Horrible little scumbags
Rgemini
angry. I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of
virtual hugs and back-pats.
We went out leaving the (upstairs) bathroom window ajar. Windows are
top-hinged and heve two panes, one above the other. It was the upper
pane that was open, about 1m above the windowsill.
Someone agile and light managed to climb up onto the lower roof, swing
across a gap of about 1.7m and get in through the window. In the process
they left big black handprints on the bathroom wall, but the
fingerprints officer couldn't get any prints from them.
They took my laptop, our family video camera, my digital camera and my
daughter's too. The reason I say we got off lightly is that that's ALL
they took. My study contains a lot of stuff and my wife's jewellery was
in our room.
I think our 10 year old border collie scared them off. She normally
sleeps behind the setee when we'e out and it must have come as a shock
to them when she went to investigate. They couldn't leave by the front
door because of the mortice lock so went back out the way they came.
I'm insured so won't lose too much money over it, but the video camera
had tapes of our grandson's first birthday and first steps which we
can't replace, and that's annoying.
I had to spend a couple of hours changing passwords for website ftps,
emails, banking websites etc and change the access rules for my wireless
router, which is extremely annoying. I can't remember what else is on
the laptop either.
We don't know who did it, but there are a lot of 12-16 year olds
slouching around with nothing to do except tag and generally be rude and
to me it looks most likely that one or two of them decided to do it -
they are generally light enough, agile enough and selfish enough to. All
our neighbours were out, which they would have spotted, so no-one would
have seen them. Everything points to amateurs - they could have cleaned
us out but it looks like they were in too much of a hurry to think of that.
Sophie (the dog) needed reassuring when we got home. Dogs don't
understand medals so she got extra biscuits and games instead.
Sigh!
Rgemini, about to send off for a GOM[1] t-shirt
[1] Grumpy Old Man
Stacie L. Hanes
> We were burgled on Friday and although we got off lightly I'm still
> angry. I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of
> virtual hugs and back-pats.
<patpatpatpatpat>
<HUG>
That feeling of violation is naaaaaaasty.
--
Stacie, fourth swordswoman of the afpocalypse.
AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons & Bondage-happy predator
AFPMistress to peachy ashie passion & AFPDeliciousSnack to 8'FED
"If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible
warning." Catherine Aird, _His Burial Too_
http://esmeraldus.blogspot.com/
Ross
<lfGdnfq1Eau...@pipex.net>, seen in alt.fan.pratchett:
[...]
> I'm insured so won't lose too much money over it, but the video camera
> had tapes of our grandson's first birthday and first steps which we
> can't replace, and that's annoying.
And above all that, there's the feeling of violation.
The one time we were burgled (must be 10 years ago now), I got home
from work and the house just felt wrong when I walked in, even before
I discovered the usual things had gone - TV, VCR, that sort of thing.
It took weeks to get over the feeling that someone _unknown_ had been
in _my_ house _uninvited_. I still can't describe the feeling any more
accurately than violation.
Being a stiff Brit and a that, I'll merely offer you a comforting
stiff upper lip and pat on the shoulder, sort of thing. But I'm sure
you know the meaning hiding behind it.
--
Ross, Lincoln, UK
We're *not* afraid
http://www.werenotafraid.com
Paul E. Jamison
news:lfGdnfq1Eau...@pipex.net...
> We were burgled on Friday and although we got off lightly I'm still
> angry. I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of
> virtual hugs and back-pats.
>
[snip]
You have virtual hugs and back-pats from me. It's happened to me twice -
once years ago and once recently - and I got off relatively lightly both
times. But, I agree, the feeling of violation is awful.
Paul
--
"Who reads, learns, lives the Ferret Way becomes keeper
of light, ennobling outer worlds from one within."
- a prophecy from the Ancients
CCA
> We were burgled on Friday and although we got off lightly I'm still
> angry. I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of
> virtual hugs and back-pats.
Bastards.
*lots of hugs*
CCA
Ssirienna
"CCA" <sphir...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1124051195....@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Yep this has everything I was thinking of saying :-)
*zen hugs*
Only happened once (touchwood) to us
When we were still in a basement flat and on holiday.
Came home to discover they'd kicked fron door in to get TV
Only thing taken - sigh!
*more zen hugs*
Ssirienna
--
Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these
really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth
explodes and it's like, a serious bummer!
Sofia
> Rgemini wrote:
>> We were burgled on Friday and although we got off lightly I'm still
>> angry. I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of
>> virtual hugs and back-pats.
>
> <patpatpatpatpat>
>
> <HUG>
>
> That feeling of violation is naaaaaaasty.
Yeah, hugs from me too!!
One of my brothers got back home from work one day, and found that
burglers had stolen every single piece of furniture in his entire home
once.
The insurance money left him completely penniless, but a few weeks later,
he came back from work again, and the whole new stock of household goods
just bought were gone again, with his landlady telling him that she let
some men in his flat, because they had told her they were electrical
workers sent by the council.
I hear it's a very common occurrence down here in London for burglers to
attack ordinary working citizens not just once, but twice in a row, so
I'm sure we'll all send a lot of hugs and keep our fingers crossed for
you, hoping that you don't get any more attacks either.
All the best
Sofie
Ian and Mandy
news:lfGdnfq1Eau...@pipex.net:
> We were burgled on Friday and although we got off lightly I'm still
> angry. I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of
> virtual hugs and back-pats.
>
Many hugs and back-pats, plus lots of ear scratches and games for the
doggie. I can imagine how disconcerted our little pooch would be in such
circumstances.
more hugs
Mandy
Lesley Weston
It's a nasty experience; the only time it happened to us, the thief was
interrupted before he could actually take anything, but it still left us
shaken and worried. You must be feeling a lot more shaken and worried - you
have my sympathy.
--
Lesley Weston.
Brightly_coloured_blob is real, but I don't often check even the few bits
that get through Yahoo's filters. To reach me, use leswes att shaw dott ca,
changing spelling and spacing as required.
cyba
I've been very lucky, I lived in London for ten years and wasn't mugged
or burgled, thank goodness. Big hugs to all especially the doggie! I
can't imagine that my goldfish would have been that much help in a
similar situation.
Rgemini
much more than I do - I tend to be a 'glass half full' person so I'm
just relieved it wasn't worse and I'm working on making sure they don't
get a second chance.
Rgemini, feeling better for all the hugs
Flesh-eating Dragon
> Thanks everyone. My wife and daughter feel the violation of our home
> much more than I do - I tend to be a 'glass half full' person so I'm
> just relieved it wasn't worse and I'm working on making sure they don't
> get a second chance.
The only time I was robbed, a few months ago, the only thing stolen was
my digital camera - and that's because I was home and lying in bed at
the time! I felt quite a lot of relief, to be honest.
The worst-case scenario with theft is ... well, there are some things
around here - most notably records of irreplaceable information - which
could pretty well ruin my life if they were lost, a prospect that is
really too horrible to contemplate. I really should make spare copies
of anything vitally important to life and sanity but that's not a
trivial task.
Adrian.
Rgemini
> The worst-case scenario with theft is ... well, there are some things
> around here - most notably records of irreplaceable information - which
> could pretty well ruin my life if they were lost, a prospect that is
> really too horrible to contemplate. I really should make spare copies
> of anything vitally important to life and sanity but that's not a
> trivial task.
Very true. I keep most of mine on my Palm PDA, under password
protection. It gets backed up to the PC ever time I sync it and then I
take data backups to CD/DVD so I have copies. I really ought to put some
of those in a different location though as they are all in the same room!
Rgemini, about to organise offsite backups!
Arthur Hagen
>
> Very true. I keep most of mine on my Palm PDA, under password
> protection. It gets backed up to the PC ever time I sync it and then I
> take data backups to CD/DVD so I have copies. I really ought to put
> some of those in a different location though as they are all in the
> same room!
You *do* know, I hope, that if using the standard Palm software for
password protecting entries, the files are not encrypted? That the copy
on the PC can be dumped on the PC, or simply synced to someone elses
Palm and then opened using *their* password?
Regards,
--
*Art
Rgemini
>
> You *do* know, I hope, that if using the standard Palm software for
> password protecting entries, the files are not encrypted? That the copy
> on the PC can be dumped on the PC, or simply synced to someone elses
> Palm and then opened using *their* password?
Ouch!
I do now. That's worrying.
Andrew Nevill
Seconded.
I've never been burgled but I had a motorbike stolen from right outside my
front door 4 years again. Being a victim of crime feels bloody awful. More
than that and this sounds stupid is the inconvenience - calling the cops,
delaying with the insurance and having to do without what's been stolen It's
the biggest pain in the arse imaginable.
*Sending loadsa hugs and many back pats*
--
Andrew Nevill B.F. D.W. FdV. Reply address: ane...@binternet.com
AFPWorshipper to Spooky, AFPfiance to Sarah (Nanny Ogg), AFPUncle to
James Vaughan. You cannot value friends as pennies, nor can you
replace them as easily (Spooky in email, Aug 2001.)
Discworld Convention 2006. 18 - 26 Aug 2006 Hanover International
Hotel, Hinckley, UK www.dwcon.org
Rgemini
>
> You *do* know, I hope, that if using the standard Palm software for
> password protecting entries, the files are not encrypted? That the copy
> on the PC can be dumped on the PC, or simply synced to someone elses
> Palm and then opened using *their* password?
