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iPod: This Season's Must-Have for Muggers
KH writes "West Midlands police have issued a stark warning to iPod users: ditch the white headphones or pay the price." Apparently, muggers recognize the headphones and target passersby for muggage.
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Well people will kill each other over sneakers so to mug for an Ipod doesn't surprise me. From the article: "The Sun quotes one iPod representative as saying: "There are guys who?d rather be robbed than change the color of the headphones." " = Darwin strikes again.
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
thats how i got mine :)
I keep the mini-iPod in a ... hidden place... that's very snug. Muggers never look there, and really, who wants to pull the cord out of there?
Like my mother used to say: "Can't we have nice things!"
This iPod-carrying bon vivant isn't going to hand over his beloved music player without a fight.
I've hacked my iPod to shoot pepper spray! Ha!
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
iPod -- with LoJack!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
let a mugger have it and have your insurance buy you a replacement.
Dude, I'm, like totally understanding of your verbage, but, like, there might not be others, that, like, know.
But rock on, Dude! Awesome!
How about an iMace accessory?
That's why I clip mine to the back of my belt. Right next to my HK .40 USP.
target passersby for muggage
:)
eh? 'excuse me sir, I noticed you passing by and wondered if you'd like some hot, sweet muggage. only $1 a bowl.'
Mugger: "Your I-Pod or your life..."
Mr Benny: ...
Mugger: I SAID, your I-POD or your LIFE!
Mr Benny: Hold on! I'm thinking!
buhbumpbump...
Now that we know this our social lives will improve, since getting mugged is better than no social life at all.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
couldn't apple help with this? like register the unit's id, and everytime it tries to sync to i-Tunes, it checks a global database or something...
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Even muggers recognize that the higher price of Apple hardware goes into quality.
Most muggers don't realize they'll be replacing that little battery for $99 in a couple weeks' time.
Yeah, the white headphones do give it a way, but this paragraph is badly written!
The thief then asked Baskerville if he was listening to an iPod and, receiving an affirmative answer, he "pulled a knife out and started waving it at me, saying: 'Well hand it over, then.' I gave it to him and he ran off. He must have known I was wearing an iPod because of the white headphones."
I think that repeat theifs should be killed. They aren't stealing just property but really they are stealing a part of their victim's life. Say it takes me 30 hours to earn the money for the iPod, if I get mugged and they steal my iPod, they just stole 30 hours of my life. It's as if they tied me up for 30 hours. I just think that people who steal life from others should have their life taken away from them.
Of all the nice design aspects of the iPod, as far as Apple are concerned those distinctive white headphones have to the best. Portable devices need to be small, discrete, and easy to slip into a pocket, so you never really see them. Is that person with the headphones on listening to a Rio player? iRiver perhaps? Maybe Neuros? Or just a discman stuck in their bag? But you know damn well when you see someone listening to an iPod.
I'm surprised the others player manufacturers never cottoned on to this one: get the customers to do your advertising for you!
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
and aren't just wearing white earbuds to make yourself look cool.
The mugger may get pissed and pop a cap in your ass when he find you only have an old walkman.
Apple UK's wave of iPod advertising may be making the product a 'must-have' accessory for street criminals. It's also possible that UK journalists, disappointed at Apple's recent news that its much-anticipated iPod mini won't ship until July, now also have Apple in their sights - as was the case with the recent battery bad news stories.
Alison
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." - Albert Einstein
This reminds me of what my mother used to say:
Be careful of how hard you try to get attention, you may not garner the type you intended.
There is a similar piece over at The Times
As a distractive tactic, I will trick them all and get black headphones.
-L
Don't Panic.
Mugger: so is that an ipod you got there mate? ::mugger takes out knife:: ::mugger takes ipod and runs off:: ::mugger comes back::
Guy: uh, yeah.
Mugger: alright, hand it over.
Mugger: uh, you haven't had this for 18 months or so by any chance?
I don't really understand the need to use the stock headphones anyway. Is using the white ones meant to be like a staus symbol? Sure they sound better than most earbuds that come with CD/MP3 players, but there are much better one's to be had, provided that you don't mind paying a little bit for them. In fact, I've yet to take the white ones out of package they came in.
...sux. Had some street dude try to mug me before, downtown atlanta. Was getting off work, that day in the merchandise mart doing tradeshow set-up. Was tired and not in the mood to get mugged. This doofus walks up to me in the parking lot across the street as I was loading my tools back in the ride, waltzs right up and demands cash, Sez Mr. mugger wannabe -> "gimmee 20$" then some cursing. I stepped back, swung my vest open and started to draw my piece. Sez me ->" How 'bout 45 instead?"
heh heh he took off running.
Just an anecdotal story, doesn't mean much except to point out muggings happen everywhere,all around the whirrled, just sometimes they have a happy ending.
There's an old saying I am fond of:
"God made man - Then Colonel Colt made them equal"
Putting a sticker that says "Don't mug people." on the headphones won't work?!?!?
The police should have issued this warning... Don't worry about flashing hundred dollar bills, or flashing your credit cards, or wearing flashy gold jewellery because it has become evident that muggers will only attack you if you have an Ipod.
Wake up!!!
My advice is don't talk to muggers
"Most muggers don't realize they'll be replacing that little battery for $99 in a couple weeks' time."
:)
Then YOU apparently don't realize they'll just be mugging someone else in a couple weeks' time. Duh
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
I wonder if the RIAA will sue these muggers for stealing copyrighted music? Knowing the RIAA, they are more likely to sue the victims for distributing copyrighted material.
_____
Thank you.
I bought my 5gb iPod the day Jobs announced them. My only complaint was the poor quality of the buds.
Replaced them with Sony MDR-E888 the day after, which sound incredible.
I bought my iPod because I love music, not as a "fashion accessory."
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
I carry an iPod on my left, and a Sig-Sauer P239 on my right. Approach with caution.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
Use the headphones but plug them into an old, big-ass, tape deck that's playing "Wham" (George Michael) on it. Realizing what's going on the mugger should shit his/her pants and run for his/her life...
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
Isn't it sad for those who wear iPod look-alike headphones and get mugged for it...
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
As much as MP3 jukeboxes and digital cameras keep getting smaller, they keep becoming better targets for thieves. Someone walking down the street with a 20 GB iPod, a Palm Tungsten C and a Minolta dImage is carrying about $1000 (US) in potential swag. That makes a car stereo system look like chump change. Sure, the fence would have to sell the items without accessories, but you can usually get those for a fraction of the cost of the item.
