Small Talk: Behavioral Gabbing Unit

[Wilowy]

It's actually everywhere on twitter right now (as it should be), and while I was disturbed at first as always by the news of this kind, seeing the actual video of him knocking her out with his fist was... visceral. 

 

I'm glad to see it finally coming to light, and not just women feeling the outrage, but many, many men as well. I hope he gets everything he deserves and more. I recommend every woman, everyONE watch that elevator video, but understand completely if some would rather not. The punching is bad enough, but the way he pushes her unconscious body with his foot, and drags her out of the elevator...

 

I know our show is violent. But this is a real thing, not actors. It's different. And it's horrible. 

[zannej]

That is very sad about the woman killed by the falling tree. When I was in high school, my school counselor's parents were killed by a falling tree while they were on their porch. My father was almost killed by a falling tree limb when he was riding his tractor. It cracked some of his vertebrae. They are such beautiful things, but they can be so dangerous when they break. Falling trees and limbs have really caused a LOT of trouble for me in the last few years. But moving on...

 

I've started watching a program called Death In Paradise. It's a British and French co-production filmed on the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe. It's a murder mystery thing and even though they changed out the lead actor, its basically about a British detective who is working with the local police on the islands to solve crimes. It's an interesting look at the culture and also shows some of the troubles of the limited resources. I like the cast of characters. I was watching one earlier tonight and the cops were traveling on a motorcycle with a sidecar. The look on the detective's face as he was in the sidecar was hilarious.

 

It does sort of have a common theme with shows like Poirot where the suspects are all called together in a room and the exposition begins to explain how the crime was solved and who the killer was. I know its a trope, but I still enjoy it.

 

I also liked the old Columbo series. I really adored Peter Falk-- who was also in the Princess Bride. I was reading somewhere that Fed Savage really bonded with him on that movie and kept in touch with him throughout the years. Apparently Peter just sat and told him stories and talked to him the entire time even when they weren't filming so he wasn't sure what parts were being filmed and what parts were just Peter telling him stories.

 

I still remember watching one of the shows on ID channel where a female detective used the "columbo technique" to nail a suspect in real life. LOL.

Edited September 9, 2014 by zannej

[zannej]

I never saw the videos and stuff doesn't want to load for me right now, but that sounds horrible. I remember Patrick Stewart talking about how, when he was a child, he overheard the EMTs treating his mother and saying to her something along the lines of "Mrs. Stewart, you need to stop aggravating your husband" and how he was upset because she had done absolutely nothing to set the husband off. But there was the whole victim-blaming thing going on.

 

I remember a routine from Chris Rock where he talked about how they say there is never a reason to hit a woman. He said "there's a reason to hit a woman-- there's a reason to kick an old man down the stairs-- you just don't do it!".

 

If that guy had assaulted his ex-fiance in Singapore, he'd be in jail and they would literally cane his ass.

[normasm]

Zannej, you do realize this woman is now his wife? I have not been able to watch the whole thing, but I have seen her apologizing in that press conference they did where he was trying everything to convince the world he's really just a good guy who got a little ticked off... It disturbs me just as much that young boys and young girls will look at what she did (as almost a hostage, IMO) as some kind of proof that she made it happen, that it was her fault...

[Wilowy]

I hear that. And today she's defending him even more. 

 

*sigh*

[zannej]

I didn't know she was married to him now. The news thing said she was his "ex-fiance". And she went and married the prick?... Ugh.

 

I have a question for the parents out there: If your kid fell at school and hit his/her head and had a bruise that was at least 2 inches long/wide on the forehead from it, would you expect the school to call you to let you know what happened and maybe suggest that the kid see a doctor or at least send a note to explain why he was being sent home with a bruise?

(My friends' kid came home with a bruise like that and the school didn't attempt to contact the parents to let them know what happened). I don't even know if the kid went to what passes for a school nurse at that crummy place, and the bruise looked like it was a few hours old so it should have been noticed by teachers. 

[normasm]

Wow. That's horrible. Yes, I would be up in arms and calling the school, taking my kid to a doctor, depending on the story the kid told, i might call the sheriff's department.

[SparedTurkey]

Not necessarily. Kids fall down and bruise themselves all the time. When I was young I bruised like a peach when I bumped into tables and my school never called anyone. I certainly wouldn't be jumping to the police over it. And depending on what the kid says, I probably wouldn't be calling the school. It's just a bruise after all.