>
Arthur I *really* wish I'd known that before, rather than making the
foolish assumption that it was safely encrypted. All our credit and
debit cards are now being replaced, to be on the safe side. Thanks again
for pointing it out.
I've found MemoSafe for the Palm which looks like better protection for
the records I want to secure as it encrypts on the Palm and carries
that through to the PC. I'm just going to do a bit more investigating
before I decide if that's the way to go or not.
regards
Rgemini
Arthur Hagen
>
> Arthur I *really* wish I'd known that before, rather than making the
> foolish assumption that it was safely encrypted. All our credit and
> debit cards are now being replaced, to be on the safe side. Thanks
> again for pointing it out.
It's really just "hiding", which in many cases is enough (but in many
cases isn't either). If you have a newer Tungsten model, you might yet
be safe, though, as Palm has changed the security to actually do
encryption. But for the great majority of Palm devices out there,
there's not really a lot of safety.
> I've found MemoSafe for the Palm which looks like better protection
> for the records I want to secure as it encrypts on the Palm and
> carries that through to the PC. I'm just going to do a bit more
> investigating before I decide if that's the way to go or not.
There's several good ones out there:
TurboPasswords from Chapura - http://www.chapura.com
Passwords Plus from DataViz - http://www.dataviz.com
DataShield from Ultrasoft - http://www.ultrasoft.com
TealLock from TealPoint - http://www.tealpoint.com
... and a lot of freeware/shareware programs.
Regards,
--
*Art
PDoc
Seems par for the course, but I know how it feels. My college house was
burgled last February, in which they took three laptops, one large LCD tv
(mine) and a digital camera. Saving a long explanation, they knew what we
had, and where it was. They came in at 3.45pm [1], entered by a french
window, and walked our stuff out the back of our house. The street was
rather busy at the time, as the adjacent school was emptying, so there were
4x4s and bicycles galore [2]. Apparently, no one noticed anyone carrying a
brand-new 42" plasma TV. Grrr. The worst of it is that the college, who are
responsible for allowing vast numbers of people into our house without
telling us, won't do anything about it. I'm not even allowed to fit a decent
lock to my room. Double grrr.
The police new who did it. They found my camera in a car associated with
those people, who they took in for questioning. But as the car was
unlicensed, untaxed and un-anythingyed, they couldn't legally tie my camera
to them. Great. Anyway, hopefully the questioning ordeal will have put them
off a little...
My laptop was passworded and encrypted to the hilt. It'll have taken them
some effort to get it to do anything. So they probably won't have, and it'll
have either been sold for very little, or perhaps just binned. One of the
other laptops they got was a 486, with 10 whole minutes of battery life, so
I guess that's worth a lot to them. And they left the tuner box for the
plasma TV behind, so they can't use that either. Dunno if that makes me feel
worse or better.
Anyway, enough ranting from me - my only advice now is to check your
insurance policy, and make sure they treat you properly.
<manly pats on back>
PDoc
[1] They knocked the adsl line out from my wifi box, so I got the time from
the logs.
[2] This is Cambridge (Newnham, to be precise...)
--
PDoc
Alchemist at large, no accidents in the lab since March...
http://www.cohesic.co.uk/blog/
Midgardette
"Andrew Nevill" <ane...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:2eo1g19tb35efo27j...@4ax.com...
> On 14 Aug 2005 13:26:35 -0700, "CCA" <sphir...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>>Rgemini wrote:
>>
>>> We were burgled on Friday and although we got off lightly I'm still
>>> angry. I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of
>>> virtual hugs and back-pats.
>>
>>Bastards.
>>*lots of hugs*
>>CCA
>
> Seconded.
>
> I've never been burgled but I had a motorbike stolen from right outside my
> front door 4 years again. Being a victim of crime feels bloody awful. More
> than that and this sounds stupid is the inconvenience - calling the cops,
> delaying with the insurance and having to do without what's been stolen
> It's
> the biggest pain in the arse imaginable.
>
> *Sending loadsa hugs and many back pats*
More hugs and backpats from here too. My house was broken into twice. It's
an awful feeling.
The second time it was in the dead of night. Some panicked wasted kid kicked
in the front door. There had been a party busted up a block over and all the
druggies had scattered. My husband chased him out of our dining room with a
frying pan..right into an arriving police car. I shook for days afterward.
Midgardette
"And the new day was a great big fish." MR
Arthur Hagen
>
> Seems par for the course, but I know how it feels. My college house
> was burgled last February, in which they took three laptops, one
> large LCD tv (mine) and a digital camera. Saving a long explanation,
> they knew what we had, and where it was. They came in at 3.45pm [1],
> entered by a french window, and walked our stuff out the back of our
> house. The street was rather busy at the time, as the adjacent school
> was emptying, so there were 4x4s and bicycles galore [2]. Apparently,
> no one noticed anyone carrying a brand-new 42" plasma TV. Grrr. The
> worst of it is that the college, who are responsible for allowing
> vast numbers of people into our house without telling us, won't do
> anything about it. I'm not even allowed to fit a decent lock to my
> room. Double grrr.
While being burgled always sucks, forgive me for not mustering as much
symapthy for you as the others. A college student who can afford a 42"
plasma TV as well as medical education at Cambridge comes waaay down the
list.
Regards,
--
*Art
Bigjobs
"Arthur Hagen" <a...@broomstick.com> wrote in message
news:dduami$vov$1...@cauldron.broomstick.com...
I was discussin this theme yesterday with a friend, totally unrelated to
this thread mind you.
What the hell does the amount of money that a person has have to do with
wether or not it is right to steal from them?
Even if someone is wealthy to the extreme, then what have they done to
deserve the feelings of invasion and insecurity that a burglary brings
about.
--
Bigjobs
Rhiannon Sands
"Bigjobs" <big...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3mg75gF...@individual.net...
>
> "Arthur Hagen" <a...@broomstick.com> wrote in message
> news:dduami$vov$1...@cauldron.broomstick.com...
> > PDoc <ph...@REMOVEcam.ac.uk> wrote:
> >>
> >> Seems par for the course, but I know how it feels. My college house
> >> was burgled last February, in which they took three laptops, one
> >> large LCD tv (mine) and a digital camera. Saving a long explanation,
> >> they knew what we had, and where it was. They came in at 3.45pm [1],
> >> entered by a french window, and walked our stuff out the back of our
> >> house. The street was rather busy at the time, as the adjacent school
> >> was emptying, so there were 4x4s and bicycles galore [2]. Apparently,
> >> no one noticed anyone carrying a brand-new 42" plasma TV. Grrr. The
> >> worst of it is that the college, who are responsible for allowing
> >> vast numbers of people into our house without telling us, won't do
> >> anything about it. I'm not even allowed to fit a decent lock to my
> >> room. Double grrr.
> >
> > While being burgled always sucks, forgive me for not mustering as much
> > symapthy for you as the others. A college student who can afford a 42"
> > plasma TV as well as medical education at Cambridge comes waaay down the
> > list.
> >
>
> I was discussin this theme yesterday with a friend, totally unrelated to
> this thread mind you.
>
> What the hell does the amount of money that a person has have to do with
> wether or not it is right to steal from them?
It doesn't affect the rightness or wrongness of the stealing, it's still
wrong. Just the amount of sympathy the person gets.
> Even if someone is wealthy to the extreme, then what have they done to
> deserve the feelings of invasion and insecurity that a burglary brings
> about.
>
Well the more money you have the more you can pay for a therapist to make
you feel better.
--
Rhiannon S
I'm not an idiot! I'm just in touch with my pineal gland.
Arthur Hagen
> "Arthur Hagen" <a...@broomstick.com> wrote in message
> news:dduami$vov$1...@cauldron.broomstick.com...
>
>> much symapthy for you as the others. A college student who can
>> afford a 42" plasma TV as well as medical education at Cambridge
>> comes waaay down the list.
>
> I was discussin this theme yesterday with a friend, totally unrelated
> to this thread mind you.
>
> What the hell does the amount of money that a person has have to do
> with wether or not it is right to steal from them?
It doesn't, and I didn't say it did. Note the "always sucks" part.
However, the amount of *sympathy* they get is inversely proportional to
how easy the goods were attained. If the burgled person came by them
easily, and the loss is but an inconvenient loss of luxury, it will
gather less sympathy than, say, someone who lost something much cheaper
but which for them was hard to attain and near impossible to replace.
I feel much more sympathy for an indigent family who can't afford
insurance who gets their only and old TV stolen than for a rich insured
kid getting his 42" plasma TV nicked.
--
*Art
PDoc
whatsoever. I got decent grades in my undergrad (which I funded by
working part-time for the full five years), which allowed me to get an
industrially funded PhD, so I get paid a grand total of £12,225 per
year. Real rich kid, me. I bought the TV second hand from Richer Sounds
for £900, which, admittedly, is quite alot of money. It's also the
first TV I've ever own myself (I didn't have a TV throughout my whole
undergrad). I'm still paying-off the the personal loan I got for it,
though I did get insurance, so it's not the end of the world. It only
took them 3 months to replace it, and I had to buy it myself. As I had
to get a loan in the first place, finding the money again (even though
I was reimbursed) wasn't easy.
