Entries by Patrick Griffiths

1 Apr, 2014

Booby traps house

0 Comments

The new owners of the property find Houser has booby-trapped the house: the gas starter tube in the fireplace is twisted out and ignited, the logs removed. The new owners of the property divulge that it was an attempt at arson. No charges result.

He was hoping the house would catch on fire. That’s what the investigators told me.

23 Jul, 2015

John Russell Houser kills self age 59

DeathSuicide6 Comments

After firing 13 rounds, Houser leaves the theater through a side door and heads toward his car, a 1995 Lincoln. On seeing a police cruiser arrive in the parking lot he reloads his handgun, re-enters the theater and fires three more rounds, then he fatally shoots himself in the head.

1 Jul, 2006

Claims no resistance from Constand

Makes Statement0 Comments

Cosby claims in his deposition that the intercourse between himself and Constand was not resisted and that he took her lack of resistance as consent for the intercourse.

I don’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel her say anything, and so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped.

6 Jul, 2015

Pao apologizes

Apology0 Comments

Pao makes an announcement as to how she plans on fixing her mistakes on Reddit.

We screwed up. Not just on July 2, but also over the past several years. We haven’t communicated well, and we have surprised moderators and the community with big changes. We have apologized and made promises to you, the moderators and the community, over many years, but time and again, we haven’t delivered on them. When you’ve had feedback or requests, we haven’t always been responsive. The mods and the community have lost trust in me and in us, the administrators of reddit.

Today, we acknowledge this long history of mistakes. We are grateful for all you do for reddit, and the buck stops with me …

I know these are just words, and it may be hard for you to believe us. I don’t have all the answers, and it will take time for us to deliver concrete results. I mean it when I say we screwed up, and we want to have a meaningful ongoing discussion. I know we’ve drifted out of touch with the community as we’ve grown and added more people, and we want to connect more. I and the team are committed to talking more often with the community, starting now.

Thank you for listening. Please share feedback here. Our team is ready to respond to comments.

4 Jul, 2015

Parents speak on SF policy

Makes Statement0 Comments

Steinle’s parents say that while they respect the immigration sanctuary laws of SF, their daughter wouldn’t have been killed by Sanchez if ICE had been complied with.

We’re here for kate and I think I can speak for my wife when I say its a non issue…It would have been so much better if he were gone and they would have done what they should have done, absolutely, without a guess definitely but that’s not how it is.

2 Jul, 2015

Will ‘triage’ AMA requests

Makes Statement0 Comments

Ohanian makes an announcement in regards to Taylor’s removal.

We don’t talk about specific employees, but I do want you to know that I’m here to triage AMA requests in the interim. All AMA inquiries go to AMA@reddit.com where we have a team in place…I posted this on [a mod sub] but I’m reposting here:

We get that losing Victoria has a significant impact on the way you manage your community. I’d really like to understand how we can help solve these problems, because I know r/IAMA thrived before her and will thrive after…We’re prepared to help coordinate and schedule AMAs. I’ve got the inbound coming through my inbox right now and many of the people who come on to do AMAs are excited to do them without assistance (most recently, the noteworthy Channing Tatum AMA).

This is met with harsh criticism and has a total comment score of under -2500.

3 Jul, 2015

Subreddits go private

0 Comments

In a response to the earlier removal of Taylor, over 2/5s of the default subreddits that comprise the bulk of user page views make themselves private. Several hundred normal subreddits also take themselves down in protest. Some smaller subreddits and Reddit’s competition, Voat, have seen a boost in traffic as a result. A moderator from /r/pics:

Most people are saying that Victoria leaving was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Reddit’s failing at communication with moderators (and users) goes so far back, even to when I wasn’t on this site.

22 Jun, 2015

Removes flags

Drops Product0 Comments

Walmart removes any and all items made from or containing depictions of the Confederate flag. They apologise for the inclusion of such products in their range.

We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer. We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the confederate flag from our assortment, whether in our stores or on our website

29 Jun, 2015

Software labels black people as ‘gorillas’

0 Comments

Google’s automatic image recognition software picks up photographs of two black friends, and marks them as gorillas. The owner of the phone tweets about the occurrence.

