Breaking…

The New Neo Posted on by

I’m still awake and watching the news because there’s been so much drama for the past couple of hours in Boston. I’m hoping against hope that the following story, which is being reported on Fox, is actually true: one of the Boston terror attack suspects has been apprehended in Watertown, after a police officer was shot earlier this evening (presumably by one of the suspects) at MIT. Another suspect seems to be at large in the neighborhood.

There have been so many false reports that I cannot vouch for this one. But if true, it reminds me of the way Oswald was apprehended: he had shot police officer Tippit and then ran into a movie theater for cover, where he was apprehended.

UPDATE: I’m listening to a recording of some of the firefight. Whoever these guys are, they have a ton of firepower.

UPDATE: Now I’m watching video of the authorities walking the naked suspect into a police car—naked because they called in the SWAT team, held up shields, and made him strip before they’d go near him.

UPDATE: And now they’re reporting that one suspect is dead and one at large. If this is the case, who was that naked man being marched into the police car? Bizarre.

Suspect 1 and suspect 2

The New Neo Posted on by

The photos have been released.

One of the suspects, #2 (white cap), was spotted as a suspect quite some time ago by online websites and/or bloggers, although I can’t place where. Baseball caps, by the way, are very useful for perps, especially if they keep their heads down. As are sunglasses. Both make their features more difficult to see.

My guess is that these guys aren’t in Boston anymore. Are they even in the US?

I also don’t think these are amateurs. Their body language says otherwise.

Musical primacy

The New Neo Posted on by

[NOTE: This post of mine sparked the following reflections.]

Our responses to music are closely tied to emotion as well as memory. People who are brain-damaged and cannot speak can sometimes access music and even lyrics; different parts of the brain seem to be involved. A person going through a difficult emotional time—particularly romantic heartbreak, the subject of so many popular songs—can find music acting as a cathartic releaser for emotions otherwise kept hidden.

Although some people are disinterested in music, most of us are very very drawn to it. We have our favorites, and our favorites can be tenacious. Like Proust’s madeleine, a song or piece of music can vividly conjure up a lost time and place, distant people, and heartache or joy and almost everything in-between.

I have long thought that we all have a general tendency to prefer the first version we ever heard of a particular work, especially if we’ve grown familiar with it before hearing other versions. Of course, that first version must be a good one, but given that, it seems that the first one embeds itself into our minds and hearts in a way that makes it difficult to dislodge from its place of primacy.

There are many pieces, classical music and popular, that I know so well in their first versions that I can sing along (albeit badly) with every note, every nuance and hesitation and diminution, every accelerando and crescendo and shade and color. New versions just seem so wrong, even if other people might love them.

I’m sure there are exceptions where I’ve grown to love the later versions. But right now I can’t think of any. Well, maybe this one—but I wasn’t all that fond of the original in the first place:

The original:

Or was this the original? I think it was the original original (it sounds a lot more familiar to me):

As I said, neither is a big favorite of mine, but I think the Taylor version is more interesting. And the public seems to agree with me.

One exception to the primacy rule for me is Mark Knopfler. My favorite Knopfler version of any Knopfler song is usually the one I’m listening to at the moment. With Knopfler, it’s all good.

Two possible suspects?

The New Neo Posted on by

At this point I hesitate to report on “news” connected with the Boston bombings, because so much released by the MSM about the aftermath of this story has proven false. So take the following with more than a grain of salt.

Many newspapers—such as, for example, the Boston Globe—are reporting that the FBI is planning to release photos of two backpacked men in the crowd whom they’d like the public to help them identify. Obviously, they think these might be the bombers. But the NY Post has actually accompanied its story with a photo supposedly of the two men, even though this does not appear to be an official FBI photo but is instead the sort of thing that’s been speculated on at websites such as this one (hat tip: “Kustie the Klown”).

Just to show you some of the confusion, here are two sentences from that same Boston Globe article:

Authorities have clear video images of two separate suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings carrying black bags at the explosion sites and are planning to release the images today in an appeal for the public’s help in identifying the men, according to an official briefed on the case…

Jason Pack, a supervisory special agent with the FBI’s national office, said Thursday that the agency has not made a determination on whether there will be a press conference, or whether to release photos.

The Globe story says that the men in the videos “were seen separately on videotape ”” one at each of the two bombing sites, which are located about a block apart.” But the photo in the Post is of two men standing together.

Different “authorities,” different stories.

