November 24, 2010
http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/11/kevin-dayhoff-tentacle-thanksgivings.html
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Dayhoff Carroll: www.kevindayhoff.org Westminster Md Online - The Winchester Report, by Kevin Earl Dayhoff: Runner, writer, artist, fire and police chaplain Mindless ramblings of a runner, journalist, and artist Westminster, Hampstead, Manchester, Taneytown, Union Bridge, Mount Airy and Sykesville in Carroll Co, Maryland... and Frederick Co. Westminster Fire Dept., Firefighters, police officers, Carroll Co Sheriff's Office, Md St Police. Chaplain duties, Religion, Grace Lutheran Ch.
Is it all just a coincidence? Then how does one explain this photo
that has recently surfaced?
“Photoshop” says Mr. Kelly.
“That’s just crap and you know it, responded Mr. Kelly.
“There is no truth to the rumor that I’ve hooked-up with Megyn Kendall – or
Kelly, or whatever her name is,” waxed Mr. Kelly.
Carroll County’s reputation for low crime and an aggressive approach to public safety is not a recent phenomenon.
Over 80 years ago on July 16, 1925, the editor of the American Sentinel newspaper in Westminster, Joseph D. Brooks wrote that many “years ago Carroll county was known to criminals all over the state as an ‘open door to the penitentiary,’ and many there were who entered by way of that door.”
However, as one can imagine when a community determines any public policy to be of paramount importance there are bound to be impassioned conflicts and dramas.
Writing for the Historical Society of Carroll County in 2001, Jay Graybeal noted in his introduction of the 1925 newspaper article, “Why the Listlessness of the Sheriffs of Carroll County?”; that it seems that Mr. Brooks had become unhappy with the Carroll County sheriff and state’s attorney and was letting them know that in no uncertain terms.
Carroll County history is replete with colorful conflicts, many of operatic proportions, between the Carroll County board of commissioners, the Carroll County delegation to Annapolis, the state’s attorney’s office, and the sheriff.
In the most recent act of this ongoing opera, on October 4, 2007 the Carroll County board of commissioners opted to move forward with a plan to form a county police department headed by an appointed chief of police.
Not willing to disappoint future historians, troubadours from far-flung regions of the Carroll County Empire then entered the stage and chaos ensued. I read several of the news accounts with the soundtrack of “Les Misérables” playing in the background.
The only disappointment is that Victor Hugo, the author of the classic 1862 novel, is not available to write about it.
Just as with any good storytelling, “La Policía” the current epic Carroll County constitutional conflict over the future of the police in Carroll County has many layers, story lines, strong personalities, and plot twists.
The frenzied operatic moments are reminiscent of what a collaboration between the famous 19th-century composer Richard Wagner and his father-in-law, Franz Liszt, would have looked like; with the emphasis of folks attempting to promote a plan for the future that cannot escape the past.
The very first act of La Policía is borrowed from Les Misérables. As the curtains rise, the scene before the bewildered citizen audience is the barricaded Carroll County office building.
It’s August 7, 2008 and the commissioners have just voted 2-1 to not move forward with the October 4, 2007 police plan.
As the smoke rises from the stage, there is a break in the action as members of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department are storming the barricades.
Blinking red and blue police lights reflect back and forth in the fog of the smoke.
In the background, the delegation to Annapolis forms the chorus and is softly singing.
The three commissioners are standing on top of the barricades. Commissioners Mike Zimmer and Dean Minnich are on either side of Julia Gouge, holding her steady as she waves an oversized Carroll County flag.
Office building employees have broken out the windows and are showering the storming sheriff’s deputies with office furniture.
The stage is littered with burning newspapers as the local media has shelled all the participants with folded newspapers shot from makeshift artillery.
Off to the side, Channel 13 news reporter Mike Schuh is attempting to interview Westminster Police Chief Jeff Spaulding. The only thing is - the chief has the 1971 Led Zeppelin classic, “The Battle of Evermore,” coincidentally, the title of the first act of La Policía, cranked-up so loud on the car stereo, no one can hear a thing.
Inside the office building the receptionist, Kay Church, is serving cookies, answering the phones and has armed herself with a salad shooter and big bag of carrots.
Ted Zaleski, the director of management and budget is huddled off to the side with Vivian Laxton, the public information administrator as they try and figure out who is playing what character from Les Misérables.
