[StBernard] THIS is TRUE #717: 9 March

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Sun Mar 16 18:59:40 EDT 2008


SINCE 1994 and reaching more than 110,000 readers in over 200 countries,
this is the 717th weekly issue of...

THIS is TRUE: 9 March 2007 Copyright http://www.thisistrue.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CRIME OF PASSION: "It was weird the way this all came down," said a
spokeswoman for the Louisiana State Police. A woman called to say she
had received a phone call after midnight from a man who exclaimed, "I
have killed them all!" Using the Caller ID on the woman's phone,
officers tracked the call to Thomas Ballard, 29, of Delhi. Upon their
arrival at his house, they found that Ballard had won a video game by
"killing" all the "bad guys" -- and had called a friend to brag. He got
a wrong number. No dead bodies were found in his house, but officers
found he had an outstanding warrant on a drug charge, and arrested him.
(Monroe News-Star) ...No sense in wasting a trip out to the sticks.

CRIME OF INTOXICATION: Stephanie Pochron, 30, must spend six months in
jail after a drunk driving accident, but she has something to come home
to: the smashed car she was driving. The car was ordered towed to her
Wanatah, Ind., front yard by the judge in the case, and he has ruled
that it must stay there during her entire three-year probation. Pochron
caused the crash, hitting a vehicle that then went out of control and
crashed into a third car, which rolled with a family inside. One man
was seriously injured. This was Pochron's third conviction for drunk
driving. "I'm never going to drink again," she said. (Northwest Indiana
Times) ...Of course, three years of having to look at the car will
drive her to drink.

----------==========**********O**********==========----------
Need to get more value out of LinkedIn.com?

I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???
is the book that cuts through the fluff.

Still scratching your head over LinkedIn?
Buy the book at http://www.ImOnLinkedInNowWhat.com
----------==========**********O**********==========----------

YOU CAN'T MAKE ME: Ivan Segedin, 39, refused to wear his seat belt. In
less than 5 years he was fined 32 times for seatbelt violations. He
avoided more citations by tying a length of belt material to the real
seat belt to drape over his shoulder, making it look like he was
wearing his belt. The Taranaki, New Zealand, man was driving when his
car crossed over the center line and struck another car head on. It was
a "low-impact" crash, investigators say, but Segedin was killed. He was
not wearing a seat belt. (Taranaki Daily News) ...If he wants to live
by his own rules, he may as well die by them.

ZERO TOLERANCE IN REAL LIFE -- ANOTHER IN A LONG SERIES: After Shaun
Wood, 22, lost his job, he built up a debt to a drug dealer. The dealer
took advantage of him by forcing Wood to store things for him in his
Liverpool, England, home. One of the items: a submachine gun. Nervous,
Wood considered using the gun to commit suicide, but instead he took it
to a police station, where police described him as "visibly shaking and
distressed," and handed it over. He was immediately arrested. But the
judge in the case praised Wood. "If people are brave enough to come
forward and hand in guns," said Judge Sean Duncan, "the courts will
acknowledge that bravery." Thus, Judge Duncan only sentenced Wood to 2-
1/2 years in prison for possession of a prohibited weapon, rather than
the usual 5. (Liverpool Echo) ...Right. Can't have Brits being brave
now, can we? Let's hope that puts an end to it.

TOO OFTEN IT DOES SEEM TO GO THAT WAY: "First the Wedding, Then Years in
Prison" -- Wheeling (W.Va.) News-Register headline

DID YOU FIND an error? See http://www.thisistrue.com/errata.html

I GRUMBLED when I saw the ad text for the Garmin navigator in this week's
issue. I got a Garmin Nuvi for myself for Christmas, and went back and
forth between the 650 model and the 660 model that's advertised, but
the price difference was $150 so I went for the slightly less capable
650. (My wife used it this week on a road trip, finding her way around
metro Las Vegas with its built-in map.) It's an amazing little box, so
why did I grumble? The price difference between the 650 and the 660 is
now only $15. Sheesh! But that's the way it goes with electronics, eh?

SPEAKING OF DRIVING, this week I got permission to publish the photo that
went with the story about the drunk driver -- the smashed car that the
judge ordered to sit in front of the driver's house for three years.
See http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-a_lingering_image.html for the
story, the photo, and other readers weighing in whether it's an apt
punishment, or if the people really being punished are the woman's
neighbors....

EVERY MONTH in the Premium edition, I have a "Tagline Challenge" where I
present an extra story without my ending comment (or tagline), and let
readers suggest the ending. I can't adequately describe what it was
without telling the whole story and including all the responses (which,
*gulp*, took nearly 1350 words!), but it was one of the most profound,
thought-provoking discussions over a story that I've ever had with
readers, several of whom said that one issue alone was worth the $24
yearly fee for the Premium edition.

Cris in South Africa, a Premium reader for the past six years, was one
who wrote: "This is the most brilliant, informative, not to say
thought-provoking tagline contest I've ever seen. This provocative
story produced an amazing response. Loved them all! Absolutely
wonderful! What a great job you're doing."