Do you look like your dog?

The New Neo Posted on by

I had a small white fluffy dog, a smallish-to-medium-sized cockerpoo. We got him when our son was eight years old.

No one in our family looked like him (the dog, not the child), although I suppose we were all about medium-sized (for people, not dogs). He was a wonderful dog, friendly and calm, not barky at all despite the fact that he was not big. He had the temperament of a big dog in a smaller dog’s body, and he didn’t shed, which was a fabulous thing.

We didn’t look like our dog, but some people and their dogs do have a marked resemblance:

peopledog1

peopledog2

More at the link.

Bad explosion near Waco

The New Neo Posted on by

Horrific explosion in a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas, with many injured and many feared dead.

I am not a conspiracist. And this is, after all, a fertilizer plant. Fertilizer is highly explosive, and I don’t see why a fertilizer plant would be a target. So my guess is that this is an accident. But I can’t help but notice that Friday is the 20th anniversary of the Waco siege.

This has certainly been a dreadful week.

Breaking news: suspect arrested

The New Neo Posted on by

We’ve had false reports about this sort of thing before, but…

A suspect has been arrested in the Boston bombings, identified by video.

No doubt more will be coming on this, but that’s all there is as of now.

UPDATE 2:15: the videos are reported to have been from the Lord & Taylor department store.

I keep forgetting that many of you—probably most of you—are unfamiliar with the area of the blast. Almost anyone from or near Boston, or who visits the city a lot, is very familiar with the area, because it’s a very popular spot for shopping and for tourists. The Lord & Taylor store is very near the finish line of the marathon.

Once again, though—this may all merely be a rumor. Reporting on this story has been rife with misinformation so far.

UPDATE 2:20: Now the police are issuing denials.

Looks at the moment as though it’s another false rumor in a string of them. The MSM has not exactly been covering itself in glory in covering this story.

UPDATE 4:30: Now we’re hearing that authorities have found an image of a possible suspect but have not identified or apprehended him.

High Noon

The New Neo Posted on by

[NOTE: The following case is one of the reasons I think the ricin letters may have been sent by someone out for revenge.]

“High Noon” is such a dramatic movie, it’s easy to forget what starts the whole thing rolling: a man Kane helped convict and who has just been released from prison after serving his sentence has vowed to kill Kane, and returns to town (with a few eager confederates) to do it. He almost succeeds, and the dramatic action of the movie relates how and why he fails.

But that sort of risk is one that modern-day authorities can also run, as this Texas arrest shows. If they have actually caught the proper perpetrator (and it sounds very much as though they have), these two murdered Texas lawmen—DA Mike McLelland and assistant DA Mark Hasse, as well as McLelland’s wife Cynthia—were not killed by any fringe group such as the Aryan Brotherhood or by drug cartels, as many had theorized. The motive was revenge by a man filled with rage:

Police reportedly zeroed in on Williams after several emails making threats to other county officials were linked to him.

Those threats, though, were not his first.

Williams, who served as a justice of the peace, handling-low-level legal cases in Kaufman County, has been prosecuted by McClelland and Hasse on charges that he stole three computer monitors from the courthouse and misused law library funds…

Prosecutors also brought up an incident in 2010, when Williams reportedly became irate when he learned that an attorney on an arbitration case he was handling had canceled a hearing.

‘First thing I heard was Eric say, “I’m going to kill him,”‘ attorney Dennis Jones, testified, according to the Dallas Morning News. ‘”I’m going to kill him, his wife, his kids. I’m gonna burn his house down. I’m gonna stab him.”‘

Despite this, Mr Jones and the man Williams threatened to kill both testified that they thought his words were harmless and that he never would have hurt anyone.

Doesn’t sound all that harmless to me. But then again, I have the wisdom of hindsight. Of course, he didn’t kill that particular man; he killed three other people against whom he had a similar grudge.

Here’s the scene from “High Noon” it all reminds me of (unfortunately I couldn’t find this particular clip at YouTube), except of course for the very different ending:

The marshal [Kane] exclaims: “You’re a judge!” The practical judge replies: “I’ve been a judge many times in many towns. I hope to live to be a judge again.” And then the judge confronts Kane with his suicidal decision – the camera zooms in on the empty chair where sentencing was pronounced years before:

“Why must you be so stupid? Have you forgotten what he is? Have you forgotten what he’s done to people? Have you forgotten that he’s crazy? Don’t you remember when he sat in that chair and said, ‘You’ll never hang me. I’ll come back. I’ll kill you, Will Kane. I swear it, I’ll kill you.'”

