently was one of the three best showers of my life. And not only because I'd just spent 19 hours on an airplane to get there.

In short, while I would never choose to spend 18 hours in an airport, I can't think of one where I'd rather do so than Changi. Clearly, the Singaporeans--who are very humorless about things like gum (you can't chew it in the small city-state) and drugs (the immigration form makes it clear that smugglers will be put to death)--want those who have to spend a few hours in their airport to be comfortable, entertained, and have no shortage of things on which to spend their hard-earned dollars (either American or Singaporean).

There you have it!

Zz.