So please don't make assumptions about my situation.
Oh, and where did I say that I was a med student? I'm an organic
chemist, which is kinda different...
Diane L
> However, the amount of *sympathy* they get is inversely proportional
> to how easy the goods were attained. If the burgled person came by
> them easily, and the loss is but an inconvenient loss of luxury, it
> will gather less sympathy than, say, someone who lost something much
> cheaper but which for them was hard to attain and near impossible to
> replace. I feel much more sympathy for an indigent family who can't
> afford insurance who gets their only and old TV stolen than for a
> rich insured kid getting his 42" plasma TV nicked.
Making a few assumptions there, aren't you?
Diane L.
Arthur Hagen
Not really. He said he was insured, and said he got his 42" plasma TV
nicked, and the "rich" is inferred by being a student *and* being able
to afford a 42" plasma TV. What other assumptions did I make?
--
*Art
PDoc
I'm paid *less* than the miniumum wage, based on my average 60 hour
week.
mark
pa...@cohesic.co.uk returned briefly from exile to say ...
> Arthur, did you read my reply???
Not if he snips they way you do, he didn't. You've been infected with
Google, it seems.
> I'm paid *less* than the miniumum wage, based on my average 60 hour
> week.
Me too! (But it's not a 60hr week). Sucks, eh?
--
My housekeeper regarded him with jaundice in her eye;
She did not want a colony of hippotami;
She borrowed a machine-gun from her soldier-nephew, Percy,
And showed my hippopotamus no hippopotamercy.
- Patrick Barrington, "I Had a Hippopotamus"
Diane L
"Rich", "easily obtained" and "loss of luxury". What you call inferrences
I call assumptions. I know "rich" is relative, but it's possible to be a
student *and* afford something like a plasma TV if you do extra work
and give up other things (drinking, smoking and socialising for example).
IMO if someone has worked hard for something then it wasn't easily
obtained. If his rich parents had given him the TV for Christmas then
I'd probably agree with you.
As to loss of luxury, people make their own decisions about what
constitutes a luxury and what is a necessity. Some people consider
books a luxury, some feel the same about a computer.
Diane L.
vinny....@gmail.com
mine while he was studying at John Moores University in Liverpool. As I
remember it he was sharing a fairly dilapidated flat (who doesn't as a
student) with 5 other guys.
During the summer holiday one year they all went home, my friend was
the first one back. On his way up the stairs he suspected things where
amiss, it was the way some of his furniture was scattered in the hall,
his suspicions where confirmed when he got to the Flat to find it
unlocked.
In a panic he ran in to the flat to find two small children camping in
the living room (they had actually brought sleeping bags). After
shouting and chasing them out he started to panic in case there was
anyone bigger and less likely to be intimidated (by a small, fat and
ginger student) still in the house.
After a thorough search of the flat while clenching a golf club and
wetting himself before bursting in to each room (like the golf club
wielding maniac we all are underneath it all). The search turned up
nothing, lots and lots of nothing, after having 5 days the burglars had
pretty much taken everything.
Naturally the only thing to do was make a list of everything that was
missing and to call the police, the insurers and tell radio rentals
that they'd never see their TV & Video again and would they be good
enough to send a new one. Now so far this has been a tale of woe so
perhaps it is time to tell the good things that followed.
The first good thing was that my friend being a DJ in the evenings had
his entire record collection insured through HMV. So naturally he
phoned them and they just told him to make a list of what he wanted.
Upon checking his policy he discovered that insurance would provide 250
replacement titles of his choice, basically in one fell swoop he had
replaced his ageing collection of tracks with brand spanking new ones.
The next good thing happened a week later when his house mate
returned. By this time the TV & Video had been replaced by Radio
Rentals, their computer replaced by the insurance. So it came as
something of a surprise to discover that the flatmate in question
returned with the TV & Video tucked under his arm and with the computer
in his car. He had taken them home incase they were burgled, and then
forgot to mention it (he was the last one to go on holiday). So they
got a free computer, TV & video.
So all in all as far as burglaries go this one actually benefited the
burglarees more than it inconvinienced them... Lucky Bastards!!!!
Alec Cawley
says...
You are missing the point that 99% of the "cost" of a burglary is the
feeling of shock and violation that they suffer, and 1% is the actual
financial loss. What you are effectively saying is that personal
suffering doesn't matter, only the relatively higher financial suffering
of the uninsured poor compared to the wealthy rich. I don't think you
*meant* to say that, but that is the way you came over. You are so keen
on being the "grumpy old man" of afp that you come over as the "people-
hater of afp".
--
@lec ©awley
http://www.livejournal.com/~randombler
Arthur Hagen
>
> As to loss of luxury, people make their own decisions about what
> constitutes a luxury and what is a necessity. Some people consider
> books a luxury, some feel the same about a computer.
Are there *any* persons on this planet who wouldn't consider a 42"
plasma TV a luxury item?
--
*Art
Arthur Hagen
> Arthur, did you read my reply???
I did, but I didn't find it worth commenting.
> I'm paid *less* than the miniumum wage, based on my average 60 hour
> week.
So? *How* you amass your wealth isn't what makes me raise an eyebrow
instead of sighing on your behalf -- it's a luxury item, and that you
*can* afford a luxury item makes me feel less sympathetic if you should
lose it.
--
*Art
Arthur Hagen
>
> You are missing the point that 99% of the "cost" of a burglary is the
> feeling of shock and violation that they suffer, and 1% is the actual
> financial loss.
No, I'm not missing that, and I don't think it's true /unless/ you have
enough afterwards. If you lose something really important that you
can't replace because you can't afford to, that might affect you more
than the feeling of shock and violation.
I also do /not/ measure financial value here as you seem to think I
do -- a cheap car still costs more than a DVD recorder -- it's whether
it's something you can /afford/ to lose or not, for economical *or*
other reasons that is my measure of "loss".
If it's a luxury item (and not also a family heirloom), it's something
you *can* afford to lose. No matter whether it's a Porsche, a
top-of-the-line cell phone that does everything but the dishes, a $10
silver ring or a 42" plasma TV.
> What you are effectively saying is that personal
> suffering doesn't matter, only the relatively higher financial
> suffering of the uninsured poor compared to the wealthy rich.
No, I do not say that. Being burgled or robbed sucks no matter what.
However, whether losing something is an inconvenience or devastating
makes quite a difference, on top of whatever other feelings are there.
> I don't
> think you *meant* to say that, but that is the way you came over. You
> are so keen on being the "grumpy old man" of afp that you come over
> as the "people- hater of afp".
'Glad we have you here to tell us all what I'm keen on.
--
*Art
Bigjobs
<vinny....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1124294529.0...@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I could tell you stories of students being burgled in liverpool that would
make your hair stnad on edge and give you a feeling that your lunch was
trying to get out the wrong way.
My ex was a student property manager, and what happened to some of her
students was truely horrific.
Like the 5 italian girl students sharing a house in Kensington. Woken up by
some (unkown number) blokes who had kicked the front door in. Woken up by
being repeatedly battered about the face and head with clubs, only when they
stopped that were they given the chance to tell them where the valuables
where. Then kept in the house while one of them went to the cash machine to
clear out as much as they could. To make sure they werent lying about the
pin numbers. They spent a lot of time in hospital after that, and were very
lucky that the lads were smack heads and as such would probably not have
had a very high sex drive.
I didn;t sleep properly for ages after she told me about that one. Scard the
living bejeesus out of me.
--
Bigjobs
Arthur Hagen
[long horrible story]
> The next good thing happened a week later when his house mate
> returned. By this time the TV & Video had been replaced by Radio
> Rentals, their computer replaced by the insurance. So it came as
> something of a surprise to discover that the flatmate in question
> returned with the TV & Video tucked under his arm and with the
> computer in his car. He had taken them home incase they were burgled,
> and then forgot to mention it (he was the last one to go on holiday).
> So they got a free computer, TV & video.
And there my sympathy went out the window again. If the items weren't
returned upon finding out they weren't stolen, it's insurance fraud, and
those guys are in no way better than the squatters/burglars.
> So all in all as far as burglaries go this one actually benefited the
> burglarees more than it inconvinienced them... Lucky Bastards!!!!
Not lucky -- bloody criminal bastards, who cause the rates to go up for
all of us, to the point that many people can't even afford insurance.
--
*Art
Alec Cawley
says...
Twenty plus years ago, I was just starting my second job, at a
significant rise from my first, and was thinking that I now had enough
to splash out on a real luxury, a VCR. I was peeved to hear someone on
unemployment benefit complain that the level of benefit was insufficient
to afford a VCR, which he (with a lot of free time and little money)
considered a basic necessity.
So I would not think that it would be easy to judge what people might,
or might not, consider a luxury.
But also, if someone has scrimped and save fro as single "luxury", might
not the emotional loss be as great to them as the loss of a necessity to
someone else? You are projecting *your* value system on the world, and
then judging others as inferior because they do not share your values.
Alec Cawley
says...
> Alec Cawley <al...@spamspam.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > You are missing the point that 99% of the "cost" of a burglary is the
> > feeling of shock and violation that they suffer, and 1% is the actual
> > financial loss.