What kind of sample image data you collected that would result in this son? Google Photos, y’all f-cked up. My friend’s not a gorilla.

1 Jul, 2015

Photo mislabelling apology

Apology0 Comments

Google apologises for its photo recognition software mislabelling a black couple as being “gorillas”.

We’re appalled and genuinely sorry that this happened, we are taking immediate action to prevent this type of result from appearing. There is still clearly a lot of work to do with automatic image labelling, and we’re looking at how we can prevent these types of mistakes from happening in the future. [The Company is] also working on longer-term fixes around both linguistics – words to be careful about in photos of people – and image recognition itself – eg better recognition of dark-skinned faces.

14 Apr, 2014

Gabriel on reunion, Hall of Fame induction

Interview0 Comments

Gabriel is interviewed by Rolling Stone, about the possibility of a future Genesis reunion tour:

I never say never. It really didn’t happen last time. I think there’s a small chance, but I don’t think it’s very high.

Gabriel also discusses the recent induction of Genesis to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Getting awards is nature’s way of saying you’re getting old, so you can get a little more reflective. There are very few good things about getting old except you care less about what people think.

1 Apr, 2001

Netherlands legalises gay marriage

Judgement0 Comments

Netherlands is the first country in the world to officially declare that its citizens are allowed to get married to whomever they desire.

We are always a bit ahead of other countries. We had those discussions years before other countries even started.

May 1991

Parents divorce

Divorce0 Comments

After splitting up in June, 1990, Roof’s parents finalize their divorce due to financial issues. Judge:

The Court inquired as to the possibility of reconciliation between the parties, but concluded that such was not possible.

20 Sep, 2008

Father beats wife

Fight0 Comments

Paige  Mann bruise 1According to an affidavit filed by Mann, Roof’s father beat her.

My whole world fell apart when Benn and I got into an argument. Benn violently pushed me to the ground and hit me in the back of my head…I was so scared of him that I knew I had to get out of this violent situation

Franklin takes the credit card that Paige has  been using to pay the grocery bills –her only source of income — and says he is cutting off the electricity and taking his car.

19 Jun, 2015

Victim’s family tributes

Tribute0 Comments

Coleman-Singleton’s son, Christopher speaks about his mother and the other victims of Roof.

It’s funny how I always told you that you went to church too much. You would laugh it off and say, ‘Boy you can never have too much of the Lord.’ You were a better mother than I could ever have asked for…This has truly broken my heart in every way possible, but I know I have to stay strong for my little brother and sister…I thank everyone for your prayers and thoughts, [Roof’s actions were terrible] but I’m positive this strong woman is in a better place now and I forgive him. Keep our families in your prayers as we continue with this horrid grieving process

1 Feb, 1851

Mary Shelley dies age 53

Death0 Comments

Shelley dies of a cancerous brain tumor in Chester Square, United Kingdom. She has slowly been growing more and more lonely as her life plays itself out.

I have long determined that the best thing I could do was put an end to the existence of a being whose birth was unfortunate, and whose life has only been a series of pain to those persons who have hurt their health in endeavouring to promote her welfare. Perhaps to hear of my death will give you pain, but you will soon have the blessing of forgetting that such a creature existed

30 Aug, 1797

Mary Shelley born in Somers Town, London

Birth0 Comments

Shelley is born to William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Her mother is a leading feminist writer, and a source of inspiration. Mary’s learned father, who has frequent guests in their home all through her formative years, guarantees her education. A voracious reader, she borrows books from her father’s extensive library. She enjoys writing at a young age.

It is not singular that, as the daughter of two persons of distinguished literary celebrity, I should very early in life have thought of writing

26 Mar, 1892

Walt Whitman dies age 72

Death0 Comments

Whitman dies of tuberculosis. He is well cared for as he is dying, and has a nurse by the name of Warry with him when he dies. He doesn’t feel any pain anymore, and is ready to die.

Warry, shift.

31 May, 1819

Walt Whitman born in West Hills, New York

Birth0 Comments

Whitman is born to Lousia and Walter Whitman, a home builder. He is one of nine children, and has a fairly happy childhood. His family is however somewhat poor so he starts working at a young age.

I had to support my family when I was young.