http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/dart04072002.htm

http://www.unionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=10163

After scoping out houses on Goose Green Road in
neighboring Vershire, Vt., they put their plan into
action July 19, 2000. 

Suited up in black, Tulloch and Parker, armed with
older Army knives, duct tape and zip ties, approached
the house at night. Before going to the door, they cut
the phone lines and dug a grave in a lot of a nearby
abandoned home where they planned to bury their
victims after they robbed them, Ayotte said. 

Tulloch went to the door while Parker hid in the
bushes. Tulloch planned to say their car had broken
down and ask to use the phone, but when a man answered
with a gun in his hand and refused to let him in,
Tulloch left. 
-----

40 responses total.

Well, clearly Tulloch and  Parker didn't think ahead, and come armed
with gun, as bdh3 so strongly recommends. They should have taken his
advice.

Okay, these guys left after seeing the homeowner at the door.
There was no robbery.  Two years later, how the hell did the
newspaper know what these guys planned?

They just casually dug a grave?  Does anybody realize how much **&#$ work it
is to dig a hole that big?  Even if it was shallower and narrower than the
usual 6 foot coffin hole, it's still several hours of labor.

maybe they had a backhoe.  

They could afford a backhoe, but not a gun?

Chalk one up for gun control, then.  ;)

uhhhhh, chalk one up for gun *availability*, perhaps yu mean?

All you gotta do is read the links.  The two passed by the guy 
with the gun and shortly thereafter went on to murder the Zantops
(dartmouth professor and wife ring a bell?).

One hole in Scott's logic is that crooks buy illegal guns, which 
are cheaper than legal guns (by an order of magnitude or more).

One hole in Russ's logic is that those illegal guns include those stolen from
"self defense" owners, thus lowering purchase price on average.

Not to mention the low prices of 'hot' backhoes (whatever they may be, 
but I take it they digg holes)

Oddly enough, few people buy backhoes for self-defense purposes.  

Scott doesn't seem to be able to explain the prevalence of illegal
guns in Japan and Britain (which is growing).  Funny, that.

How about illegal construction equipment?

Yeah, laugh about backhoes until you are victimized by someone wielding one.
Google sez:
TheBostonChannel.com - News - Police: Man Robs ATM With Backhoe
Hoe, Hoe, Hoe; Merry Bank Robbery

W O R C E S T E R, Mass.   There was no fake mustache, no note, no threats,
no gun. A backhoe was all this bank robber figured he needed.
     Worcester police say he knocked a hole in the wall of a Sovereign Bank
branch early Tuesday. The robber was apparently trying to break into two
automatic teller machines.
     Sergeant Donald Cummings says the backhoe was apparently stolen from a
nearby construction site. It was recovered near the bank.
     Police were still checking how much money the robber may have stolen.
     They know something about the suspect already: he can drive a backhoe.

I support the right of all citizens to own backhoes.  Regardless
of the threat to fiber-optic cables, there is no telling when
someone may need to dig their way out of a threat.  I'm sure it's
just the thing for certain grave situations.

Russ doesn't seem to be able to refute my point, so instead he posts something
only vaguely related and then pretends we've discussed it recently enough for
it to appropriate to the argument at hand.

That'll be the next terrorist attack.  Terrorists renting backhoes and 
strategically cutting vital fiber optic lines. ;)

Less casualties at least.
If only they could kill mobile phone antennas in one big blast.
We would in one stroke be rid of all the shouting people in public 
places with one hand at their jaw which makew slok like they are 
suffering from toothache. Worse are those phoning hands free while 
wlaking on the street. They look like they derranged, and maybe they 
are.

  Please.  Unless you're upset when you encounter people talking face-to-face
  on the street or in a public place, what's the big taboo about cell phones?

  I'll concede that there are some inconsiderate cell-phone users out
  there who could use a bit of etiquette instruction but most of the
  cell-phone opponents I encounter seem to be opposed to them on general
  principal, not because they're ticked off about a particular example
  of exceptional rudeness.

My theory (re cell phone opponents) is that people have been conditioned 
over the centuries to understand that someone walking along talking to 
themselves is probably crazy and likely dangerous, and that a cell-phone 
user pushes that fear button.

There are a lot of cell phone users who have remarkably bad cell phone
manners.  There are a lot of people who simply have remarkably bad
manners.  I always have my cell phone with me, but there are times when
I turn it off: when driving, when eating anywhere fancier than Denny's,
at meetings, when in a movie theatre or other performance, et cetera. 
When I am with other people and it goes off, I always at least say,
"Excuse me" to the people whose live conversation I am interrupting to
answer the phone.  It's not that hard.

I think part of the problem is that people talking on a cell phone tend 
to talk quite a bit louder than people who are talking to someone at 
the table with them.

It is strange that so many cell-phone  users are oblivious to strangers
overhearing their conversations. To think that at one time pay-phones
were in sound-insulated boxes, or at least had sound barriers, to keep
phone conversations more private.

        I'd chalk that up as a problem with general rudeness, being
inconsiderate of the people around them, rather than with a specific
technology.

Indeed.

Re #18:

http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200105/df20010514.jpg

I try to avoid using my cell phone in hte presence of other people, period.
I will leave it on, on vibrate, more than void will, though.  One of the main
reasons that I got it is because I occasionally need to be reached in a hurry.

Many of you are well behaved.
I lift my hat for you.
Vibrate mode, senna, very considerate. 
The Dutch are notoriuous for being impolite.
Shouted conversations in restaurants nowadays trigger me into hate 
mode, and I will always comment on it. 
Turning off a phone in cinema? Forget it!
On a date? Same. I blew a date when I commented on her rudeness for 
interrupting our date with her phone calls. I never saw her again. 
Good riddance.

Don't get me wrong, I have got a cell phone myself. I just dose my use.

Since March 31 this years it is prohibited to use a cell phone while 
driving. If at all, one has to use a hands free kit.

I switch mine to vibrate mode in restaurants and theaters too.

Me too.  I also have voice mail and numeric paging on mine, so I don't
feel obligated to answer it if I'm in the middle of something.

Same here.

This response has been erased.

people get addicted to cell phones. i stopped using mine a couple of months
ago, and it was like going on vacation. cells become some sort of 'on call
24-7' device, since there's not always an explanation for screening calls or
at least not getting back right away. i now use mine as a phone book. :|

I see no reason not to leave it on silent mode all the time, for myself.

I have ignored calls received while in transit from one presentation to 
another, during which time I did not have a single minute available to 
divert from my activities.  Hours later I found out that the call was to 
ask a question the answer to which was provided by someone else in the 
interim.

        I've never seen my cell phone as a liability;  I do screen calls, and
if someone's calling at an inappropriate time, I'm not shy about telling them
that I'll have to call them back later.  I'm also not shy about just letting
the phone ring.  It's not much of an intrusion at all to know someone wants
to get ahold of me.

My attitude is that I have phones for *my* convenience.  Therefore I'll
answer them when I feel like it, and if I don't and it's something
important the person will leave a message.

i need to change my answering machine greeting to sound like my voicemail
greeting - people are starting to know which one means i'm not home and which
one means i'm online. but the machine has that cool robot voice. 

You mean:

        "Please.. leave.. a.. message..  BEEP!"

That one?  I hate that voice.

this robot says 'hello!' too!

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