>
> No, I'm not missing that, and I don't think it's true /unless/ you have
> enough afterwards. If you lose something really important that you
> can't replace because you can't afford to, that might affect you more
> than the feeling of shock and violation.
I think that is equivalent to saying rape doesn't matter it you don't
get pregnant, and it matters less to rich women because they can pay for
the abortion.
Daibhid Ceannaideach
@cauldron.broomstick.com:
Then why did you write:
> However, the amount of *sympathy* they get is inversely proportional
> to how easy the goods were attained. If the burgled person came by
> them easily, and the loss is but an inconvenient loss of luxury, it
> will gather less sympathy than, say, someone who lost something much
> cheaper but which for them was hard to attain and near impossible to
> replace. I feel much more sympathy for an indigent family who can't
> afford insurance who gets their only and old TV stolen than for a
> rich insured kid getting his 42" plasma TV nicked.
By that logic, the theft of a plasma TV aquired by someone who's scrimped
and saved on minimum wage should indeed have greater sympathy than "a rich
insured kid" losing the same thing.
--
Dave
Official Absentee of EU Skiffeysoc
http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/societies/sesoc/
Do not read this sig, by order.
Diane L
> vinny....@gmail.com wrote:
> [long horrible story]
>> The next good thing happened a week later when his house mate
>> returned. By this time the TV & Video had been replaced by Radio
>> Rentals, their computer replaced by the insurance. So it came as
>> something of a surprise to discover that the flatmate in question
>> returned with the TV & Video tucked under his arm and with the
>> computer in his car. He had taken them home incase they were burgled,
>> and then forgot to mention it (he was the last one to go on holiday).
>> So they got a free computer, TV & video.
>
> And there my sympathy went out the window again. If the items weren't
> returned upon finding out they weren't stolen, it's insurance fraud,
> and those guys are in no way better than the squatters/burglars.
At this point I find myself in total agreement with Arthur. By keeping
the replacements they were quite simply stealing from the insurance
company and by extension stealing from all the other customers of
that company.
Diane L.
Arthur Hagen
>
> But also, if someone has scrimped and save fro as single "luxury",
> might not the emotional loss be as great to them as the loss of a
> necessity to someone else?
Can the loss of something you don't really need /ever/ be felt as great
as the loss of a necessity? Who knows? I'm inclined to think not, but
then again, I can't measure people's feelings.
> You are projecting *your* value system on
> the world, and then judging others as inferior because they do not
> share your values.
Am I? I thought that anyone would classify something as a luxury when
it's something that's either not needed, or a simpler version at a
fraction of the cost would work quite well. And I likewise thought that
everyone, regardless of value system, would consider luxuries less vital
than necessities?
Or is there something else I've overlooked here?
Regards,
--
*Art
Arthur Hagen
That's your viewpoint. I think that in a case of rape, you lose
something much more important -- the ability to trust people. The act
/itself/ isn't usually the big problem.
Quite frankly, I find your comparision of burglary and rape to be quite
tasteless.
--
*Art
Alec Cawley
Have you been burgled? Because my point is that, whilst the orders of
magnitude are very different, the feeling of violation in being burgled
makes financial loss pale into insignificance. The two acts are, of
course, of very different magnitude. But both are in a spectrum in which
financial considerations are so trivial that thinking about them is, in
itself, demeaning.
I see the world as in two very different areas: factors involving
people, personal suffering and happiness, and factors involving things -
material possessions, which can be replaced by mere money. The two are
very separate and you cannot carry values from one into the other. By
saying you have less sympathy for people whose *financial* suffering is
less, you mix the two aspects together. IMO, there is more relationship
between the suffering of rape and the suffering of burglary (albeit the
latter is much less) than there is between the suffering of a poor
burglaree and a rich burglaree.
Arthur Hagen
> In article <de0cl3$676$1...@cauldron.broomstick.com>, a...@broomstick.com
> says...
>> Alec Cawley <al...@spamspam.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>> That's your viewpoint. I think that in a case of rape, you lose
>> something much more important -- the ability to trust people. The
>> act /itself/ isn't usually the big problem.
>>
>> Quite frankly, I find your comparision of burglary and rape to be
>> quite tasteless.
>
> Have you been burgled?
Yes, I have. Twice. And robbed once.
> Because my point is that, whilst the orders of
> magnitude are very different, the feeling of violation in being
> burgled makes financial loss pale into insignificance.
How can you say? If you lose your livelihood or family history because
of the burglary, it can hurt a LOT more than the feeling of being
violated but not losing anything important. The feeling of violation
when it's a *thing* (which your residence is) that has been violated is,
quite frankly, a luxury you can only afford if you didn't lose something
irreplacable.
Anyhow, I won't be posting more in this thread. Equinos mortis est.
--
*Art
Rocky Frisco
Each story is different. My mother, 92, lives in her chair most of the
time, sleeps there, eats there, etc. Although she does like to read, it
tires her eyes pretty quickly, so if you took away her TV, it would
really negatively impact her life.
If a person depends on a TV for entertainment and has bad eyes, a 42"
flatscreen model might be really essential for their well-being.
-Rock http://www.rocky-frisco.com
--
Rocky Frisco's LIBERTY website: http://www.liberty-in-our-time.com/
The World's Best Daily News Service: http://www.rationalreview.com/
Rock onstage with JJ Cale and E. Clapton: http://tinyurl.com/3modw
Lesley Weston
For one thing, isn't Newnham a women's college? Though I guess that could
have changed along with everything else.
--
Lesley Weston.
Brightly_coloured_blob is real, but I don't often check even the few bits
that get through Yahoo's filters. To reach me, use leswes att shaw dott ca,
changing spelling and spacing as required.
Lesley Weston
vinny....@gmail.com at vinny....@gmail.com wrote on 17/08/2005 9:02
AM:
Three questions - what happened to the small children after they had been
chased out alone? How small were they? And did the flatmates return the TV,
VCR and computer that they had obtained fraudulently? To be fair, when they
obtained them they didn't know it was fraud, only when their friend
returned, but they still should have given them back when they did find out.
Lesley Weston
al...@spamspam.co.uk wrote on 17/08/2005 1:18 PM:
> In article <de033q$58q$1...@cauldron.broomstick.com>, a...@broomstick.com
> says...
>> Diane L <di...@lindquist.plus.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> As to loss of luxury, people make their own decisions about what
>>> constitutes a luxury and what is a necessity. Some people consider
>>> books a luxury, some feel the same about a computer.
>>
>> Are there *any* persons on this planet who wouldn't consider a 42"
>> plasma TV a luxury item?
>
> Twenty plus years ago, I was just starting my second job, at a
> significant rise from my first, and was thinking that I now had enough
> to splash out on a real luxury, a VCR. I was peeved to hear someone on
> unemployment benefit complain that the level of benefit was insufficient
> to afford a VCR, which he (with a lot of free time and little money)
> considered a basic necessity.
I'd be inclined to agree with him, though I can sympathise with you on how
you felt about it too.
>
> So I would not think that it would be easy to judge what people might,
> or might not, consider a luxury.
>
> But also, if someone has scrimped and save fro as single "luxury", might
> not the emotional loss be as great to them as the loss of a necessity to
> someone else? You are projecting *your* value system on the world, and
> then judging others as inferior because they do not share your values.
The loss of something that is one's pride and joy would be unpleasant,
certainly, along with the feelings of having been violated, but a 42 inch
plasma TV is a pretty luxurious item that very few people could afford, even
with a £900 (!) loan, and even fewer students. I agree with Art on this one.
Flesh-eating Dragon
> All this talk of burglary reminds me of what happened to a friend of
> mine while he was studying at John Moores University in Liverpool. As I
> remember it he was sharing a fairly dilapidated flat (who doesn't as a
> student) with 5 other guys.
[...]
> The next good thing happened a week later when his house mate
> returned. By this time the TV & Video had been replaced by Radio
> Rentals, their computer replaced by the insurance.
Almost all the top Google results for "radio rentals" are about the
*Australian* company by that name.
What is this other one of which you speak?
Adrian.
PDoc
pretty much every EPSRC student in the country. That's it. No extra
funding. I just chose to save in other areas. Unlike most students in
the country, I don't get rat-arsed three times a week [1]. I've not
been on holiday (other than to visit family in this country for 5
years. You'd be surprised how much that saves, added to the fact that I
don't and never have smoked. So, it depends on what people define as
"afford". I wanted something pretty special (I'm a raving film buff,
and world of warcraft looks pretty good on it too...), and then someone
nicked it. Believe me, that was quite upsetting.
--
PDoc
Alchemist at large, no accidents in the lab since March...
http://www.cohesic.co.uk/blog/
[1] Just the one night for me...
PDoc
College. I just happen to live in the village of Newnham.
It's pretty nice - I'm quite lucky that the college has a house there.
Hendrik Schober
> [...]
> Can the loss of something you don't really need /ever/ be felt as great
Definitely.
I have a small wooden tortoise, given to me by
the wood sculptur who made it. I usually have
it on a leather string around my neck. I don't
know why I wear it (and so I don't show it and
in fact many people dealing with me on a regular
base never noticed it).