Now will someone please mod me Insightful.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I guess some would have little sympathy for the fashion conscious ipod-o-philes... but my ipaq!!! i don't want anyone stealing my ipaq; and i guess i'm gonna have to think twice about using it in public now. Damn muggers, they should be roasted in hell.
I really wonder how they steal it from you WHILE you are wearing the headphones and listening to it and not be aware when the sound's gone... :-)
I proudly wear my iPod white earbuds everyday, and the thought of getting mugged has never crossed mind. My since of security lies in two areas.
1. I live in the US, muggings (and sack beatings) are quite low in the are which I live. Now in the UK, where I assume "West Midlands" is, muggings are much more common than in the USA.
2. I carry a concelead handgun. Should someone attempt to mug me they would be quite sorry.
Your life is a depreciable asset, kind of like computer equipment. My first portable CD player was $250 by Sony, you can get them for $19.95 now. As you grow older the time you have left is shrinking. So to you it becomes more valuable, but to others you're almost worthless because your time left is approaching zero. I'm for graded sentencing based on the age of the victim. If you kill a 90 year old man, is he really missing much? However if you kill a 5 year old, they are missing a lot (you'd of course need to use the actuarial tables to value a humans life properly).
BTW, I'm kiddin'
All I have to say is, have fun circumventing the serial number protection. Someone buying a stolen iPod is in for a suprise.
postmodernsideshow.com
"There are guys who'd rather be robbed than change the colour of the headphones." If i was them i would just change the damn headphones, what kinda guy would care so much about the color of his headphone cord...? Id say something funny but it wouldnt be very tastefull so just pretend i said something funny if anyone asks.
Now I get to use the money I saved by buying a mini-Ipod and use it on a .357 magnum.
Actually, that's not so bad now that I think of it...
-- Ziggy Sig Sig
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Packing for Concealed Carry (CCW)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Please be afraid.
That is all.
I mean, honestly.
One fake iPod case: $50.
One receiver: $50
One transmitter: $50
One kilo C4: $150
One mugger exploding when he runs more than 50 feet away from you: Priceless.
www.eFax.com are spammers
I actually ended up losing my white headphones, my precious. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the Apple store and they wanted $40 for a replacement pair.
I quickly ran out. They didn't even sell the basic version...
Technically I think this would be a neat feature Apple could integrate into .Mac for all it's products.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
This opens up the market for 3rd-party iPod cases with exploding dye packs, like banks use when they get robbed. Good luck trying to sell a bright-pink-stained iPod! ;)
sudo eat my shorts
I target you with Mr. Oleoresin or Mr. Glock.
for stealing mp3's ....
Who actually uses the crappy earphones that comes with a product? I always find I have to go out and get a better pair.
you're blaming the company?!
first you should blame the muggers.
then maybe you should blame people who have flashy things in questionable surroundings.
*last* should be the company. Are you going to blame every luxury product manufacturer? And then every manufacturer of anything of value? "Apparently McDonalds would rather see their customers mugged than produce Big Macs made out of radioactive dirt? (because someone might try to steal clean dirt)"
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
The Telegraph claims iPod Web sites have received "numerous reports" claiming users have been targeted by such criminals. Macworld has even received phone calls in recent days, including from the BBC and ITV asking if we are aware of any such incidents. We are not. In the end the BBC dropped its planned report as it could find no one to back-up the story.
or else meet certain death...
"As you know, the concept of the suction pump is centuries old. And really, that's all this is, except that instead of sucking water, I'm sucking life. I've just sucked one year of your life away. I might one day go as high as five, but I really don't know what that would do to you, so let's just start with what we have."
- Count Rugen, "The Princess Bride"
Freedom: "I won't!"
This is a Slash-mugging! Close your browser and give me your laptop!
Now!
Letter
Oops, nevermind...
Though I'm sure there's a Soviet Russia post to be made out of this...
Scenario:
---
Frankfort, Kentucky, makes it against the law to shoot off a policeman's tie.
I want to get an Ipod and use my old pair of big ass 70s style radio shack headphones. big and bulky with the 1/4 inch jack and cover up your entire ears.
F na me=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F007%5F003%5F004%5F0 00&product%5Fid=33%2D1176
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5
While they can be spotted at a distance, a mugger might thing I have a portable 8-track and not steal from me.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
I'm also a big guy. A punk mugger is going to be a pavement stain if he reaches for my little white music box.
...could be adapted to identify fingerprints making the iPod useless to anyone who stole it. Hmmm...then again this just might result in a black market trade in iPods with fingers.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
...is with a $400 pistol.
I hope this is what the police mean by "paying the price".
I never take the iPod out because I feel like an asshole for wearing the white headphones. I feel like I'm advertising for apple and showing off my expensive nerd toy. I've been planning to get new headphones, and this is another good reason to get a pair.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
Are you really blaming Apple for the muggings? Why don't we just blame Mercedes-Benz for car theft? Or Rolex for muggings involving stolen watches? It's not Apple's fault that people are flashing expensive looking equipment in bad parts of town. Buy some cheap looking headphones if you want to go to bad neighborhoods.
As soon as the mugger steals one, a newer cheaper iPod comes out for mugging the next week. The vicious cycle repeats infinitely.
...I carry an iPod and also an H&K USP .40, fuck with my iPod and you're going to have some extra holes in your ass. Oh, sorry, I forgot you can't own guns like that in England, my bad :-/
-- Is it a right to remain ignorant? -- Calvin
Yes, give up the iPod, and give the mugger the headphones too. In fact, hand him a few other other things that he would want, and while he is juggling all of these, take his knife, and run.
Not that this will deter many thefts at the moment, but as more pawn shops and criminals realize that the iPods can be tracked fairly easily, the mugging rate will decrease.
As a resident in Birmingham UK (The West Midlands) i might add that people world wide probably don't really need to worry to much. Birmingham has quite high crime rates and a lot of rich boroughs surrounding it - people are prime targets. People need only remember the shootings that took place over new years eve last year.
I hadn't realized Jack Handey had a Slashdot handle...
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
/fnorgby
I've had this sig for three days.
Why do you lay your troubles on an already troubled mind? Can't you see we grow tired of your... malcontent - your... fearmongering?
