Death of a curmudgeon (Jack Bog's Blog)

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on July 11, 2008 1:03 AM. The previous post in this blog was Why we live here. The next post in this blog is I'd love to see the perp walk.... Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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« Why we live here | Main | I'd love to see the perp walk... »

Friday, July 11, 2008

Death of a curmudgeon

Portland's bike rage incident over the weekend was bad. But this is much, much worse.

Posted at 1:03 AM | Permalink

Comments (10)

Perhaps he shouldn't have put his cone in the middle of a public street, perhaps he had every right in the world.

In any case, when I'm old and frail, I'll have the proper tools at my side, should some savage goon decide to beat me to death over something that...well...the vast majority of civilized human beings wouldn't beat someone to death over.

Perhaps it will still be legal for the elderly to fend off their predators at that point, but I kinda doubt it. This will probably have little effect on many of their choices as to tool possession, ultimately.

Posted by Cabbie | July 11, 2008 6:37 AM

I agree that it's worse for the participants. The weekend bike rage incident and the press reports on it, on the other hand, have more potential for repercussions. A little dose of patience and kindness might be helpful all around.

Posted by Allan L. | July 11, 2008 8:13 AM

Can't we all just get along?

Posted by Rodney | July 11, 2008 8:24 AM

This is really sad and should never of happened... But Cabbie-- is 60 years old really considered elderly and frail? He had enough balls to spray random motorists in the street...of course that's going piss people off in a city like Seattle.

Posted by Tomas | July 11, 2008 9:12 AM

He had enough balls to spray random motorists in the street.

I thought the news reports indicated that water from a garden hose was involved.

Posted by Allan L. | July 11, 2008 9:28 AM

Another example of "no good deed goes unpunished". How senseless.

Posted by pril | July 11, 2008 10:33 AM

I know it goes without saying, but nobody deserves to die just because he sprays someone with water.

What a sad, angry, hostile world this has become.

Posted by Samuel John Klein | July 11, 2008 11:37 AM

"Perhaps it will still be legal for the elderly to fend off their predators at that point..."

Please. Who turned the hose on whom? He was blocking a public street, and when a woman motorist tried to move the cone so that she could use the public thoroughfare, the perp turned the hose on her. He was the aggressor. What, he couldn't just walk over and replace the cone, and then continue with his watering?

A sad outcome, but one the perp could have prevented by not using aggression against others. When the answer to the problem is to use force to get what you want, why should you be surprised when others do likewise?

Posted by al | July 11, 2008 9:40 PM

The science says that conflict is more likely to escalate when it is unclear who outranks who. Spray your boss or your employee with water, for example, and everybody is more likely to allow a third party to settle the dispute. But when the issue of social rank is ambiguous—random strangers, say—there is a much greater likelihood that the dispute will ratchet up and up and up and up until somebody achieves dominance.

Conventional wisdom has it that trivial matters shouldn't result in murder, but it is abundantly clear that these trivialities are precisely the arenas in which out symbolic sense of worth is contested. Truly, you will never find a sober forensic pathologist willing to start bickering over a parking space. They know it's too dangerous.

Posted by telecom | July 11, 2008 11:01 PM

“If the San Francisco experiment works, no one will have to murder anyone over a parking space”

Oh well. The nice thing about finding a cure for cancer is that then people can die from something else.

Posted by telecom | July 11, 2008 11:33 PM

In Vino Veritas

Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007

The Occasional Book

Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269