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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 08/02/2006 : 21:23:08
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Oh, the humanity! This sad story comes from AP, via CNN. Barney, a Doberman Pinscher charged with guarding a British children's museum, has reneged upon his oath, going on an overnight binge of destruction that has left the lifeless bodies of hundreds of late teddies on the museum floor. These bears included Mabel, a 1909 Steiff teddy bear once owned by a young Elvis Presley. Mabel was left decapitated and lifeless, the very stuffings torn from her corpse. In all, Barney destroyed over $900,000 worth of teddy bears.
BAD dog!
Barney and guard Greg West,
at the scene of the massacre
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2006 : 22:35:50 [Permalink]
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quote:
"He just went berserk," said Daniel Medley, general manager of the Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, England, where hundreds of bears were chewed up Tuesday night by the 6-year-old Doberman pinscher named Barney.
Well, if the dog was locked up in the museum alone he was probably bored out of his skull. Shit, I'd probably start ripping the heads off of teddy bears after awhile.
$10 says they put the dog down for this, if for no other reason than to appease the outrage of the musuem's benefactors.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2006 : 22:43:00 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by H. Humbert
quote:
"He just went berserk," said Daniel Medley, general manager of the Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, England, where hundreds of bears were chewed up Tuesday night by the 6-year-old Doberman pinscher named Barney.
Well, if the dog was locked up in the museum alone he was probably bored out of his skull. Shit, I'd probably start ripping the heads off of teddy bears after awhile.
$10 says they put the dog down for this, if for no other reason than to appease the outrage of the musuem's benefactors.
A close relative of the wolf, doubtless trained for professional aggression, all alone with hundreds of small, furry replicas of mammals, has ripped those things apart? Who would'a thunk it?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2006 : 23:38:47 [Permalink]
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Screw the Teddy Bears, I had fun! |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2006 : 01:43:26 [Permalink]
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Stephen Colbert, who always has bears high on both his "Threat Down" and "On Notice" lists, ought to be expressing delight in Barney's attack on these virtual bruins. (Or maybe he already has. As I type, I'm also catching up on the last two Colbert Report episodes which I've TiVo'ed.)
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2006 : 13:12:09 [Permalink]
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My dogs love to pull stuffing out. One of the great joys of their lives. I buy them toys at the Goodwill all the time.
$900,000 sounds a bit insurance inflated to me. That would be $90,000 bears at 10 bucks each. Even 45,000 bears at $20 each.... pretty incredulous. Subtract a few Steiffs and that still only takes off a few thousand. |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 08/03/2006 13:15:59 |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2006 : 13:28:31 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
$900,000 sounds a bit insurance inflated to me. That would be $90,000 bears at 10 bucks each. Even 45,000 bears at $20 each.... pretty incredulous. Subtract a few Steiffs and that still only takes off a few thousand.
These were museum pieces, so I'm sure they have added historical value. One belonged to Elvis. Elvis. That one alone was probably insured in the 6 figure range.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2006 : 13:37:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
My dogs love to pull stuffing out. One of the great joys of their lives. I buy them toys at the Goodwill all the time.
$900,000 sounds a bit insurance inflated to me. That would be $90,000 bears at 10 bucks each. Even 45,000 bears at $20 each.... pretty incredulous. Subtract a few Steiffs and that still only takes off a few thousand.
I just love giving a willing dog a stuffed toy to maul. They are clearly in their instinctual element when ripping them to shreds. As you say, one of the great joys of their lives. It strikes me as hilarious that the operators of this museum would trust a dog to guard this particular type of collection. Hadn't they heard the phrase, "letting the fox guard the hen-house"? Judging by the mess on the floor, Barney had a wonderful, wonderful time. I would pay good money to see any security video of Barney's rampage. That would be a hoot!
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/03/2006 13:39:51 |
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Ghost_Skeptic
SFN Regular
Canada
510 Posts |
Posted - 08/04/2006 : 00:26:29 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
I just love giving a willing dog a stuffed toy to maul. They are clearly in their instinctual element when ripping them to shreds. As you say, one of the great joys of their lives. It strikes me as hilarious that the operators of this museum would trust a dog to guard this particular type of collection. Hadn't they heard the phrase, "letting the fox guard the hen-house"? Judging by the mess on the floor, Barney had a wonderful, wonderful time. I would pay good money to see any security video of Barney's rampage. That would be a hoot!
I predict Barney's next job will be in a scrapyard or auto wrecker.
Our 120 pound Rotweiler cross (the other half is probably German Shepard) is very gentle with stuffed toys. He carries them around and grooms them - I think they are surrogate puppies for him. This might be a learned behaviour from his stay in the animal shelter. He might have noticed the reaction he got when he had a teddy bear in his mouth or this might have been encouraged by the shelter staff in order to make a hard to adopt dog look cute. Other than this he is the wildest dog we have had.
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"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. / You can send a kid to college but you can't make him think." - B.B. King
History is made by stupid people - The Arrogant Worms
"The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism." - William Osler
"Religion is the natural home of the psychopath" - Pat Condell
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" - Thomas Jefferson |
| Edited by - Ghost_Skeptic on 08/04/2006 00:30:42 |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 08/04/2006 : 04:46:40 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by H. Humbert
quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
$900,000 sounds a bit insurance inflated to me. That would be $90,000 bears at 10 bucks each. Even 45,000 bears at $20 each.... pretty incredulous. Subtract a few Steiffs and that still only takes off a few thousand.
These were museum pieces, so I'm sure they have added historical value. One belonged to Elvis. Elvis. That one alone was probably insured in the 6 figure range.
The MSNBC article pegged the value of the teddy bear of Elvis at $75,000. |
Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2006 : 00:34:44 [Permalink]
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| $900,000 less 75,000 leaves 825,000 for the rest. A lot o' bears or some over priced ones still. From the amount of stuffing on the floor it still looks like an inflated insurance claim. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2006 : 04:34:22 [Permalink]
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But who's counting? What's important is not the cost of Barney's path of detruction, but how much fun he had in the process.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Ghost_Skeptic
SFN Regular
Canada
510 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2006 : 00:21:23 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by beskeptigal
$900,000 less 75,000 leaves 825,000 for the rest. A lot o' bears or some over priced ones still. From the amount of stuffing on the floor it still looks like an inflated insurance claim.
and
quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
But who's counting? What's important is not the cost of Barney's path of detruction, but how much fun he had in the process.
I think a cost benifit analysis needs to be done comparing the value of the teddy bears to the value of Barney's fun.
B'Gal I smell a scam too. I think they must be extremely overvalued even by the greater fool economics of collectibles. This reminds me of Bruce McNall (former owner the LA Kings hockey team) - He supposedly made a fortune on trading cards but wound up going to jail for fraud. He inflated the value of his collection and used it for collateral to borrow money. Of the course that house of cards eventually collapsed.
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"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. / You can send a kid to college but you can't make him think." - B.B. King
History is made by stupid people - The Arrogant Worms
"The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism." - William Osler
"Religion is the natural home of the psychopath" - Pat Condell
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" - Thomas Jefferson |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2006 : 04:50:30 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
But who's counting? What's important is not the cost of Barney's path of detruction, but how much fun he had in the process.
And my question would have to be, who in their right mind puts a dog in charge of guarding chew toys? |
Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2006 : 07:14:29 [Permalink]
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The Bush Administration?
It's just like Hurley on Lost, spooky. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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