3 of the most gloriously inane news stories from this week - Friday Link Roundup

Dog bites man

Because groundbreaking stories about Toughbooks are few and far between, I sometimes joke about all the non-news items that find their way into my Friday link dump. In journalism, they are called "dog bites man" stories (not to be confused with "man bites dog" stories, the classic aphorism stating that inversions of ordinary events are newsworthy). Anyway, a deputy in Georgia wanted to take a selfie with a police dog, so he crouched down, put his arm around the K-9's neck, and -- per all its training and instincts -- it bit him in the face. I just felt like that story belonged here. (The Daily Citizen via PoliceOne)

WSJ looks at a cop car

Last week I made fun of the Panasonic for Business blog for writing a story that essentially amounted to "Police use Toughbooks." It turns out even the Wall Street Journal sometimes struggles to find a story. In this piece, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota highway patrol officer talks about how he works in a police car and has a Toughbook in the police car and how he spends a lot of time in the police car. The article is scarce on details and includes a photo gallery of a few random aspects of the car. It's the journalistic equivalent of a shrug. It's hilarious. (Wall Street Journal)

Man throws traffic cones at people

On Monday, around 5:00 p.m., a California man left Kaiser Permanente Medical Center after two employees refused to hook him up with some painkillers. Around midnight, he returned, agitated and brandishing two traffic cones, which he proceeded to throw at the hospital workers before making his escape. (Please note that this was seven hours later, which means that throwing some traffic cones was a premeditated attack.) Authorities were called, and a plan was hatched. The wily police would place a phone call to the man and ask him to come to the police station. The man would come in, and they would arrest him. "That's so crazy it just might work," someone undoubtedly said. And you know what? It did work. (The Marin Independent Journal via EMS1)