4 posts tagged “weird”
I've noticed that CNN.com has started offering t-shirts decorated with some of their headlines. You'll see the headline and then an icon of a t-shirt next to it. Click on the t-shirt and you'll be shown what your shirt will look like. I've yet to see one that would actually make sense as a t-shirt. So far, I've only noticed the icon next to video clips, but maybe I'm missing others. Here are two that are offered today:
Crying 4-year-old found along highway
Teen too young for "come hither" pose?
Why are those special enough to get their own t-shirt? What's wrong with these headlines:
Incest dad vacationed while kids locked up
Five killed in Sydney Harbour boat collision
Well, those ones aren't video clips, but other than that, they'd be just as tasteful, don't you think?
another interesting news story, this time with my own comments offered in colour:
ELM MOTT, Texas (AP) - A Navy man who got mad when someone mocked him as a "nerd" over the Internet climbed into his car and drove 1,300 miles from Virginia to Texas to teach the other guy a lesson. (should anyone on the internet be ticked at being called a nerd of one degree or another?)
ANGELA K. BROWN
As he made his way toward Texas, Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares posted photos online showing the welcome signs at several states' borders, as if to prove to his Internet friends that he meant business. (here you go mr. nice friendly policeman, here's my exact itinerary so you can track me down)When he finally arrived, Tavares burned the guy's trailer down.
This week, Tavares, 27, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading no contest to arson and admitting he set the blaze.
"I didn't think anybody was stupid enough to try to kill anybody over an Internet fight," said John G. Anderson, 59, who suffered smoke inhalation while trying to put out the 2005 blaze that caused $50,000 in damage to his trailer and computer equipment. (that's some trailer and computer equipment for fifty grand, ain't it?)
The feud started when Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco (of course), joined a picture-sharing Web site and posted his artwork and political views. After he blocked some people from his page because of insults and foul language, they retaliated by making obscene digitally altered pictures of him, he said. (so far this is a pretty normal internet experience, no?)
Anderson, who went by the screen name "Johnny Darkness," (of course - he runs a haunted house, dont' forget) traded barbs with Tavares, aka "PyroDice." (can you say HINT HINT - he's a fire controlman AND a pyromaniac - what a great combination)
Investigators say Tavares boiled over when Anderson called him a nerd and posted a digitally altered photo making Tavares look like a skinny boy in high-water pants, holding a gun and a laptop under a "Revenge of the Nerds" sign. (awwwww, poor baby - but again, this is still pretty normal, eh?)
Tavares obtained Anderson's real name and hometown from Anderson's Web page about his Museum of Horrors Haunted House. (first rule of moron-baiting - do not have your contact information readily available to even the simplest of 'tards)
Tavares took leave from his post as a weapons systems operator (oh shit) at the AEGIS Training and Readiness Center in Dahlgren, Va., and started driving. Investigators say he told them he planned to point a shotgun at Anderson and shoot his computer. (just some harmless fun, occifer)
Instead, when he got to Elm Mott - after posting one last photo of a "Welcome to Texas" sign - Tavares threw a piece of gasoline-soaked plastic foam into the back of Anderson's mobile home and lit a flare, authorities say.
Tavares' attorney, Susan Kelly Johnston, said his trip to the Waco area was a last-minute decision during a cross-country trip to visit his parents in Arizona. (right - from what I can tell on a map, there is no need to go near waco on your way from virginia to arizona) She said he never intended to hurt Anderson and did not think he was in the trailer when he set the fire. (but he still felt like finding it and setting it on fire)
James Pack, an investigator with the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, caught up with Tavares after talking to people in several states and Spain who had been involved in the online feud. Tavares' cell phone records showed he was in the Waco area at the time of the fire, Pack said.
Tavares told investigators that Anderson had spread computer viruses and insulted his online friends for too long, Pack said.
"He lost everything - all over an Internet squabble," the investigator said.
Tavares was discharged last year from the Navy, where he earned several medals - including the pistol expert and rifle expert medals - in his nine-year career, said Navy spokesman Mike McLellan.
Tavares would not let the feud go even at his sentencing. According to Pack, Tavares took cell-phone photos of Anderson in the courtroom while the judge was hearing another case. Authorities ordered the photos erased.
Anderson, an ex-Marine who served in Vietnam, said he continues to be harassed online, has been startled by people knocking on his window late at night and found bullet holes in a door to his business.
He said he is convinced the harassment is related to the Internet feud and plans to spend $30,000 on more fencing topped with barbed wire. (sounds like a lovely retreat, doesn't it? - frig, use the money to move, for pete's sake)
"Before this happened, the rule was: Nobody messes with the haunted house guy," Anderson said. (yes, I vividly remember this rule being pounded into my head as a kid - or was that to not mess with the guy who is a shooting and firearms expert??)
I'm pretty much speechless
