Artist’s image of
suspects.
Whenever the police release an artist’s impression of a murder
suspect or a terrorist who got away, I make a mental note that I should compare
it with the real photo of the person if and when he/she is really arrested. I
always suspect that the artist’s images based on description by people who saw
the suspect would be quite far off the mark.
Here’s a pair of pictures that strengthened my suspicion. It’s a police sketch of Salvatore Perrone who
was recently arrested in Staten Island as a suspect in a murder and his real
photo when he was arrested. (link).
The huge difference is possibly because no two people can provide the same description
to the artist. There will be another gap when the artist transfers what he has
understood on to his sketch.
Some months back, the Daily Mail of UK carried an
article on one of the great practitioners of the art, Ms Gibson, whose
sketches have helped solve over a 1000 crimes. Some examples have been provided
in that article of the artist’s sketch and the actual photo. Though the writer
lavishes praise on the accuracy of the sketches, I am not very impressed
(except for one pair). Are you?
The coming Apocalypse.
Are you preparing for the Apocalypse on December 21, 2012 as
predicted by the Mayans? Well, a Russian company has been marketing survival
kits. For a mere 890 rubles (Rs 1400), you get a med kit (complete
with heart medication), soap, some candles and matches, a can of fish, a
pack of buckwheat, a bottle of vodka, a notepad and pencil, and a rope. (source).
Meanwhile, a Chinese man is not
taking any chances. He’s building a Noah’s Ark for himself, using his entire
life savings.
This reminds me of a Jewish story which starts with God
announcing that the entire world would be deluged under water in two weeks. Panic-stricken
Christians rushed to the Church and begged the Lord for mercy. Muslims all over
the world thronged the mosques and pleaded with Allah. Hindus offered special prayers in thousands of
temples. At a Jewish synagogue in Tel Aviv, a Rabbi got on to the podium and
addressed his people, “Brothers and sisters, we have exactly two weeks to learn
to live under water”.
So, if the world is about to be destroyed on
December 21st, you have exactly 23 days ( counting from the time I
am writing this) to learn how to survive in the destroyed planet. Good luck.
Crimeless day:
Apparently, November 26, 2012 was a very special day in New
York. For the first time in memory, there was no reported incident of shooting,
nabbing or slashing. The Police couldn’t believe it and couldn’t recall a
single day when this had happened before. (source).
The Police must be worried too. If the crime rate keeps dropping in this
manner, they’ll soon become redundant and lose their jobs.
The cliché goes that ‘ dog biting man is not news, man
biting dog is’. Perhaps one day we’ll see news reported that our Parliament
functioned the entire day without a single incident of disruption, hooliganism or
a walk-out.That will be reported as sensational news.
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