Too long have you watched my iPod. Too long have you haunted its backlight.
Disclaimer: This comment was generated by a Flock of Trained Microsoft Programmers for Aqua_Geek.
(Score:-1, Flamage)
"Yeah, it also came with a shiny new badge and some black tupperware[1]."
The guy just looked at him, puzzled, turned around and, literally, ran away. I just couldn't stop laughing...
[1] Semi-automatic, plastic/polymer sidearm
"You don't look too bad, here's another."
Jeez- I submitted the original telegraph.co.uk story yesterday, it being rejected then too. These editors are so fickle.
And someone needs to reboot images-aud.slashdot.org so my little mozilla firefoxy thingy stops spinning.
Mugging is not theft.
It is property infringment. You can not steal atoms, neutons, or electrons.
You have done nothing wrong.
I think tonight I will go out and infringe on somebody wallet ownership rights. Then I may infringe on some convience stores "cash register contents" ownership right.
Don't cal me a thief, I am simply infringing and the person who makes the wallet only get a tiny amount of what the guy pays for it anyway.
I just remembered that it's from Two Towers, not Return of the King. I really need to get some sleep...
Disclaimer: This comment was generated by a Flock of Trained Microsoft Programmers for Aqua_Geek.
I was justifiable.
"Police said no motive has been confirmed, although evidence suggested the murder was the result of a domestic dispute after Pulaski erased the contents of Mathers' iPod."
He had it comming. She just reformatted him in kind.
Yea it's a sick joke. So what.
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
I'm lookin out for white iPod type headphones for my Sony discman.Anyone? :-)
Looks like theres a small possibility that i might be cool afterall!
Lord of the Binges.
Do the police also tell people in Midlands to make their BMWs look like 87 Civics? I mean, isn't the obvious solution to have more non-uniformed police walk around with white headphones? I would assume that in any given population, those who mug people are a pretty small percentage, and if you know their target, they shouldn't be too difficult to pick up. Maybe the police in Midlands should just give up and advise people to stay at home.
Becouse there earbuds and kept falling out. I use my Standard sony i got for around 20 sounds just as good as far as I can tell and no annoying earbuds falling out.
From hilariously predicting the "failure" of the iPod-mini to breathlessly declaring that the iPod is susceptible to muggers and is a "must-have," do Slashdotters hate the iPod or something? Is Taco still pissed off about batteries?
Just curious.
It will distract the mugger so that he demands your hat, and you will escape with your precioussssssssss ipod intact.
This procedure also helps to hide ketchup stains on your shirt.
Macworld UK had a story about this earlier today:
'iPod mugging' latest media frenzy
Basically, this Roland guy is the one person any serious journalist has found to have been mugged for his iPod. That being said, carrying around a $400 device probably does raise your chances of being mugged. But there's no evidence iPods are being targeted. You're probably just as likely to be mugged for your battered Walkman.
Most muggers won't have the ipod 12 hours after they've stolen it from you. It will already be at the closest pawn shop so they can buy drugs with the cash they god. This is not exactly a profession that's chosen rationally, but rather out of desperation. The guys who sell the drugs, now they're the ones who keep and use the ipods.
I don't use headphones. My iPod uses a 3/4" plug directly into my cerebral cortex.
is Next Season's must have :-).
Engineering is the art of compromise.
...and here I thought that a more sought-after activity would be j.Lo.Jack.
Oh well. This is Slashdot, after all...
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
This says to me "send out plainclothes cops with white headphones."
No need for them even to be hooked into an iPod, just the headphones.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
I know some of you like to say that you have a gun right next to your iPod. I think I found some anti-theft ideas that you might like.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
Okay, all that slightly offtopic stuff said, wearing white headphones will not get you mugged. However, if some guy on an empty street stops you and asks you if you have an ipod, and you stop walking, look at them, and respond... well that may get you mugged, as it did the victim in the story.
Great, Pudge didn't do his homework on this one.
I considered submitting this story, but I was busy and now I regret it because according to this MacWorld UK article, this is just an unsubstantiated media frenzy. The proof of how widespread these muggings are is still pretty sketchy.
Step 1: choose desired sharpie color
Step 2: disguise your white earphones using said sharpie
Step 3: fear not vial muggers
Sharpie... defeats cd copy protection, thwarts muggers, what next (only time will tell). Warning - may result in slight discoloration in ear canal.
.. I left something out. In georgia, cops are allowed to moonlight, wearing their uniforms. When the mugger wannabe took of running, I had seen a cop earlier directing traffic closeby, in and out of a parking garage (rush hour, natch). I walked over to him, to report the attempted mugging. I left nothing out, including my inspired quip, and pointed out the guy, still splitting at a brisk pace, down the street to the cop. Cop sez "-> whut ya want me to do about it?" I sez -> "arrest him????". Cop sez -> "I'm working this garage right now, ain't on duty, and the mugger dint get nuthin".
Well, that settled that. Mr. Mugger gets away to go prey on someone else. Oh well, so much for cops wanting to "serve justice". I always knew that was a load of horse hockey anyway....
True facts
He never asked me for a carry permit, but I had one in my wallet. Right now, I think it's bogus, I prefer honest vermont state styled carry, ie "allowed by default by second amendment born-with, not to be denied by any government goon inalienable right", but discretion being the better part of not going to the hoosegow, I get their illegal "permit". To me it's as illegal and stupid and unconstitutional as applying for a "free speech" permit or applying to the state for a "right to associate with my friends" permit. ditto for their freedom to travel "permits", illegal as heck, but it'sso entrenched now and people so brainwashed that they get away with it..
zognote: vermont, with about zip gun laws, has incredibly low crime rate. It has a few large cities, too, it's not all rural, but granted, fairly rural.
I understand switzerland has the lowest crime rates in industrialised europe, yet is the most liberal on gun ownership. Coincidence? I think not.
I'll shank someone with my keys... there's no way I'm giving up my white headphones.
:)
iPod, the Raider's parka of the new millennium
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
You could just hit him with the tape deck.
if(!toilet_paper) roll.replace(new roll);
Anyway, the people with IPODs are no being mugged becuase of the IPOD. They are being mugged because of what the IPOD signifies. Someone who has an IPOD probably access to disposable cash and so make a richer target then other people. Also since this person is the kind of person to get an IPOD they are also less likely to put up a fight (ok I just made that up)
Anyway, the point is that Muggers are using IPODS for selection of their targets *and* they get a cool IPOD to boot
I would like to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks
Sigs are dangerous coy things
F***ing muggles!
