Assorted Stupidity #110

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  • According to The Independent, a London cab driver was fined £160 (plus £110 court costs) for running a red light on June 3 of last year. Authorities were unmoved by his explanation that he had been driving people home for free after the London Bridge/Borough Market terrorist attack earlier that day. “I saw that after the Manchester attacks cab drivers were turning off their meters and just doing all they could to help,” Ryan Barney said, “so I thought that I would try and do my bit.” Granted, there was probably no reason to run any red lights by that point in the day, but still.
  • Here’s one way to get out of jury deliberations: claim another juror is trying to poison you. There doesn’t seem to have been any solid evidence that Juror No. 9 had actually been poisoned, but the judge let him go anyway. Saying the juror’s allegations perhaps “did not reflect favorably on his mental state,” and that the dismissal had nothing to do with his views on the merits of the case, the Ninth Circuit affirmed.
  • Similarly, you might want to check whether your target is currently being robbed, or ask around to see if anybody else is planning to rob it in the very near future. I’m not sure whether simultaneous robberies would be more or less awkward than the situation above, frankly. Either way, maybe try to space out the robberies a little more?
  • If this report is true, TSA drones in Houston selected a 19-year-old woman for a full screening and pat-down because they saw her making a “finger gun” gesture, though this is evidently a common salute among students and fans of Texas Tech, where she is a sophomore. (Her “target” was a guy in a Texas Tech hoodie.) Also, it is a finger and not an actual weapon. “You can’t do that in an airport,” the drone reportedly said, for some inexplicable reason, because of course you can.