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Friday, August 16, 2002 Two quick items: 1) A friend pointed out the latest entry in the weblog that Wil Wheaton keeps at his website, in which he describes his experience of finding out that his cameo in the forthcoming Star Trek movie was cut. It's actually a nice piece of writing, and an interesting window into the person and the situation. Thanks to Kristen for the heads-up on that one. 2) Two brief articles from Seven Days, a weekly alternative newspaper out of Burlington, VT. Both articles appear in the News Quirks column ("Odd, strange, curious and weird but true news items from every corner of the globe") of August 7. -- In the German town of Aachen, police were called to investigate loud yells coming from a local forest. "We found a 25-year-old man who said walking into the forest at night alone and screaming as loudly as he could was his way of dealing with the stress of everyday life," police representative Paul Kemen said, noting that the man's screams had prompted neighbors to call police three other times. When the man learned he faces a fine of $75, Kemen said, "that stressed him out again, but officers told him not to go [into] the forest this time." -- When two men at a wedding reception in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, began playfully tossing watermelon rinds, a security officer asked them to stop. The men responded by shouting obscenities at the guard, who called police for help. Officers were greeted "by an uncooperative group that shouted obscenities and refused to leave," according to a police statement, which noted the guests "encroached on the officers, causing the police to fear for their safety." Officers summoned reinforcements, until as many as 40 squad cars from eight police departments had arrived, sending dozens of officers and at least one police dog into the crowd of 100. After restoring order, police arrested the groom's father, Dennis Draack, and either other guests. Newlyweds Jeff Draack and Nacole Blum weren't arrested, but canceled plans for their honeymoon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I find myself chortling at such news items, then wondering if I should be concerned about that. "...playfully tossing melon rinds...." -- is that a classic turn of phrase or what? rws 5:31 PM [+] |