A man fell from the third story of a building on the 100 block of State Street when Madison police responded to a burglary in the early morning on Saturday.ADDED: Actually there's a factual deficiency in "Whether the man was involved with the burglary is unclear." I think it should be "Whether the man was involved in any burglary is unclear." We don't know that there was a burglary, only that someone called the police and said there was a burglary going on.
Police were called to a burglary in progress on the second floor of the building just before 3 a.m.
As officers arrived, "a male subject fell from the third floor," Madison police said. Whether the man was involved with the burglary is unclear....
March 29, 2020
I like the way this story is kept factual — we don't really know if the man who fell was the burglar or even if there was a burglary going on.
From The Wisconsin State Journal:
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Sounds like the beginning of a good spy story. Or murder most foul. Nothing at all to do with a burglary.
Yes, it's an interesting news story because it feels like a mystery. It looks like one thing, but what really happened?
"a" burglary could work. Don't even need any.
It could be suicide.
This would actually make a good geo-political storyline of the times. Deadly virus running amok around the world, taking down entire economies, populations. Back in a small office in Madison, WI, a quiet man is busy sending an email, with video to a professor in Moscow. But why? He hits the send button just as the door to his office is kicked open. Two men wearing masks, rush in. He feels the hot sting of the taser hit him in the chest as he falls prone to the ground.
The last thing he feels is the wind hitting his face as the ground comes up at him.
Meanwhile, in Baltimore our heroine is sitting at her kitchen table, scrawling out some notes on a pad, as the coffee cup next to her cools slowly.
I looked on Google Instant Street View. Office buildings. Probably the brick one. 3 am.
What else could it be?
It's raining men.
Parkour videos and quarantines don't mix.
"We don't know that there was a burglary, only that someone called the police and said there was a burglary going on."
Going on? Shouldn't that be going down?
"Subject?" Does that mean he is black?
"Subject?" Does that mean he is black?
It means he died in a college town.
Maybe someone locked themselves out of their apartment/office. This happened to my college buddy, who tried climbing the facade of his brownstone in Brooklyn. Neighbors threatened to call police so we found another way.
What would Dylan say?
Here comes the story of the third floor man
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done...
"What would Dylan say?"
"Look out below!"
Incident Type
Residential Burglary
Incident Date 03/28/2020 - 2:48 AM
Address 100 block State St
Details
MPD officers were sent to the 100 Block of State St in what was initially dispatched as a burglary in progress on a second floor apartment. As officers were arriving and beginning to investigate the incident a male subject fell from the third floor. This male subject was transported to an area hospital with serious injuries. Incident remains under active investigation."
Oh he didn't die. That's good.
Interesting how careful journalists can be about sticking only to facts when the story can't be spun against Republicans or Trump. But all those smears that have to be retracted are just "errors."
This happened to my college buddy, who tried climbing the facade of his brownstone in Brooklyn. Neighbors threatened to call police so we found another way.
That happened to a friend in Manhattan. I think someone did call the police, but unfortunately he fell from the 2nd floor and was seriously injured. He recovered, so not quite a Darwin case.
Here's a good one:
Incident Type
Weapons Violation
"Witnesses said the victim was handling a sawed-off shotgun inside a friend's MacArthur Rd. apartment when the weapon discharged. When he is released from a hospital ..."
I like the way this story is kept factual
As you pointed out, the news report was less factual than the police report.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old… They literally know nothing. We created an echo chamber. They were saying things that validated what we had given them to say." – Ben Rhodes, Obama speechwriter.
A lot, and I mean, a lot, of poor, confusing writing is found on the net.
From another AA post,
"If you have kids try this game that I came up with by accident about 10 years ago: get their yearbook and draw someone, and then give them the drawing and the yearbook and see if they can figure it out. It's a fun game! We were playing last night and even cynical high school kids love it."
How do we know he identifies as a man?
The news today: Something happened. Or didn't.
Burglary was probably assumed, since what other reason could there be? Also, there could have been an attempted break in. Its astounding how low you can be and still die from a fall. We had a co-worker get on a ladder to fix and overhead light, he fell off and died. Height? probably 10 feet.
I see The Isthmus has shut down.
Too bad.
Rabel said...
I see The Isthmus has shut down.
Too bad
Poor Isthmus. Its focus was too narrow.
Maybe it will revive in the AQ (after quarantine) era.
I suspect that the average age of reporters is constant at 27 because by that time they can be divided into two groups, one with mean earnings greater than $400,000 per annum and another with mean earnings less than $25,000 per annum. The second more numerous lot is then replaced with 22 year olds after the group goes into another field. You get into the first group if your body is hot.
Reminds me of Kurt Busiek's classic tale The Scoop in Astro City issue 2:
Summary by rberman at https://classiccomics.org/thread/5214/kurt-busieks-astro-city-issue
Issue #2: The Scoop (September 1995)
Theme: Older Is Better.
Focus Villain: Shirak the Devourer is an extra-dimensional shark-demon in the Dormammu category. He transforms Karnus and another dozen human cultists into shark-men monsters after they sacrifice a shark to him in a subway tunnel, but Honor Guard prevent Shirak from breaking through into our dimension.
Focus Civilian: Elliot Mills is the editor of the Astro City Rocket newspaper. He regales an unnamed new staff member with a tale of his youth (1959), when he was the sole civilian witness to a battle in another dimension between Honor Guard and the shark-man minions of Shirak. He tried to write it up for the paper, but his editor wouldn’t accept the story because there were no other witnesses to cite. Mills has carried this ethos forward, seeing confirmation as an important component of the media’s responsibility to the public. Mills has a “World’s Finest Granddad” coffee cup. Future Astro City stories will be from a mix of POVs, super and regular.
In the end, all the old-school editor will allow is a brief dry write-up of the enigmatic aftermath under the headline "Trolley Delayed By Shark".
It was a great story, and made you wish journalism were really like that!
WHEN THE ENTERPRISING BURGLARS NOT A'BURGLING (not a'burgling)
WHEN THE CUT THROAT ISN'T OCCUPIED IN CRIME (-pied in crime)
HE LOVES TO HEAR THE LITTLE BROOK A'GURGLING (brook a'gurgling)
AND LISTEN TO THE MERRY VILLAGE CHIME (village chime)
WHEN THE COSTER'S FINISHED JUMPING ON HIS MOTHER (on his mother)
HE LOVES TO LIE A'BASKING IN THE SUN (in the sun)
AH, TAKE ONE CONSIDERATION WITH ANOTHER (with another)
A POLICEMAN'S LOT IS NOT A HAPPY ONE
AHHH
WHEN CONSTABULARY DUTY'S TO BE DONE, TO BE DONE,
A POLICEMAN'S LOT IS NOT A HAPPY ONE (happy one).
If you ever see the Netflix film "River" this is the opening plot line.
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