Mirrorless.

 O.J. Simpson has died, apparently of cancer.  He was 76.  

After he was acquitted of murdering his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman he stated he would try to find the real murder.  This makes me wonder if he didn't have any mirrors in his house.

Maybe Their Lives Too.

Some heavily firepower has been taken off Edmonton's street.  Edmonton Police and ALERT, the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, have seized a number of firearms.  One of them was an Ingram M10 submachine gun.  Also seized was a silencer for it.  Often referred to as the MAC 10 it's not much larger than a large frame semiautomatic pistol.  It appeared in the mid '60s and was paired with a silencer designed by the Sionics company.  The compact size and noise suppressor led to its limited adoption by various armed forces, usually for use by their special forces units.  Hollywood and other film industries became a fan, so if you've seen many '70s and '80s action films you've probably seen one on screen.

The M10 has a cyclic rate of fire of 1200 rounds a minute.  This means it can empty its 30 round magazine in 2 seconds, which makes it hard to control unless you have extensive practice, and it's sometimes derided as a "room broom."  Not that this makes enough difference if you're on the receiving end.

Looking at the photos in the Edmonton Journal article I wonder if it wasn't only the lives of possible victims that were saved.  The M10 seems to be in poor condition, with most of the bluing missing, and obvious signs of rust on the gun and its magazine.  Given that shooting it might be a danger to the shooter as well as whoever he aimed it at.

Exotic Weapon.

Just before midnight on Friday Saskatoon police were called to a break and enter at a garage on Cairns Avenue.  Although the suspect had left before they arrived the K9 unit soon tracked him down.  He was arrested and found to be carrying a firearm, switchblade, and crystal meth.  None of these by themselves are unusual, but the firearm he was carrying was.  Police say it was a 7.65 mm Skorpion machine pistol.

The Skorpion was a product of the Cold War era Czechoslovak arms industry, a weapon that could be carried in a holster, but capable of fully automatic fire.  It was intended for use by special units, vehicle crews, and others who needed a weapon more compact than a rifle, but with more firepower than a standard pistol.  It also reflected the Czechoslovak military's willingness to go its own way with weapons, not being a Soviet design and using a non Warsaw Pact caliber, 7.65 mm, aka .32 ACP.

The actual utility of such very compact automatic firearms has always been questioned.  They're bulkier than a standard pistol, yet their small size makes them hard to control on fully automatic.  Most people they've been issued to don't get the practice time to learn to use them effectively.  But the Skorpion proved popular, seeing a lot of export sales, including ending up in the hands of European terrorist groups like the Italian Red Brigades.

So where did the one seized early Saturday come from?  If it was one of the full auto originals it's a prohibited weapon in Canada, never sold legally, and not something you'd expect a street crook in Saskatoon to get his hands on in 2017.  On the other hand semi automatic only versions of the Skorpion have been produced for the civilian gun market, and apparently they have been sold in Canada as a restricted firearm.  So if it's one of those it was either stolen from someone in Canada, or imported illegally from the US, where they are also legal.

One Simple Thing Not To Do.

There's a recipe floating around at the moment for making "Bernie Sanders glowsticks."  If you've actually seen this do NOT attempt it.  The result won't be a homemade glowstick, but a chlorine bomb.  Chlorine gas can kill.  Don't make it.

Whoever posted it originally should be charged with something.

It Definitely Could Have Been Worse.

It must be a bit worrying living by a major intersection.  The thought must regularly come to mind that your building will be hit by an idiot driver.  This morning there was an example of this at Saskatoon's Acadia Drive and 14th Street intersection.  The apartment building there was hit by a minivan about 7 AM.  As you can see by the pictures the van ended up wedged into the building.  Amazingly the driver got out and ran away.  He was followed by a bystander, who tracked him all the way to the Centre Mall several blocks away, where the driver was apprehended by mall security.  Several charges have been laid, and Saskatoon Police say speed and alcohol were involved.

