Mistakes Can Happen

A couple of things have happened recently that remind us to stay alert and pay attention. Mistakes can happen anywhere, and if we can't prevent them, we can (if we keep our eyes open) avoid them.

A week ago, Switzerland invaded and, for a short time, occupied its neighbor Liechtenstein. A company of 170 soldiers got lost at night and wandered across the border into the principality. Its fortunate that the countries are fairly tight already--Liechtenstein's currency is the Swiss franc, and (in fairness to the Swiss soldiers) the border at that point was unmarked. But Liechtenstein has no standing army and is just a bit larger than Washington, D.C., so it wouldn't take much force to overrun it. A Liechtenstein representative reported that no one in Liechtenstein even noticed the Swiss soldiers, so I guess we're just depending on the Swiss army to admit the error. But can they prove they were there? What if they weren't and are only just making the claim? Could this be the beginning of some sort of weird psy op situation?

A second incident demonstrates the importance of finding a literate tattoo artist. How much grief could we avoid if we just ask our tattoo artist to read a couple of headlines in the newspaper. A Chicago man is suing a tattoo parlor for misspelling the tattoo he wanted on his chest: CHI-TONW. Sure, you have to wonder how a tattoo artist could make such an error, but you have to wonder even more how the man getting the tattoo (who is identified at the link) didn't notice that it just somehow didn't look right. There's at least one other odd fact in this case. The plaintiff is suing for "emotional distress from public ridicule" and "loss of self-esteem and psychological pain and suffering." Dude, the tattoo's on your chest. If you're concerned about emotional distress and psychological pain and suffering, nobody's forcing you to take your shirt off. Don't show it to people!!