I’ve Moved!
November 20, 2008
So I’m sure that most people have noticed that the site has been offline for a few days. There’s a reason for that, which I will get to shortly. But first, let me just say this:
In fact, I am blogging at a new site I have just finished setting up: kennethhynek.net. A full explanation for the reasons behind the move can be found here
.
That said, this is not the end of Time Immortal. My wife Grace has expressed interest in taking over blogging at this domain, and I am working to make sure that she gets set up here as soon as possible.
Also, my profound apologies for the modification to the site face; the move was not as seamless as I would have hoped, and many of the image files for this theme, and in the gallery, were corrupted during the course of their evacuation from my previous web host’s servers. Until such time as I have repaired them, I’ve put a clean-looking template in place of the previous one.
Update: for the purposes of further traffic shaping, new posts from kennethhynek.net will be excerpted below. Full articles can be read at the new blog.
The curse of digital cameras…
March 29, 2007
…is self-incrimination. At least for these kids.
Most people take pictures to mark a memorable occasion: graduations, holiday parties, special events � but a burglary? Travis County detectives have found some unusual evidence at a crime scene that they want the public to see.
What looks like scenes from a typical high school or college party, investigators say is actually photos from a crime scene.
Last month, at least nine people broke into private property at the end of Coldwater Canyon, near 360 and 2222. Police say pictures documented a party and crime in which $5,000 worth of expensive alcohol, including $800 bottles of wine and high-dollar scotch, were stolen.
But what the group left behind at the party left quite an impression.
�During the investigation, we found a digital camera that didn’t belong to the victim,� said Roger Wade, with the Travis County Sheriff�s Office.
On that camera, investigators found a clear picture of their suspects. Now, they need help in identifying who they are.
So the kids break into this property, which (you’ll learn shortly, O Reader) was used by its owner as an entertainment venue for guests, drink a whole bunch of alcohol and just generally party it up, and take pictures of themselves as they do so. Then — likely too drunk to even remember it — they forget the camera at the scene of the crime.
It’s like Mark Shea notes: sin makes you stupid.
Here’s where the story gets richer, as well, for any fans of the Ultima series reading this:
Legendary game designer Richard Garriott actually owns the property. He says it�s made up of a series of cabins and other buildings for special events.
�We were debating whether we would even report this to police until we discovered the digital camera sitting on the porch of one of the cabins broken into,� he said.
As Garriott looked through the pictures, they were even better than he could have hoped.
�We we’re joking to ourselves about tomorrow morning, when they wake up with a hangover, they’re going to wonder where that camera is,� he said.. �This is one of those Darwin-style kind of awards, where people leave the self-incriminating evidence behind at the scene.�
I doubt there’s a member of the Ultima fan community who has not robbed Lord British (one of Richard Garriot’s alter-egos in the Ultima games) at some point, and now someone has gone and done it in real life. And yet somehow, even in the real world, the act itself retains a certain…comedic quality.
Here’s hoping they catch the kids responsible…and that the judge that hands a sentence of community service…and then decides to let Garriot himself specify the acts of service that need to be done. It’d be a lesson in “fascinating” to see what sorts of zany things the legendary game designer might come up with for them to do.