Drill baby drill - on Mars
It is legal to carry around a gun unless it's hidden. Don't try going going into a store with a rifle strapped to you back though, they'll kick you out for makikng the other customers(not to mention the emploees) nervous.
That's exactly my point. Why mess around with a device like a Taser, which in many cases is regulated as harshly as a firearm, when you can just use a firearm instead?
Less-than-lethal force is for law enforcement only, it has no place at all in civilian self-defence. If your life is really in danger, defend it with lethal force.
Pierre
misuse C4, help clean the gene pool!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Heh, when i bought my ipod, i didn't bother using the stock earphones, granted i tried them, but i find them very good. Plus i didn't want to show the world that i owned an ipod and so carried on using my beloved Bang and Olufsen earphone ( They may cost $150 but they are the dogs ). I lent my ipod earphones to a mate who had a crappy 128MB MP3 player and he had the pleasure of people asking him if he had an ipod. Plus he looked stupid when he pulled out a battered MP3 player
Ditch the white earphones, period. If you're going to spend a few hundred bucks on a portable music player you may as well spend a bit more to actually be able to experience the full sound quality the iPod is able to provide. My recommendation: Etymotic ER-4P. Anyone who's heard them plugged into an iPod will see that the original white earphones are laughably bad in comparison and do not do the iPod justice. It's like a night & day difference. The etymotics just sound so much clearer, crisper and better in every way...
Can't find the link right now (damn badly indexed megaretailer sites!), but I've seen a fry's a bulky waist-worn iPod pouch with (get this) a series of blinking LEDs on the outside that pulse their blueness to the world.
... mug wearer -- iPod enclosed... mug wearer - iPod enclosed ..."
I wonder if they blink Morse for "mug wearer -- iPod enclosed
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Uh, no. Women fart. Ladies fan the air and declare how stuffy it is.
I have always been confused by the need to be recognized for my possesions. This might be why I have never been that popular, I just don't care what other people think.
Anyways, I received an iPod for some code I wrote for a friend of mine . . . plus 6 years of support of said code. I never knew I needed an iPod until I had one in my hands. After noticing the price (~500usd), and the neighborhood (Oakland), I never took the headphones out of the packaging . . . and instead used my ratty old headphones from my cd player. It was obvious to me, that if I was going to steal an iPod, the headphones and cord would be the tell. If someone chooses to advertise a few hundred dollars in their pocket while being distracted by music . . . I can't really blame the thug for targetting them. I see this as a form of evolution . . . or maybe a robbin hood type redistribution of iPods.
Oh, and I tried my friends stock white headphones, and they were not as comfortable or as fidelitous as my old ones.
--Tsiangkun
They finally have some basis for what they have been saying this entire time. Someone is really stealing music now.
Teach someone to use the net and they won't bother you for weeks; show them Slashdot and you may never see them again.
That's why America is internationally famous for having such a low rate of muggings.
I have a vision of a nation where everyone is free to carry nuclear-armed surface to air missiles. Such a place would be forever free of terrorism and problems of all kinds.
New York State has relatively easily obtained "may issue" CHL, except in New York City and the surrounding counties where for some reason only celebrities and other rich white people can obtain a permit.
For all your CHL questions, see http://www.packing.org/
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
If you mugged someone for their ipod, would you not also be liable for any illegally downloaded songs on that ipod? That could be a hefty fine.
No Sig For You
We have a Concealed Handgun Law. Is that an iPod in my pocket, or a Desert Eagle .50?
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
But it's so sexy that I could make love to it!
Anyone who exposes themselves as a target deserve what they get. Wearing jewelry or expensive watches or expensive shoes or driving expensive cars in many areas is just a big problem waiting to happen. People who don't believe this are naive. There are a lot of desperate people out there, and it is always best they victimize someone else.
Vote in November. You won't regret it.
That's why you don't ever see them stolen anymore.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
A co-worker of mine was waiting to catch his train for his morning commute when he was 'pod-jacked'. Apparently someone was eyeing up his white headphones and when he removed the iPod from his pocket to change songs they ran past him grabbing the iPod. The headphone cord pulled free and off they went... He, not being in the best shape, wasn't able to run up the steps fast enough after the guy. So now he has 'cool' white headphones and a cheap ass RCA Lyra that is the size of a small kitchen appliance!
In Hong Kong there are plenty of rip-off white headphones so mugging these people is likely to get you a $10 FM radio :-)
-- Sig meltdown immine...
Hmph. I thought Patrick Leahy and Orin Hatch were the paid thugs.
Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.
Even the article that you link to, which was written in October of last year, puts the number of gun-related crimes (which, as I previously explained, is a loosely defined term in the UK) for 2002 at around 10,000 incidents.
But, overall, the article that you refer to is both out of date and misleading. Read these two articles for a more up-to-date and accurate pitcure:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3419401.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3419941.stm
Note, before you want to use it as an argument about how bad the situation is in Britain, that "violent crime" is defined as including anti-social behaviour in general, so it includes offences that would be classed as misdemeanours rather than felonies in the US.
Anyhow, the most recent statistics show a year on year increase in gun crime of 2 percent, which totalled 10,248 offences, or 0.41% of all crime committed. Within that 10,248 offences, there were 1,815 crimes that were known to have involved imitation firearms only, so the actual number of crimes that involved anything that could fire any kind of ammunition (including air rifles and guns) was 8,433. Furthermore, only 9 percent of the 10,248 offences resulted in any injury - so that's less than a thousand in total.
Only 81 murders involved guns compared, down from 97 the year before.
The number of robberies involving guns was down by 13 percent.
The number of handguns used to commit a crime was down by 6 percent.
Tell me again about how gun crime is "rampant" in the UK?
Of course gun crime is politically sensitive but that's because the idea of guns in general are so abhorrent to British society that they have shock value, just like Janet Jackson's right nipple does in the US. However, the idea that it's "top of the political agenda" is laughable: there are other more pressing issues such as terrorism, the war in Iraq, the EU constitution and enlargement, health, education, etc that are of far greater concern to MPs and the average man on the street.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
"I'm so cool... I could've got an MP3 player that does more for less, but instead I sunk half a grand into this shiny Apple one! Marvel, peasants! Marvel at my excessive wealth!"
