This is the first post that I am "co-blogging" with Hanan who blogs at grow-a-brain.

I don't know how Hanan came up with those fantastic links on a particular topic day after day after day - his kungfu is certainly better than mine (did you know that he also speaks English, Hebrew, Danish, Norwegian, and French?).

The topic of the day is Crime and Punishment:

Explore the life of 18th century English criminal, à la choose your own adventure.

You Have Chosen to Incite a Riot

You are a textile worker in a small village a two day's trip from London. The recent harvest has produced much less than was previously expected ... you won't be able to afford food for your family!

You organize a meeting that is attended by most of the town ... You decide that there are two options afforded to you. First, you can organize a price riot where you all determine a "fair" price for grain and then, with threats of violence, force the farmers to set the price there ... Secondly, you could simply blockade and seize the shipment of grain that is leaving town and distribute that grain to everyone.

Do you:

A. Form a Price Riot
B. Start a Blockade

Pedophile Less Interested The More He Views 13-Year-Old's MySpace Profile.

Only the Onion can get away with this:

LONGVIEW, TX—Area pedophile Dwight Sanderson said Monday that his interest in getting to know and eventually meeting MySpace.com member "Courtneee" has significantly declined after a closer read of the "lame" hobbies and "self-involved" blog entries on the 13-year-old's profile.

From the website:

The collection of confiscated knives, spears and points grows daily at Pelican Bay State Prison. Prisoners, alone in their cells 23-hours a day, have plenty of time to contruct weapons from rudimentary materials.

Supermax and maximum security prisons. Pictures taken in Pelican Bay Prison.

Jack the Ripper Trivia game:

"Jack the Ripper" is the popular name given to a serial killer who killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888. The name originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the killer published at the time of the murders. The killings took place within a mile area and involved the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate, and the City of London proper. He was also called the Whitechapel Murderer and "Leather Apron."

Because inmates hide drugs in them, Tennessee prisons now ban large peanut butter jars

Large jars of peanut butter have been banned in Tennessee's 15 state prisons because inmates were hiding guns, drugs and other contraband in the 18-ounce containers, state corrections officials said.

The ban came after an investigation revealed that George Hyatte, a prisoner in Knoxville, had concealed a smuggled cell phone in a jar of peanut butter at the prison where he was being held and used it to coordinate a deadly breakout while being taken to court in August.

Diversion Safes - Hide your stuff in plain sight

The Chicago Crime Commission states that a burglar spends an average of 8 minutes in a victims home. Put the odds in your favor... hide your valuables in plain sight! The diversion safes are a unique home-security product. We offer a wide variety of personal care, household products and food containers with removable tops and bottoms to use as secret safes. Valuables can be discreetly stored inside these look-a-like containers and kept in their seemingly rightful places. Each is undistinguishable from the genuine product and is even weighted to feel full.

Law Enforcement professionals speaking out against the "War on Drugs". (Found on Map Builder)

Said Fred Martens of Haledon, NJ, a Former Director of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission and a retired NJ State Police undercover officer:

"You can get over an addiction, but never a conviction"

McMurder! From the website:

As murders in major cities across the United States continue at a relatively unaltered rate, we have formed a task force to analyze the surrounding community to see if we could find any patterns. What we found was disturbing to say the least. The common bond? Within 1 mile of each murder scene we able to locate a McDonald's restaurant. Coincidence? We thought so, until further investigation provided more evidence to link McDonald's to a campaign of murder.

Early Scams & Anarchy text files from the early days before the web

The one on the left is titled:

THe CHeaT SHeeT
(VeRSioN 94.06.13)
eLiTe aCRoNYM LiST

a TWaT ReLeaSe
BY Ajax the Trojan

This list of elite acronyms should get you onto any elite board (unless you're
a TOTAL lamer, that is.) Good luck and PHuCK Da LaMeRZ!!!

Hehehe - nothing funnier than a geeky teenager pretending to be cyber criminals.

Fake porn euro notes passed off as real cash

The notes, in 300, 600 and 1,000 euro denominations have a ring of 12 hearts instead of the usual EU stars and feature hunky men and big-breasted nude women.

Instead of the word 'Euro' being printed in the corner these notes have 'Eros' - the Greek god of love.

How to Make a Fake. Buy a mid-level Gauguin. Duplicate it. Slap the original papers on the copy. Sell both paintings to gullible collectors, while the art world looks the other way

“I am not an expert in the artist’s work,” she later wrote in an e-mail, “but the painting didn’t evidence the signs of age one would normally expect. It looked almost comically fresh and new.” (She leaned in closely to see if she could smell fresh paint, but her nose was overwhelmed by Sakhai’s cologne.) She advised her client against buying the painting. Another gallery owner, Y. Mano, also met Sakhai at the hotel, where he was shown works by Monet and Laurencin. He, too, declined: “Fake,” he says bluntly. “No good.”

Real life Chinese Robotcop

A new Robotcop, Hong Kong's first locally made animated robot, has joined the Police to raise kids' crime-prevention awareness.

Jointly developed by the Police and the University of Science & Technology, this third-generation Robotcop employs advanced computer, electronics, mechanics and digital-imaging technologies.

The new Robotcop is capable of moving its arms, tilting its head, walking, dancing, moving in any direction and detecting obstacles.

A bait car is a generic term used for a vehicle that has been rigged by the police with the intent of capturing car thieves

Auto theft in Nanaimo has dropped by 17% in the three month period since the bait car program was launched throughout Vancouver Island on April 1, 2005. Auto theft in Victoria, British Columbia's capital, has dropped by 36% over the same period compared to the same three month period in 2004.

How to avoid 20 most common diamond buying scams

If you see a sale price in the newspaper, don't fall for it. You will probably pay much more than the regular price at an honest dealer. We know of a major store in Florida that marked gold chains up from $100 cost to $500 regular price, then marked them half-price during a sale. That means the customer paid $250, thinking it was a great price. This same thing happens with diamonds on sale. Liquidation and "going out of business" sales are usually no different. We heard of one store in New York City that has been going out of business for 15 years.

My own suggestion: Don't buy diamond - it's not a rare stone at all.