Crime in suburbia

From The Landmark (subscription required):

[Editor's note: There were 18 suspicious items this week.]

Holden

Monday, February 8

1:55 a.m. Neighbor repeatedly parking vehicle wrong way on street
6:16 a.m. Vehicle obstructing sidewalk

10:49 a.m. Low-hanging wire, Princeton St.
2:20 p.m. Vehcle left gas station without paying, Main St.
3:51 p.m. Neighbor’s dog attacking raccoon
6:18 p.m. Shotgun and ammo turned in

Tuesday, February 9

9:53 a.m. Lookout requested by Worcester PD for child who got on wrong bus
10:44 p.m. Dog hit

Wednesday, February 10

12:41 p.m. Party wanting to sell firearm wants to make sure it’s clear and safe

Thursday, February 11

1:10 a.m. Individual entering funeral home; OK, it is undertaker
2:58 a.m. Suspicious motor vehicle, Quinapoxet St.
10:35 a.m. Debris in roadway caused flat tire, Bailey Rd.
11:07 a.m. Complaints about two individuals in front of post office with anti-Obama signs; advised nothing can be done unless they’re disorderly; parties left of own accord
3:46 p.m. Footprints in snow around residence, Main St.; OK, telephone worker
4:52 p.m. Walk-in looking for lost black notebook
5:01 p.m. Walk-in with decorative knife to be destroyed

Friday, February 12

1:01 a.m. Suspicious motor vehicle, Wachusett St.
8:43 a.m. Worcester PD requests Holden St. area check for suspicious vehicle
9:03 a.m. Suspicious motor vehicle, Bailey Rd.
3:20 p.m. Possible financial scam phone calls
8:42 p.m. Vehicle traveling slowly on Rte. 31; something may be wrong with driver; OK, just traveling slowly due to road conditions

Saturday, February 13

1:42 a.m. Unoccupied vehicle in elementary school parking lot, Jamieson Rd.
9:35 a.m. 911: Caller’s phone not working; trying to call oil company

10:20 a.m. Caller believes she may have left water boiling on stove at home; advised apartment was smoked up, now taken care of
9:32 p.m. Dog ran off

Sunday, February 14

12:20 a.m. Caller reports phone call threatening her not to drink from her water bottle
9:47 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, Terrie Ln.

Paxton

Monday, February 8

9:50 a.m. Female reporting suspicious white van in neighborhood, Crystal St.
1:46 p.m. Vehicle disabled in bad area, Pleasant/Grove Sts.


4:54 p.m. Loose black Labrador nipped at person, Orchard Dr.

Tuesday, February 9

3:36 p.m. Caller advising of possible fire at building on Main St. Holden Fire called
7:26 p.m. Suspicious motor vehicle parked at same location for period of time, Camp St.
7:51 p.m. Suspicious vehicle going in and out of driveways, Marshall St.

Wednesday, February 10

8:55 a.m. Person at station to speak with officer, Pleasant St.
10:01 a.m. Person at station to speak with officer, Pleasant St.
11:45 a.m. Person at station to speak with officer about threats, Pleasant St.
3:55 p.m. Caller wants to speak to officer about someone taking pictures of home, Hemlock St.

Friday, February 12

11:09 a.m. Police respond to burglar alarm, Dunanderry Way
1:01 p.m. Police respond to burglar alarm, Dunanderry Way
3:00 p.m. Police respond to fire call, light smoke in house, Dunanderry Way
3:31 p.m. Report of frozen faucet, Grove St.
7:59 p.m. Report of scam phone calls from party in Jamaica, Camp St.
8:48 p.m. Complaint about loud noise from equipment being run, Grove St.

Saturday, February 13

11:01 a.m. Suspicious male standing at entrance on Nanigian Rd. with shot gun in hand. Looking for lost dog

Sunday, February 14

12:16 p.m. Report of suspicious vehicle with hood open in driveway, Pleasant St. Dead battery, vehicle will be towed

Princeton

Monday, February 8

1:41 p.m. Dog lying beside road, possibly deceased, Houghton Rd. Police assist owner getting dog home

Tuesday, February 9

5:30 p.m. Suspicious vehicle, Worcester Rd.