The accident could have been worse.  The basement apartment located where the van hit was empty.  The driver was alone in the vehicle.  And he managed not to hit any other vehicle passing through.  Potential targets could have included Saskatoon Transit buses 3 and 5, which pass through that intersection around that time, depending on how on schedule they are.(I was riding 3 several winters ago when it was t-boned there by a car unable to stop on ice in the intersection.)

This is not the first time this building has been hit.  An accident years ago led to damage to another basement suite.  Perhaps the owners are going to have to consider installing some sort of posts or other barriers so it doesn't happen again.

In Memoriam.

On this date in 1989 Marc Lepine killed the following 14 women, simply for being women.  They were all students of Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.  He killed them simply for being women.

Geneviève Bergeron (b. 1968), civil engineering student.
Hélène Colgan (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Nathalie Croteau (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Barbara Daigneault (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Anne-Marie Edward (b. 1968), chemical engineering student.
Maud Haviernick (b. 1960), materials engineering student.
Maryse Laganière (b. 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
Maryse Leclair (b. 1966), materials engineering student.
Anne-Marie Lemay (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Sonia Pelletier (b. 1961), mechanical engineering student.
Michèle Richard (b. 1968), materials engineering student.
Annie St-Arneault (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte (b. 1969), materials engineering student.
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (b. 1958), nursing student.

Carrying A Concealed Snake?

Chances are this will soon reach the "weird news" segment of your newscast of choice.  But if you see this soon enough you can say you saw it here first.  Two Saskatoon men are currently in custody, facing charges of mischief and causing a disturbance, after they threw a snake at Tim Hortons employees at the 22nd Street location.  The two men became irate after an employee of the restaurant told them couldn't have diced onions on their sandwiches, prompting one to pull the snake out of the other's pocket, and throw it over the counter.  The employees fled, and after police were called the two men were located nearby and arrested.  The snake was a garter snake, which of course is not venomous, and was taken into protective custody.

As if we didn't have to worry about Saskatoon crooks with guns, knives, and bear spray, now it's concealed snakes.

Remember.

Misogyny kills.  Sexism helps it persist.  On this day in 1989 14 female students at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique were murdered by Marc Lepine for the crime of being women.


Geneviève Bergeron (b. 1968), civil engineering student.
Hélène Colgan (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Nathalie Croteau (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Barbara Daigneault (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Anne-Marie Edward (b. 1968), chemical engineering student.
Maud Haviernick (b. 1960), materials engineering student.
Maryse Laganière (b. 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
Maryse Leclair (b. 1966), materials engineering student.
Anne-Marie Lemay (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Sonia Pelletier (b. 1961), mechanical engineering student.
Michèle Richard (b. 1968), materials engineering student.
Annie St-Arneault (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte (b. 1969), materials engineering student.
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (b. 1958), nursing student.

We always remember the names of the people who perpetrate this violence.  We need to remember the names of their victims.

(This post was inspired by James Nicoll's annual memoriam posts about the Montreal Massacre.)

Trouble For Phil.

It seems pro poker players just can't avoid trouble.  The latest facing problems is Phil Ivey.  The Borgata Casino and Spa in Atlantic City is suing Ivey for cheating them out of 9.6 million dollars.  But not for cheating at poker, rather for cheating at baccarat.   The lawsuit claims Ivey and a companion used a flaw in cards to arrange them so they could tell which card was being dealt, and hence enhance their chances of winning.  The company that made the cards, New Jersey based Gemaco Inc, is being sued by the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, who claim card problems led to gamblers defrauding them of 1.5 million dollars.  And on top of that Ivey is being sued by Malaysia's Genting Group in the UK for cheating at baccarat, alleging he and an accomplice cheated them out of 12 million dollars.

