‘First Amendment auditor’ gets shot

You may recall my post from a couple of weeks ago about people who deliberately use their First Amendment rights to taunt and provoke police officers in the hope that they will react against them, giving them fodder for their YouTube audiences. They claim that they are protecting the right of free speech by using it legally. I said that this was a dangerous practice since the police are armed.
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Let’s hear it for Winky, the Bichon Frise who knows what’s important!

Winky won rave reviews at the Westminster Dog Show for deciding that she was going to do it her way, and not be controlled by the show’s demands for speed and accuracy and ignored the time to beat of 40 seconds.

R. Eric Thomas says that Winky’a performance showed us that trying to conform to other people’s criteria is not the most important thing in life. We also need to be true to ourselves and savor the moment.
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The importance of promptly speaking out against bigotry

In international Test cricket matches, there are microphones embedded in the wickets at each end. The primary purpose is to detect any contact between bat and ball when it is too slight to be heard by the umpires who need to know to make judgments as to whether a batter touched the ball or not. But the microphones also pick up conversations between players and that resulted in an incident that took place yesterday in the Test match between West Indies and England.
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Strange airline ticket pricing

Airline ticket pricing nowadays depends on so any factors that it would be quite a coincidence if you met someone on the same flight who had paid the same amount for the ticket as you did. But the most surprising thing is when it costs less to go further along the same route.

For instance, someone flying from New York to San Francisco could book a cheaper trip from New York to Lake Tahoe with a layover in San Francisco and get off there, without bothering to take the last leg of the flight.

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How to make a public apology

We are having an epidemic of politicians, corporations, and celebrities from all spheres of activity having information revealed about their bad behavior. When the evidence is incontrovertible, there arises the question of what kind of apology is required and what amends should be made. Lisa Leopold suggests some guidelines and says that in order to be effective, the apology should consist of three elements.
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Violating parking etiquette

Last Sunday, I went for breakfast with some friends to a local eatery. In front of the restaurant are three parking spaces in a row that are parallel to the curb. One car was already parked but straddling two spaces. When I parked in the third spot, that meant that no more cars could park. This was the second time such a thing had happened at that same restaurant. This kind of thing really annoys me and I vented about it to my breakfast companions.
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Light blogging due to travel

I am going to visit my daughter and son-in-law and so blogging will be light for the next few days. I left for the airport particularly early because I had heard reports of long lines at security checkpoints around the nation but at the Cleveland airport there was no line at all, though the TSA person said there had been a line earlier. All the security people were friendly but that is the usual case in Cleveland.