"*YOINK!*"
"Damn! Ah well, the battery was starting to go anyway. I'll have to buy another one tomorrow."
This is another reason I got my iRiver iHP-120 over an iPod. I live in Louisiana, and without commercials, no one here knows what the hell the thing is anyway.
Scorta futuere amo!
Got a link to that study? The only one I could find was one that was exclusively suicides, no homicides involved. I'd be curious to see what states they consider to be 'high-gun states'.
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
LOL :-)
The $500'000 question is: Are the modders having fun with these mods, or are they just brainless zombies?
You know what? Let's ask the moderators!
For zombies, please mod me redundant
For having fun, please mod me insighfull
My first thought is "Who cares!?!"
Seriously, walking around in the "wrong neighborhood" with anything of value means you're at risk of having said item forcibly removed from your person.
If it's not your iPod, it's your wristwatch or your new pair of sneakers, or maybe your new leather jacket.... Whatever....
This isn't really news, and probably is only relevant at all because too many ignorant teenagers run around with their iPods conspicuously displayed for the "coolness" factor, instead of just using them as the music listening devices they are.
Most of us with nice car audio systems already learned long ago that it's best to hide them when they're not in use, or perhaps even turn them down if you're driving in a bad area. (You can scarcely buy a new stereo head unit that doesn't have some sort of ability to remove the faceplate or have it flip around backwards so only a blank panel is showing.) Use the same common sense with your iPod and you should be fine.
... but, the farther you get away from larger cities the less crime there is. More or less, mostly less, but I understand what you are saying. the comparison between kennesaw georgia and morton grove illinois when they pased the opposing viewpoints of righteous self defense is about the best anecdotal out there with the "gun question"..
I moved from 'lanta in 99 to the mountains, then moved again last summer to a scosh and a county above you right now. Much less crime, but I got a suspicion it will increase within the next few years if the economy continues to bork like it's been doing and if we become even more...hmm, got to be politically correct here... "multi cultural". Starting to see gang signs a la graffiti around lately, and reading the police reports in the local rag there's a rise in that sort of "free trade" imported activity. That and utterly brane dead rural rednecks who've decided crank + mass quantities of booze is just a swell idea. That's making crime rates go up fast.
I got no easy answers for any of that noise, other than my old boy sprout training of "be prepared", which covers a lot of ground.
Here it is, but I think paid subscription to the Economist is required.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
I just use the force:
These aren't the iPods you're looking for.
Disclaimer: This comment was generated by a Flock of Trained Microsoft Programmers for Aqua_Geek.
If your life is really in danger, defend it with lethal force.
And if your life is not in danger, but your possessions are, what's wrong with using nonlethal force again?
Normally, muggers threaten you with lethal force, and agree to remove that threat in return for your possessions.
I agree, though, that if your possessions are threatened but you're not being threatened with lethal force (like, for example, if some asshat is threatening to bring a frivolous lawsuit against you) a taser may be appropriate. But, you're going to have a difficult time convincing a jury of that.
Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
If they are still sold anywhere.. they would slip under your shirt.. no one would ever know you have any musical device...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Ah, now I know why I want GPS in my iPod.
--
make install -not war
You must be referring to the iPod Micro Edition, previously featured here on Slashdot.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
And if the mugger got shot, that's a BAD thing? Personally, it wouldn't bother me much. I think firearms training or a skill test should be required before carry permits are issued, but only to maximize the dead mugger/dead victim ratio.
Set up a decoy squad of people with nothing but really twangy country and western tunes in their ipods. I doubt many muggers will try it again after they get a taste of ol' Merle in his prime.
LMAO! This thread is classic! I think I might even put it in my sig!
---- Just another spud server.
If someone is in your house stealing your stuff at some dark hour of the night, how do you know your life isn't in danger?
There's no place like
thehighroad.org is a good gun forum
a-human-right.org is a good pro RKBA site
Learn lisp today!
Great word
*DrugCheese rants*
(despite what the dreck^H^H^H^H^Hmarketting literature says)
/. thing?
Is this a Firefox thing, or do people really keep typing carets and capital letters in the middle of their posts? And if it's intentional, is that a
Heh: there's just one problem about sending such messages in a volatile society, especially when you can't hear what's going on around you. The distance from preening signifier to damn easy pickings is much shorter than many realize.
Put these ingredients together--frontin' hipsters oblivious to their environment, the anger and hunger of the street, and the value of the iPod both as tech and music motherload--and it's probably poised to replace car stereos as the quickest score a thief can make.
The iPods value. The device itself is 300-500$ US. What about the value of the music? Is an iPod more valuable with music pre-loaded onto it? ATM I've got ~5000 songs on mine, which if I had gotten them all from iTunes would have cost me a few pennies. Granted I've still got the music at home on my fileserver (like a good little nerd) but if someone steals it, aren't they getting my 5000$ worth of music for themselves also?
...ahem... excuse me while I go write down my serial number.....
What about the time it takes to load over 5000 tracks onto an iPod. The only firewire port I have in this house is on my laptop and it's a mini 1394 which isn't powered. On top of that I had to deal with a bottleneck of getting all of my music across the network to my iPod, constantly having to recharge it after it died after ~30 minutes of transferring. Certainly investing a couple of days loading my iPod would only increase the value of it (or what I could claim as a loss) if it were ever stolen. Right?
Ok, I'm just kidding... I was visiting my aunt over there, and even if I had an iPod, they probably wouldn't know what it is down in Autlan de Navarro. (And they don't saw off perfectly good shotguns either.)
What part of New York City are you not from?
I think these would be the geek choice of anti-assailant devices if only those pesky robbers would just stand still long enough for us to put the pads on their chest.
Stolen cars aren't pawned, they're chopped.
Pawn shops are typically obligated by law to report serial numbers of pawned goods to the local police (not that they always do, but...)
How about one useless iPod after the battery has died: $1.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I find it interesting that someone modded you interesting.
get some nice, reasonably thick paper, print out, & fold
Ipod therefore I am?
If a thief tries to take my iPod, I'll just bludgeon them to death with it.
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636. html
Out for a late night walk, with my idiot self packing $500 in cash for no good reason, a couple of young thugs who had bicycles stowed away in a nearby yard came out to "greet" me.