Wednesday, February, 10

4:08 p.m. Motorist unable to make it up Allen Hill Rd. Highway notified

Thursday, February 11

7:13 a.m. Westminster PD found vehicle bumper in ski area parking lot. Want to meet with Princeton PD. Call later canceled
5:30 p.m. Suspicious white van in area, Houghton Rd.
7:45 p.m. Suspicious dark-colored vehicle parked at end of driveway, Mountain Rd.

Friday, February 12

5:00 a.m. Police transport individual from accident to station, Town Hall Dr.
10:09 a.m. Oil delivery person requesting officer at home where oil isn’t flowing into tank, Bigelow Rd.
11:32 a.m. Assist Sandwich PD trying to contact person on Lovers Ln.

Saturday, February 13

12:17 p.m. Assist Westminster PD regarding report of ice skaters on reservoir at bottom of Mile Hill Rd. Fitchburg water officials notified

Rutland

Monday, February 8

1:30 p.m. Male at station for escort while he picks up belongings, Main St.
1:30 p.m. Person wants to speak to officer about complicated civil matter, Main St.
2:37 p.m. Motor vehicle in a field, Glenwood Rd.
3:06 p.m. Student refusing to stay for detention, left school, Glenwood Rd. Later found
3:32 p.m. Dog complaint, Hickory Dr.
6:47 p.m. Assist Holden PD with person that fell, Main St., Holden
11:26 p.m. Person reporting loud noises from another apartment, Maple Ave.
11:47 p.m. Caller reporting neighbor stomping on floor in apartment, Maple Ave.

Tuesday, February 9

9:00 a.m. Person at station with cell phone found in Main St. parking lot
9:23 a.m. Caller requesting area around storm drain be cleaned, Barre Paxton Rd.
2:08 p.m. Report of suspicious activity at vacant dwelling, Rolling Ridge Rd.
2:37 p.m. Person at station to speak with officer, Main St.
3:40 p.m. Report that fox is living under shed, Juniper Ln.
4:05 p.m. Opossum in garbage bag in front of door to home, Wachusett St.

Thursday, February 11

12:06 p.m. Person complaining about people that set up altered photographs of President Obama in front of post office, Maple Ave. Advised no laws being broken

Friday, February 12

12:00 a.m. Officer wanted, Wildbrook Dr.
1:00 p.m. Request to deliver message, Maple Ave.
4:21 p.m. Person at station to speak with officer, Main St.
6:57 p.m. Person at station to speak with officer, Main St.
8:27 p.m. Person at station to speak with officer, Main St.

Saturday, February 12

9:01 a.m. Loose Rottweiler running in road, Main St.
10:00 a.m. Request for patrols in neighborhood due to door-to-door salespeople, Jackson Ave.
10:14 a.m. Caller’s dog terrorized by neighbor’s dog, Barre Paxton Rd.
11:05 a.m. Caller reports man standing at camp entrance holding shotgun, Pleasantdale Rd. Looking for lost dog
12:22 p.m. People left campfire burning on pond after they left, Turkey Hill Pond

Sunday, February 14

2:40 p.m. Suspicious man in tree, then on ground in pile of sticks, Barre Falls Dam

Sterling

Monday, February 8

1:26 p.m. Person requesting rules and procedures on school-aged bullying. Wants police to contact school and superintendent, Pratts Jct. Rd.
11:14 p.m. Transport individual with disabled vehicle to Gifford Road

Tuesday, February 9

1:25 p.m. Caller wants advice about getting rid of skunk living under their deck, Hilltop Dr.
3:32 p.m. Person wants to speak with officer about protestors at post office that blocked his way exiting the building, Leominster Rd.
11:10 p.m. Caller reports husky at her home, Holden Rd.