However, the loss of it would definitely be a
much greater loss than the loss of anything
"necessary" like my computer, a fridge etc. (I
don't have a TV.)
> > You are projecting *your* value system on
> > the world, and then judging others as inferior because they do not
> > share your values.
>
> Am I?
I'd think so, yes.
> I thought that anyone would classify something as a luxury when
> it's something that's either not needed, or a simpler version at a
> fraction of the cost would work quite well.
Yes, many people would probably agree with
that definition, although it would need
improvements. (By that definition my small
tortois is luxury, as it is not needed.)
> And I likewise thought that
> everyone, regardless of value system, would consider luxuries less vital
> than necessities?
Yes, most would probably agree with this,
too.
> Or is there something else I've overlooked here?
Yes: The definition of "necessary".
(Alec gave a nice example of someone, who's
home and has to kill time, and therefor does
consider a VCR more necessary than other
might do.
Another controverse example are books: Are
they luxury or necessary.
If you try to think this to its end you'll
find that "necessary" is a vague and very
subjective attribute. After all, there are
people on this planet who find most of the
things unnecessary that you don't know how
to live without.)
> Regards,
Schobi
--
Spam...@gmx.de is never read
I'm Schobi at suespammers dot org
"Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving"
Terry Pratchett
Rhiannon Sands
"Arthur Hagen" <a...@broomstick.com> wrote in message
news:de033q$58q$1...@cauldron.broomstick.com...
--
Rhiannon S
I'm not an idiot! I'm just in touch with my pineal gland.
David Chapman
> Almost all the top Google results for "radio rentals" are about the
> *Australian* company by that name.
>
> What is this other one of which you speak?
It is - or was, I haven't seen one of their shops in years and they may have
gone under - a Tv and video rental company.
--
Who the f--k are you calling insolent?
David Chapman
>> No, I'm not missing that, and I don't think it's true /unless/ you have
>> enough afterwards. If you lose something really important that you
>> can't replace because you can't afford to, that might affect you more
>> than the feeling of shock and violation.
>
> I think that is equivalent to saying rape doesn't matter it you don't
> get pregnant, and it matters less to rich women because they can pay for
> the abortion.
Come to think of it, rape and burglary aren't all that much different. They
both involve someone invading your privacy and taking what is yours by
force, leaving you feeling insecure and frightened. The only major
difference is that you're not necessarily there when you get burgled.
Paul Harman
news:430487cf$1$366$cc9e...@news.dial.pipex.com...
> Come to think of it, rape and burglary aren't all that much different.
> They both involve someone invading your privacy and taking what is yours
> by force, leaving you feeling insecure and frightened. The only major
> difference is that you're not necessarily there when you get burgled.
Until relatively recently, rape was classified under the property laws (as
in trespass of the husband's property).
Paul
Flesh-eating Dragon
> From the Collected Witterings of Flesh-eating Dragon, volume 23:
>
> > Almost all the top Google results for "radio rentals" are about the
> > *Australian* company by that name.
> > What is this other one of which you speak?
>
> It is - or was, I haven't seen one of their shops in years and they may have
> gone under - a Tv and video rental company.
The situation here in .au turns out to be weirder than I thought. There
are *two* Radio Rentals over here. There is
http://www.radio-rentals.com.au/ which I had never heard of before and
which turns out to be connected to the Radio Rentals you're talking
about. Then there is http://www.radiorentals.com.au/ which is the one I
*do* know about and I haven't been able to find a clear statement of
its history except that it's "an independently owned member of the
national franchise" [1]
(<http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s580724.htm>).
Oh, and that the founder was a man named "Jack Filsell". Try Googling
for that name and then ask yourself where the world is headed if people
are now selling electrical equipment to the undead. [2] :-)
Adrian.
[1] I would have thought "independently owned member of a franchise"
was an oxymoron, but there you go.
[2] CCA welcome to comment.
Alec Cawley
@hotmail.com says...
> From the Collected Witterings of Flesh-eating Dragon, volume 23:
>
> > Almost all the top Google results for "radio rentals" are about the
> > *Australian* company by that name.
> >
> > What is this other one of which you speak?
>
> It is - or was, I haven't seen one of their shops in years and they may have
> gone under - a Tv and video rental company.
They shrank a lot, became part of the Thorn group, which merged with
EMI. At some point, the branding was dropped.
Simon Callan
> Newnham College is indeed a female-only college. However, I'm at
> Clare College. I just happen to live in the village of Newnham.
I used to live in that area. My parents owned one of the shops in that
area (Derby Stores), and I went to Newnham Croft School for quite a
time.
It was quite a good little shop. Newnham was quite a snobby area, and
people were willing to pay for a good selection of upmarket wines,
cheeses and meats.
Simon
--
Livejournal: http://nallac.livejournal.com/
April Goodwin-Smith
> We were burgled on Friday and although we got off lightly I'm still angry.
> I'm just posting this to get it off my chest and in the hope of virtual
> hugs and back-pats.
<snip>
> I'm insured so won't lose too much money over it, but the video
> camera had tapes of our grandson's first birthday and first steps
> which we can't replace, and that's annoying.
<snip>
> Sophie (the dog) needed reassuring when we got home. Dogs don't understand
> medals so she got extra biscuits and games instead.
>
I know I'm coming in late with this - but here's a consolation
hug and there-there.
It is very creepy to be burgled. Partly it's the knowledge that
someone is watching you closely enough to know whether you
are home or not, and then take advantage of the opportunity.
This has turned into a long saga of a me-too experience. It
was very cathartic to write, so I'm going to leave it in here,
but I wanted to say that this isn't just all about me (though the
verbiage below is), but that being burgled is only slightly
about the stuff. The big rotten part is that someone is
watching you, and views you as an exploitable resource.
YUCK!
We were robbed this past May. We walked the cat in the
evening, and I must have dropped my keys outside. We got
in with my SOGP's keys, and I didn't notice mine were gone.
Sometime between midnight (the last time I got up to go for a
pee) and 4:00 am (when my SOGP got up to go to work)
someone came into the apartment and crept around long
enough to take stuff. They were only looking for a quick
buck, so it could have been worse.
They took our bowl of loonies for the laundry (probably $20),
and my coin purse (probaby $10), the pile of money on the
counter my husband had put out for the day ($10), a scarf
which I didn't care for much, but which is currently popular
(probably $15), and my SOGP's leather jacket (probably
$320). Really, we got off lightly, except that my SOGP
doesn't usually really care for things the way I do, but he
really liked that jacket. A person, studying my husband's
possessions for a month, couldn't have taken anything
that he liked better.
We were lucky our wallets weren't taken - mine was in the
knapsack on the chair by the table where my coin purse was,
and there was a new credit card ready to be activated in the
heap of mail on the counter by the loonie bowl, so we really
were lucky.
One of the things about the experience was that, while I do
have rare nightmares, they are normally the kind that make
you wake with a quiet gasp. That night I had a nightmare that
two people were breaking in by a window, and I was trying
to scream and scare them away. I woke up my husband
with my strangled efforts to project a scream (so frustrating
in a dream to be unable to utter). We think that may have
scared the person(s) away.
One creepy part was how little had changed in the apartment,
and how long it took us to put two and two together. In the
morning, I got ready for work, and then couldn't find my keys.
I didn't want to leave the apartment unlocked, so I hunted and
hunted for 30 minutes, and then phoned that I would be in late
after my husband arrived home. While waiting, I pottered around
cleaning up heaps of mail and whatnot. I noticed that my change
purse was gone, and thought that my SOGP had taken it for
some strange reason. I also didn't notice that the loonie bowl
was gone, until nearly noon. There were also two hangers on
the floor in the hallway - which, sometimes when my husband is
in a hurry, happens. I noticed that his leather jacket was gone,
but I just thought he had worn it to work - in spite of the fact
that, really, he would never wear it to that kind of work. When
my SOGP got home, he said that when he got up he found the
lights on in the hallway and the kitchen, and just thought that I
had not turned them off before going to bed (okay, sometimes
I need the light for psyhological reasons), and that his money
on the counter was gone, and so was the loonie bowl, but he
just thought that I had tidied things away (yes, that is something
I do - tidying, I mean - when I am fussed about something else.
So, it wasn't until noon that we put all the pieces together and
realized that we'd been robbed. It was very very creepy to
know that they had been in the apartment while we were
sleeping. ARGH.
What is equally creepy is that when we walk our cat in the
evenings, now, there is one street woman that just gives him
the hairy scary willies and no mstake. Argh argh argh.
We've changed the lock, and we're now very anal retentive
about our keys and locking the door.
So, aside from the jacket, it wasn't the loss of the stuff that
made the experience crappy. It was the invasion and the
contempt that made the experience crappy.
*whew*
Well, I feel better. Mostly.
April.
Stacie L. Hanes
> What is equally creepy is that when we walk our cat in the
> evenings, now, there is one street woman that just gives him
> the hairy scary willies and no mstake. Argh argh argh.
I kept this bit because, I dunno, it gives me the same sort of willies as
your cat. But then, I was batting a mouse on a string at a pet store the
other day, so pay no mind.
> Well, I feel better. Mostly.
> April.
Sympathy. Now that I'm living alone, the thought of intruders crosses my
mind more often.