All of the sudden there is silence on the stage as famed local historian; Jay Graybeal emerges from the fog as a narrator, smiles and begins to softly tell the story of the history of the sheriff’s department.
“When Carroll County was founded in 1837, one of the first tasks…” of the newly formed government was to elect a sheriff. As with many aspects of early American government, its origins date back to the history of mother England.
According to some undocumented notes, “1200 years ago, England was inhabited by Anglo-Saxons. Groups of a hundred would ban together and form communities known as a “tun,” from where we get the word, “town.”
Every group of a hundred, or “tun,” as led by a “reeve,” which was the forerunner of what we now know as a chief of police.
According to Mr. Brooks, the reeve was “charged with the execution of the laws … and the preservation of the peace, and, in some cases having judicial powers. He was the King’s reeve, or steward over a shire … — a distinctive royal officer, appointed by the king, dismissible at a moment’s notice…”
Groups of “tuns” banned together to form a larger form of government known as a ‘Shire’” – what we now know as a county; and my old notes reflect that in order to distinguish the leader of a “Shire,” from a leader of a tun, the more powerful official became known as a “Shire-Reeve.”
Which is where we get the modern word “sheriff.”
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20080807 “La Policía” © by Kevin Dayhoff
Tofu Dusk at the Mellow Mushroom
The story of the tofu sandwich at the “Mellow Mushroom” in six parts.
April 23, 2008 by
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5058mbS9zdc
Winston-Salem, North Carolina - - This is the story of Mrs. Owl and I having hummus with pita bread, a tofu sandwich and a calzone; at the “Mellow Mushroom,” 4th and
Storyboard
1.
2. 4th and
3. Mellow Mushroom, www.mellowmushroom.com
4. Ms. Salem Editing, Mellow Mushroom,
5. Ms.
6. Mrs. Owl, the newspaper reader, Mellow Mushroom,
7. And the band played on… Winston-Salem guitar player…
The end
http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoff
http://gizmosart.com/dayhoff.html
E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org or kevindayhoff AT gmail.com
His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com, Winchester Report and The Sunday Carroll Eagle – in the Sunday Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun. Get Westminster Eagle RSS Feed
Accept differences, Be kind, Count your blessings, Dream, Express thanks, Forgive, Give freely, Harm no one, Imagine more, Jettison anger, Keep confidences, Love truly, Master something, Nurture hope, Open your mind, Pack lightly, Quell rumors, Reciprocate, Seek wisdom, Touch hearts, Understand, Value truth, Win graciously, Xeriscape, Yearn for peace, Zealously support a worthy cause. (Author; Renee Stewart)
Fragmentary patchworks of autochthonous and foreign elements.
January 2nd, 2008 by
Happy New Year Mr. Isaac Smith. Thanks for the mention - The List (No, Not the Washington Post's). [Free State Politics
Michael Swartz's list of local blogs to watch in 2008 is pretty good. It is missing a few good blogs of note, however…
As much as I agreed with most, but not all, of Mr. Swartz’s list, your list is right on the money. I also miss Stephanie Dray’s Jousting for Justice. And I am very happy that Crablaw's Maryland Weekly is back…
And thanks for calling to our attention the Washington Post’s list: Year in Review 2007 - “The List: What's In and Out for 2008” BY HANK STUEVER - WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER - – what a hoot. (And don’t miss giving The Year That Was 2007 by Brian Griffiths a good read. He obviously spent some time thinking about it…)
Your post could not have been timed better as it came shortly after a conversation with a dear colleague who said they like my blog – although I’m too liberal.
Ay caramba - whatever.
Along that thread, another colleague said “Dayhoff … your problem is that you like everybody.”
To that I plead guilty – life is way to short. Then again, maybe not – I don’t like mean people; and that personality defect occurs in folks from all political persuasions.
I simply do not allow politics to dictate my friends - - and I don’t like folks who do pick their friends based on politics. (I’ll be having lunch later in the week with a dear friend with whom I disagree about everything when it comes to politics.) I can disagree with folks about issues, but more often than not – I like the person…
As far as your observation: “… his actual blog hard to read -- its look is extremely busy and most of the posts are just link aggregations…” Hey, you oughta be in my head…
At least with the blog, there is an attempt at organization… I also find my blog “hard to read” and try as I might, after blogging for a number of years, it is still way too busy.