Wednesday, February 10

10:15 a.m. Caller reports suspicious motor vehicle with two males inside, then one individual was in back yard of home, Clinton Rd.
10:17 a.m. Person at station to speak with officer about people that used to live on Leominster Rd.
6:35 p.m. Caller requesting police to respond for out-of-control youth, Crowley Rd.

Thursday, February 11

3:15 p.m. Request for animal control officer to make kennel inspection, Gates Terr.
6:33 p.m. Report of fox hit and in roadway, Worcester Rd.
10:47 p.m. Suspicious vehicle pulled into driveway and turned lights off, Princeton Rd.

Friday, February 12

8:16 a.m. Construction company requesting police to respond to work site regarding suspicious activity during off-hours, Chocksett Rd.

Saturday, February 13

2:08 a.m. West Boylston PD asks that person on E. Park Rd. be advised that female needs to be picked up at the West Boylston station

Sunday, February 14

2:44 p.m. Person reports road rage incident on Rte. 62 in Lancaster by Chace Hill Rd.

On trademarks, dead or not or something

On the front cover of the latest phone book was this sticker.

I saw that logo on the right side, As Seen On TV, and started to wonder if this was a trademark infringement, either directly or as the result of
likelihood of confusion, (USPTO definition) where the image looks enough like the trademark belonging to someone else.
Y'see, the good people who bring us SnuggieWorld

via Snuggie World - The Official Site Of AsSeenOnTV.com, New Colors, Designer, Snuggie for Kids, Snuggie for Dogs
and some other, um, products, have claimed trademarks for two URLs.

Copyright © 1995-2009 AsSeenOnTV.com TM, and or SeenOnTV.com ®

They also use a teeny-tiny mark in their logo, suggesting, if not claiming, that the image is registered.
So, let's see about that.
As search at the United States Patents and Trademarks office shows up some interesting data:
Both ASSEENONTV and ASSEENONTV.COM show up as abandoned trademarks while the phrase SeenOnTV.com comes up empty.
I'm gonna send this post to a couple of attorneys to see if they have any comment. Stay tuned.

An old book delivered lazily

If there was a more bored guy around, I don't want to see it. This guy was walking so slowly that he was almost walking backwards. From his car, he trudged up the driveway, threw the bag on our steps, trudged across the law to the neighbors' house, tossing another bag, and then back to his car. He sat for a few minutes in the driver's seat and then drove 50 feet to the next driveway, the trunk of his car wide open, there to perform the same ponderous toss.
No wonder. He was delivering the phone book. The new, straight-out-of-1960s phone book.
It's the first time in about that long that we haven't been listed in the book. We gave up our landline last year and have fallen from the pages.
(When I mentioned to Adam that I saw a half page of Hakkarainens in the Jyväskylä phone book, he said, "That's right. You read phone books for fun, don't you?)
The only time that we typically use the phone book these days is to check a local ZIP code when we're away from the computer. Other than that, it's a big book of yellow and white pages that used to tell an interesting story about the people around us.

Firefox gives it all

Wait, what?

It turns out that it's not a Firefox problem, but a video configuration setting.
And, apparently, there's a fix for it.
Add this to your xorg.conf file:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Configured Video Device"
    Option "AccelMethod" "XAA"
EndSection