The oldest one started by punching the back of my head REALLY hard -- I saw a flash of blue light. The other younger ones started laying into my back, while the oldest one had taken out a nice sharp razor and drew a long (shallow) cut down along by back, tearing my flesh, along with my treasured Debian polo shirt.
I don't remember which one managed to get me on the ground, but once I was down, the kicking began. I was kicked all over my body, in my face, back of my head, everywhere. I was begging for them to stop long enough so I could just get my money out and hand it over to them. I managed to get my wallet out and threw the cash on the ground. They snatched it up, jumped on their bikes and rode off, leaving me in a bloody mess on the road side.
Even as the cars drove by, no one stopped to help, so I had to walk the rest of the way home to treat my wounds. I immediately called the police who nabbed the boys within 15 minutes. The younger ones were given house arrest, probation, and community service. They were 12-17. The oldest one, the 18 year old who incited the rest of them, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and a few more charges. He was given 3 years. Yeah, a couple of kids doesn't sound like much to fight, but when there's five of them against one of you, and you know there's at least one weapon, you don't even try to fight back unless you want to die.
The police got my money back, and ThinkGeek even replaced my Debian shirt for free, but to this day I still carry a subconscious fear of walking around even safe neighborhoods in daylight, and no matter how hard I try to fight it off, when I'm out and see a group of 5 black teenage boys together, my muscles tighten up just a bit more than normal.
No, you definitely do not want to be mugged. This happened to me over 3 years ago and I'm still shaking off the fear.
So radio tags are bad because they track peoples' habits. Product activation is bad because it ties a product to a specific user. Global databases are bad because it's a violation of your privacy. However, when we are talking about your $300 iPod, then it's all good?
DISCLAIMER: the logic in this post is based on my opinions.
Answer: Yes, because the intended purpose would be for something the customer wants as opposed to what Big Brother would want. Chances are it would be an opt-in type thing if it was for the customers, and if it wasn't, THEN it would be a bad thing. However, Apple knows how to treat its customers and chances are they wouldn't intstitute anything like that.
The difference with MS is that noone trusts them and chances are they'd force registering on all of their users if they were to kick something like that into gear.
You could at least ask if they were feeling lucky. :P
Not necessarily. If he doesn't know you have one, you give him the money, and then shoot him in the back as he's leaving.
Then spend the rest of your life in jail. That is second degree murder. Unless he's walking away with the batteries to your pacemaker you're no longer in any immediate physical danger, so using lethal force amounts to murder.
In Texas we have something called a concealed handgun license... My friend's brother had a knife pulled on him at a post office so he pulled out his gun and the would-be robber just ran away, he didn't even need to fire a shot :)
You know, I'd really rather not kill someone. That's the sort of thing you'd have to deal with for the rest of your life. I'm pretty jaded, but I'd like to think that it would bother me a lot to take someone's life.
Which is not to say that I wouldn't do it (or try to) if the need arised, I'd just like to avoid it.
Anyone have a statistic on what percentage of armed robberies involve actual shooting/stabbing? And what percentage of those where it was because the victim resisted? I'll agree that you don't give in to a rapist, but if it's just property, give it up.
Another question would be, do these robbers understand how to control a victim? If I rob you, you will not be able to pull a gun on me. I'll make sure you don't get the opportunity. If you try to do something, I'll use my weapon first. If you pull a gun, you'll probably die. As long as you behave and don't threaten me, I'm content just to wave my weapon at you.
So, nonlethal weapons, assuming they disable the attacker, solve two problems: They leave the guy alive, and they don't escalate the situation as much. He's less likely to kill you if he doesn't think you can kill him, especially if he doesn't even recognize the weapon.
The low end ones are 7 to 14 Watts, the higher end ones are 18 to 26 Watts.
So obviously amps are coming into play here, well unless the watts are being upped simply by increasing voltage.
Other than theft... It would be interesting (satisfying?) if the RIAA would bring the hammer down on these muggers for turning legit music into stolen music! Suddenly a petty crime would now get a $10,000 fine per song (or whatever the absurd fine is).
...when you pry it from my cold dead... oh, wait a minute...
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
i just target them back for stabbage.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
It's prolly illegal, but I imagine bear spray would stop just about anyone, if it would stop a charging grizzly.
I was hiking once, and got near a mom and cubs (I saw a cub dart up a tree and heard a big thing coming through the brush). I took off the other way, pulling out my bear spray as I ran*. When I got it out, I turned around and saw nothing. The bear was just fronting a little. But I walked backwards for a while, away from that spot.
Here's the point of my story: I realised that I had never even tested the thing to see if it worked. So I pointed it downwind (I'm not an idiot, but the wind was very slight), and let loose as short a burst as possible. Then, satisfied tha tit worked, I walked away -- upwind -- and a few seconds later had trouble breathing for the sharp peppery shit that burned my sinuses. It soon cleared up, but I couldn't imagine getting a facefull of that stuff. Seems like it'd stop anyone. Of course, I've never been up against anyone on PCP...
*I later learned, there's literally a 1 in a million chance of getting mauled by a bear. You really don't need bear spray when you're hiking.
c-hack.com |
as the economy worsens. This kind of stuff is bound to happen when there are people walking around with frivilous music gadgets that cost more than most poor people's monthy rent payment. Good hunting.
My current take is about 37 iPods from stupid-stupid college kids.
One sad fucker tried to fight back, as though his stupid toy was worth more than his life.
Of course, a couple slugs to his now bloodpudding chest convinced him otherwise.
See my e-bay auctions! iPods all capacities, even minis!
Oh, by the way, I note that some of you nerds are just
waiting for some "bad guy" to mug you so you can
fight back for the sake of American Way, Jesus, and Apple Pie.
To which I say: HAAAA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAA.
If they'll send a teenager to court for offering a gig or two of mp3s, surely they'll happily beat the life out of a mugger that steals 10-20-40GB of mp3s!
Yea I live in Toronto and the ear bud thing is definitly a fad. I`ve seen tonnes of people wearing whitish earbuds that aren`t standard Ipod ones.
I just find it funny that people would spend $500 on an mp3 player then use the crappy provided headphones...
Unfortunatly this would appear to be the typical attitude of so called UK 'Sports' Shooters. UK shooters sites such as Cybershooters (http://www.cybershooters.org/) and the Sportsman's Association (http://www.shootersweb.co.uk/boards/) apparently do little else but prompt agitation for RKBA among their members. Fortunatly this dangerous group of potential psychopathic killers were disarmed in 1997 after one of their number went AWOL in the school gymn in Dunblane.