--
Stacie, fourth swordswoman of the afpocalypse.
AFPMinister of Flexible Weapons & Bondage-happy predator
AFPMistress to peachy ashie passion & AFPDeliciousSnack to 8'FED
"If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible
warning." Catherine Aird, _His Burial Too_
http://esmeraldus.blogspot.com/
Lister
<house_d...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Well, I feel better. Mostly.
>> April.
>
>Sympathy. Now that I'm living alone, the thought of intruders crosses my
>mind more often.
But you have whips! :)
--
How can I meet Kylie Minogue?
Arthur Hagen
> On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 14:10:29 GMT, "Stacie L. Hanes"
> <house_d...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>> Well, I feel better. Mostly.
>>> April.
>>
>> Sympathy. Now that I'm living alone, the thought of intruders
>> crosses my mind more often.
>
> But you have whips! :)
She has *knives*. But I'd still feel better if she got an Akita.
Regards,
--
*Art
Stacie L. Hanes
> Lister <misterl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 14:10:29 GMT, "Stacie L. Hanes"
>> <house_d...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>> Well, I feel better. Mostly.
>>>> April.
>>>
>>> Sympathy. Now that I'm living alone, the thought of intruders
>>> crosses my mind more often.
>>
>> But you have whips! :)
>
> She has *knives*.
And a basball bat.
> But I'd still feel better if she got an Akita.
I don't think a big dog would be acceptable here, and I'm not really the
dog-owning type. It would have to walk itself.
However, there's a lock and a deadbolt on the outside door, and a deadbolt
and one of those hotel-type security latches on the door at the top of the
stairs. anyone breaking in would have to make a godawful racket. I gave Jim
his own set of keys; one night I was expecting him over and he let himself
in the bottom door . . .I answered the top door with a sword in hand just
for form's sake.
I also have one of those controversial mechanisms for propelling bits of
lead fast enough to cause grave injury, but I've never kept any of the
little bits of metal in the house. Right now, I think it would be unwise of
me to change that particular policy.
Rocky Frisco
> What is equally creepy is that when we walk our cat in the
> evenings, now, there is one street woman that just gives him
> the hairy scary willies and no mstake. Argh argh argh.
There's your thief.
You might try to trap her by repeating the inducement (keys on the
doorstep).
Lister
<agoodw...@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>I know I'm coming in late with this - but here's a consolation
>hug and there-there.
>
>It is very creepy to be burgled. Partly it's the knowledge that
>someone is watching you closely enough to know whether you
>are home or not, and then take advantage of the opportunity.
>
>This has turned into a long saga of a me-too experience. It
>was very cathartic to write, so I'm going to leave it in here,
>but I wanted to say that this isn't just all about me (though the
>verbiage below is), but that being burgled is only slightly
>about the stuff. The big rotten part is that someone is
>watching you, and views you as an exploitable resource.
>YUCK!
>
>We were robbed this past May. We walked the cat in the
>evening, and I must have dropped my keys outside. We got
>in with my SOGP's keys, and I didn't notice mine were gone.
>Sometime between midnight (the last time I got up to go for a
>pee) and 4:00 am (when my SOGP got up to go to work)
>someone came into the apartment and crept around long
>enough to take stuff. They were only looking for a quick
>buck, so it could have been worse.
I have nothing to add to this, and you have my sympathy, but what on
earth were you doing walking a cat?
--
.sig for rent
Apply within
Lesley Weston
agoodw...@shaw.ca wrote on 19/08/2005 6:47 PM:
<snip tale of truly unpleasant burglary>
That's nasty, particularly the bit about them being in your apartment while
you were asleep. I hope you do feel better now. Which cat do you walk -
Chucky? And how easily did he take to the idea?
April Goodwin-Smith
> April Goodwin-Smith wrote:
<snip>
>> Well, I feel better. Mostly.
>> April.
>
> Sympathy. Now that I'm living alone, the thought of intruders
> crosses my mind more often.
>
The important thing to remember, I think, is that it is not personal.
People are watching you and will take advantage of any chink in
the protection around your abode, yes, quicker than you can say
wink, but it is not personal - they will take advantage of anybody.
Do things that keep people out, both while you're home and while
you're away, and be regimentally methodical about applying those
protections every time you cross your threshold in either direction.
If you live in an area where people will kick the door down (*that*
was a very scary story), then you need to apply stronger protection.
I confess that when I lived alone in one particular area, I never
answered the door. If you didn't phone ahead, you could go
whistle on the doorstep; I wasn't even gonna move while someone
was pressing the let-me-in button unannounced.
Anyway, this one was my fault - I dropped my keys outside where
people are living on the street because every bean they get goes to
support some mean drug habit. Don't do that, 'kay?
April.
April Goodwin-Smith
> April Goodwin-Smith wrote:
>> What is equally creepy is that when we walk our cat in the
>> evenings, now, there is one street woman that just gives him
>> the hairy scary willies and no mstake. Argh argh argh.
> There's your thief.
>
Yes, I know.
>
> You might try to trap her by repeating the inducement (keys
> on the doorstep).
>
No, I think she's already trapped enough.[1]
April.
[1] - before anyone thinks I've gone all fluffy bunny - she
scares me, and I don't want to attrack her attention in
anyway. I got my big-city reminder, and that's okay by
me. I'm sorry that my SOGP paid the biggest price in
loss of personally valued things. That always seems to
be the way: I need the lesson, so the universe gives the
booby prize to someone close to me. I'm gonna start
carrying my alien-repelling umbrella again.[2]
[2] - hactually, I covered an umbrella in pieces of
reflective emergency blanket film, to carry in the
Okanagan for portable shade while waiting for the
bus (easily above 45 C anywhere there's a great
deal of concrete - like a bus loop).
April Goodwin-Smith
> "April Goodwin-Smith" wrote:
<snip>
>>We were robbed this past May. We walked the cat in the
> I have nothing to add to this, and you have my sympathy, but
> what on earth were you doing walking a cat?
>
Chucko - Mister Cute Orange Cat - is a cowboy cat - born
on a farm, and raised in the wide open spaces. We now live
in the big city in an apartment in the downtown core. If we
let him out on his own, he'd be squashed flat faster than you
could say, "Oh no, Mr. Bill!"
But he still wants to go out. Since we feel guilty about
cooping up a young healthy cat, we take him for walks.
If you think the walks are weird - you'd really laugh at the
thing we do now: We've gotten bored with walking back
and forth behind our apartment building in the quite unsavory
back alley - although Chuckie finds the smells to be well
worth a long snuffle <shudder>. So, now we take our
grocery cart, put newspaper in the bottom to give him
something firm to stand on, half a box on one side so that
he has something to hide in if we meet something that gives
him the willies, and a lid secured on the top so that he can't
hop out. We now trundle him to the park occasionally.
He likes to go.
April.
April Goodwin-Smith
> April Goodwin-Smith wrote:
<snip>
> Which cat do you walk - Chucky? And how easily did he
> take to the idea?
>
Yes, Chuckie - the others are old enough not to really care
anymore. They can get out on the balcony, and that seems
to be enough.
He was a little slow. I started by putting the harness on him
just in the house - and he spent quite a bit of time walking
backwards, trying to back out of it. Then I attached the leash,
which he thought was fun, because it is just a sturdier version
of string. We had a bit of a mishap with the first harness,
because he saw something scary and houdini'd out of it
and up a hill & under a bush (we were in a park). We got a
better harness, and he now knows that (1) he can't get out,
and (2) I will pick him up to protect him from scary things, so
he doesn't have to continue to try & run away.
Now that he knows the purpose of the whole arrangement,
he is very good about cooperating - he holds still to have
the harness put on; in fact, if you shake it over the couch,
he will come running and hop up & wait for you to close
all the latches. He purrs all the way down to the outdoors.
He even continues to purr, shakily, in the elevator, which
contrivance he thinks is a Very Bad Idea indeed.
He will never nonchalantly trot down the street in Gastown,
but he's doing quite well.
April.
Stacie L. Hanes
> Anyway, this one was my fault - I dropped my keys outside where
> people are living on the street because every bean they get goes to
> support some mean drug habit. Don't do that, 'kay?
I'm capable of flipping on a security consciousness that would make most
people think PARANOIA!!!!, but usually I settle for "reasonable
precautions." I was an armed doorknob-rattler for the Navy for a couple of
years.
Some things I do: look under my car as I approach, and in the back seat
before opening the door. Note the presence of any vans or other such
vehicles nearby, etc., have key ready before reaching the car. Lock doors
always.
The house is a bit different, but checking the doorknob ought to suffice.
During the day, I'd pretty much assume the place would be unmolested--the
apartment is above a dentist's office. At night, there's the ground floor
between me and the rest of the world.
I think it's a safe place, but I just think about it more now.
Thomas Zahr
... coping with burglars
> Right now, I think it would be unwise of me to
> change that particular policy.
Right, and the effects of a sword on a burglar might be
interesting too, some of them must have seen Kill Bill.
;-)
--
Ciao
Thomas =:-)
<sometimes RL is such a drag>
Rgemini
>
> He will never nonchalantly trot down the street in Gastown,
> but he's doing quite well.
How do the local dogs react? "Mixed signals - it's on a lead, but, but,
but it moves wrong and it smells wrong - grrrr, wrough, wrough wrough"?