 

Obviously, if the kid started acting a bit dopey/concussion-like then yes, I'd see a doctor. Or if the kid suggested there might be something untoward happening, I'd follow that up. But as a general rule, nah. And if the kid was fine I wouldn't need a note - I'd be able to see the bruise after all!

[normasm]

Turkey, I hear you, but that's a big-ass bruise, and it's on his head. I would expect the school to call me and tell me he fell, or whatever. If it had been on his leg or arm, I would have just asked him how it happened and if he was OK (if I was a schoolteacher or some such). On head, chest or butt, don't ignore it and send him home like nothing happened. JMO

[Wilowy]

Ugh, at the ER with Willow, possible strep. :(

[zannej]

I read up and from what I've seen, the school policy is that they are supposed to have the kid looked at by the school nurse, document the injury (time, what caused it, etc) and then send a note home with the parents to let them know that the kid was looked at. In some schools any bruises or scrapes are supposed to be documented if they happen at school. Apparently, this kid hit his head and they didn't even send him to the nurse. Granted, it is hard to know exactly what happened because the kid is very behind developmentally so getting him to say what happened is difficult. He can't pronounce words properly and he often babbles gibberish and he never seems to tell the same story twice.

 

If it had been a bruise anywhere else, it wouldn't bug me so much-- but with head injuries, a person can seem fine for a few hours and then things can go downhill.

 

Willowy, I hope Willow is ok. Strep sucks. :-(

[Watermelon]

I would think the fact that the boy can't reliably tell adults what happened to him would be even more reason to have a school nurse check him.  

 

Speaking of teachers not telling parents things:

 

I'm on twitter and someone I follow tweeted that a 6th grader in her daughter's class asked to use the bathroom and when the teacher said no, he pulled a gun on her.

 

The daughter called 911 and the teacher in the next room, who called the school security/cop(who had a daughter in the class).  Soooo, when the cop came into the class, the girl ran to her father, the boy pointed his gun at the girl, and the cop said "if you shoot her, I'll shoot you".

 

Long story not so long, they tackle and arrested the boy and NOBODY TOLD ANY PARENTS!  They told the kids to call/let their parents know, if they wanted.   This mother didn't find out about this until she got home and her daughter told her.

 

 

I would be so livid.

[zannej]

Yeah, I would think that someone pulling a gun in class would be reason to notify parents. For awhile at the local schools they started forbidding normal backpacks and were only allowing students to use the transparent backpacks (which sucked and ripped open) so they could see everything inside.

 

I think some sort of flu or cold bug is going around here now. I have a low grade headache and sore throat that extends all the way up to the back of my nose. Its not as bad as strep, but its unpleasant.

[Wilowy]

Oh man. One of my comedy heroes passed away. Jan Hooks. :( :(

[normasm]

Oh, god, I just saw this. What happened? She was so young.

 

And so funny. It's not fair. I remember her from back when i was a kid watching the TBS Superstation, the Tush Show (yeah, that dates me, so what?). God she could make me laugh.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

normasm, they haven't said was the cause of death was, only that she passed away after a long illness.

 

Have some happy memories

 

 

[Wilowy]

They haven't reported what happened yet. :( One report has her having suffered a serious illness, but nothing confirmed yet. 

 

And I know, right? She was one of the most underrated comediennes out there. She was hilarious, and she could also make you cry. A great loss.

[normasm]

Thanks, Costar. 

[JMO]

This has been my week: 

 

raccoons in the wall ("but", says the wildlife guy, "your house is sealed tight (meaning he can't figure out how they get in there, or how to keep them out), so they can't really be there, despite the fact that you've recorded their chatter for me.  That will be $125."

 

pantry moths in the pantry----never had them before, had to look them up, attempting to starve them now

 

hawk kamikaze'd into the patio room---must have seen a chipmunk through the glass and swooped right into it.  Dead on deck.

 

annual physical---"oh,there's a change on your EKG--maybe you had a silent MI----you can see a specialist in a month."  A month!  Who needs a stress test after spending a month waiting to find out if you had a heart attack?

 

That's not even the worst thing.  The worst thing is spending much of every day figuring out what to do if a patient presents with symptoms of Ebola.  Which, for our population, is a real possibility.

 

Thank God for the diversion of this board.  Off to decompress writing some FF!  Well, tomorrow. maybe.  It's past my bedtime now.

[Wilowy]

I'm so sorry JMO! What a stressful day! If not for myriad critters then the analyst's circumspect non-diagnosis! 

 

May I suggest you take an aspirin a day, and if all else fails, go to an Emergency Room and tell them what was said to you. 

