Archive of entries posted by Oppo

Straight Line of the Day: Why Gardening Is Dangerous: …

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Man carrying home his gardening tools arrested by armed police in Manchester
Guardian UK | 07 28 2025 | Hannah Al-Othman

A man who had returned home from his allotment with a trug of vegetables and gardening tools strapped to his belt was arrested by armed police, after a member of the public said they had seen “a man wearing khaki clothing and in possession of a knife”.

Samuel Rowe, 35, who works as a technical manager at a theatre, had come back from his allotment in Manchester earlier this month and decided to trim his hedge with one of his tools, a Japanese garden sickle, when police turned up on his doorstep.

“I just heard shouting behind me, and then two armed officers shouting at me to drop the knife,” he said. “And then they turned me around, pushed me up against my house, cuffed me, and then they arrested me, put me in the back of the van.”

The tools he had on his belt, he said, were a Niwaki Hori Hori gardening trowel in a canvas sheath, and an Ice Bear Japanese gardener’s sickle.

When he was arrested, Rowe said, the officer pulled the trowel out of its sheath, and said: “That’s not a garden tool.”

“I said it is, because it was in the Niwaki-branded pouch that you get at garden centres,” Rowe said.

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No Wake Zone? For the Late (as in Deceased) Show

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NYC Protesters Organize A ‘We’re With Colbert’ Rally — But Only 20 People Showed Up
Daily Caller | July 27, 2025 | Timothy Sekerak

Protesters gathered in New York City to hold a “We’re With Colbert” rally on Sunday in support of the recently canned ” The Late Show” host.

The rally was held outside of the CBS Broadcast Center on Manhattan‘s West Side, according to the New York Post. The outlet noted that only around 20 people showed up to the event, with most attendees — including the New York Police Department (NYPD) officers assigned to keep the peace — leaving shortly after it began.

Well, in all fairness to them, it wasn’t their fault no one gives a crap.

Straight Line of the Day: Other Ways To Make Life Uncomfortable for Deporteees…

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Alligator Alcatraz Detainees Claim ‘Grim’ Conditions Over Being Fed Ham Sandwiches
Daily Caller News Foundation | July 17, 2025 7:47 PM ET | Hailey Gomez

Migrant detainees being held in Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” have claimed conditions at the detention center are “grim,” citing how they’ve been fed “cold ham sandwiches,” according to The Washington Post.

Florida’s new detention center was officially approved by the Trump administration in June and opened weeks later, costing roughly $450 million for 5,000 beds to house illegal migrants and other foreign nationals. 

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Open Thread: Supreme Court Justices

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Saw an interesting comment last week, which sums up our political system:

The Democrats figured out a way to keep Robert Bork off the Supreme Court.

But the Republicans couldn’t figure out a way to keep Ketanji Jackson off the Supreme Court.

Typical.

Jackson was asked by Obama-appointed District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson about “what keeps [her] up at night.”

Pausing momentarily, the justice proceeded to give the answer of a stereotypical left-wing activist.

“I would say the state of our democracy,” Jackson said, eliciting applause from Magnus-Stinson and the audience.

Of course, the Biden appointee didn’t offer specifics, only adding that she is “really very interested in getting people to focus and to invest and to pay attention to what is happening in our country and in our government.”

…

“The threats and harassment are attacks on our democracy, on our system of government. And they ultimately risk undermining our Constitution and the rule of…”

… Blah, blah, blah.

So she really doesn’t know what our system of government is, and is on the Supreme Court.

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Well, Um, That’s a Story You Don’t See Every Day

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Former TN reality TV star arrested after reportedly attacking woman with sock at Walmart
WSMV | 7/20/2025 | Danica Sauter

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A former reality TV star from Middle Tennessee was arrested at a Walmart on Friday after she attacked another person with a sock filled with rocks, according to an arrest affidavit.

On Friday, July 18, officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department were called to 3035 Hamilton Church Road in reference to the alleged assault.

Officers spoke with the victim, who said she was using the self-checkout when the suspect, 21-year-old Diamond Tankard,

If I had a diamond tankard, I’d protect it. And also drink.

came from behind and grabbed her by the hair. After the attack, the victim said Tankard took her $1,500 iPhone 14 and her $900 Louis Vuitton handbag.

Officers found a laceration above the victim’s left eye on her forehead.

According to the victim’s grandmother, Tankard had a sock filled with rocks and used it to strike the victim.

!

Walmart staff provided security footage of the incident, which confirmed it.

Tankard was arrested and charged with theft of property and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She bailed out on a $25,000 bond.

In December, Tankard was charged with attempted first-degree murder

I’m beginning to see the problem.

after she allegedly intentionally struck a woman with her vehicle on Nov. 29.

Tankard was a reality TV child star who appeared on Bravo’s Thicker Than Water, a show about Ben Tankard and his family. Ben is a music producer and pastor of Murfreesboro church, Destiny Center.

Straight Line of the Day: How Would You Describe a Face-to-Face Encounter With a Mysterious Large Cat in Rochester to Station WHAM?

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Man describes face-to-face encounter with mysterious large cat in Rochester
WHAM | 07/10/25 | Natalie Calzetoni

“After I see the people run, I just see something big, just walking just right over there, it went right over there I swear, I promise you, it went right over there. And it said ‘rawr,’ and I just kept walking,” he recalled. “I seen it, seeing me, see it, so in my head I’m like, ‘Nah, I got to go man, I’m out.'”

Jones said he remains on edge.

“I am going to keep this bat right here, man, just in case,” he said during Thursday’s interview. “I am going to protect us, I ain’t going to let nothing happen to us, nothing. OK?”

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Scientists Work on Viewing Babesleaga Ever Faster!

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Scientists Achieve Record 4 Gbps Internet Using OLED Display Technology
Study Finds | July 20, 2025 | Kou Yoshida (University of St. Andrews)

Researchers in England and Scotland have achieved a groundbreaking 4 gigabits per second data transmission using modified organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), the same technology that makes smartphone and television displays so vibrant.

While the OLEDs used in this experiment were custom-fabricated lab devices rather than commercial panels, the underlying materials and design principles are closely related. The speeds they achieved are fast enough to download a full-length movie in about two seconds, based on typical HD file sizes and raw bandwidth.

Scientists from the University of St Andrews in Scotland and Cambridge University successfully beamed data across a 33-foot room at nearly 3 gigabits per second, with even faster speeds achieved at shorter distances. Their research, published in Advanced Photonics, could lead to a massive leap forward for visible light communication (VLC) technology, which uses light instead of radio waves to carry data.

How OLED Display Technology Transmits Internet Data

OLEDs create the brilliant displays in high-end phones and TVs by emitting light when electricity passes through them. Scientists discovered that by rapidly switching these tiny lights on and off – faster than the human eye can detect – they can encode digital information into light beams.

I thought that’s what fiber optic cables already did. But I’m hazy on this.

Previous attempts at OLED-based communication topped out around 2.85 gigabits per second over very short distances – about 10 inches. The new research not only surpassed that speed but achieved it over distances 40 times longer.

Does sound like an up-and-coming technology to invest in. But I’m hazy on investments too.

Can they come up with a better name than “OLEDs,” though? I do know something about lumpy-sounding words.