Category: Bad News

Horrible, unpleasant stuff

Ask Me Again

Psychos, Shootin' Time

…why I never walk out of my house without carrying a gun:

A knife-wielding maniac was shot and injured by cops after he started terrorizing a New York City grocery store overnight, the NYPD said Monday.

The suspect was shot outside the City Fresh Market near 120th Street in Harlem just after 1:30 a.m. when he repeatedly refused to drop the 13-inch kitchen blade, according to cops.

The man had been thrown out of the grocery store some time earlier after getting into an argument with someone inside.  He later showed up brandishing the knife, police said.  Surveillance video obtained by Pix11 captured the man lingering outside the sliding doors and waving the weapon as workers huddled inside.

When police arrived on the scene, the man allegedly kept pointing the knife in their direction before an officer fired.  The knifeman took a bullet to his abdomen, was taken to a hospital for surgery and remains in a critical condition.

Sorry, but faced with a similar situation, I’m not going to wait around for the cops to show up.  Wave a knife at me, especially one like that, and whatever happens after that is on you.

I’m not boasting or whatever;  I’m stating the obvious.  Gawd know I don’t want to shoot someone.  But I really don’t want to be stabbed just because I happen to be at the supermarket.

RFI: Arc Hacked

Bad News

I usually use the “https://archive.is/” link to get through to the silly paywalled newspaper articles at the Daily Mail, but the site appears to have been hacked by Russians or Serbians or others of the Cyrillic persuasion.

Does anyone have an alternate that does the same thing?

Mini-Roundup

Bad News

I know I swore off news roundups a while ago, but sheesh… oh, and no links because I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.


...thanks, but we have enough anti-Semitic socialist assholes over here already.  Also, drunks.


...he was old.  At that age, it doesn’t matter what killed him, because it could have been anything from a list of hundreds.


...JHC.


...oh, no, say it ain’t so.


...and whose fault is that?  [hint:  postal workers union]


...okay, that one contains a link.

And that’s it.

Talent, Gone

Bad News, Books & Movies

I see with immense sadness that writer Len Deighton has died.  Granted, the man had a long and fruitful life and career, but that doesn’t stop it from sucking.

While Deighton was best known for his espionage novels like The Ipcress Files and Funeral In Berlin (both made into memorable movies starring Michael Caine), my personal favorite was actually a WWII novel, Bomber, which if you haven’t read before, you should.  Be warned:  it is an absolutely heartrending story.

R.I.P.

De-Cluttering 2

Bad News, Tragedy

We talked about this topic before — that of clearing out and binning stuff as one ages and downsizes — and here’s yet another take:

The pain of downsizing has come as a complete shock. My life is etched into the possessions I’m having to cast off for ever.

…and the exposition of her situation follows, which ended when she didn’t de-clutter prior to downsizing, and is now facing life in a small overstuffed [sic] cottage.

I get that.  I really do.  But as Nadine Dorries worries about that issue, there’s another one:  the pain of keeping shared stuff as a constant and sometimes bitter reminder of times long past.

At some point, though, you have to realize that regardless of sentiment, stuff is just stuff.  And the part that isn’t understood is that once you’ve done it for the first time, the de-cluttering becomes progressively less hurtful.

And by the way:  I covet her late husband’s “hand-forged tools”, even though I have neither space for, nor need of them.  See how that works?