 

The critters... I can't know what to do there. Do you live on an island? Perhaps name after someone named... Moreau?

[JMO]

Already on the ASA, and I feel fine, so I'm not actually all that worried about it.  Hoping not to change my tune in a month!  May shop around a little for a sooner appointment.

 

This is the second wildlife guy.  The first one set traps, four times. Four times, caught skunks.  Said, "You have a skunk problem." $175. 

 

No skunk problem.  Raccoons.  Just like MGG, if I recall correctly.  Wonder how he made out.

[normasm]

JMO, take care of yourself! The world needs you, and so does the fanfiction world. Seriously, take care, babe.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

No skunk problem.  Raccoons.  Just like MGG, if I recall correctly.  Wonder how he made out.

 

When I was a kid there was a possum that used to come around the house and go through our garbage, before we got one of those covered, wheeled bins from the city. We called him Leroy. No, I don't know why. Hope your general sitch gets better, JMO. :-)

Edited October 15, 2014 by Cobalt Stargazer

[zannej]

JMO, is your house on a concrete pad or is it raised up with the underside exposed? If its the underside exposed, its possible that raccoons are getting in from a hole under the house and then up into the walls. I know that in my old house the floors between the walls aren't sealed up so critters can get in. I've had all sorts of things crawling around in my attic-- one time we had a bee infestation that built a hive over my parents' bedroom. The honey was dripping on to the ceiling.

 

Cobalt, we had a possum that was coming in to dig through trash. My brother started feeding it cookies and it would take them directly from his hand. It started coming in on very cold days to sleep in a cat bed. It didn't bother the cats or try to bite them. It would come in to look for cookies and then curl up and sleep for awhile. Cute little thing.

 

My week started with some old woman backing her car into the side of my car in a parking lot and refusing to give me her info. She insisted that we call the police to take a report, then lied her ass off to the cop when he got there and claimed that I had suddenly pulled out and gotten in her way. The old bat just didn't look. The cop was an idiot and refused to pull the security tapes and did not want to get involved at all. He wrote it up that both of us were at fault and that I was guilty of "improper backing" but that he wasn't issuing citations. I was pretty pissed that it would be on my record. I tried to talk to the cop later about pulling the security footage but he refused and was basically a fat lazy useless piece of shit. Other cops in the town have pulled the security footage to settle who was at fault in an accident before, but this guy was a turd. I was willing to just give the lady a pass since it was an accident and I could see how it would be hard for her to see out of her car while backing up and all, but then she had to lie. I wish I had mentioned to the cop that she had continued trying to back up even after she hit me, but he basically didn't want to hear it as he said it was her word against mine and he couldn't make a determination of who was right. The door on my car actually has to be replaced and she had no damage to her car at all. Fortunately my insurance says they are going to pursue it and I might get my deductible covered if they get the tapes and see that it was her fault.

 

I have a friend who used to work with security there and he knows the current security person so he might be able to convince her to let me look at the tape.

[JMO]

 

JMO, is your house on a concrete pad or is it raised up with the underside exposed? If its the underside exposed, its possible that raccoons are getting in from a hole under the house and then up into the walls. I know that in my old house the floors between the walls aren't sealed up so critters can get in. I've had all sorts of things crawling around in my attic-- one time we had a bee infestation that built a hive over my parents' bedroom. The honey was dripping on to the ceiling.

 

The house has a basement.  No one, including myself, can find any holes in the ground.  No signs in the basement, or the attic, or the roof.  Everything is sealed up tightly.  They could be getting in under the deck, but we've got lattice and/or chicken wire there, and the wildlife guys both say there's no way raccoons have gotten in without leaving a hole in the lattice somewhere.  And, while I have heard many a mouse in the ceiling, there is absolutely no noise of these guys moving around. Just the chatter.  Sometimes I think the wildlife is gaslighting me.

 

 

Cobalt, we had a possum that was coming in to dig through trash. My brother started feeding it cookies and it would take them directly from his hand. It started coming in on very cold days to sleep in a cat bed. It didn't bother the cats or try to bite them. It would come in to look for cookies and then curl up and sleep for awhile. Cute little thing.

 

Zaneej----really?!  Possums look like oversized rats to me.  Kudos to you for putting up with them.  For me, if they're not paying rent, they don't belong inside! 

 

So sorry about your accident. Good luck with making your case! 

 

 

 

[normasm]

Possums will come up to you in your backyard. They are docile, for the most part. Foxes, tho? If a fox ever comes up to you in any context, defend you and yours, because that thing is rabid.

