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A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

zmescience.com

101–110 of 112 posts

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#101
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds a bit ambiguous, have you in the end triggered the alarm and had to run from the staff or have you made it out with your ill gotten gains?

The largest art robbery that never was. In all seriousness, we just made our visit and left, like the people in the article. At some point we even backtracked to the entrance to check for opening hours. No one. No alarm. Only the two of us and a very nice contemporary art collection.

Anecdotal. The largest unsolved art robbery that ever was ( I think this is still true) was at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston.

Details here (Smithsonian)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-a...

Excerpt:

From start to finish, the biggest art heist in modern history lasted just 81 minutes. At 1:24 a.m. on March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers walked into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They overpowered two unsuspecting night security guards, then duct-taped their victims to a pipe and a workbench in the museum basement.

“Gentlemen, this is a robbery,” the criminals announced.

The pair proceeded to remove 13 treasured artworks on display in the lavishly decorated gallery, smashing the protective glass of two Rembrandt paintings and cutting the canvases from their gilded frames. Just over an hour later, the thieves made off with a staggering collection of art that’s valued today at $500 million.

End excerpt.

FWIW, like many things, Isabella Steward Gardner is for sale on eBay.

DDG says:

Isabella Stewart Gardner - Isabella Stewart Gardner Sold Direct on eBay.

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#102
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The largest art robbery that never was. In all seriousness, we just made our visit and left, like the people in the article. At some point we even backtracked to the entrance to check for opening hours. No one. No alarm. Only the two of us and a very nice contemporary art collection.

Anecdotal. The largest unsolved art robbery that ever was ( I think this is still true) was at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston. Details here (Smithsonian) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-a... Excerpt: From start to finish, the biggest art heist in modern history lasted just 81 minutes. At 1:24 a.m. on March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers walked into Boston’s Isab…

Thank you!

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't tend to frame anyone as good or evil. My judgement is more about whether their actions harm others or do not. In my experience, the majority of people generally don't want to cause harm to others, or don't knowingly intend to. They often do because they are ignorant of how harmful their actions can be (IMO the most common cause of people harming each other), or they may be desperate (as someone in an adjacent…

I feel like a lot of petty crime (like shoplifting and such), is not directly caused by desparation, but a kind of contempt. Their community failed to make them feel provided for and included, therefore what they are doing is okay: they are only taking what they are “owed”. It’s not necessarily that they are evil or even that desperate, but rather that their previous interactions with society gave them a warped sense…

Oh yeah, I didn't dive deep enough into it but yeah, there's absolutely that aspect of feeling "owed" or otherwise not having sympathy for those they are taking from. Sometimes there's a "I need it more than they do", or "they can easily afford to replace it", or less charitably there can be more of a "they deserve to have their stuff taken", "they're part of the system that ruined my life", a mindset of resentment and entitlement...

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#104

I recently moved with my family to an appartment in the city. My wife and I have three children under the age of ten. One big benefit that we did not see in advance is that the public library is now in walking distance to our new home. It already has become a habit to go there with the kids and join the regular reading time. The reading time is performed by a volunteer who usually reads out one book to the attending…

Yeah, I've always loved libraries. The amount of stuff you can learn is mind-boggling, and the environment/atmosphere encourages delving right in. I still distinctly remember when my local library started carrying CD-ROMs... I mean, I had the internet, but it was very slow, and suddenly I could borrow these games/"edutainment"/educational software... So awesome. For some time my friend had no internet connection and we'd go to the library together and browse stuff, discuss what we found, etc. .. Such a great place for people to grow their knowledge and understanding of the world (and whatever they are interested in). <3

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#106
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quarter of Swiss population is foreign-born. Not quite like NYC, but very high in international comparisons.

In Japan the percentage is very low, but you can still have all the foreign food you want. Most foreigners in any country are doing other things than running restaurants, so it's pretty orthogonal.

Having enough guests is important to operate restaurants, so how many foreigner exists matter for foreign food. But it works without foreigners if local people like it.

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#107
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just what we need, another place with video surveillance to make it even more normalized. Orwell missed only by about thirty years.

Video cameras in unmanned libraries definitely don't exist in order to spy on people. I can assure you that whatever its other faults, the municipality of Copenhagen is not interested in spying on readers.

Not falling for that again.

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just what we need, another place with video surveillance to make it even more normalized. Orwell missed only by about thirty years.

Everyone has their sensibilities. Of all the surveillance methods, this one is nowhere near as intrusive as some others. The recordings will likely be overwritten/erased within weeks, if not sooner. Few operators of such cameras store the resulting video for extended periods of time. On the other hand, Google probably knows your crush from 2005 and your diagnosis from 2009. This long term surveillance is what really…

Was true in the past, but out of date today. Cloud connected cameras are the new hotness. Including facial recognition, etc.

Hopefully EU has bans against such things, but even that may not be enough.

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#109
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Books get different return-by dates based on their popularity in Sweden, so some have to be returned in a e.g. week, some in a month. So perhaps they just meant that none of the return deadlines have been missed so far?

Did they even say when this event occurred?

Nov 1st

Re: A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open

#110

I recently moved with my family to an appartment in the city. My wife and I have three children under the age of ten. One big benefit that we did not see in advance is that the public library is now in walking distance to our new home. It already has become a habit to go there with the kids and join the regular reading time. The reading time is performed by a volunteer who usually reads out one book to the attending…

What you describe is wonderful. The problem is that in some places, social conditions degrade the library experience. I was an ardent user of local public libraries from childhood until about a decade ago, when the libraries had taken on the role of homeless shelters and going there felt unhealthy.
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