‘for the purposes of this project, we’re using a pretty broad (and to some extent, arbitrary) definition of “passive-aggressive” that roughly correlates with how the term is popularly used. (most people don’t go diving for the dsm IV when someone describes his or her roommate as “so passive-aggressive” — or “so antisocial” or “so sadistic” or “so schizo,” for that matter.)
truly, some of the notes found here aren’t really passive-aggressive even by our generous standards. some are really more aggressive in tone, and some of them are more passive — polite, even – but they all share a common sense of frustration that’s been channeled into written form rather than a direct confrontation.’
‘A Philadelphia reporter is fighting back against a man who made her private life — including her underwear drawer — public. [..]
Comedian Danny Ozark then snuck away and rifled through Cahn’s underwear drawer and later talked about the experience on a Philadelphia radio station. [..]
“After telling our viewers to stand up for themselves and fight back, I didn’t think I could just sit around without calling out the guy who rummaged through my underwear drawer,” said Cahn.
So Cahn and a camera crew went to the apartment Ozark shares with his father, Arthur Goldman.
Goldman let them in, and apologized for his son’s actions.
“That was in bad taste. I feel bad about that,” Goldman told them.’
‘A teenager with a brown belt in karate used a samurai sword to scare off a burglar who was after his PlayStation 3 video game console.
Last Friday afternoon, Damian Fernandez and his 15-year-old sister, Deanne Fernandez, were home alone at their northwest Miami-Dade County home while their parents were at work when they heard knocking on the front door. Moments later, two men were prying the front door unlocked, prompting Deanne to hide in her closet. [..]
“Once I saw him take off running back, I jumped off my (bunk) bed and I grabbed my sword … and I just waited for him,” he said.
Damian said he lunged at him with his samurai sword, striking him in the chest.
“He freaked out,” Damian said.
The burglar ran out of the house with Damian chasing him down the road. When police arrived, a K-9 officer located the burglar hiding behind a neighbor’s palm tree. The second burglar got away.’
‘An astonishing attempted escape from the police in the Bronx Wednesday morning left a suspect dangling from the side of a high-rise, 23 stories above the ground.
It wasn’t a typical sighting for New Yorkers walking outside or living across from the Soundview apartment tower.
“I started to think, ‘What’s wrong? Is he trying to commit suicide or something?'” said Alex Morales, who, along with his wife Patricia witnessed the suspect’s crazy antics.
But Francisco Correra Jr. wasn’t trying to kill himself. Instead he was trying to escape from police investigating an assault complaint.
“His foot was on the ledge of the window and he was hanging on a childproof bar,” Patricia Morales said.’
‘A boy of six was sent a letter by police urging him to confess to being a career criminal.
Peter Akers was advised to admit any unsolved crimes so he could make a “fresh start”. He was even offered treatment for drugs addiction.
The letter – sent to Peter by mistake – was one of scores of warning messages posted to repeat offenders.
It read: “We are giving the opportunity for you to come forward and notify us of any offences you have committed but have never been dealt with.”
Suggesting a confession might see Peter spared jail, it added: “We will offer all the help and support we can to assist you in making a fresh start.”
Peter, from Derby, could only recall one crime however – stealing sweets from his sister Phoebe, aged nine.’
‘An Australian man who didn’t notice he lost part of a finger in a bar fight has had the missing digit re-attached.
A Sydney police spokesman said the man left the pub after being involved in a fight and was walking down the street before realizing the top knuckle of his ring finger was missing.
Inspector Mark Kellert told The Sydney Morning Herald the 42-year-old man went to a nearby hospital while the missing finger was located in the pub’s bathroom. The body part taken to the hospital where doctors later re-attached it.
Kellert said no arrests had been made although “police are continuing their inquiries.”‘
‘Officials began investigating after a train was stopped between stations in Berlin on May 31, as an electronic signal from its cabin alerted railway controllers that the train had no driver.
Drivers have to press a safety button – a ‘dead man’s switch’ – at regular intervals, otherwise a computer on the train stops it automatically, and alerts authorities that there is a problem.
The driver was found dead with his trousers open by the side of tracks several hundred metres away from the train, and police now say that it appears he fell out of the locomotive after he opened a door to relieve himself from the train.
The train was travelling at 70 mph at the time.’
‘My extensive experience in making Paneer compelled me to try something different, that is, making Paneer out of my own breastmilk. Basically this is human cheese. Why would I do that? Well, basically, there are about twenty bags (each 150ml) of frozen breastmilk in the fridge, and they have passed their three months drinkability period, which means I would not be able to donate the milk like I did before. But the milk is still less than six month old, which is the actual expiry date. So what do I do with it? I could make cream soup like I did several months ago. But I really wanted to try something different, and making Breast Milk Paneer sounds really exciting.’
‘After checking in at the Mukti Bhawan hostel, guests have two weeks to die or else they are gently asked to leave.
The hostel — a short walk from the Ganges river in the northern Indian city of Varanasi — is a final stopover for elderly Hindus hoping they will shortly end up on one of the hundreds of funeral pyres lit on the riverbank each day.