[SSAHotchner]

Is anyone else having trouble with this site? I can barely stand to open it because of all of the pop-ups I'm getting, even with my pop-up blocker enabled. I guess I'll have to get someone more savvy to look at my computer.

[dusang]

No pop-ups for me SSAH.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Is anyone else having trouble with this site? I can barely stand to open it because of all of the pop-ups I'm getting, even with my pop-up blocker enabled. I guess I'll have to get someone more savvy to look at my computer.

 

If it's ad stuff, SSAHotchner, you can get Ad Block Plus as an add on. Someone recommended it to me in the commercials section, and it works like a charm.

[zannej]

Hmm.. Maybe the raccoons are hanging out on the roof or something? They do like to climb stuff. I knew someone who had a pet raccoon. Cute little thing, but if they get angry they can be dangerous. My sister went to school with a kid nicknamed "booger" who got mauled by a raccoon. Tore up his face pretty badly.

 

Speaking of oversized rats, I admit that I secretly wanted a nutria rat as a pet for a long time. The idea of a giant rat that would scare people was appealing, plus I think they are cute. I also want a pet pangolin (which is an endangered species). They eat ants and just look awesome. Keep in mind, I was the kind of kid that when I was in first grade and the PE teacher brought in some bullfrogs to show us, I picked one up and chased other girls around the playground with a bullfrog in my hands saying "kiss it! kiss it!" while they screamed and ran away. I thought the bullfrogs were adorable, so I like all sorts of creepy crawlies-- even spiders.

 

Later today I'm going to call Walmart to speak to Loss Prevention and ask the person to check out the tapes for the time frame of the accident. I'm hoping she'll let me look at the accident.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Possums will come up to you in your backyard. They are docile, for the most part. Foxes, tho? If a fox ever comes up to you in any context, defend you and yours, because that thing is rabid.

 

Yeah, foxes are at best feral, and even then they generally avoid people. If one shows up in your yard or something, call Animal Control to come get it, because it got bitten by something and is now looking to repay the favor.

 

Speaking of oversized rats, I admit that I secretly wanted a nutria rat as a pet for a long time. The idea of a giant rat that would scare people was appealing, plus I think they are cute.

 

What I would really love to do is get a wolf-hybrid, but I live in the city and I'm not sure it would be fair. We can't have cats because one of the housemates is allergic, but we have four dogs to compensate.

[walnutqueen]

My resident raccoon thinks she's one of my feral cats, and they tolerate her and her babies (this year 3, last year 5!) with none of the usual screaming standoffs one has with these critters.  They all like the dry cat food, and the raccoon's special treats are hot dogs or eggs.  You should see the expressions of wonderment and bliss those little babies have on their faces when they taste their first hot dog - it's priceless.  Last year one of the babies was fascinated by my huge ass wind chimes, and would reach up to tap the clapper and then sit and listen to the church bell chimes with eyes skyward and head weaving like Stevie Wonder.  Possum also comes to eat cat food, but isn't nearly as tame or as cute.  When the skunk visits, it is gently discouraged from returning (because the stank wafts in through my windows something fierce, and I find it most unpleasant).   :-)

 

JMO - if raccoons were in tour walls or ceiling you would definitely hear them moving around - they are not light of foot and can be quite clumsy.  So maybe it is acoustics?  Also, they'd be coming & going every morning and evening; if you still suspect them, try sprinkling flour around the house and look for the tracks going into the secret access place.

[Watermelon]

Raccoons are freaking adorable. Guardians of the Galaxy made them even more so.

[normasm]

Not if they are trying to live in your house...

[zannej]

Aww, the baby raccoons sounded so adorable! 

[walnutqueen]

Aww, the baby raccoons sounded so adorable! 

 

They are adorable little {outdoor} butterballs of total mayhem.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

But I would caution against painting the actual actor/actress with the same brush, and especially without any real reason to do so. I think it's important for all of us on the site to remember that, while it's inherent to their jobs that their performances will be evaluated by people who don't know them, the same is not true of their personal lives. 

 

Brought this over from JJ's topic, because it has nothing to do with the show.