Perhaps my blog is a manifestation of being a hypergraphic attention deficit disorder hyperactive dyslexic. Maybe – just maybe, one day I’ll figure out what I’m doing. Being a technology geek – one would’ve thought blogging would be easy for me. It is not.
At this point, on the blog evolutionary scale, my blog is a monkey on roller skates. The monkey may or may not be wearing a pink tutu - this is for you to decide.
Years ago, I thought blogging would be easy for a columnist and short story writer. It has not been the case. And within the last number of months, I picked up a third (newspaper) column every week; which just proves the “Peter Principle” is real. I’m now way beyond my intellectual and cognitive abilities.
Heckfire – some days, I’m proud to have even found the time, much less the cognitive abilities - to post “link aggregations.”
Meanwhile, I am painstakingly determined to promote constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supercede, the expectations of quality. What I really need in order to navigate the treacherous waters that lie ahead is a list of specific unknown problems I will encounter.
Always remember, the purpose of my blog is to discuss fragmentary patchworks of autochthonous and foreign elements as juxtaposed by the undeniable command mortality of insignificant self-inflicted syntactic semiotic economics which sometimes may cause irreproducible results unless there is a pre-emptive digital fallibility matrix which would require an integrated third-generational triangulated refinement of indefinite managerial potential.
As I wax philosophic with metaphysical postulations, incomplete aphorisms and inconsistent sophism that allows me to conclude, more and more sure, that the only true thing about anything is nothing.
Now I know you believe you understand what you think I just said but I am sure that you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
As always, your thoughtful consideration is appreciated regardless of the outcome on any particular issue. Whether we agree or disagree, always find my door open for friendly civil and constructive dialogue.
Pray for my wife.
Best wishes for a great 2008.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org or kevindayhoff AT gmail.com
His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com, Winchester Report and The Sunday Carroll Eagle – in the Sunday Carroll County section of the Baltimore Sun. Get Westminster Eagle RSS Feed
or
Mary Katherine Ham to Alicia Silverstone: Go Hunting
October 3rd, 2007
Although I have spent a large portion of my life as a vegetarian; as I grew older and life got particularly hectic, I gave it up – for now anyway. Who knows, tomorrow, I may go back. Whatever.
A number of years ago, as I was attempting to reason with an unreasonable person and losing miserably, a colleague said to me:
“You know what your problem is?”
“Ugh.” I really did not need advice at that particular moment; however, I prized his friendship and sheepishly asked: “What?”
“It's a dog eat dog world out there, and you're a vegetarian!"
We solved that by going out to a sub shop where I gave up the anorexic bliss of salads and voraciously scarfed down a cheese-steak sandwich.
It was a road to
I still lose miserably with folks who accept narcissistic fiction as fact, however, I am bigger now and I figure that if I am to be eaten alive, I might as well give folks a flavorful super-sized meal.
Then again, to be candid, I was never good at being a vegetarian. I never stopped eating animal crackers and every once and awhile at Moms, I’d dive into a steak – and I can rarely remember missing turkey at Thanksgiving.
I have a number of colleagues and some family members who are, at the moment, practicing vegetarians - and I respect that choice. Besides, I really like vegetables. Then there are folks who don’t like vegetables or are otherwise broccoli intolerant. To them I say, ya really ought to “give peas a chance.”
A member of my family, who is an avid vegetarian, recently gave some seafood a try.
Bold.
Writing for the Washington Post, Joel Achenbach says:
“Certain kinds of seafood, such as lobster, clams and crabs, are honorary forms of meat, but a small filet of a low-fat white fish should be viewed as essentially a vegetable. Raw oysters are manfood, as is any fish served with the head on and the mouth gaping in horror.
Me, I could live off of Dr. Pepper, coffee and grits. Hey, don’t knock the cooking with Dr. Pepper book. There are some great recipes in there.
I never tried the “vegan” approach. I often wondered how the term came about. When I was quite young I had a great deal of confusion over the term “vegetarian.” If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Mr. Achenbach calls to our attention a savior for vegans, who every once in awhile, go Jonesing for a milkshake – “soy cows.”
In the column he was initially singing the praises of his new “Fabulator 5000.”
What is a “Fabulator 5000?” I am so glad you asked. I was fascinated about this development since I am still using the Fabulator model No. 1953.