So in essence those doing the theivery have to keep up with technology to know the difference between something he can pawn off at $100 vs something he can pawn off at $2, if at all.
I find that pretty hard to believe, since most thugs wouldn't know the difference between an ipod and a palm m105 until Rocco the fence told him to fuck off.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
Yeah, thats why they put them out in threes. Not because people have different needs. Surely if they wanted to show that the larger ipods were more desireable, they would make it obvious that there was a difference externally.
They aren't just muggers. They're concerned audiophiles.
Anybody who would spend $400 bucks on an audio player and then use the $5 stock buds (and I don't care what apple sells them for) that came with the player needs to be separated from said expensive player *immediately*. Watching someone use those crappy stock buds is like watching a 16-year old getting driving lessons in a Lamborghini Murcielago.
If you're going to shell out for an iPod, get some real cans. It's the only way to defend yourself from the can-police, a.k.a. friendly neighborhood vigilante audiophile muggers.
P.S. Those of you saying, "Hey, wait a minute! Those white buds are actually pretty good!" should go listen to a real set of cans right bloody now. Try some Grado's or, if you must have the ear-bud form factor, Shure's or Etymotics. (The last two are canal-phones, but decent ones, unlike the crap Sony and Apple make. Sony does make some nice cans, but their canal-phones suck.)
He's gonna be royally annoyed if he tries to mug my ex-girlfriend - those bran' spankin' new white headphones're connected to a nine-dollar tape deck. :)
Triv
Seriously, whether this was urban legend or not, it won't be any more.
The iPod is a very expensive device. It is probably easy to fence -- it's selling like hotcakes, is in demand, and does not have permanent customizability features. If it follows the trend of audio devices rather than PDAs, it will depreciate slowly. It's a damn *good* idea to mug people with iPods.
May we never see th
A civilian using deadly force against someone to prevent a crime involving nonlethal force (like stealing an iPod, car, wallet, etc) is illegal under almost all circumstances. Worse, if you managed to kill the guy, you could be looking at manslaughter or murder charges.
Now, if the guy pulls a *knife* or a *gun*, you're free to let loose. However, if someone is three feet away from me, I'm not sure I'd want to try gambling on having a quicker draw (and being able to avoid being injured or killed by the return stab/shot).
And shooting someone in the *back* as they run away with your iPod makes damning evidence against you WRT possibly managing to slip out on a self-defense exenoration ("I swear, it looked like he was going for a gun in his pocket"), because if he's running away, he just plain isn't a threat.
I hate to say it, but if I were you, I'd want to think about going over some basic criminal law (like, law student 101 stuff...there's probably something distilled on the Internet for gun owners in your state). You could seriously screw yourself over with a felony conviction for doing something that you thought was perfectly kosher.
May we never see th
Neal Stephenson makes a good point in Snow Crash -- pepper spray, in most situations, is more effective than a gun. You get hit in the face with pepper spray, you aren't going anywhere except for on the ground rubbing your eyes and yelling.
That doesn't mean that a gun doesn't have a point -- just that its nonlethal buddy is frequently overlooked.
May we never see th
Ditch white headphones, switch to a single coiled silicone with a latex earplug. Put your finger on it every half a minute and mumble something.
Add in dark glasses and a black suit.
You'll never get mugged. Promise.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Spend $260 on a pair of Etymotic 4Ps and you won't listen to those POS white headphones again.
Of course, then your life sucks when the cable gets damaged from you jogging with them in and it getting bent and tugged at...
May we never see th
Crime in England then was a fraction of what it is now. Those were good times.
Have you any evidence to back that up? I was never under the impression that Victorian England was a particularly great or crime-free place to live unless you happened to be rich.
Then, were any footpad or highwayman so foolish as to attempt a robbery or other attack on one's person, he could be shot dead without the slightest risk of consequences (other than a pat on the back from the police.)
Translation: If you were rich, you could shoot anyone under the pretence of self-defence and get away with it. If you were poor, you were likely to get hanged anyway, if you could actually afford a gun and the licence.
Most criminals really ought to be killed by honest citizens, or by the state if necessary.
Yeah, the justice system is reliable enough that we can do that.
BTW, could we have anyone involved in (for example) forging evidence that resulted in someone being executed also be sentenced to death?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
We used to be able to dump all the crooks out to austrailia too, that was a nice little number! I dont think everyone should be going around with guns doing the job of the police even if it is self defence, but i think we should be getting a bloody policeman on every corner instead of a stupid security camera. Waste of space, fuckwit kids who are just going to grow up to be criminals (well they already are) should be kicked right out of the country.
That said it really would give me pleasure to shoot a couple of them down - too much pleasure maybe, so you just gotta restrain yourself.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
You're of course absolutly correct in doubting the assertion about crime was a fraction of what it is now. The seminal work on this is "The Victorian Underworld" by Donald Thomas, which is a thoroughly entertaining and readable book as well as being highly informative.
The fact is that the Victorian world was soaked in crime from top to bottom, particularly in the poorer neighbourhoods. Types of crimes may have differed, but the level of casual violence was much higher than it is now, and indeed things like child prostitution, which is abhored today as a near ultimate evil, were often regarded as little more than minor infringements of the law.
Anyone who thinks that the Victorian era were 'good times' socially is either a mis-informed or ignorant numbskull, or decidedly of suspect character themselves.
When a lot of people regularly carry about 150-400 mobile phones, often in their hands where they can be seen, it seems unlikely that the iPod would be an easier target. Also, an iPod requires knowledge of computers, the correct docking cable and software to work, where as a mobile phone only needs to be unlocked by the bloke at the market for a tenner. Mobiles are probably easier to sell on too.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Pity in most parts of the civilized world that is not allowed.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
My wife and I both have an iPod (I have the 10GB model, she has the newer 15GB model).
We don't think of them as status symbols. We think of them as a way to take our music (organized via iTunes, our favorite music app) on the go. Not being fans of the WMA format also helped.
We are by no means well-off financially. We just choose to spend our overtime money in fun ways.
We also don't have the added expense of kids.
When you're out of college, married, and doing the 8-5 thing, you gotta let yourself have a little fun before buying a house and settling down.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
War mongering? How long since Microsoft bought you? What was the promised price Grima? That when all the men were dead you would take the share of the treasure?