Rgemini
Rhiannon Sands
"April Goodwin-Smith" <agoodw...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:lFONe.273305$s54.117312@pd7tw2no...
> "Stacie L. Hanes" wrote ...
> > April Goodwin-Smith wrote:
> <snip>
> >> Well, I feel better. Mostly.
> >> April.
> >
> > Sympathy. Now that I'm living alone, the thought of intruders
> > crosses my mind more often.
> >
>
> The important thing to remember, I think, is that it is not personal.
>
> People are watching you and will take advantage of any chink in
> the protection around your abode, yes, quicker than you can say
> wink, but it is not personal - they will take advantage of anybody.
>
> Do things that keep people out, both while you're home and while
> you're away, and be regimentally methodical about applying those
> protections every time you cross your threshold in either direction.
>
> If you live in an area where people will kick the door down (*that*
> was a very scary story), then you need to apply stronger protection.
>
> I confess that when I lived alone in one particular area, I never
> answered the door. If you didn't phone ahead, you could go
> whistle on the doorstep; I wasn't even gonna move while someone
> was pressing the let-me-in button unannounced.
>
I must admit I do the same thing, I've even turned off the door buzzer. Of
course I'm the type of person that when I get home I check every room to
make sure no-one got in while I was away.
Terry Pratchett
>>
>
>Well the more money you have the more you can pay for a therapist to make
>you feel better.
And if they'd beat the shit out of you that's okay because you might
have health insurance?
--
Terry Pratchett
Rhiannon Sands
"Terry Pratchett" <tprat...@unseen.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:PGZGDZG5...@unseen.demon.co.uk...
Being attacked in your own home is a far differnet thing from being robbed.
And I have been both, before anyone says anything.
And being attacked is something that money makes no difference to.
I'll admit if someone were to be burgled and the thief made off with their
ming vase, van gogh, and nicked the porsche as a get away car I wouldn't
feel much in the way of sympathy.
If they had been seriously and sexually assaulted during it that's a very
different thing and it wouldn't matter how much money they had. That's
something you may never recover from.
Paul E. Jamison
>
> Chucko - Mister Cute Orange Cat - is a cowboy cat - born
> on a farm, and raised in the wide open spaces. We now live
> in the big city in an apartment in the downtown core. If we
> let him out on his own, he'd be squashed flat faster than you
> could say, "Oh no, Mr. Bill!"
>
> But he still wants to go out. Since we feel guilty about
> cooping up a young healthy cat, we take him for walks.
>
> If you think the walks are weird - you'd really laugh at the
> thing we do now: We've gotten bored with walking back
> and forth behind our apartment building in the quite unsavory
> back alley - although Chuckie finds the smells to be well
> worth a long snuffle <shudder>. So, now we take our
> grocery cart, put newspaper in the bottom to give him
> something firm to stand on, half a box on one side so that
> he has something to hide in if we meet something that gives
> him the willies, and a lid secured on the top so that he can't
> hop out. We now trundle him to the park occasionally.
> He likes to go.
>
There is actually a pet stroller on the market now, such as:
http://www.ferretstore.com/kj-00646.html
This sounds kind of like your setup, only yours is likely cheaper.
It sounds like Chucko leads a very happy, active life with you. He chose his
humans well.
Paul
--
"Who reads, learns, lives the Ferret Way becomes keeper
of light, ennobling outer worlds from one within."
- a prophecy from the Ancients
Rocky Frisco
> Being attacked in your own home is a far differnet thing from being robbed.
> And I have been both, before anyone says anything.
>
> And being attacked is something that money makes no difference to.
>
> I'll admit if someone were to be burgled and the thief made off with their
> ming vase, van gogh, and nicked the porsche as a get away car I wouldn't
> feel much in the way of sympathy.
>
> If they had been seriously and sexually assaulted during it that's a very
> different thing and it wouldn't matter how much money they had. That's
> something you may never recover from.
Damned straight.
Perhaps some afpeople may understand why I reserve the right to kill the
intruder if this ever starts to happen, even if you take away the word
"sexually."
April Goodwin-Smith
> "April Goodwin-Smith" wrote...
<snip>
>> If you think the walks are weird - you'd really laugh at the
>> and <snip> We now trundle him to the park occasionally.
>> He likes to go.
>>
> There is actually a pet stroller on the market now, such as:
> http://www.ferretstore.com/kj-00646.html
>
Very cool! I like the locking wheels.
>
> This sounds kind of like your setup, only yours is likely
> cheaper.
>
Yes. $89.99 US is about three times the cost of our
arrangement, and it can be easily returned to its pristine
state (not counting the cat hair) for a trip to the grocery
store.
>
> It sounds like Chucko leads a very happy, active life with
> you. He chose his humans well.
>
Thank you - did I tell you that when he found us, and realized
that I was a softie for a furry hard-luck story, he, one evening
just after I had gone to bed, spent 45 minutes hanging by his
front claws from the window ledge above the head of my
bed meowing with that pitiful let-me-in meow?
What sold me on him was that when I finally gave in and
started to feed him on the step, first he climbed into my
lap and had a cuddle, and then he got down and ate
some, and then he climbed back in my lap for more
cuddles, and then he got down and ate some more,
and then he climbed back in my lap for more cuddles.
He was missing his cuddles a lot more than the food,
and he was pretty darned hungry.
I don't know how he ended up at our house, but I bet
there is someone back in Alberta who still misses him.
April.
April Goodwin-Smith
It's funny: the only time we meet dogs is in the park, and they
are far more interested in their human and the ball in their
human's hand than any stupid cat. Tonight we met a woman
who tried to get her dog to come and see him, because she
said her dog liked cats, and her dog was going ho-hum,
chuck that ball, mom.
Chuckie, on the other hand, definitely tries to do a Rincewind.
April.
redtiger
"Thomas Zahr" <ThomasZ...@geekmail.de> wrote in message
news:Xns96B97A0D334EAT...@ID-179574.user.uni-berlin.de...
> Stacie L. Hanes posted:
>
> ... coping with burglars
>
>> Right now, I think it would be unwise of me to
>> change that particular policy.
>
> Right, and the effects of a sword on a burglar might be
> interesting too, some of them must have seen Kill Bill.
>
> ;-)
Kill Bill 3 - Stacie's Doorway!
Uma doesn't stand a chance.
Anthony
--
Light is faster than sound.
That's why people seem bright until you hear them speak.
Flesh-eating Dragon
> However, the amount of *sympathy* they get is inversely proportional to
> how easy the goods were attained. If the burgled person came by them
> easily, and the loss is but an inconvenient loss of luxury, it will
> gather less sympathy than, say, someone who lost something much cheaper
> but which for them was hard to attain and near impossible to replace.
Perhaps. But lack of sympathy would perhaps be best expressed through
lack of posting. Posting purely in order to say, "I have relatively
little sympathy" strikes me as a suspicious thing to do.
Adrian.
Flesh-eating Dragon
> Until relatively recently, rape was classified under the property laws (as in
> trespass of the husband's property).
Which is one reason why certain dead legislators had better bloody
well hope that nobody invents time travel, otherwise they will be in
very deep trouble.
But if you go back even *further*, it wasn't so classified.
Adrian.
Arthur Hagen
>
> Perhaps. But lack of sympathy would perhaps be best expressed through
> lack of posting.
How do you *express* anything except consent by not saying anything?
> Posting purely in order to say, "I have relatively
> little sympathy" strikes me as a suspicious thing to do.
Suspicion of what, exactly? Not saying seems highly suspicious...
--
*Art
Flesh-eating Dragon
> The situation here in .au turns out to be weirder than I thought. There
> are *two* Radio Rentals over here. There is
> http://www.radio-rentals.com.au/ which I had never heard of before and
> which turns out to be connected to the Radio Rentals you're talking
> about. Then there is http://www.radiorentals.com.au/ which is the one I
> *do* know about and I haven't been able to find a clear statement of
> its history except that it's "an independently owned member of the
> national franchise" [1]
> (<http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s580724.htm>).
>
> Oh, and that the founder was a man named "Jack Filsell". Try Googling
> for that name and then ask yourself where the world is headed if people
> are now selling electrical equipment to the undead. [2] :-)
Just wondering if anyone tried the recommended Google search. The point
is that there are exactly two hits which are obviously about the same
person (which is curious enough in itself - how many people are
mentioned exactly *twice* on the Internet?) and that they show the man
in two astonishingly different capacities. On one page, he's mentioned
in his capacity as the founder of a major electrical retailer, and on
the other in his capacity as the curator of a cemetery. Hence my
theory about selling electrical goods to the undead.
Adrian.
Stacie L. Hanes
> "Thomas Zahr" <ThomasZ...@geekmail.de> wrote in message
> news:Xns96B97A0D334EAT...@ID-179574.user.uni-berlin.de...
>> Stacie L. Hanes posted:
>>
>> ... coping with burglars
>>
>>> Right now, I think it would be unwise of me to
>>> change that particular policy.
>>
>> Right, and the effects of a sword on a burglar might be
>> interesting too, some of them must have seen Kill Bill.
>>
>> ;-)
>
> Kill Bill 3 - Stacie's Doorway!