The monthly Challenge is one of the several things that are ONLY in the
Premium edition, not the least of which is double the stories of this
free edition. If you've ever thought about upgrading, not only is NOW
the time to do it, but I'm with Cris: be sure to ask for your upgrade
to start with the 9 March edition so you can read the March Challenge
results. http://www.thisistrue.com/upgrade.html

AND AMONG THE LATEST postings to Jumbo Joke: What if your boss makes you
take a Mandatory Vacation? http://www.JumboJoke.com

----------==========**********O**********==========----------
NEVER ASK FOR DIRECTIONS AGAIN.

Garmin's Nuvi 660 will talk you through every twist and turn.
Huge internal data base of points of interest, and it will even
transmit its directions through your car stereo.
NOW 50% OFF AT AMAZON for a limited time -- less than $350!
http://www.thisistrue.net/d-garmin660
----------==========**********O**********==========----------

TO SUBMIT STORIES and vote on what submissions are best, register for
free at http://Groxx.com

TWICE THE MEAT, HALF THE FAT! This week's Premium edition also had these
stories: Robber wasn't too well prepared for home invasion. Teens think
up new way to open military rifle cartridge to get gunpowder out --
unfortunately, it works. Man riding bus after his car is stolen spots
it on the street -- hilarity ensues. Scotsman argues to judge that he
wasn't drunk, but rather he's a "human pelican". And the spectacular,
thought-provoking results of the March Tagline Challenge. You can still
read the full edition: just ask for your upgrade to start with the 9
March edition: http://thisistrue.com/upgrade.html

TEN YEARS AGO IN TRUE: God WILL return to earth on a specific date -- and
in a very specific place. But ten years on, they're still waiting:
http://www.thisistrue.com/there_goes_the_neighborhood_5860.html

BONZER WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://thomas.loc.gov -- Thomas. "In the
spirit of *Thomas* Jefferson, legislative information from the Library
of Congress." How did your Congressperson or favored presidential
candidate vote on an important issue? The Library of Congress's Thomas
data base will help you find out. Search the text of a bill, browse by
sponsor, read committee reports, or check a particular member's
Congressional record. Don't rely on hearsay (or even the news) -- get
your information from the authoritative source. You'll also find
primary documents in American history from the Revolutionary era to the
present. Anything you want to know about what goes on in our federal
legislature is here. (CK)
-- Bonzer Sites archive: http://www.BonzerSites.com

THIS WEEK'S HONORARY UNSUBSCRIBE goes to Joseph Weizenbaum. A professor
of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in
1965 Weizenbaum wrote a program that mimicked understanding of human
language. ELIZA (named after the "My Fair Lady" character) acted like a
therapist, prompting human users to talk about their problems. But
Weizenbaum was horrified when he saw students took the program
seriously, pouring their hearts out to the unthinking, unfeeling
computer. "No other organism, and certainly no computer, can be made to
confront genuine human problems in human terms," Weizenbaum said later.
His critiques of artificial intelligence drove a wedge between him and
the rest of the A.I. community, and he took the title "heretic" with
pride. He received the Award for Professional and Social Responsibility
given by the Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility in 1988.
Weizenbaum moved back to Germany in 1996; he had fled as a boy with his
family to escape the Nazis. He died March 5 from cancer in Germany at
85.
-- Honorary Unsubscribe archive: http://www.HonoraryUnsubscribe.com

YOU CAN REALLY HELP TRUE: Send this issue (in its entirety, please) to a
friend with your personal recommendation. A friend told YOU about this
newsletter, right? Pass the favor on! Thanks.

TIRED OF BEING TOLD WHERE TO GO? "Get Out of Hell Free" with our popular
and (in?)famous cards, created in response to a reader telling Randy he
was doomed. http://www.GOOHF.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS to "This is True" are free at http://www.thisistrue.com
Published weekly by ThisIsTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA
(ISSN 1521-1932). TRUE is available to newspapers as a regular feature
column. "This is True" is a registered trademark of ThisIsTrue.Inc

COPYRIGHT 2008 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All stories are
completely rewritten by Randy Cassingham using facts from the noted
sources. ALL broadcast, publication, retransmission to e-mail lists,
WWW or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is
STRICTLY PROHIBITED without PRIOR written permission from the author.
MANUAL FORWARDING by e-mail to friends is allowed IF 1) the text is
forwarded IN ITS ENTIRETY, from the "Since 1994" line on top through
the end of this paragraph and 2) NO FEE is charged. We REQUEST that you
forward no more than three copies to any one person -- after that, they
should get their own FREE subscription. We ALWAYS appreciate people who
report violations of our copyright to us.


TO COMMENT to the author, mailto:arcie at thisistrue.com -- Please include
your first name and location.
Distribution sponsored by Lyris Technologies, Inc. <http://www.lyris.com>
This copy sent to: [thisistrue at da-parish.com]
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: DO NOT reply to this message! Simply send any message

mailto:leave-11489366-1974916.ae7af3b8a5505f00f0adbfddf1ba43be at wood.lyris.ne
t
This method works no matter what address you send from.



More information about the StBernard mailing list