Too long have you watched my ipod. Too long have you haunted her steps.
Texans, Floridians and all of the citizens of the other states that allow "concealed carry" now have a new accessory: an iPod.
When feeling good and hostile, pack your piece (or two or three) and take a walk on the wild side. When the first Rock & Roll animal reaches for your 'pod, pop a cap in their a**.
Of course, make certain that the "mugger" isn't another 'pod person just wanting to jack-in.
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! We can kill at will with no thanks (or blame) to Bill! This IS the best of all possible worlds.
Dr. Pangloss has reviewed my meds and I'm OK and you AREN'T.
Where did I put that SIG 229 9mm with the BIG CLIP?
I live in Birmingham and I do not have an iPod however even if I had a 5 walkman I wouldn't be listening to it on the street. Wearing headphones in the West Midlands is asking fro trouble. I don't even pick up my mobile phone. If I am out and about, on the piss, I only carry cash and a single piece of id and my keys. That id Has not ogt my address on it it has my lat one. So no problems...
I may be being over cuatious but I haven't had a single problem sinced I moved here.
Where is my mind?
If guns are legal then muggers will have guns. If guns are illegal then muggers will have guns. Gun control laws insure that law-abiding citizens will be out-gunned by criminals.
(...) Armed assailants have no advantage in a crowds where the average citizen is packing. (...) You can't get the draw on a crowd of people scattered around a bank lobby or convenience store when ordinary citizens are carrying concealed weapons.
Are you saying they aren't outgunned in nearly every situation anyway? The muggers always get the bigger, better guns. Ok, here people use a pistol and no bullet proof vest vs. unarmed. In the US you have semi-/full-automatics w/vest and/or armor penetrating bullets against people with pistol/shotgun without.
Muggers may wear assault armor to do a mugging. Noone will ever walk around in assault armor 24/7. Not even the muggers themselves. Not to mention the element of surprise, planning and coordination.
That'll effectively stun even a large group because who'd like to draw first and make themselves the target? Drawing the attention of the whole group, the first guy has about as much chance as the first guy on the shores of Normandie on D-day.
Not to mention, are you going to start a shooting war in a bank lobby with women and children? Between the criminals and the vigilantes, it'll be a bloodbath. Can you spell "human shields" or "hostages"?
Cops don't always go storming in either. It's not without reason that cops have hostage negotiators or SWAT teams. Push people into a corner, and they *will* panick and start firing wildly. Even though he'll probably end up dead he can only be killed once, while his victims may be many....
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
sounds like chicken.
Or was it one hand clapping?
8-PP
Anybody who would spend $400 bucks on an audio player and then use the $5 stock buds (and I don't care what apple sells them for) that came with the player needs to be separated from said expensive player *immediately*. Watching someone use those crappy stock buds is like watching a 16-year old getting driving lessons in a Lamborghini Murcielago.
For Chrissake, they are not an audiophile. They are listening to lossily-compressed MP3s. Any person that spends tons of money on expensive headphones for their iPod is not an audiophile, they're just looking for a damned status symbol. (IMHO most people that purchase iPods in the first place are looking for a status symbol, but such is life.)
May we never see th
And if the mugger got shot, that's a BAD thing?
Actually, that's a great thing. The gun-grabbers get to add the shot mugger to their list of "gun violence statistics".
If the mugger is 25 or under, it's also a "youth involved in gun violence".
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Guns make society safer? I don't think so.
Absolutely they do. If gun ownership were outlawed, period, do you think that violent criminals are going to respect this law? of course not!
Outlawing guns would be the worst thing that could possibly happen. All the criminals who wanted a gun to commit a crime would still have one, and all the law abiding citizens would be easy, unarmed targets.
Gun ownership discourages violent crime.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
s/Erik/Eric/
is a regular expression.
yes, sed & awk & ksh use the regEx engine...
but so does perl and even that c# crap^H^H^H^Hstuff
Well, "s/foo/bar/" is a regex search/replace command in many things (the mentioned ed/sed/perl at least) but it's not really part of regular expressions per se.
The match part in it is. I guess the replacement value would also be somehow since it allows those backreferences and the like.
This is without a doubt the FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen on Slashdot. I had tears in my eyes while I was reading this.
How is the iPod lame? I mean you're entitled to your opinion, but it's just so convinient!
-_-
A little solid footing for the tazer croud :
A tazer can do about three different things, all of which are intended to see you off to live and enjoy another day.
1. Display of force - in addition to the two prongs that transmit electricity to the bad guy, there are two other prongs that point at each other on the front of the unit. Push the button when the tazer isn't connected to someone and the charge builds up and arc's across these two prongs. Makes a fairly loud snap crackle pop noise and a pretty blue spark. If you do this you are letting the 'bad guy' know you are about to zap him and maybe he will run away.
2. If that didn't work (it would work on me - see ya) you can zap someone with it - turn it on and try to tag them with it. Hurts like hell and the involuntary reaction is to pull away from you. Pretty much like getting touched with the end of a cigarette. This isn't going to drop somebody.
3. If that didn't work you can try to drop the 'bad guy' with it. This requires putting the two prongs to his flesh on his body core (neck or chest) for roughly 5 seconds. Imagine taking the head of a rattlesnake with two fangs sticking out the front and jabbing it into someone's chest or neck and keeping it connected for a full 5 seconds while they are flailing and trying to get you off of them. Same thing. Zapping someone for a quick ping on the arm isn't going to do it. 5 seconds, on the core.
The reason this works when cops do it is because there are two other copy holding you down while the third one calmly zaps you in the neck or chest for a 5 count or until you stop moving. Or until he feels like stopping.
Yes, a tazer can render someone physically invalid for a while, but it isn't an instant thing and it isn't an easy thing to do. It is more of a psychological weapon than anything, as in 'yea I want your iPod but there are easier iPods to steal than from Mr Psychotic Electrocute-my-ass here.'
I wonder if the whole 'mug people with white earplugs' thing is a problem in Texas. I'm guessing not, what with the whole 'concealed carry' thing they have down there.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Jamiguet said : Wearing headphones in the West Midlands is asking fro trouble.
Ok if that wasn't a Freudian slip, I don't know what is. Nowhere in the article did it say the muggers were black.
I'm not disagreeing with you, but shhh! we are supposed to be subtle when we are not being politically correct. Didn't you get the memo?
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer