Brian

National – Two days ago a man in Snellville, Georgia died after being head-butted… by an armless man. An armless artist, in fact, named William “Rusty” Redfern, who drew with his feet because he was born with no right arm and a stump for his left. Redfern got into a scuffle with the man named Charles Teer over a woman who used to date Teer, but is currently dating Redfern. Bystanders said that Redfern kicked Teer and Teer hit Redfern, but it wasn’t until after they were separated by the bystanders that Redfern came back and head-butted Teer. Teer suffered a heart attack, collapsed, and died.

Opinion – This is a sad story, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I thought it was morbidly funny. I laughed. Quite a bit. But I wanted to cry. Really. But that’s just what happens when you mess with the disabled. I tried to find some of Redfern’s art online on this website for art done by people with disabilities, but I wasn’t able to. I read that Redfern did pen and ink drawings.

National – Next month in San Francisco, on October 20th, the city is planning a “lights-out” (voluntary brown-out) from 8-9 p.m. as part of a campaign to conserve energy and fight global warming. Streetlights and traffic lights will remain on for safety reasons, but residents and business owners are being asked to turn out as many lights as possible. The restaurant association for the city will be planning many candle-lit dinners, and Yahoo.com with Pacific Gas & Electric Company will be distributing energy-efficient light bulbs for the occasion. Campaign organizer Nate Tyler said he go the idea from Earth Hour when he was visiting Sydney Australia and the lights in his restaurant, and the entire rest of the city, went out. Similar events are being planned in New York, LA, and Vegas.

Opinion – I don’t know enough about the idea of global warming to judge whether or not I feel it’s a legitimate fear, but this sounds like an interesting idea either way. The main reason I looked at the article is because my brother lives in SF, so I’ll have to ask him how this goes. It also makes me wonder if the same group may try the same campaign in Phoenix (the article said that the Lights Out organizers would be trying a national campaign in 15 major cities on March 29th). That might be exciting, but it seems there might be risks in pulling such a stunt.