If Ivey did cheat both of these casinos for the amounts they alleged that's a hell of a lot of money.  You'd think someone running that lucky at baccarat would have been spotted fairly quickly, given that baccarat, like most casino games, is supposed to favour the house quite heavily. (It seems that in the UK case the staff at Crockford's Club casino did spot something odd, as they refused to pay out Ivey's winnings.) You also have to wonder why someone like Ivey would engage in such extensive cheating given the damage it would do to his reputation if discovered.  On the other hand we've seen multiple examples in the past of how the big sums of money involved in gambling seem to cloud the judgement of the pros, the most notorious example probably being the goings on at Full Tilt Poker before the US crackdown on online poker. 

Heed The Warning.

"Don't try this at home," and its variations, may seem cliche.  But you should take such warnings very seriously.  Back in October Saskatoon resident Dylan Ernest Gibson, and his friend Aaron Stonehouse, were injured when the pipe bomb Gibson had made blew up.  Gibson, a young machinist, lost his left hand.  And he may be facing jail time after pleading guilty Thursday to a charge of breaching his legal duty of care towards explosives.

But Gibson wasn't a wannabe bomber.  Rather he apparently was inspired by watching Mythbusters, to see if he could make a working pipe bomb..  Unlike the Mythbuster crew, who have extensive experience working with explosives, and use them in extremely controlled conditions, Gibson built the device in his parent's garage.  It blew up when he tried to drill a hole into it to gain access to the contents, reportedly after forgetting to install a fuse.  Now, because he was foolish, Gibson is minus a hand, which probably will hamper his career as a machinist, and he will probably have a criminal record and face jail time.

So remember, when you're told not to try something at home, don't try it at home, no matter how smart you think you are.

Smartass Or Serious?

I came across this hit, which isn't mine, over at Where's Willy?  I suspect the person who entered it was just being silly given the location, but you never know.

Who Loves Rob Ford?

I suspect right now it's a trio named Duffy, Wallin, and Brazeau.  While what James Nicoll has dubbed "Crackatoa" is getting more and more press their problems have largely dropped off the news over the last few days.  Of course mere financial shenanigans aren't as titillating as talk of crack and hookers. 

"Citizen" Behaving Badly.

The so-called sovereign citizens movement is making news again.  A Calgary woman has had her rental property seized by a man who claims it's an "embassy house."  Her efforts to get his guy removed have failed so far, with the Calgary police saying it's a civil matter, since he originally occupied the home as a renter. You'd think it would fall under laws against fraud, somehow, but apparently not.

These sort of cranks go on about their rights.  But they have no concern about the rights of others.  It's attitudes like this that are likely to lead to violence by one of them sooner or later.

Uncitizen Citizens.

Dene Moore of the Canadian Press has written an article about the self proclaimed "sovereign citizens" movement in Canada.  If you've been following the activities the similarly named groups in the US much of this will sound familiar.  Members refuse to pay taxes, obey various sorts of government regulation, and try to support their claims with complicated legal gobbledegook.  One Ontario "Freeman" is even apparently trying to recruit his own police force, just as some American believers in such things have tried to do.

Although not mentioned in Moore's article another group with similar ideas and rationalisations in Canada is the Church of the Ecumenical Redemption International, which has been mentioned several times before on this blog.  Members reject current Canadian law because it doesn't acknowledge the King James Version of the Bible as a legal text, and do things like claim their vehicles don't need to be licensed because they are Church property being used for Church business.  As you might imagine these arguments do not work well when presented to law enforcement and the judicial system.

So far no one has been seriously hurt by members of these and similar groups, unlike some of their American counterparts.  Hopefully that remains the case. 

Gas Guzzlers.

As if the RCMP needed more bad publicity.  An officer from the Rosthern detachment, and his wife, have been charged  with theft for using an RCMP fuel card to fill their personal vehicles.  The charges include theft over five thousand dollars and fraud over five thousand dollars.  The amount makes me wonder how long this has been going on.  Or are they driving tanks, 18 wheelers, or some other vehicles that have really crappy gas mileage?

Odd Choice.

