Thursday, August 10, 2006

This is a test (but real, too)

Here are three scenarios that occurred over the last 2-3 days.

1) White male, upper 30s, confessional Lutheran, registered Republican but wanna-be Constitutionalist, living in a middle-class suburb in midwest America - buys two bags of ice from the corner gas station/mini-mart.

2) Black male athlete, lower 20s, residence unknown, born and raised in a lower-class neighborhood in northeastern Ohio - after making a u-turn at 3:00am around Columbus, OH, he is caught by police with an assault rifle, three or four handguns, an axe, and a bottle of vodka. When police try to taser him, he doesn't budge. Why? He's wearing a flak jacket.

3) Two Arab males, probably mid-20s to mid-30s (I don't remember), Muslim, from Dearborn, MI - during a routine traffic stop in Marietta, OH - a rural, southeastern Ohio town - they are caught with over 40 track phones, lists of flight rosters, and a map of all the WalMarts in the region.


Now, here's the two question test:

1) What is the commonality among all three scenarios?
2) Based on your answer to #1, which scenario is different from the other two, and why?

Your answers will be graded over the next week, and the teacher will publish the correct answers before August 22.

Prof. Quipper

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

(We had to brainstorm together on this one, you had me (emily) stumped on #1)
1. They're all American citizens.
2. One had a dark and evil plan to keep his fridge cold while the others were just out trick or treating... I mean... planning horrible evil things to kill off hundreds of *other* American citizens.

Jonathan said...

There doesn't appear to be enough information, so I'll have to make some assumptions...

1) What is the commonality among all three scenarios?
All three scenarios involve men under 40 in the U.S.

2) Based on your answer to #1, which scenario is different from the other two, and why?
There could be several different answers...
Answer one: Scenario #1 appears immediately (apparently) different because objects that could be associated with foul play are not mentioned.
Answer two: Scenario # 2 involves two males.
Answer three: The religion / faith of the person in Scenario # 2 is not mentioned.
Answer four: Scenario # 2 includes objects that could be directly dangerous if misused, illegal if not registered, or in violation if inappropriately located / secured in the vehicle.

Jonathan
Check out my BLOG page at: http://jonathansbloggerpage.blogspot.com/

Barb the Evil Genius said...

1. They're all males, driving cars.
2. Um, you weren't planning to put somebody on ice, were ya?

I heard more info on scenario number 2. Seems he was caught not to far away from the home of someone who is scheduled to testify against him. No wonder his bail is so high. :O His lawyer says there is a perfectly innocent explanation which will come out in trial. Can't wait to hear that one.

Jonathan said...

Correction on my answer above...
I meant to say on answer two that Scenario # "3" involves two males.
I also want to clarify that I resisted looking up any online news information about these alleged true scenarios assuming you wanted us to answer solely on the information provided.
Thanks, Jonathan

Rick said...

Jonathan, you are correct; the unmentioned details of each scenario are ancillary to the test.

Rick said...

Jonathan, I took a quick glance at your blog. You raise some interesting topics that merit comment.

Thinking about the "6 degrees of blogging", I think you'll like the first 2-3 levels of links from my blog. Posts from the bloggers range from extremely serious to outright hilarious. No one is single-topic focused.

Jonathan said...

Quipper,

Thanks.

When you say "...first 2-3 levels...", do you mean the links to "Aardvark Alley", "Barb the Evil Genius" and "Des Moines Girl"?

Also, excuse my ignorance, but what are the "6 degrees of blogging"?

Jonathan

I figured out how to "tag" my blog link so you can click on it...
http://jonathansbloggerpage.blogspot.com/

Rick said...

Jonathan - consider it like your spheres of influence. The first degree would be everyone for whom I have links. The second degree would be the folks for whom they have links.

For example: Barb the Evil Genius would be one degree for me. If you use Barb the Evil Genius' blog to link to Des Moines Girl, then that would be the 2nd degree.

Practically everyone on the Des Moines Girl site is 2nd degree from me. However, that'll probably change soon. :-) (Hat tip to DMG for her links!)

HTH.

Jonathan said...

Thanks Quipper and thanks for your encouragement and comments at my blog. I haven't had too much time to find other worthwhile blogs, but so far I like yours. So, you're the first listed on my blog as one of my "Favorite Blogs". Congratulations.
BTW, my son and I got a kick out of the Bill Cosby "breakfast" video you had posted.

Genuine Lustre said...

You mean, "Dearbornistan?"

Scott said...

Answer to number one: Y Chromosome.

Therefore the answer to all our problems must be to BAN PENISES!! FOR TEH CHILDREN!!!

Oh NOEZ!!!one

Kelly said...

Off the top of my head:
They are all males that fit a stereotypical profile.
The story of the while man makes him sound innocent, he could very well be Jeffrey Dahmer using the ice to keep the bodies cold. While the stories about the minorities have them out to be crazed terrorist.

Kelly said...

The white male (jeffrey dahmer) wouldn't be caught by police because he is a while male. The others because of racial profiling were caught. Did I answer the two questions?

Barb the Evil Genius said...

I can't think racial profiling is the answer. I would hope cops would stop anyone who pulled a U-turn at 3 AM in Cowlumbus. They are definitely illegal there, as opposed to other areas of the country.

Did you know that a review of police stops in Cleveland showed no pattern of racial profiling? Therefore, of course, the results were declared to be flawed, as we all know that cops all practice racial profiling. Even the black ones.

(wails)I don't know if I can wait until August 22 for the answers, Quipper! Not to mention I am a hopelessly biased jury member, as I already knew quite a bit about numbers 2 and 3 before you even brought them up, living in this area and having access to the same news that you do. :)

Jonathan said...

Quipper,
I was intending to keep my complaint to myself, being new to the blog and all. Buuut, since BTEG (Barb the Evil Genius) mentions it...this "wait until August 22nd" has got to go. Us "must-have-it-now" folk can't handle it. We've got to know we're right, know the answer or achieve completion "now".
What is it Quipper? Is it a control thing? Or are you doing what I should be doing, which is managing or rationing your time spent blogging?
LOL
Jonathan

Rick said...

Jonathan, it is definitely blog management. I don't to shoot the whole mag at once.

Rick said...

It helps that Earthlink stinks, and I can't really do anything at home now.

Scott said...

Please post the answers before Monday the 21st at 5:30PM EDT.

After that time, the internet may be down...

Scott said...

PS, Aug. 21 @5:30PM EDT is the stroke of midnight in Tehran.

Jonathan said...

Thanks Scott for the "heads up". I am no longer worried about the 27th day of Rajab, in the year 1427 (August 22, 2006). "Why?" you may ask. Because I filled all the cars up with gas. I'm good to go.