The day I teamed up with FBI Special Agent Knickerson in an international plot to foil evil-doers.

[Spike]

Here's kind of an interesting story. I just thought of it because i noticed some some screen shots, in my ipad photo folder, of some chat from a game.

The game was a time-wasting battleship clone, and in the chat box some guy had started saying stuff about an upcoming attack, in Boston, in which a lot of people were going to die. He gave a street address (I looked it up and it was the same street as the Boston Marathon attack) and he said to watch the news tomorrow.

I captured the chat and sent a message to the game creator and then started thinking: Of course this was just some BS from some stupid kid, it was absurd to think it was serious, but, in the one in whatever chance that it could be, I realized I didn't want to find my self thinking, the next day, something like: "Oops, I guess I should have done something."

So I sent a message to the game creator, and then looked at the FBI web site, found the page for reporting stuff, and filled it out. I hesitated for a moment because I had to give my name and personal information. But only for a moment--by living and participating in the modern would, I accept that privacy is a thing of the past, and have decided to not worry about it.

I didn't know if or when this thing would be read, so, late that night, I looked up the phone number for the FBI office in Boston and gave them a call. I spoke with Special Agent Knickerson, saying I'm sure that this was nothing, but that I was kind of stuck in a see-something-say-something frame of mind, and so just wanted to make sure. I was surprised to hear that he himself had read the report and was looking into it. He asked me to email him the screen shots.

Anyway, the game creator, from somewhere in Norway, emailed me the next day. The FBI had contacted him and he was able to give them the ip adress (or something) of the user and they were able to identify him. It was some stupid kid in Italy screwing around. And he, the stupid kid, that day, got a knock on his door.

Anyway, I thanked Special Agent Knickerson for his vigilance, and felt like a good citizen .

 

[CelticRambler]

Funny you should post this today. In my professional life, I have access to a Big Red Button which, if pressed, has the potential to rain hellfire down on various unsuspecting citizens. I also follow a ditzy YouTuber who lives not far from me and who seems generally oblivious to the rules and regulations that govern our lives.

Several times, when watching her broadcasts, I've spotted stuff that is questionable, and sometimes "non-compliant with the rules in force" and occasionally downright dangerous - like the time she allowed a workaway "electrical engineer" run a power cable to her decorative fountain, buried under a thin layer of dirt with no warning membrane. I'd only recently sent her an e-mail about another indiscretion, and didn't want to come across as some kind of internet stalker so let it slide ... but was maliciously satisfied to hear that her cousin recently "found" the cable while using an excavator in the courtyard. He took it upon himself to rip the whole lot out and do a proper installation (which, to be fair, she recorded and broadcast)

But over Christmas, and again in yesterday's upload she's finally shown something that falls into my professional domain and could potentially have serious consequences for the population of the local area. I have decided that she's getting a knock on her door before a "nightmare scenario" unfolds ...

 

[sfoster]

One time I saw a little girl drowing, but she wasn't splashing or anything, she just kind of sank her nose under the water and we looked at each other.

and I thought to myself is that little girl drowning cause she isn't even splashing?
Anyway it turns out she was drowning and somebody else saved her.

 

[Spike]

On a family trip, way back when, driving around Lake Superior (my father, for some reason, thought this was a good idea) we were at this shallow little patch of stream, flowing into the lake over some extremely slippery, algae-covered slate. You could barely stand by it, and my nephew and I were splashing around when I heard a shout from my mother: "Spikey! Grab that kid!"

A little kid, a toddler, had been near the water, had slipped on the rock, and was tumbling downstream.

In what is probably one of my greatest all time spontaneous athletic performances--something like picking a fly ball out of the sky, at full run, from center field--I ran, slid on my feet across the slate, met the kid at the exact moment he was rolling by, and snatched him up.

The kid was making no noise as I carried him back to his mother, a kind of, I had thought, attractive young, somewhat scantily clad, Canadian woman. Then suddenly, thankfully, he started to wale. I handed the kid to her, almost dropping him, expecting some kind of, I don't know, hug or something.

But the mother didn't even say thank you. I think she was embarrassed that she almost let her kid drown.

Sometimes I wonder how I changed the universe. Hopefully the kid didn't turn out to be, like, Jeffry Dahmer or something.

Anyway.

 

[Spike]

Funny you should post this today. In my professional life, I have access to a Big Red Button which, if pressed, has the potential to rain hellfire down on various unsuspecting citizens. I also follow a ditzy YouTuber who lives not far from me and who seems generally oblivious to the rules and regulations that govern our lives.

Several times, when watching her broadcasts, I've spotted stuff that is questionable, and sometimes "non-compliant with the rules in force" and occasionally downright dangerous - like the time she allowed a workaway "electrical engineer" run a power cable to her decorative fountain, buried under a thin layer of dirt with no warning membrane. I'd only recently sent her an e-mail about another indiscretion, and didn't want to come across as some kind of internet stalker so let it slide ... but was maliciously satisfied to hear that her cousin recently "found" the cable while using an excavator in the courtyard. He took it upon himself to rip the whole lot out and do a proper installation (which, to be fair, she recorded and broadcast)

But over Christmas, and again in yesterday's upload she's finally shown something that falls into my professional domain and could potentially have serious consequences for the population of the local area. I have decided that she's getting a knock on her door before a "nightmare scenario" unfolds ...

Yup. Over the years, I have discovered, through experience, through trial and error, that, when faced with some kind of decision, major or minor, or some kind of moral dilemma, the default should be (and sometimes it has, and sometimes it hasn't) to bite the bullet and do the right thing. I return here to say this because, well, it, you know, takes a Village