Relearning who I am or was or something

Originally posted on Karl Hakkarainen's Holden Blog at OnTheCommon.com.
It started last year after we'd had a free energy audit sponsored by the municipal light department. The inspector noted several places where we could do a better job of insulating the house. One place was in the attic. The fiberglass batting was in disarray, in need of rearrangement, if not replacement.
Quite a few years ago, we adopted a house rule that nothing goes into the attic unless something comes out. And, for those years, that steady-state had served us well. Now, however, we needed to empty the attic so that we can take care of the insulation.
Of course, the stuff that had gone into the attic was there precisely because we didn't know what to do with it. My mother, who lived with us for the last years of her life, died nearly 10 years ago. Busily, uncertainly, and perhaps even cowardly, I'd put several boxes of her papers in the attic in the hopes that some wiser person would know what to do with them.
There was one large plastic bin with a yellow Post-It® note that said "Discard if not needed by 1/2010." The bin contained mostly her financial records, including canceled checks, bank statements, and receipts. Those things were easy. Into the wood stove, they went.
Succeeding layers are harder because it's not clear what they mean. Other boxes included some of my father's papers. In that dig, we've hit a layer of pictures of old Finns who are indistinguishable from other pictures of old Finns. These were pictures from my father's parents. (They died 35 years ago.) Amid the stacks of nimetön vanhasuomalaiset were a few pictures of my grandparents in their 20s, my grandmother pregnant with my uncle.
My mother's collection includes pictures of her family on the dairy farm in Jaffrey and some others dating to the time when that family lived in Worcester in the 20s.
Yet another archive included letters that I wrote to Sandra when I was in college and we were courting. These are letters that are hard to read, but we did.
Those people who wrote and read those letters back then are an essential part of who we are now. Makes the brain hurt, doesn't it? The letters show, among other things, how close I was to getting things grievously wrong. It's not that I wanted or want a different outcome; I just wish that it had been easier on us all.
I'm not one who says that everything turns out just as it's supposed to. (That's a discussion for another day.) But I also know, and the idea was reinforced in some of my mother's letters, that if you change one thing, you change everything.
So we read on, watching the story unfold even as we know the outcome. We stare at the pictures to see these people in the hopes of seeing ourselves, and come away alternately enriched and overwhelmed.
In one sweet taste of irony, I had written to Sandra about a course I was taking, a course on historical research methods, given by one of my favorite professors. I was to learn about the procedures for reading primary sources and then writing important analyses about people's lives. I aced the course.

C'mon, folks. At least try.

Note that it's not even today's date:

via News/Talk 580 and 94.9 FM WTAG at 2010-02-16 06:53

On the radio, Jim Polito is interviewing Moo Moo Evans.

Meanwhile, down in Boston, ...

via Weather Alerts || Boston Weather at 2010-02-16 06:55

More on snow

Here's what the weatherman who's not on TV is reporting at this hour (~8:00z)

Best chance for 8 inch amts vicinity orh to lwm mht afn region. 

Next shift has the opportunity to convert. 

This holding back on a conversion should be an indicator to all 
customers our uncertainty regarding snow amounts...especially the 
afternoon daylight hours with temperatures near freezing. Treated/plowed roads 
at times during the afternoon in the watch area may be just wet...after 
the initial morning burst of snowfall. 
via Weather Discussion : Weather Underground

Meanwhile, in the Mother Country,

Met Office warns Britain to brace itself for more heavy snow

The South East is forecast to see the worst of the freezing weather, with up to four inches falling on high ground in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Sussex and Kent.

...
'Icy roads will be a major problem as the gritters will have a small window of time to cover a large area.'
via Mail Online

On the ride home from the hilltowns ...

Iso, Buppy, and Lily will bring to the picnic [1]:
an apple
banana
coconuts
donuts
eggplant
falafel
grapefruit
horseradish
ice
jumping-jacks
kiwi
langostinos
mushrooms
noodles
onions
pie
quart of milk
raddichio
salt
towels
utensils
Victrola
watermelon
Xena Warrior Princess
yeast
Zebra cookies

More on probability

How I know that I have a Valentine

If they ask you to work from home, ...

maybe it's a polite way to say that you need to offset some more of those desktop emissions.

via Sam's Club - "Plant a Tree" Donation - Offset Desktop Emissions

Librarians in the desert

Sandra's mother used to drive the bookmobile for the Holden library, bringing books to people around town. She had to be a skilled driver to maneuver such a vehicle through the narrow town roads.
There are places in the world, however, where even the most intrepid librarian has to step out of the van. It's time for Camel Mobile Library (via Kenya: The Camel Mobile Library Service « ResourceShelf).

Each year, the camels bring more than 7,000 books to nomads in Kenya's impoverished North East Province, often because camels are the only means of crossing the inhospitable terrain.