Via BoingBoing, a woman loses her camera in Hawaii. Happy ending -- for a moment -- the camera is found. The problem is, the kid who's been using it has become attached to it, his mommy says, and won't be giving it up. Here's the woman's post:
I got a call from an excited park ranger in Hawaii that "a nice Canadian couple reported that they found your camera!" She gave me their name and number, and I eagerly called to reclaim my camera.
Silence. It is now clear I will never see the camera again. I'm shocked at what seems like an utter moral failure on her part, despite her claim to want to "do the right thing."
"Enclosed are some CDs with your images on them. We need the memory cards to operate the camera properly."
I call, furious. "I was shocked to get your package today. Our agreement was that you were to send me my memory cards, not that you would keep an additional $120 worth of my property on top of the valuable camera you already chose not to return."
"You're lucky we sent you anything at all. Most people wouldn't do that." We go back and forth a bit more. She eventually hangs up on me. I call the police department in her town (in Canada) but they tell me that it's a U.S. issue, since that's where the property was lost.
I do, however, have the photos. Thanks again to the Flickr community for loaning me yours in the interim.
There are hundreds of comments on the blog item, most of them supportive. Then there are a few assclowns who post stuff like this:
You know, bad things happen to good people all the time but why the internet community has to rally over the loss of one person's 600 dollars is beyond me.
Why? Because people do this because they feel they can get away with it. Every action like this one makes it less likely this will happen again. You can't make unethical people ethical, but you can make them fear social opprobrium for behaving unethically and thus cause them to keep their natural scumbagginess in check.
I just want their names and phone number. I'll make the first call to tell them what pigs they are. Moreover, according to your description of them, they're clearly unfit parents, and should have their child taken from them and placed in foster care.
I'm usually against organized harassment, but if EVER there were an occasion to engage in it, this is it.
IS there a paper in these fabulous folks' home town? If a letter to the editor won't do it, a paid ad. might. What absolute scum.
They are totally screwing up that kid. He's nine years old, for crying out loud, and they are treating him like a baby. He's definitely got bigger problems than diabetes - his parents seem determined to turn him into a complete pantywaist and it will probably work.
The mother and child remind me of a mother and daughter with whom I spent a year in close quarters in Australia. As much as that kid got away with with her crazy mom, her schoolmates were much less forgiving. (They beat the crap out of her daily.) I met her again when we were both in our early teens, and found that she had become stunted, timid, and mousy.
TJ, I feel sorry for kids like that. They are terribly annoying, but I feel sorry for them because their parents don't teach them anything. They don't learn any social skills from their parents, so other kids don't want to be around them, so they don't learn social skills from other kids, either. It is a vicious cycle, unless the kid manages to figure it out for him or herself.
Can't imagine being more cynical than you are, but I'd be surprised if there was a kid, and if by any chance there was, that he was sick.
The people are common thieves. Canadian common thieves. I'd sic the Mounties on their ass* -- or at least their local newspaper.
* they're just trying to pass the work on. Explain the PR aspects of the theft and the RCMP's failure to deal with it.
Dr. D.Y. Patil College of Law National Level Moot Court Competition 2016 | Announcements | Law College | AdvocateKhoj
Only bonafide students of three or five year courses of Law shall be permitted to participate in the competition.
Each team shall consist of a minimum of two and maximum of three members. There shall be two speakers, who may be accompanied by one researcher. The researcher will not be allowed to speak.
There shall be a registration fee of Rs. 2,000/- for local teams and Rs. 3,000/- for outside teams. There shall be only one registration per institution. Teams are requested to send the duly filled registration forms along with Demand Draft on or before 24th December, 2015. Registrations will be confirmed only on the receipt of the hard-copy of the registration form along with Demand Dradt. Hard-copies are to be sent to
In the meantime, teams may choose to send a scanned copy of the filled registration form to dypcl.moot@gmail.com for interim registration. Participants are requested to kindly ensure before dispatching the form that the registration form bears the signature and seal of their Institution's Principal.
Breakfast and lunch will be provided to all the teams. There shall be no accommodation for teams from Mumbai. The teams from outside Mumbai will be provided with overnight accommodation at their request. At the time of interim or final registration, teams are requested to communicate to us their travel and accommodation plans in the e-mail or along with the registration form.