[ADDENDUM: Apparently Williams’ wife was the shooter in all three murders. Perhaps.

It’s a bit difficult to get the story straight from the somewhat garbled reports, but as best I can decipher it he’s saying she did it and she’s saying he did it.

You may recall that, in the movie “High Noon,” Kane’s pacifist Quaker wife ends up killing Frank Miller, the guy who’s been stalking him, thus saving her husband’s life. It’s her moment of truth.

Quite a different situation from this one. That was in order to keep Miller (the bad guy) from killing Kane (the good guy). Here we seem to have a wife and husband pointing the finger at each other as the killer of the good guys.]

And then there’s ricin…

The New Neo Posted on by

…apparently sent in letters to President Obama and Senator Roger Wicker (R).

The incident not only reminds us of 9/11—after the WTC attacks, you may recall, there were a series of anthrax-letters to politicians—but these ricin-letters were intercepted as a result of those earlier anthrax-tainted missives. You may recall that, after the anthrax letters were received and had done their dirty work, the protocol for reception of snail mail on Capitol Hill and at the White House changed, and remote screening facilities were set up. That new method of screening mail has continued to this day, and it is how the ricin was detected.

During the period when the anthrax letters were being sent, people were already tremendously on edge because of 9/11. Many thought the two events were connected. Whether they were or weren’t has never been definitively determined; you can read about the murky case and findings connected with the anthrax letters here.

Now no doubt the same questions are being asked: is there a connection between what happened in Boston and the ricin letters? We have so little information so far that it hardly even makes sense to speculate, except to say it’s possible. Conspiracy theories abound, and would have abounded about the Boston blasts even if there had been no ricin letters. Already there are Boston-Marathon-truthers who are spinning their tales.

My own hunch—and it’s extremely subjective, based on very little, and highly subject to revision—is that the two incidents are unrelated. That the ricin letters were sent by someone with a grudge, particularly against Senator Wicker, who seems an oddly low-profile target for such aggression. Is there something of interest in his past that might prompt a desire for revenge in someone who thinks he/she was wronged by Wicker? Looking at Wicker’s Wiki entry nothing really leaps out, although this of of slight possible interest: that as a member of the House (which he was until 2007), Wicker “worked on issues related to medical research and on economic development for his home state.” Maybe there was some medical researcher who felt slighted by Wicker?

As I said, not a very strong theory, but it’ll do for now till something better comes up.

As for the Boston bomber[s], my also-highly-subject-to-revision guess would be one or more Islamisicst semi-freelancers, probably already living in the Boston area and seeing the marathon as a target of opportunity rather than having any special grudge against runners or their families. They could easily figure out that policing and providing airtight security for a huge event that spans twenty-six miles is virtually impossible, and much more difficult than most other sports venues.

I am almost certain that future marathons (not just in Boston, either) will feature more security, however. Even I can imagine ways to tighten security in the area where the largest crowds congregate, near the finish line. And I think people (and authorities) should become more aware that unattended packages or backpacks are a red flag.

More information on the Boston bombs

The New Neo Posted on by

This might have some meaning as a clue, although a rather non-specific one:

The explosives used to kill three people and injure 176 at the Boston Marathon on Monday were most likely some kind of “pressure-cooker” devices that sent sharp bits of shrapnel flying into victims in the vicinity of the blast, several law enforcement officials said Tuesday…

Rudimentary explosive devices made from pressure cookers have been widely used in attacks in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, all countries where the cooking device is common, according to a Department of Homeland Security warning notice issued in 2010. But they have occasionally turned up in attacks in the United States as well: Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen who tried a car-bomb attack on Times Square in 2010, included a pressure cooker loaded with 120 firecrackers in the collection of jury-rigged explosives in his vehicle. The devices smoked but never exploded.

It turns out Southerners are not so very fat after all…

The New Neo Posted on by

…and what’s more, they seem to be more truthful about their weight when asked.

But the most interesting thing to me about the survey described in the article was this:

“Everybody underreports their weight but women do it more,” Howard said.

Men, on the other hand, do something else that affects the Body Mass Index, which is weight divided by height squared and is used to define obesity.

“They overreport their height, which makes them seem less obese.”

Women say they’re thinner than they really are. Men say they’re taller than they really are.

Makes perfect sense to me.