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iPod: this season's must-have for muggers
The Register ^
| 30 March 2003
| Lester Haines
Posted on 03/31/2004 6:18:36 AM PST by TheEngineer
West Midlands police have issued a stark warning to iPod users: ditch the white headphones or pay the price.
Fashion-conscious music lovers are apparently being targeted by muggers. The
Times tells the sorry tale of 22-year-old language student Roland Baskerville, who lost his 20GB model on the mean streets of Birmingham: "I was walking down the road near to my home when a man who was walking the other way pointed at my headphones."
The thief then asked Baskerville if he was listening to an iPod and, receiving an affirmative answer, he "pulled a knife out and started waving it at me, saying: Well hand it over, then. I gave it to him and he ran off. He must have known I was wearing an iPod because of the white headphones."
The police are advising iPod junkies to use less distinctive headphones, something which is apparently akin to asking Victoria Beckham to shop at Oxfam. The
Sun quotes one iPod representative as saying: "There are guys whod rather be robbed than change the colour of the headphones."
Quite right. What's the point of buying a must-have fashion accessory unless everyone within a 300-yard radius can enjoy it too? As one poster to an
Ipodlounge.com forum puts it: "I always pick out the iPod people when I'm walking down the street. I know who all the cool people are."
Yes, it's certainly lovely to stand out from the crowd.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Technical; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: apple; banglist; ipod; nohandgunsintheuk
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To: TheEngineer
Sending to my girlfriend right away....
To: TheEngineer
Great way to troll for muggers by undercover police, or
a great opportunity for CCW owners to get a little target practice.
3
posted on
03/31/2004 6:20:18 AM PST
by
Kozak
(Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
To: TheEngineer
I wonder if these iPod crooks, or the people that they fence the stolen goods to, have any clue that they will need to own a computer in order to correctly USE the iPod??
Probably not. And if they do have 1/4 of a brain and figure it out, they'll just steal that too. [The computer, not the brain, hehe]
4
posted on
03/31/2004 6:21:19 AM PST
by
Skywarner
(Enjoying freedom? Thank a Veteran!)
To: TheEngineer
"There are guys whod rather be robbed than change the colour of the headphones." Yeah, how unreasonable of them. < /sarc >
5
posted on
03/31/2004 6:22:22 AM PST
by
martin_fierro
(Holder of an M.A. degree in The Obvious)
To: TheEngineer
Typical British police - blame the victim rather than the criminal.
How about a crack down on muggers?
6
posted on
03/31/2004 6:23:47 AM PST
by
Martin Tell
(I will not be terrified or Kerrified.)
To: TheEngineer
It's a pity this is in Britain, where private citizens are prohibited from defending themselves against criminals. If a thief approached me with a knife and demanded my iPod or anything else, he would quickly and permanently learn the "Never take a knife to a gunfight" Smith and Wesson lesson.
7
posted on
03/31/2004 6:25:19 AM PST
by
CholeraJoe
(Blessed be the Lord, my God, who makest my hands strong for war.)
To: Kozak
Ooooh, what a lovely thought..........
8
posted on
03/31/2004 6:28:30 AM PST
by
yoe
(The worse it is – the better it is!!)
To: TheEngineer
Well, of course the solution is iPod registration. Every iPod owner must register with the government. It may become necessary someday to ban and confiscate all iPods. We should also be suing Apple Computer for creating and negligently marketing this dangerous product. We have to do this. For the children.
9
posted on
03/31/2004 6:30:27 AM PST
by
Astronaut
To: TheEngineer
"When iPods are outlawed...." I'll stick with my trusty old C.Crane tape player with El Rushbo running.
Of course, when I get interrupted while listening to Rush, things get nasty....
10
posted on
03/31/2004 6:31:43 AM PST
by
RandallFlagg
(<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com" target="_blank">miserable failure)
To: TheEngineer
"I always pick out the iPod people when I'm walking down the street. I know who all the cool people are." Everyone knows that wearing an iPod that's been stolen and fenced is much cooler than wearing one bought from a store.
To: Astronaut
I think we should sue the color white. Better yet, white people.
12
posted on
03/31/2004 6:34:11 AM PST
by
jtminton
(<><)
To: TheEngineer
Oh brother. Talk about a non-story. One guy gets mugged, so everyone is supposed to hide their iPods?
To: TheEngineer
Aren't hose like $300-400?
I WISH when I was 22 I had that kind of $$! My frivolity budget was alot more...conservative, shall we say?
Not that I support stealing, but admitting that the first thing I cued in on was the guy's age.
To: TheEngineer
That's why I listen to my MP3s at home.
And if I want to listen to the radio, I use my Nokia 3200 cellphone as an FM radio (can't listen to Rush, because he's in KMOX 1100, but I've got Hannity on 97.1)
15
posted on
03/31/2004 6:39:04 AM PST
by
El Conservador
("No blood for oil!"... Then don't drive, you moron!!!)
To: *bang_list
Bang. (Pertinent to guns as bad example of what happens when they are banned.)
16
posted on
03/31/2004 6:40:53 AM PST
by
Atlas Sneezed
(Your Friendly Freeper Patent Attorney)
To: Astronaut
We should also be suing Apple Computer for creating and negligently marketing this dangerous product. Somebody already sued Nissan because they didn't tell him those cool xenon headlights were theif magnets.
To: Beelzebubba
I don't think anyone has ever thanked you for putting so many articles on the bang list. I noticed even when you're not the article's poster you still get it there. It's always nice to see all the fun gun articles all in one place.
Again, thanks.
18
posted on
03/31/2004 6:56:54 AM PST
by
Shooter 2.5
(Vote a Straight Republican Ballot. Rid the country of dems.)
To: Kozak
A great way to get rid of muggers.
Fill white headphones with plastic explosives.
Get mugged.
Detonate headphones using a remote while mugger is running away.
19
posted on
03/31/2004 6:59:15 AM PST
by
Chewbacca
(I think I will stay single. Getting married is just so 'gay'.)
To: Skywarner
I wonder if these iPod crooks, or the people that they fence the stolen goods to, have any clue that they will need to own a computer in order to correctly USE the iPod?? Good point, stuck with the other guy's music, that is until the battery runs out. Then he'll have to steal or buy a charging cable.
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