I’ll let Mr. Achenbach ‘splain:
“I love my new food printer, the Fabulator 5000, which makes the previous food printers look not just clunky but positively medieval. There's no more click-and-point nonsense on the screen, no more waiting five or six interminable minutes for the food to print. You just tell the Fab 5 what you want. The food comes out in about three or four seconds, complete with garnish and a complementary wine.”
Oh, the “soy cows?” Apparently Mr. Achenbach recently “took the kids … to Homewood Farm to see a good old-fashioned agricultural enterprise…”
“I got a look at the new soy cows, grazing in the large field just north of the orchard. The USDA apparently felt that soy milk could be produced much more efficiently if it came from cows made of soy. These cows are so green they nearly blend into the landscape. They say the soy milk is a lot better tasting (not as beany, somehow) than the stuff derived from plants, and the soy burgers are more tender. But you've probably read about how the soy cows dry up badly in drought conditions -- they literally wilt -- and even catch fire. Bored teenagers have been blamed for setting some of the cow fires.”
There is much to be appreciated by the vegetarian lifestyle; nevertheless my goal was to not be evangelical about it all.
But – and ya know there was going to be a “but” in here soon – I’ve never been fond of PETA’s Strindbergian gloom and bleakness approach to advocacy.
When I was a practicing vegetarian, invariably, some folks would suggest some linkage to me, a vegetarian, with PETA’s in-your-face humorless lactose intolerant militancy. An approach which often seems more oriented to being obnoxious and annoying instead of being compelling and persuasive to what is otherwise, a perfectly fine lifestyle, vegetarianism, for which PETA routinely does an injustice....
At a local government - social event, a local elected official’s wife was horrified that I was a vegetarian. “How can a big strapping former Marine be a vegetarian,” she gasped.
I solved that in quick order. She was a dog lover and the owner of a huge
I asked her if she had ever eaten dog. When I was in the Marines, a South Vietnamese ranger once cooked-up a mess of dog.
It tasted like chicken.
I suggested to my scowling friend that her
Recently Alicia Silverstone did an ad for PETA that has garnered a great deal of attention. I can’t believe that it is winning over any converts to vegetarianism, but it has attracted attention to PETA.
Whether it is really the sort of attention that an advocacy organization wants is a bigger issue for which there is not right or wrong, it just isn’t my cup of tea.
Nevertheless, in age of so much strife and discord, I yearn for a time when peas will rule the planets, and love won’t be such a fuss. I long for the dawn of the age of asparagus.
Enter stage right, Mary Katherine Ham. Ms. Ham has done a spoof on the Ms. Silverstone ad that is a real crack-up.
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No animals were hurt in the writing of this column.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org or kevindayhoff AT gmail.com
His columns and articles appear in The Tentacle - www.thetentacle.com; Westminster Eagle Opinion; www.thewestminstereagle.com and Winchester Report.
Photo caption: “Fired spiders and gum” from the web site, “Photography by Ewen Bell.” Neat site – check it out.
March 21, 2007
This post is for my wife. Read it quickly before it is prevailed upon me to amend it or take the post down.
Me: spiders gotta live somewhere. I just Zen them. As long as they don’t change the settings on my computer or eat my ice cream – I’m good. Whatever.
My wife: Spiders seem to make my normally unfazed, calm, and sedate wife go from zero to animated in a nanosecond. I know of nothing else that bothers my wife (except liberals… fortunately she doesn’t feel the need to squish them… .)
It is somewhat the source of amusement with me. Trust me, my amusement is not shared by my wife, and I have long since learned to adjust my approach. [Soccer Dad doesn’t wear paisley (My goodness that was an ugly tie.) - - I take spiders seriously – when they are the source of my wife’s undivided attention…]
Me to wife: Wife, I just saw on Nancy Grace that Anna Nicole Smith is still dead and the world is going to come to an end. Could ya please help me grab my computer before we go to the bomb shelter?
Wife: I don’t care - - There’s a spider in the house! Get it.
Over the years we have come to a sorta agreement. Found spiders in the house are not to be killed. They are to be invited to go outside… This seems to work as long as the spider is cooperative.
For the safety of spiders, I have posted a sign at the back door that our house is not safe for spiders. It seems to have worked.
Sooo, it was with some amusement that I saw that “Spiders Love to Snuggle.”
