What's with all the people asking "what happened? what happened?" Are people incapable of using Teh Google? I found the story in 5 seconds flat.

"not all of Western civilization is mindless crap. We have a lot of good stuff, too. Like antibiotics and eyeglasses and bicycles and yelling at strangers on the Internet."

That last one is my favoritest part of Western Civ!

One of my very favorite quotes from Auntie Mame - Gloria Upson looks over Auntie Mame's gorgeous library, turns to Mame and says "Don't you just think books are so decorative?"

And Mame looks at her like she'd like to strangle her. Classic.

GODFATHERSOUL - I'd guess they weren't looking for Republicans. Sounds like they were looking for Democrats who might be picketing at the Republican Convention.

Not questioning it because of the hassle involved is so easy to fall into. I just did it.

I've been told several times by TSA to put my CPAP machine in my checked luggage because they don't know what it is and don't like to have to scan it - they pull me out of the regular line, take the whole thing apart and run pieces through the scanner separately, while my laptop & other carry ons run down the conveyor belt away from me and unattended, waiting for some observant person to pick them up and walk away.

So I gave in and started checking it; recently with unfortunate results. We were on the way to Austin to SXSW this year, and the second leg of our trip from Dallas to Austin (normally a short 36 hour hop) turned into 6 hours on the tarmac during a snowstorm, while they tried to figure out how to de-ice and refuel the plane. Eventually they canceled the flight we were on, and we got a rental car to Austin - but the airline wouldn't release my checked luggage, with my CPAP machine - the thing that helps me *live through the night.*
American Airlines actually then YELLED AT ME for checking the machine -- "I would NEVER do that with medical equipment" the airline rep said.

They promised to deliver our bags to us in Austin "the next day" - which stretched into 2 days. I spent 2 sleepless, unhappy nights waiting for my luggage to finally be delivered by the airport. By the time I got it, I felt so screwed up that my enjoyment of SXSW was completely gone.

I decided never to make that stupid mistake again and on the flight home, carried the CPAP machine on -- and once again got screamed at by TSA for not putting it in my checked luggage -- they pulled the machine to a separate line, tore everything apart, and challenged me about why I carried it on, while I tried frantically to gather up all my stuff and put it back together.

And of course I should have yelled right back that the airline LOST MY LUGGAGE FOR 2 DAYS just a few days before, but I sensed the futility of arguing and was so frikin' tired of being in a damned airport, so I just let it go.

Can't tell you what the writing is, but I recognize the punishment style from when Xena Warrior Princess went to China. TV teaches us so much about culture, doesn't it?

What OM described - I know a guy (no, not a friend) who did that exact return scam as a retail employee, so it does indeed happen, and inside the company.

Summing up all the lessons learned here:

1) avoid Best Buy for many reasons
2) open boxes immediately after checkout and inspect.
3) Purchase with a credit card.

She was wearing underwear both on the plane and on the TV show. Why they chose to blur her out when she was wearing no less than any bikini-clad woman on the beach I have not idea. No pieces of genitalia were actually showing, so no she was not "showing her vagina" as someone said above.

Yep, sounds just like our 130 year-old house in downtown urban Indianapolis, where you can walk anywhere and socializing with the neighbors is easy. And we have large backyards, too. Plus we have the benefit of gorgeous, enormous shade trees that have been around as long as the neighborhood, as well.

North of Indianapolis, in Carmel, Indiana, they're building a housing development similar to the one described in your post - I can't imagine why anyone would live there, when they can have the real thing 20 minutes away.