 

I don't usually care about any actor's personal life. Unless it's something really extreme (Mel Gibson being a crazy racist, Tom Cruise being a crazy Scientologist, Michael Jackson being Michael Jackson) I actively try not to pay too much attention. I don't know these people. I never will know these people, although in some cases I wouldn't mind meeting them. I don't care about sex tapes or naked pictures or who's partying too hard or the barista at Starbucks Matt Damon insulted because they screwed up his order. As much metaphorical star-fucking as there is in this country, actors are still just people. If I don't think they're doing very well at that job, that's a different matter, of course, but unless they're actively awful human beings, I won't criticize them away from their work. Most of the time. :-)

[normasm]

Agree with you JMO and CoStar. It was none of our frickin' business that TG made a video for someone and sent it to her, as long as it wasn't breaking any laws or endangering his family. It's not my business that Mel Gibson is a crazy racist, although that sort of thing does inform my view of him as a person; as an actor/director, he stands on his work, end of story. I actually enjoy some of his films, as i do with Tom Cruise. Don't want to know either one of them, but unless they are advocating jihad or threatening children, I couldn't care less. 

 

If I found out my favorite actor on this show was doing something really bad, I would be bitterly disappointed, and probably would speak out against his actions. But if he just happens to date someone i don't approve of or has different beliefs than mine, or is rude to disabled children, so what? I should have about as much to say about his "imperfections" as he has about mine.

[Knittzu]

But if he just happens to date someone i don't approve of or has different beliefs than mine, or is rude to disabled children, so what?

 

 

Am I misunderstanding this quote? This sounds like being rude to disabled children belongs in the same "so what" category as who a person dates or which religion they follow. One of those things is very much not like the others. :|

 

[normasm]

What I'm saying is that whatever a celebrity, or any other citizen does, from being rude to people I wouldn't be rude to, to voting the way I wouldn't vote, to dating a person I wouldn't want them to date, as long as it isn't illegal or grievously immoral, I cannot and will not pass judgment on them.

 

Thanks for asking me to clarify, because, all kinds of things people do are not equivalent, but are still not my business. I frequently inartfully express myself. 

[Knittzu]

Gotcha. :) Well, I probably have a different perspective than most, as I work with disabled children and have a small daughter with multiple disabilities. If I ever learned that an actor -- even a former favorite -- was rude to disabled children, that person would be dead to me. There's no way I could continue watching the show, either.

 

...which is another reason I prefer to know as little about the actors on my favorite shows as possible. :)

[normasm]

And I used the example of "being rude to disabled children" as an example of this being a nasty part of someone's personality that I would be disgusted by, but would not be my business. Yeah, even MGG would be pretty much dead to me if I heard from reliable sources that he was rude to a disabled child. I was trying to draw the line between being a dirtbag and being a creepy criminal asshole. I will give a dirtbag wide berth, but I'll go after the creepy criminal asshole.

 

And yeah, I hear you, there is a fine line between wanting to know what your fave is doing and not wanting to know what he's doing if it's bad...

Edited October 26, 2014 by normasm

[normasm]

Aw, I just saw Lola Glaudini on a Ruth's Kriss Steakhouse commercial…. that hurted my feelers...

 

I miss Elle...

[idiotwaltz]

I saw her on a little bit part in That Awkward Moment, a movie I didn't even know existed until I found it on the airplane entertainment system. It was pretty much the only saving grace in that film. 

 

Man, the stuff you end up watching on airplanes. 

[zannej]

On a complete side note, I'm a bit paranoid about leaving my car unlocked-- I just don't do it. If I am sitting somewhere inside the car, I keep it locked even while waiting for someone to get back in. I will unlock it for them and immediately lock it again. So, right now my car is in the shop-- been there since Tuesday and the assholes haven't worked on it-- and gave me some line of bull about it taking more than a day to replace a door. Uh yeah.. I saw the labor estimates, talked to other people who have replaced doors, and have had a door replaced before. It may take 2 days tops if they have to paint the door and let it dry. But the guy at the repair shop gave me attitude and treated me like an idiot. I only went with him because its my insurance's preferred shop. Anyway, I left my keys and told them "keep the car locked". Now, mind you I took out the GPS and anything I thought might get stolen (except I forgot about my air pump for the tires). On Friday I went by to get something I needed out of the car. I asked for the keys and they told me I wouldn't need them. I went over and saw my car still parked in the same spot untouched except the window was rolled down, doors were unlocked and keys were in the ignition. There was also bird shit on the inside of the door because the window was open... 

 

I know this may not be a big deal to people, but there are meth heads just around the corner from the place. It is not fenced in-- its just out in the open and anyone could just go up and take the car or ransack it... If I hadn't been alone with another vehicle to drive, I would have taken the car home right then and there and told my insurance that I would take it elsewhere to get fixed. They've supposedly had the door to put on since last Monday... (Now, if the guy had said that they had a lot of cars to fix ahead of mine, that would have been fine-- but he had to treat me like an idiot and make a bs excuse).

