Olde Posts Addenda (8)

  Since all of the news is "breaking" these days, here are some more stories which have broken and are related to older news items in MM.

Muffle the Mufflers
  In a recent post I mentioned that drivers of very noisy vehicles were, in some places, being fined (see: "Traffic Cameras"). I recall that many years ago, some of my buddies would install an extra tailpipe on their cars and on each of them, place glasspack mufflers which were very loud. More recently, a very loud car passed by me and, as it slowed, issued what sounded-like gunshots. It turns out that the noise-making technology these days is much more advanced. If you use it in London, you could be fined.

"Custom Car Owners Can Turn a Switch on Loud Exhausts, Police Say it's Still Illegal: Systems Allow Driver to Adjust Much-hated Loud Muffler Noise, and Avoid Police Attention," CBC NEWS, May 21, 2026.

  "In a video shared on the London Police Service's social media channels, Const. Greg Pearson gets down on his hands and knees and shines a flashlight into the exhaust pipe of an Audi he's pulled over.

  After his inspection, Pearson, who works in the London police's road safety section, gives the owner some bad news and two tickets, totalling fines of $220.

 "The sound emanating from this vehicle is excessive and unusual," he says on the video, using almost the exact wording from the section of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act that covers illegal equipment.

The fine isn't just for the noise.

  During his inspection, Pearson also zeroes in on an electronic device attached to the exhaust pipe. In one setting, the exhaust flows through the muffler and sounds like a normal car. When the driver flips a switch, the muffler is bypassed, and the car suddenly becomes very loud.

   "That's illegal," Pearson tells the driver. "You can't have that on the roadway...."

   Many car hobbyists like to hear the roar of a high-performance engine. Those trying to enjoy a quiet summer evening, however, often complain about excessive noise."

The Great Wine Burglary

   Large quantities of things are often stolen these days and MM  has covered some of the crimes under the heading, "Large Larcenies." My favourite thefts are still, "The Great Huron County Chicken Heist(s)", which have finally been solved. 
  Also ranked very high among my favourites is the theft of just a few bottles of wine, which can hardly be characterized as a "misdemeanour", since one of the bottles cost $24,000. Those are American dollars.
   This great story was probably missed by you since it was buried in this post, "Factlets (21 & 22)", where you will also find some photos of wine lists from restaurants where the corkage fees alone are far more than you would ever pay for a bottle. Go back and have a look at it.

   Last November a couple showed up at  L’Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant, which is in Virginia, not France. The woman indicated that she was working on behalf of a wealthy Canadian client who would perhaps book the restaurant. She asked to see the wine cellar. Her accomplice was wearing an unusual overcoat with deep pockets, in which he stashed a few bottles. As they were leaving, the crime was discovered and the couple chased. A few bottles and the woman were caught, but the fellow was last seen at an airport heading for Eastern Europe.
   The fellow may still be in Eastern Europe, but the wines have found their way back to Virginia.  The woman, Natali Ray, pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to 12 months in jail. The missing bottles had been delivered to Ray's lawyer's office. The owners of the wine think the $24,000 bottle of pinot noir is now likely worthless since it was probably improperly stored during the 145 days it was missing. 
"Nobody is going to pay $24,000 not knowing how the wine was kept," Alain Borel said."
    The male suspect is likely somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Sources:
  The return of the wine and the recent sentencing were reported in The Washington Post: "A $24,000 Bottle of Wine Was Stolen Then Returned," Dan Morse, May 18, 2026.

A Bonus Source:

   This story was also picked up by the reporters in the Kent seaside town where Ms. Ray resided, before her great American misadventure. Details about the crime are provided as well as some interesting items about Ms. Ray. The piece by Gerry Warren was found in the Herne Bay Gazette, May 21, 2026.

   "A former Herne Bay guest house owner has been jailed over an audacious fine wine heist at a luxury American restaurant.

   Natali Ray, 57, was sentenced to a year in prison after admitting her role in the distraction theft in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, according to The Washington Post.

