For Master Thieves, Legos Are the New Uncut Diamonds, Vocativ, Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, August 20, 2014

While Legos aren’t exactly uncut diamonds (they’re not nearly as portable), as far as untraceable commodities go, they’re almost as good. Thieves can sell unopened Lego sets, which are very difficult to track, almost immediately online for as much or more than the retail price. And if they sit on them for a while, it gets even better, because many of the bigger sets rapidly appreciate in value—at a rate much faster than inflation. In other words, they’re money in the bank.

Last week’s back-to-back busts underscore what appears to be a growing awareness among criminals of Legos’ street value. Over the last couple of years, professional thieves and opportunists around the world have turned the Danish building blocks into fat stacks of Benjamins. They’ve included Silicon Valley executives, criminal masterminds in Florida, Oklahoma conmen and even drug dealers in Amsterdam, who have started accepting Lego toys as payment.

Some go for the toy stores, others rob the delivery trucks. Earlier this year, a suspected band of crooks in Australia brandished angle grinders and crowbars to pilfer at least $30,000 in Legos from four different retailers. In England, bandits in Watford Gap and West Yorkshire pulled off Lego truck heists to the tune of $87,000 and $67,000.

The Kraken Is Such A Big Meanie, The Kraken, The Gloomy Historian, October 9, 2014

I get occasional feedback on what I write and I can read statistics, so I understand that there are some readers who felt I went to far in my characterization of the Republican Party and their voters. This is not some dry, academic journal it is my personal blog and I am under no real obligation to play the “both sides” card or pull punches out of some outdated sense of professional detachment. These are transparent excuses used by journalists in big media corporations trying not to offend their right-wing editors and owners. My anger at the mean-spirited ignorance of conservative voters is sincere, second only to Republican office holders because the latter can actually change laws and make decisions that hurt me and the people I care about. So yes, I am sick of holding back for politeness sake. But man, for all the harm they do to others conservatives are incredibly thin-skinned. You would think people willing to fuck over their neighbors for gain might not get their feelings hurt so easily or cry foul and act all butt-hurt about it but you would be wrong.

Man pens open letter to all the women making street harassment so difficult, Robyn Pennacchia, Death and Taxes, October 9, 2014

I cannot say that I understand the perspective of men who, when told that most women do not so much appreciate this, continue to argue for it. The purpose of a compliment is to make someone feel good. If a compliment makes someone feel bad or uncomfortable or violated, it is not achieving its intended purpose.

One man has been apparently oblivious to this whole ongoing debate and has penned an open letter to the women of Chicago, suggesting that they change their habits–such as listening to music while walking or on the bus, and wearing sunglasses–in order to make it easier for him to “compliment” them.