 

wow, I'm venting.. LOL..

 

Also, I need to find out to whom I can report the local dog shelter for claiming to be "no kill" when it is NOT "no kill". They are currently extorting one of my friends by claiming that if he doesn't adopt a dog that was picked up from his neighborhood, they are going to kill the dog. The dog does not bite and has been there less than a month, but they kill dogs that don't get adopted fast enough... I know they get special benefits/money for claiming to be "no kill" and they are committing fraud.

 

In a non-bummer thing, I've actually been learning to use an induction burner and a Nu Wave oven and they are awesome. The nu-wave thing doesn't scare me the way a regular oven does. LOL. 

[Knittzu]

I can't believe they treated your car (and YOU!) with such disrespect. :| At the very least I'd be leaving them a nasty Yelp review!

 

On a complete side note, I'm a bit paranoid about leaving my car unlocked-- I just don't do it. If I am sitting somewhere inside the car, I keep it locked even while waiting for someone to get back in. I will unlock it for them and immediately lock it again.

 

 

I'm the same way. As a teen I had some creep try to open my car door when I was sitting in traffic and ever since that day, my doors stay locked all the time, no matter what. (This was in a good part of town, too!)

 

That's so terrible about your no-kill shelter. You could start with Better Business Bureau, but with a case like this, it might be better to go straight to your local media. I'm betting lots of people in your local community will be outraged by this.

[zannej]

Thanks, knittzu. I forgot to mention that the guy who runs the shelter is on the city council. His son is a complete scumbag who gets away with all sorts of illegal stuff because of his father. Corrupt little town. 

I once overheard the jerkface dog pound guy complaining that the city wouldn't let him shoot the dogs anymore and that they had to take them to the vet to be put down. He also whined that they told him the facilities weren't adequate. 

In a way I'm glad there isn't a shelter for cats because I'd hate to see what they would do to the poor kitties.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

The "April Fool's" thing made me think of a story my father told me about one of his co-workers (my father was in federal law enforcement for people not in the know). Some dumbo decided to try to rob a donut shop that was full of law enforcement agents-- some of them in uniform. My father's buddy was the closest one. Guy pulled a gun on the clerk and demanded money. When the case went to court, one of the witnesses testified that the buddy did draw his weapon and point it at the would-be-robber but instead of "freeze, federal agent!" he said "April Fool's, Motherfucker!"

 

True story - Richard Feynman, the Nobel winner who worked on the Manhattan Project, pulled a prank during his fraternity days at CalTech. There were some other fellows in his dormitory who were well-known for shouting "Shut the door!" if someone came into their room looking for something or someone because they liked it quiet at all times so they could study/work. Another student grew tired of this, so they removed one of the two doors from its hinges and hid it somewhere. The boys who lived in that room hung up signs that said "WHO STOLE OUR DOOR?" or something to that effect. Feynman removed the other door from its hinges and hid it behind the oil tank in the basement of the dorm. The president of the frat finally stepped in, rounded up all the guys and asked them to give their word as fraternity brothers that they had nothing to do with any of it. When Richard was asked, "Did you take the door?" he replied, "Yes. I took the door." and was told, "Stop joking around, Feynman, this is serious!"

[zannej]

I think Caltech may have been the one where they managed to cover the floor of one of the frat houses in ice-- something they showed them doing in Real Genius. I've heard that MIT and Caltech have a lot of pranksters and for awhile had a back-and-forth involving the MIT students stealing a historical canon from Caltech campus and Caltech students going to get it back (but it was done in fun as a way of messing with each other and not intended as permanent theft or anything).

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Not ten-year-olds. No way. Maybe if they'e made him a very young teen I could have bought it. Or a minority... sadly, cops in this country just don't care as much about missing minority kids.

 

Knittzu, I posted this link a couple of pages ago, but the website gets updated pretty often, so here it is again.

 

http://www.vachss.com/

 

Andrew Vachss (rhymes with "tax") is a lawyer and an author, and for thirty years he worked in child protective services. He was also a federal investigator in a project studying sexually transmitted diseases, and that work brought him into contact with children who had been abused and molested in various ways, street kids and otherwise.  Vachss, now in his seventies, exclusively represents children and is a passionate advocate for animal rights. If you get the chance, look for his fiction at your local library.