   The creative writing graduate, who previously lived with her family in a property she had operated as the Bay View Guest House in Herne Bay, admitted grand larceny, possession of burglary tools and defrauding a restaurant or inn.

   The court heard how Ray and alleged accomplice Nikola Krndija posed as representatives of a wealthy Canadian businesswoman interested in booking a lavish dinner at the upmarket L'Auberge Provençale Inn & Restaurant.

   Using the fake name “Stephanie Baker” and wearing a disguise, Ray reportedly distracted sommelier Christian Borel with questions about the wine cellar while Krndija swapped rare bottles with cheaper substitutes, prosecutors said.

   The stolen wines, from the prestigious Domaine de la Romanée-Conti estate in Burgundy, France, were valued at about £30,000.

   Prosecutors said the pair had carefully planned the raid, parking away from the restaurant, using disguises and specially adapted clothing to conceal the bottles.

   Krndija fled and remains wanted, with authorities believing he boarded a flight from New York to Vienna the day after the theft. Ray, however, was apprehended in the restaurant car park.

   Judge Alexander R. Iden sentenced her to a year behind bars, although she is expected to receive credit for about six months already served in custody. Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence, arguing the theft had involved extensive planning.

   The case took another bizarre twist earlier this year when two of the missing bottles resurfaced after being delivered to Ray’s lawyer’s office by an unidentified man, said to have an Eastern European accent.

   But the restaurant’s owners said the wines had effectively lost much of their value because there was no way to prove they had been stored correctly during the 145 days they were missing.

  Before moving to Kent, Ray had been raised in Leicester and later started a charity for orphans while living in an area affected by the Balkan refugee crisis, court filings stated.

   The filings also stated she enrolled in higher education aged 45, earning a first-class degree in creative writing at Canterbury Christ Church University and a master’s at the University of Kent in 2019.

   Her defence lawyer told the court Ray had no previous convictions and had spent the past decade battling a rare blood cancer while continuing chemotherapy treatment during her time in jail."

Oddments (1)

 

   In my last post ("A Gathering of Kestertons"), I indicated that I had to figure out what to call short posts, quickly posted en masse. I have decided to label them "Oddments" and produce some since I have written nothing at all for ten days and still have nothing much to write.  I will try to do better in March, unless the weather improves significantly. 

Line 5

  I wrote about Line 5 a year ago and wondered, since it is cold outside and gas prices are very high, if it was soon going to be shut down. The earlier post contains sources and even a map, but if you have forgotten what Line 5 is, it is the pipeline that provides petroleum products to our general area. Governor Gretchen over in Michigan is worried that it may rupture and ruin our Great Lakes. Most on our side of the Lakes, seem to worry much more about having heat and cheap gas, and not many Liberals note the irony involved. 

   I checked; the pipeline is still open and has not yet ruptured.  Apparently we can relax a bit, according to this headline: "Canada Has Replacements for Line 5 if Pipeline Shuts Down, Report Says," James McCarten, The Canadian Press, Feb. 16, 2022. The replacement is Line 78 and I suppose its rupture will be less devastating. The article is linked above, but it does not give the title of the report mentioned in the title of the article. The reason premium subscribers pay big bucks for access to this blog is that such information is supplied. Here it is: "Closing Enbridge's Line 5 Pipeline: What Are the Options and Alternatives Available," by Environmental Defence Canada. The executive summary indicates:
Enbridge’s Line 5 oil and gas pipeline has been the subject of considerable debate. Opponents want the pipeline shut down due to the risk it poses to the Great Lakes, the largest body of freshwater in the world, while proponents of the pipeline have claimed that a Line 5 closure could trigger an energy crisis. But new research shows that a Line 5 shutdown is entirely manageable and that options exist to meet demand for oil and refined products (e.g. gasoline) in Ontario and Quebec without Line 5. This new research also finds that with a planned shutdown of Line 5, any gas price changes would essentially go unfelt by consumers. Our report summarizes the findings of this research. The full research paper is linked within the report.