> Uma doesn't stand a chance.
It was probably under the influence of this thread, but last night I
actually searched my apartment with a drawn sword in hand.
<shakes head> I have mixed feelings about it.
Prologue: I have experienced some emotional turmoil lately, and last night
was a low-ish point; I left here rather upset. I'm also on new medication,
which is affecting my memory. I returned to find the upper door, the one
into the apartment itself, standing wide open. The bottom door, the one to
the street, was shut, locked, and undamaged in any way.
Cut to the chase: Nothing was disturbed, no one was here, and I really
didn't think there *was* anyone in the apartment.
The feeling of seeing my door open and not remembering whether I'd left it
open was disturbing enough that looking in all the closets and under the bed
was reassuring. Having the sword made me feel not quite defenseless.
Please note that had I *really* thought that someone had been or was still
in the apartment, I would have gone quietly back down the stairs and called
the police with my cell phone and not looked for the intruder/s myself. Not
stupid, me.
It was basically that I knew, intellectually, that no one was here.
Emotionally, I was alone and slightly spooked, and looking in the closets
made me feel better.
And now I need to see the Kill Bill movies. #2 is for sale where I work, but
I haven't seen #1.
Thomas Zahr
> Flesh-eating Dragon <dra...@netyp.com.au> wrote:
>>
>> Perhaps. But lack of sympathy would perhaps be best
>> expressed through lack of posting.
>
> How do you *express* anything except consent by not saying
> anything?
>
The absence of comment is not ... ?
...
--
Ciao
Thomas =:-)
<If god is omnipotent, why create monday to friday?>
vinny....@gmail.com
> "Thomas Zahr" <ThomasZ...@geekmail.de> wrote in message
> news:Xns96B97A0D334EAT...@ID-179574.user.uni-berlin.de...
> > Stacie L. Hanes posted:
> >
> > ... coping with burglars
> >
> >> Right now, I think it would be unwise of me to
> >> change that particular policy.
> >
> > Right, and the effects of a sword on a burglar might be
> > interesting too, some of them must have seen Kill Bill.
I have seen what a sword does to someone it really isn't nice...
Admittedly not the spray like in Kill Bill, but lots and lots of
blood... You see I was at this party (yes a lot of my stories start
like this) and well I didn't know the host that well (he was a friend
of a friend) nor did I know a lot of people there. Anyway the host was
something of a martial art nut (I think his name was Paul... might have
been Paul... hmmm began with a P) and it was his birthday (hence the
party).
He received a number of pretty cool presents the coolest of which was
an imported Katana. Later on drink was flowing and rather foolishly he
decides to play with his new toy. He pulls it out and in one move
accidentally took someones arm off... Well that was pretty much the end
of the party... We all had to give statements to the police and I
believe Paul/Peter ended up in prison for a few years. It really wasn't
pretty.
Lesley Weston
It's good that he could adapt - he sounds like an adventurous sort of cat
anyway, so it's not too surprising. Our neighbours have a little dog; I
forget the breed - she looks like a tiny Doberman Pinscher, smaller than
most cats - whose size makes her very aggressive (only barking and growling,
but she's really good at that). When she's being held by one of her people,
though, she's the sweetest little dog you can imagine, calm and confident
and friendly.
Lesley Weston
wrote on 21/08/2005 10:18 AM:
> "April Goodwin-Smith" <agoodw...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
> news:7YONe.73672$vj.3831@pd7tw1no...
>>
>> Chucko - Mister Cute Orange Cat - is a cowboy cat - born
>> on a farm, and raised in the wide open spaces. We now live
>> in the big city in an apartment in the downtown core. If we
>> let him out on his own, he'd be squashed flat faster than you
>> could say, "Oh no, Mr. Bill!"
>>
>> But he still wants to go out. Since we feel guilty about
>> cooping up a young healthy cat, we take him for walks.
>>
>> If you think the walks are weird - you'd really laugh at the
>> thing we do now: We've gotten bored with walking back
>> and forth behind our apartment building in the quite unsavory
>> back alley - although Chuckie finds the smells to be well
>> worth a long snuffle <shudder>. So, now we take our
>> grocery cart, put newspaper in the bottom to give him
>> something firm to stand on, half a box on one side so that
>> he has something to hide in if we meet something that gives
>> him the willies, and a lid secured on the top so that he can't
>> hop out. We now trundle him to the park occasionally.
>> He likes to go.
>>
>
> There is actually a pet stroller on the market now, such as:
>
> http://www.ferretstore.com/kj-00646.html
>
> This sounds kind of like your setup, only yours is likely cheaper.
I've seen people with large, very old or infirm dogs transporting them about
in those carts that people attach to their bicycles to carry their babies in
(horribly unsafe for babies, IMO). That way, the dog gets its walk in the
park or woodlands, but doesn't have to walk to and from the interesting
places.
Stacie L. Hanes
> redtiger wrote:
>> "Thomas Zahr" <ThomasZ...@geekmail.de> wrote in message
>> news:Xns96B97A0D334EAT...@ID-179574.user.uni-berlin.de...
>>> Stacie L. Hanes posted:
>>>
>>> ... coping with burglars
>>>
>>>> Right now, I think it would be unwise of me to
>>>> change that particular policy.
>>>
>>> Right, and the effects of a sword on a burglar might be
>>> interesting too, some of them must have seen Kill Bill.
> <snip>
>
> I have seen what a sword does to someone it really isn't nice...
> Admittedly not the spray like in Kill Bill, but lots and lots of
> blood...
I'm certain that most of the sorts of violence that remove limbs will
produce lots of blood; I say "most" because, oddly enough, there's
relatively little blood when someon's arm is pulled off by a tractor--the
vessels shut down in self-defense.
> He received a number of pretty cool presents the coolest of which was
> an imported Katana. Later on drink was flowing and rather foolishly he
> decides to play with his new toy. He pulls it out and in one move
> accidentally took someones arm off... Well that was pretty much the
> end of the party...
I should think so.
> We all had to give statements to the police and I
> believe Paul/Peter ended up in prison for a few years. It really
> wasn't pretty.
True enough. And, while I'd have called the police if I had seriously
suspected there was an intruder, if I'd been wrong and found someone hiding
in one of my closets I think I'd consider a good poke with the sword a
reasonable response.
Paul E. Jamison
> "Paul E. Jamison" wrote...
> > "April Goodwin-Smith" wrote...
> <snip>
> >> If you think the walks are weird - you'd really laugh at the
> >> thing we do now: <snip> we take our grocery cart, <snip>
> >> and <snip> We now trundle him to the park occasionally.
> >> He likes to go.
> >>
> > There is actually a pet stroller on the market now, such as:
> > http://www.ferretstore.com/kj-00646.html
> >
> Very cool! I like the locking wheels.
>
> > This sounds kind of like your setup, only yours is likely
> > cheaper.
> >
> Yes. $89.99 US is about three times the cost of our
> arrangement, and it can be easily returned to its pristine
> state (not counting the cat hair) for a trip to the grocery
> store.
>
are even more expensive. DIY sounds like the best way to go.
> >
> > It sounds like Chucko leads a very happy, active life with
> > you. He chose his humans well.
> >
> Thank you - did I tell you that when he found us, and realized
> that I was a softie for a furry hard-luck story, he, one evening
> just after I had gone to bed, spent 45 minutes hanging by his
> front claws from the window ledge above the head of my
> bed meowing with that pitiful let-me-in meow?
>
> What sold me on him was that when I finally gave in and
> started to feed him on the step, first he climbed into my
> lap and had a cuddle, and then he got down and ate
> some, and then he climbed back in my lap for more
> cuddles, and then he got down and ate some more,
> and then he climbed back in my lap for more cuddles.
> He was missing his cuddles a lot more than the food,
> and he was pretty darned hungry.
>
his paws around your heart and will not let go for anything.
It's amazing what we do for the comfort of our four-legged friends. I'm
reminded of the people who put together mobility carts for the pets with
hind-end paralysis. Max of the Crew is based on one such ferret who received
his very own set of wheels. His reaction to his new-found mobility was to
tear around the house at warp speed. If he could have, he would have made
the "VROOM! VROOM!" noises.
Why wheel your cat, dog or ferret around outdoors in a cart? They love it;
what other reason do you need?
> I don't know how he ended up at our house, but I bet
> there is someone back in Alberta who still misses him.
>
I'm betting they taught Chucko the joy of cuddling.
Paul (who's in a bit of a good mood today anyway)
Flesh-eating Dragon
> Flesh-eating Dragon wrote:
>>
>> Perhaps. But lack of sympathy would perhaps be best expressed through
>> lack of posting.
>
> How do you *express* anything except consent by not saying anything?
"Express" has a broader meaning than "communicate". My question is
why you felt a need to *communicate* your feelings at all.
>> Posting purely in order to say, "I have relatively
>> little sympathy" strikes me as a suspicious thing to do.
>
> Suspicion of what, exactly? Not saying seems highly suspicious...
Suspicion that the real reason for posting is different and more
ominous. The idea that someone posts *just* to say, "Oh, by the way,
if anyone cares, I have relatively little sympathy" doesn't hold
water. The fact that you were moved to post implies that you felt
something stronger than a mere sympathy deficit.
Adrian.