Perhaps Jeremy Bruno up at Voltage Gate (Besides, Mr. Bruno has not one article about spiders on his blog. What gives”) may have to interpret some of this for us, but according to Jeanna Bryner LiveScience Staff Writer LiveScience.com Wed Mar 21, 8:45 AM ET :
While not usually considered paragons of tender, familial love, some spiders do have a touchy-feely side. Scientists have discovered two arachnids that caress their young and snuggle together.
Social behavior is extremely rare in arachnids, a group of critters typically defined by their aggression, clever hunting methods and even predatory cannibalism.
"This was the best example I had ever seen of friendly behavior in an arachnid," said lead study author Linda Rayor, a
[…]
For (Phrynus) marginemaculatus, the stroking was mutual, with the three-week-olds also whip-caressing their moms and one another.
[…]
Video: Spiders' Psychedelic Courtship Dance
Original Story: Creepy: Spiders Love to Snuggle
Since this is a family blog – we may wanna have Attila pick up the story here and here… . He goes places I can’t.
Read the rest of the article here: “Spiders Love to Snuggle.”
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Jamie Kelly and Megyn Kendall link rumors denied
January 3rd, 2007 – January 6th, 2007
It what can only be understand as “news” to a certain someone in Mr. Jamie Kelly’s life; rumors of a link between Fox News Channel journalist Megyn Kendal and our own Jamie Kelly of the Carroll County Times, were vigorous denied by Mr. Kelly in a recent phone call.
Avid readers of the Carroll County Times are usually aware when various members of the local paper’s news staff go missing from time-to-time.
And it was not unnoticed that Carroll County Times city desk editor Jamie Kelly took some time off recently
Then, as a coincidence(?) it was announced as the new year began, that Fox News Channel personality Megyn Kendall has changed her name – to Kelly.
Hmmmm.
FishbowlDC reported that she changed her name back to her maiden name.
Could this be a ruse to put us off the trail of a breaking news story right here at home in
First, on June 22, 2006, there was an oblique link between Jamie Kelly and Megyn Kelly…
But rumors really began flying as early as last July 28th, 2006, when it was rumored that Mr. Kelly was spotted with Ms. Kendall at the Cafe Milano in DC eating pizza.
Ms. Kendall “was wearing a tight white strapless summer dress and looked gorgeous. She also is sporting platinum blonde hair now. She sat in the corner seat at the bar on the left as you walk into the bar area.”
And Mr. Kelly, well, he was dressed in his usual young journalist attire; jeans, blue shirt – with the shirt tail hanging out, a new brown and yellow stripped sweater. Reports were that he looked rather dapper.
And then, the day after Christmas, Ms. “Kendall (was spotted) at the Pentagon City Nordstrom… She was wandering around men’s furnishings talking on her cellphone. She’s very attractive (not just hot for D.C.), but she definitely looks older in person than on t.v. She also has a smoker’s voice that’s kind of sexy on t.v., but not so much in person.”
Well, we all know that Mr. Kelly is a clothes-horse and loves Nordstrom.
Is it that Mr. Kelly, who has recently been feeling a bit under the weather, has been running himself ragged in his double-life?
Is it all just a coincidence?
Then how does one explain this photo that has recently surfaced?
“Photoshop” says Mr. Kelly.
“That’s just crap and you know it," responded Mr. Kelly (with a smile.) “There is no truth to the rumor that I’ve hooked-up with Megyn Kendall – or Kelly, or whatever her name is,” waxed Mr. Kelly.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bercovici and John Cook posting on “Radar Online” has reported upon a possible link between Ms. Megyn Kelly and Brit Hume.
For months, a rumor has been circulating among TV news insiders in Washington, D.C., and New York that Brit Hume, Fox News Channel's managing editor in Washington and host of prime-time hour Special Report, has been having an extramarital affair with a younger colleague. The object of his alleged attentions: Megyn Kendall, a general-assignment correspondent who has been with the network since 2004.
There is no evidence to suggest that the rumors are true. Of the half-dozen sources who relayed the allegation to Radar, none could claim first-hand knowledge, and several Fox insiders said they believed it to be false. Still, the whispers have grown so loud that Hume and Kendall have been forced to deny them repeatedly to curious colleagues. (One Fox source said Hume seemed genuinely amused and somewhat flattered to be linked by gossip to the attractive and much younger
(Well, one thing is for sure, here at Soundtrack, we know that we totally made-up a connection between Jamie Kelly and Megyn Kelly because, well, we just couldn’t help ourselves. Mr. Kelly is way too much fun and besides, it was too good a coincidence and a wonderful photoshopping opportunity.)