One of the Canadian Bravo channel's weekday offerings is Flashpoint, a series about members of a Toronto Police emergency response unit.  I caught part of yesterday's episode, and was a bit surprised it was aired.  In the episode "Attention Shoppers" a bullied teenage girl shoots one of the girls assaulting her in a crowded shopping mall, leading to a lockdown of the mall and further violence from the injured girl's fellow gang members. 

It's less than a month since the June 2nd shooting at Toronto's Eaton Centre shopping complex.  Two people died as a result, and several others were injured.  The shooter and the two dead men were all alledgedly connected to the Sir Thugs gang.  So it seems a bit odd to me that Bravo would air an episode with obvious parallels to a real life tragedy so close to the event.  The central characters in the TV episode may have been all women, and the reason for the shooting different, but it still revolved around a shooting in a mall.  You'd think Bravo would be worried about offending or triggering viewers.  On the other hand Bravo airs the series five days a week, so it may be hard to skip an episode without causing problems for your schedule.

Incidentally if you're a fan of Fresh TV's Total Drama and Stoked! cartoons you may want to catch this episode when it airs again in a few weeks.  The leader of the gang girls is played by Kristen Fairlie, the voice of Bridgette and Emma in the two series respectively. 

I Won't Read Them.

If you haven't heard already Toronto's Eaton Centre was the scene of a shooting today.  One person is dead, several others were wounded.  The thought came to mind of how long it took the idiot squad to start going on about how if only someone had been carrying a gun they could have stopped the gunman.  I would imagine it happened in fairly short order.  You'll excuse me if I don't go look, as their claims will just make me annoyed.  I can think of few things that would make things worse when someone is shooting up a mall than some amateur tying to play the hero by shooting back at him.

Interestingly one of the earliest online reports of the shooting may have been from a celebrity.  Brett Lawrie, the Toronto Blue Jays young Canadian third baseman, was in the mall when the shooting broke out.  He Tweeted about what he heard and saw after fleeing the mall with other patrons.  As you can imagine Lawrie has a lot of followers on Twitter, some 125 thousand according to the Toronto Star, so word got around very quickly.

Cross Promotion.

Time to promote my other blog, Saskatoon at Seven Megapixels.  Today's entry is about the Rusholme Pedestrian Tunnel on the west side, which was in the news in November over crime concerns.  Take a look.

Is He Really Gone?

The Wednesday night murder of Nicolo Rizzuto in Montreal has prompted a lot of talk that the Rizzuto Mafia "family" is finished.  It's a reasonable assumption given that his son Vito, the reputed boss of the Rizzuto organisation, is currently serving a 10 year sentence in US jail.  The elder Rizzuto's murder caps off more than a year of murders of Rizzuto members, including his grandson Nick Jr. last fall.  But the fate of one major player remains unknown, that of Paolo Renda.  Renda, Vito's brother in law and reputed consigliere, was apparently kidnapped in May of this year, his car being found with the windows open and the keys in the ignition.  The presumption is of course that he too was murdered.  But I couldn't help but wonder tonight if that was the case.  Could it be that Renda is alive and well living under an assumed name as part of some sort of deal with the authorties to provide information, thereby avoiding prosecution?  Modern Mafiosi have a penchant for squealing their heads off when things get too tough.  For that matter maybe Renda disappeared himself, figuring a life in hiding was a preferable alternative to taking a bullet from whichever group of enemies has been targetting the Rizzutos.

Baby Steps.

The Chinese government has announced its plans to reduce the number of crimes it applies the death penalty to.  This is a good thing, as Chinese law applies death sentences to crimes that would never be considered for it in countries like the US, such as economic crimes.  China reportedly executes more people per year than the rest of the world combined, so any reduction is good.  But of course from my perspective the Chinese didn't go far enough, and should abolish the practice completely.  Capital punishment cannot be overturned once applied, making it an unacceptable punishment given that people will be wrongly convicted.