“While the rest of the world celebrates a new life when a child is born, similarly we celebrate death,” said Bhairav Nath Shukla, the cheerful manager of Mukti Bhawan, one of several places offering shelter to outsiders wanting to die in the city.
Hindus believe that dying in Varanasi and having their remains scattered in the Ganges allows their soul to escape a cycle of death and rebirth, attaining “moksha” or salvation.’
‘Thirty-one dirty and disorientated workers have been rescued from a brickwork factory in China, where they were being held as virtual slaves.
Eight workers were so traumatised by their experiences that they were only able to remember their names.
The labourers had to work unpaid for 20 hours at a time, and were only given bread and water in return.
The brickworks, in the poor inland province of Shanxi, is owned by the son of the local Communist Party secretary.’
‘A mother is upset after a 14-year-old babysitter engaged in sexual conduct with her eight-year-old boy, and the eight-year-old was charged with lewd conduct.
Prosecutors have since dropped the charges against the boy, but his mother is still concerned.
The sexual conduct occurred during a game of “truth or dare” while the boy was being watched by the babysitter.
Prosecutors say that, while the babysitter initiated the contact, the young boy was a willing participant.
“She dared my son to touch her breasts,” says Michelle Grosbeck, the boy’s mother.’
‘A medical examiner blamed a 17-year-old track star’s death on the use of too much anti-inflammatory muscle cream, the kind used to soothe aching legs after exercise.
Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday.
The medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used “topical medication to excess.” She said it was the first time that her office had reported a death from using a sports cream.’
‘One robber’s list of things to steal included whiskey, a thermometer and lettuce.
Police were called to a grocery store late Thursday after witnesses said a 46-year-old man from Brown Deer threatened employees. The workers said the man gestured as though he had a concealed gun and told them he would shoot.
The man left with 12 bottles of whiskey, two heads of lettuce and a digital thermometer, police said.
Officers found a vehicle in a nearby neighborhood that matched a description given by store employees. The man was taken into custody and identified from store surveillance video.’
This walrus has grown very attached to her trainer, and gets jealous when real women get too close to him.
(7.8meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘The green blood came as a bit of a shock to Dr. Alana Flexman and her colleagues when they tried to put an arterial line into a patient about to undergo surgery in Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital. [..]
As surgical staff prepared the man for the middle-of-the-night emergency operation, Flexman and a colleague attempted to insert a line into a wrist artery.
Arterial lines are used to monitor blood pressure during an operation; any blood that flows when the line is inserted into the artery should be vivid red, the sign it has been oxygenated in the heart.
But in this case, which occurred in October 2005, it was not.’
‘A man who waved a chain saw over his head, threatened motorists and did some impromptu pruning of local shrubbery was arrested at gunpoint.
Lionel Dube Jr., 47, of Argyle, was charged with disorderly conduct, criminal threatening and violation of bail conditions after police responded to reports that he was waving the chain saw at passing motorists late Tuesday.
“You know how in the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ the guy raised his chain saw up and revved it? That’s what he was doing,” Deputy Sheriff Michael Knights said. “Alcohol was involved.”‘
‘An Ohio charter school that emphasizes African history and culture served gin to sixth graders at a graduation ceremony and state education officials said they plan to investigate.
Four students were given a teaspoon of gin mixed with water in a ceremony modeled on a Ghanian rite of passage event, said Kwa David Whitaker, a Phoenix Village Academy official.
The ritual was intended to teach truthfulness, said Whitaker, who oversaw the Tuesday ceremony.
The students were blindfolded, giving them the uncertain feeling that goes with moving from one stage of life to another, he said. Each student was given a teaspoon of water and a teaspoon of the gin-water mix, and then asked to identify which contained water.
The students recognized that the gin wasn’t water and spit it out before swallowing, Whitaker said. The point is to teach the children to be honest, he said.’
‘Yesterday, someone found my blog by searching Google for the following phrase: “Is it safe to have your dog lick your vagina?” I fear that this poor soul didn’t find the answer she was looking for on my site, so I wanted to help her out in case she stops by again. And since I don’t know her name, I’m just going to come up with a handy mnemonic to remember it.
So, dear Dog Fucker, the simple answer to the question “Is it safe to have your dog lick your vagina?” is, of course, yes.’
This is the audio recording of various 911 calls regarding the man whose wheel chair got stuck in the grill of a truck as the truck happily drove him around the highway.
Followup to Local man goes for the ride of his life.
(14.6meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘A man is accused of paying underage girls to let him jab their buttocks, and he now faces charges under a new law that specifically addresses crimes committed for sexual gratification, prosecutors said.
Frank Ranieri, 25, of Staten Island, paid at least five girls — all between the ages of 15 and 17 — thousands of dollars since 2003 to engage in “piquerism,” a sexual fixation on penetrating the body with sharp objects, such as pins, nails and stilettos, the Staten Island district attorney’s office said.
The Daily News, citing unidentified sources, reported that Ranieri was a member of the Police Academy’s July 2004 class, but that he left after two months. It was not clear why.’