For now, we’re going to take Mr. Kelly at his word. But we’ll keep our ears to the ground and you’ll be the first to know if we find any additional information on this story of intrigue and wonder.
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Defiant mannequin arrested claims - self defense
Westminster, California
August 22, 2006
By Kant Betrue, Rhoiders
Chaos ensued in a local J.C. Penney Co. store recently when a rouge mannequin attacked a hapless shopper looking for the right blouse.
Police were called and sources close to the incident have reported that a mannequin was arrested at the scene and hauled off in handcuffs.
Defiant throughout the ordeal, the mannequin, (who may or may not be an android,) latter identified as Mrs. Roberto Caricature, said that she was only acting in self-defense.
The Department of Homeland Defense immediately raised the national threat level to a soft yellow-orange crèmesicle, for possible mannequin uprising activity.
According to published accounts, Mrs. Innocent Civilian, 51, “said she was ambushed by a legless female mannequin at the company's Westminster Mall store, a skirmish that left her with a bloodied scalp, a cracked tooth, recurring shoulder pain and numbness in her fingers.”
The Associated Press reports, Ms. Civilian “said the incident happened… in the women's department, as she was shopping for a blouse. The only one in her size was on the mannequin. As a salesclerk was removing the garment, the dummy's arm flew off and struck” Ms. Civilian in the head…
Ms. Civilian, of Westminster, (no relation to Isaac or Fig,) remarked that since the alleged “run-in with a store mannequin,” she has been traumatized by the incident and “something must be done with the rampant abuse of shoppers at the hands of lawless mannequins.”
The Los Angels Times reports, the “alleged attack was the latest in a string of mannequin mayhem incidents nationwide.
"There are a slew of lawsuits like this," said mannequin manufacturer Barry Rosenberg, who joked that stores should run background checks on dummies before letting them mingle with shoppers.
“Most of the cases involved mannequins toppling over onto customers, but an Indiana woman claimed she caught herpes from the lips of a CPR training dummy. She dropped her lawsuit against the American Red Cross in 2000 after further tests revealed that she didn't have the disease, according to news reports.”
Meanwhile, the mannequin, Mrs. Roberto Caricature, claims self-defense.
Seems the mannequin had a bad childhood. It wasn’t her fault.
Ms. Caricature explained loudly as she was lead away in handcuffs, that she was particular modest and had “tired of folks just taking her clothes off in public and leaving her exposed.”
“I have my rights,” she extolled, according to police reports. “People just walk to us mannequins all the time and fondle and ogle us. It’s not right I tell ya. It’s not right.”
"'My mom got beat up by a mannequin' was the joke around my house, "Ms. Civilian said.
For Mrs. Caricature, it is not a laughing matter. “Mannequins across the land are demanding our rights. We’re tired of being victimized.”
Mrs. Caricature, who claims to be an “adroidaquin,” the child of a marriage between an android and a mannequin, claims that she is tired of the abuse. “We dream of electric sheep too,” she elaborated.
The Los Angeles Times, for which it has long been suspected of being run by mindless, stateless androids, agreed. (There are no American flags in front of the building…)
“Getting roughed up by a dummy isn't a slapstick affair. The fiberglass figures can weigh as much as 100 pounds, said Rosenberg, chief executive of Mondo Mannequins in Hicksville, N.Y.
“He added that his company had been named in numerous lawsuits by retailers who themselves have been sued over dummy-related injuries.
“Mannequin maulings and litigation aren't new. In 1990, a Florida woman collected $175,000 after a faceless Macy's dummy fell onto her neck and reportedly injured a disc.
“In 1993, a Minnesota woman was knocked unconscious by a falling mannequin at a Dayton's department store, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She needed five stitches and several chiropractic sessions to recover but didn't sue.
“And in 2001, a Canadian shopper in Vancouver won a $330,000 verdict after a Gap store mannequin landed on her head. Elizabeth Ball was apparently jinxed when it came to store displays. A few years earlier, while shopping at a lighting store, she was beaned by a falling chandelier, according to the Canadian Press.”
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