how can i serve you robot master?

further coincidence:

an article was forwarded to me this morning about a teacher from my hometown that had part of his hand blown off in an accident involving a spent artillery round that was kept as a "paperweight". i was a bit disturbed by the story because the friend that sent it to me had labeled him a "dumbass", though i didn't linger on it. later, i came across the same story on boingboing and i read a bit more carefully this time.

i recognized his last name. same surname as a woman that was a voice coach for both my sisters (and for me too actually…) and a family friend. i figured it might be her husband as i knew he was a hunter and the article mentioned that the artillery round had been found on a hunting trip. so i called my mom and she told me that the injured man was the son of our friend. after talking about it, my mom forwarded the email that the mother had sent out to family and friends. there are some significant details that were left out of the story reported on the wire. i've asked permission to post the message contents and if granted i will put them up here and submit a correction to boingboing.

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permission was denied. i'm told that there are some legal issues left unresolved. still strange to be 2 steps away from the subject of the news. i hope this expands my sympathy for strangers in the future…