‘Poland’s 1,200 troops assigned to NATO forces in Afghanistan will not achieve full combat readiness for up to several weeks due to stolen vehicle keys, the defense ministry said Thursday.
“We had been told a 10 percent theft rate was likely in convoys brought in from Pakistan, but we had not expected the spare car keys to go missing,” defense ministry spokesman Jaroslaw Rybak told news channel TVN24.
“We shall have to send away for spares, so it may take from several days to several weeks for our contingent to become combat ready.”‘
‘A McDonald’s restaurant in Brevard County was evacuated Monday night after several workers were overcome by toxic fumes.
Firefighters and HAZ-MAT crews were called to the restaurant on US-1 in Port St. John after the workers started having trouble breathing. Firefighters quickly found the source of the fumes.
“We poured kitty litter back behind the fry mat and, apparently, you’re not supposed to do that because it makes toxic fumes when it gets heated up. It gets toxic and a lot of people were going home sick,” said Matt Hoff, an employee.
The workers were using the kitty litter to clean up grease.’
‘The ageing former leader of the CIA’s “Secret Army” in Laos was in an American prison last night, accused of mounting a coup against his and Washington’s old Communist enemy. General Vang Pao, 77, and nine other people were arrested in dawn raids by more than 200 federal agents in dawn raids across California.
The detentions were the culmination of ‘Operation Tarnished Eagle’, a six-month investigation into an attempt to bring down Laos’ Communist government.
According to prosecutors Vang Pao and his co-conspirators planned to spend almost USD 10 million (pounds 5 million) on weaponry including assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, mines and C-4 explosives.
They were recruiting a mercenary force to attack government buildings in the Lao capital Vientiane and “reduce them to rubble,” they said.’
‘The Michigan State Police Paw Paw Post and Van Buren County Central Dispatch began receiving strange reports of a man in a wheel chair being pushed by a semi truck on Wednesday afternoon.
The wheel chair of a 21-year-old man became lodged in the grill of a semi truck as the vehicle pulled out of a gas station. The semi then began driving down Red Arrow Highway, with its new and unusual hood ornament still attached.
Police initially thought the report might have been a prank until they started receiving more reports of the situation.
Troopers responded to the Ralph Moyle Trucking Company, located on Red Arrow Highway, where it was reported the semi truck had pulled in — wheel chair and occupant still attached.
Troopers and officers discovered the man in the wheel chair, unharmed.’
‘You better watch out, my uncle has a dead baby at home.’
(3.5meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A British resort town is deploying extra police during full moons, convinced of a link between the lunar cycle and violence. The vibrant seaside city of Brighton on England’s southern coast is adopting the new approach after reviewing crime statistics for the past year, Sussex police said Tuesday.
“Research carried out by us has shown a correlation between violent incidents and full moons,” the force said in a statement. “More officers will be out on the city’s streets during full moons over the summer months.”
Police inspector Andy Parr conducted an analysis of crime statistics that suggested more violent incidents happen during full moons.
In a paper published earlier this year, Michal Zimecki of the Polish Academy of Sciences claimed to have identified a link between lunar cycles and criminality.’
‘A British artist who ate a meal of meatballs made from a dead corgi dog in a protest against animal cruelty, says his next project will involve being buried in a box under a mountain of mashed potato.
Performance artist Mark McGowan, 37, said the corgi, which died from natural causes, tasted terrible. [..]
Now McGowan is switching his attention from animals to vegetables. He told Sky News television that his next project would be an interpretation of the work of American illusionist David Blaine.
“I am being buried in a box – a David Blaine type thing – in Dublin underneath a metre of mashed potato,” he said.
He did not explain why.’
Followup to British man eats corgi with Yoko.
‘Combining both intellect and physical prowess is the wonderful world of chess boxing. If you can afford the price of a pair of boxing gloves and the expenditure of a few brain cells, then this is the sport for you. The game, brainchild of Dutch participant Iepe the Joker, consists of six rounds of chess interspersed with five bouts in the ring. Contestants can win either on the board or between the ropes, with either a check-mate or a knockout being the most convincing of victories. However, should the referee deem it necessary, he or she can prematurely finish a bout. Should a participant take too long to move a chess piece due to unconsciousness, for example, the match is similarly ended. In the event of a stalemate, the one with the highest boxing score wins. It is indeed a unique blend of intellectual keenness with physical skill, though veterans of the sport may find one of the two increasingly difficult after a while.’
‘A blind athlete was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Florida shortly after his team lost the championship game in a national “goalball” tournament. [..]
John Mulhern, one of Green’s teammates on the Delaware County Blind Sports Organization’s Venom team, said Green had been hanging out with other athletes from the tournament when he went back to his hotel to use the bathroom.
Green apparently made a wrong turn while returning to the party and got lost, Mulhern said. He was on his cell phone with a teammate, who was trying to guide him back, when he was killed.
“The way the highway was there, there was no step-off,” Mulhern said. “The last thing they heard was the drop of his phone.”‘
