Archive for September 13th, 2012

How many rules were broken here?

Thursday, September 13th, 2012

The Saturday evening mock cannon fight was meant to simulate the spectacle of a historic battle on the high seas. This year, however, a crew member inadvertently veered from the script, which called for the Amazing Grace to fire blanks at the schooner Bill of Rights.

(Insert obvious joke about shooting at the Bill of Rights here.)

Onward. According to the LAT, one of the crew members accidentally “grabbed a box of buckshot ammunition after the Amazing Grace ran out of blanks”.

Two people were injured, apparently not critically.

So off the top of my head:

This appears to be the Amazing Grace’s website. I was trying to figure out what kind of guns it had, and how they worked; it kind of sounds like they may use commercial shotgun cartridges, instead of muzzle loaders like you’d see in the movies. The site isn’t helpful, but the “Ship’s Log” is good for a chuckle.

It sounds like this was part of the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival. “Back by popular demand again this year, children can take part in Cap’n Jack’s School for Scallywags. Watch as your young buccaneers learn to walk, talk, and sing like a pirate!” That sounds like it would get annoying. Fast.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Safety | 1 Comment »

The Pizza Bistro?

Thursday, September 13th, 2012

Previously on Whipped Cream Difficulties:

Oh, wait. I’m sorry. That was a promo for “Hawaii Five O” (the real one).

Previously on WCD, I wrote about the Mangia Pizza bankruptcy hearing, and the proposal by “Cloud Cap LLC” to take over the remaining restaurant (and the stand out at the airport).

Today’s Statesman informs us that Cloud Cap won. Apparently, the Mesa location has been closed (I had not noticed that, but I have not been up that way recently); Cloud Cap plans to re-open it, and is hiring former Mangia employees.

In answer to our question about what would happen to the two independently owned location if Cloud Cap got control; those have been rebranded as “The Pizza Bistro”, which strikes me as being a pretty stupid name. However, I suspect we’ll end up doing dining conspiracies at both “The Pizza Bistro” and the new Mangia once they have a chance to settle down. (Generally, SDC policy is to allow three months from opening before visiting a restaurant.)

Posted in Clippings, Food | 2 Comments »

Hillsborough.

Thursday, September 13th, 2012

This was covered some on FARK yesterday, but I kind of feel like it is important enough to mention here.

On April 15, 1989, at the Hillsborough Stadium (located in Sheffield), 96 people were crushed to death. The initial inquiry on the deaths basically blamed the fans for what happened; that was a controversial verdict.

The British government agreed to a new inquiry in December of 2009. The results of that inquiry were issued yesterday.

Prime Minister David Cameron formally apologized on Wednesday to the victims’ families, saying their “appalling deaths” were compounded by an attempt by the police, investigators and the news media to depict the victims as hooligans and to blame them for the disaster.

More:

Quoting from the new report, Mr. Cameron said: “The Liverpool fans were not the cause of the disaster. The panel has quite simply found no evidence in support of allegations of exceptional levels of drunkenness, ticketlessness or violence among Liverpool fans, no evidence that fans had conspired to arrive late at the stadium, and no evidence that they stole from the dead and dying.”

And further:

The report also concluded that 116 witness statements presented by the police to previous inquiries had been amended by the police “to remove or alter comments unfavorable to the police,” and that police officers conducted computer checks on those who had died in an attempt “to impugn the reputations of the deceased.” In addition, the report said the coroner measured blood-alcohol levels in all who died, including children, only to discover — a fact withheld from previous inquiries — that the levels of alcohol consumption were “unremarkable and not exceptional for a social or leisure occasion.”

Additionally, the report suggests that at least some of the people who died may have lived, if they had been given prompt medical treatment:

The report said autopsy findings showed there were 41 victims who did not have the traumatic asphyxia that caused most of the deaths, and Dr. Bill Kirkup, a physician on the panel, said they might have survived if they been taken swiftly to a hospital.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, History, Law, Safety, Sports | Comments Closed

Good taste: you can’t afford it.

Thursday, September 13th, 2012

Ramiro Pozos Gonzalez, a “founding member” of the La Resistencia drug gang, has been captured.

Ordinarily, I don’t note the capture of every cartel member that comes down the pike. But the HouChron article includes a charming photograph of Mr. Gonzalez’s gold-plated “AK-47”, which was also captured with him.

I can sort of, vaguely, understand plating the gun. But the magazines? That’s just a waste of money. Magazines are disposable items. You should be prepared to trash them if they don’t feed; gold-plating them just makes the decision that much more difficult.

(Previously.)

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Law | 2 Comments »