I've read a couple of doozies today, but don't have the energy to recount them (find the links, snip the quotes, etc.)

Instead I'll just shake my head, post a message to let everyone know I'm shaking my head, and sigh.

That is all.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Let me guess a few candidates...
The star known as a sex symbol who didn't love the way she looked? Link
The study that shows a vaccine used by probably 100s of millions for decades is actually good to prevent the disease? Link
The star who twitters everything to everyone that is worried a reality show might produce stalkers? Link

Or maybe some local favorites...
Police blocking a road using a bullhorn at midnight... Neighbors weren't happy. Duh... Link
A ban for a drink that might show some effects after about 6000 liters. Link

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

No, but all good examples. There were two separate articles in my local paper about traffic accidents. Both opened with paragraphs containing the wordage "crashed while traveling on x road near y road" then went on to describe accidents that happened directly in the intersection of x and y. If it happens at a location, don't say near. Near, by definition, means not on or at.

The other was an article about a lightning strike at a gun range. There wasn't just one or two things that I can point out. Just read the article. It's . . . well, I'd expect better from a school newspaper. Again, I can't point out a particular thing I don't like, the whole story just sounds stupid. Bad writing. Bad quotes. Bad everything. Ugh.

(And darn you, you made me go back and dig up a link!)

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Here's another example why they shouldn't even try to explain the gas prices.

Gas Prices Jump Again To $2.65 -- Why?
I'll tell you why, because they can.
Now the story:
First, we got our normal Memorial day rise of around 20%.
Now;
Ok; now the 3 reasons.
Ok; I can accept that.
But; that happens every year at the same time when you just said that the prices normally fall.
As opposed to last year's Memorial day weekend after which the prices normally fall?

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Cat in China grows a pair of wings
Isn't a "genetic change" a form of a "mutation of some kind"?

Kind of like saying Some think it's a fruit, but others think its a citrus.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

(You know I didn't read the article. Sorry, I'm working and teaching myself Russian, so my attention is taxed already)

Is there any reason to link it to "chemicals ingested by the mother during pregnancy" rather than random (but natural) genetic mutation? Or are they simply theorizing the chemicals because of all the super-hero comics/shows/movies they've seen?

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

I'm not sure, but it may be simply that the author was trying not to use the same phrase twice in the same sentence, and meant them to mean the same thing.

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As above, so below

I hope some unethical breeder doesn't get ahold of the "winged" cat or the 4-eared one and try to reproduce the mutation. They seem to love doing that sort of thing.

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Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

Lightning Strike Takes Top Half Of House Off

I don't think so...

Actually; another station confirms it wasn't the strike, but the resulting fire that did it.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Cause and effect aren't important details NEO.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Here's one that's technically correct, but I feel is completely irrelevent.

Boy Killed By Lightning While Playing Catch
While it may be true that 1 out of 700,000 people do get struck by lightning, I think "odds" are a very poor way to represent that fact without detail. (I've actually heard 1 in a million many times in my life)

It's not a random chance. It also diminishes the importance of the measures to take not to risk it. What are the odds of getting struck while outdoors in a lightning storm? That's what's important.

I can just imagine the parents in this unfortunate case saying "go ahead and play catch, there's only a 1 in a million chance of getting hit".

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

hmm--kind of like the odds of dying from Russian Roulette are one in several millions. Therefore, it's safe to play Russian Roulette...

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

In my tech news summary I got at work, and I forgot the source, it was pointed out--

if time travel is possible, quantum cryptography can be defeated (a specific computation involving sending a particle into a closed timelike loop so it interferes with itself at different times, and utilizing that to read quantum cryptography), but that it is unlikely to be of any use now.

Hmmm---that last part---kind of obvious, isn't it, since we can't do time travel!!!

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

And; just to drive the point home, here's another story today (video) of a 14 year old being struck (now in the hospital).
Guess what his last words were?
"What are the chances of getting hit by lightning?"

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Never say that in a storm!

Reminds me of a funny (but monumentally less sever) story. One day years ago we were out tool'n around on my friend's jetboat (small boat that uses a jet-ski like propulsion motor). I was sitting on the bow seat, facing back. It was a little windy, so I was getting some spray every now and then.

Anyway, we were getting tired of just driving around aimlessly, so one of my friends asked if we should go swimming. Playing up the fact that I was the only one getting sprayed, I put my arms out to show off my water-dotted shirt and said "Might as well!".

It was like Zeus happened to be visiting a small inland mud-puddle of a lake, and needed a laugh. Literally the moment I finished saying 'well!' a huge wave crashed over the bow, soaking me from head to toe and almost knocked me from my seat.

I so wish I had it on video from my friends' perspective.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Just curious. The one who asked if you wanted to go swimming, it wasn't by any chance the driver was it? Maybe Zeus isn't the one who wanted a laugh...

No, but we were sitting (relatively) still, as in just idling. It was just this freak Mid-Ohio tsunami or something.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Ohio grads told to 'leave the state'
Funny, but it's really more of a clarification than a correction of an error since the "theater" could be assumed in the context of the known location.
But; combine it with the other statement, and we start to see a trend.
Perhaps the two go together, and they want them out before the sun comes up.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Maybe the invite was suppose to go to a student an administrator or teacher was having an affair with. They wanted the student there early for ... well, anyway then there was a warning that they'd have to immediately leave the state to avoid arrest.

The error was that when dropping the draft off at the printers, he accidently checked the "Reply all? [ ]" box on the order form. Ooops!

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Some newspaper once had to print a correction, stating that the captions over the photographs of "poisonous" and "safe" mushrooms in a Sunday Supplement article had been inadvertently switched. They apologized for any confusion.

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Later . . .

From this story.
Enter, exit... What's the difference?
The reporter obviously wasn't a fan of Sesame Street.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

The police continued to pursue it after the suspect exited because the person they were chasing was crafty enough to prop up a basketball atop a shirt and pants stuffed with newspaper, then weighed the gas pedal down.

"He crashed into the pole! We got 'em now, boys! OMG! His head is bouncing down the street! Well, at least now we don't have to bother booking him. Case closed!"

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Did you ever notice that when there's a jailbreak, the felons are referred to by reporters as "the escapees."

Aren't they properly "the escapers"?

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Later . . .

Not to be confused with retired superheroes, or "Ex-Cape'ers".

I couldn't resist. I apologize.

But you're correct. Escapee implies that they are the ones who the escape acted upon, rather than the ones who perpetrated said escape.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Actually, you're not far off. "Escape" is about 700 years old and refers to leaving someone with just your cape. Interestingly, the Online Etymology Dictionary (yes, I have it bookmarked; what?) doesn't even have a reference to "escaper." "Escapist," yes, but that's something else.

Regarding "leave the state," could it have meant "stage"?

And Don, I'd love a cite on that. Sounds like an urban legend.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

The mushroom item? Perhaps. But I wouldn't put it past some small-town paper doing that sort of thing. I used to have a DOG BITES MAN headline that I clipped out of a Columbia SC daily back in the 1970s.

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Later . . .

I'm pretty sure it's not an urban legend since I've heard it before....

Actually, it was in the news a couple decades ago, and it was a dictionary with pictures beside the mushroom entries, not a news story.

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

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SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

See SeanF's response.
Instead of my own snarky addition, I'll use Mirriam-Webster.

I'll bet that the rustic legends are even worse.

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Later . . .