A link to the report is provided above, along with the citation, so you will be able to find it if the link rots. Let's hope Line 5 does not rupture, while all of this is being sorted out. 

Quote of the Week (2)

  I hope I am sufficiently far enough down the page that no one notices this quotation. It was obviously not produced this week since such a remark would not now be allowed to surface. I did notice it this week, however, and while it is not a good one to display during "Black History Month", I will do so since it perhaps represents the zetigeist of a different period. Here it is: "In a letter to a friend, describing America, Freeman wrote, "This would be a grand land if only every Irishman would kill a negro, and be hanged for it." (No exclamation point required!!)

I will add that the letter writer is Edward Augustus Freeman who was the Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. I need not add that I do not endorse the sentiments expressed, since the title of this blog indicates I may have some Irish blood, and like ex-President Carter and Elvis, may even have a bit of black as well. 

Advance Noise Alert

   The days are getting longer, if not warmer, and they will soon be louder. There are many fellows eager to cruise around in the fine weather in noisy cars and they will be joined later by those on motorcycles and crotch rockets, which are usually noisier.  I thought about this because of an article in the New York Times, which indicates that the French are doing something about it: 
"With Sensors on Streets, France Takes Aim at 'Noise From Hell': The French Authorities Are Installing "Sound Radars" in Some Cities to Detect and Photograph Vehicles Making Excessive Noise, Which They Say is a Public Health Hazard," Emma Bubola, Feb. 21, 2022. Here are some sentences from beyond the paywall which you will not be able to surmount:

"When France introduced speed cameras 20 years ago, it drastically reduced the number of car accidents and helped save tens of thousands of lives. Now the government is taking aim at another scourge: the earsplitting noise that has been a fact of life for residents of French cities.

New sensors, or “sound radars,” were placed in seven cities last week as an experiment. The sensors can detect and take pictures of vehicles making excessive noise, a problem that officials say has gotten worse in recent years. The hope is to eventually set a noise-pollution limit and fine those motorists exceeding it....

“If the mayor didn’t buy a radar, we would have bought one ourselves,” said Raphael Bianchi, who lives in the Place de la Bastille in Paris. He said his 1-year-old son was constantly awakened by motorcycles roaring outside their apartment: “It’s unbearable — it’s a constant acoustic aggression.”

The initiative follows a mounting intolerance by the French to street noises, particularly motorcycles and souped-up scooters. According to a study by Bruitparif, a state-backed center that monitors noise in the Paris area, a modified scooter crossing Paris at night can wake as many as 10,000 people.

The center has developed a sensor that is being tested in Paris. At the end of the testing period, in 2023, the city plans to start handing out fines of 135 euros, about $150, to vehicles that break noise-level rules."

 

   You will be pleased to know and I am pleased to be able to offer some Canadian content which indicates that we (or at least the Albertans) are ahead in this regard. Here is what they tried in Edmonton: 
"Microphones on Edmonton Streets Listening for Loud Pipes: Similar to Photo Radar, Cameras With Microphones Set to Target Noisy Aftermarket Exhaust,"

"Four cameras with microphones have been placed throughout the city of Edmonton in an effort to catch drivers and riders with loud exhaust that exceed 85 decibels, the first implementation of this technology in North America.

Along with the four cameras, another four display boards with microphones are being installed at different locations throughout the city.

According to the CBC, city councillors agreed to continue testing the noise-monitoring equipment to determine whether it can be used to enforce extreme noise, similar to how photo radar tickets drivers for speeding. But as this is a test project, there will be no tickets handed out." From, Driving, Aug. 20, 2018. 

The word "Aftermarket" refers to the market for mufflers and "sound boosters" that can increase the sounds your vehicle makes rather than muffle them. 

Some Sources For This Section:

   The NYT article mentions some reports that relate to the health hazards associated with high decibel levels. Here are a couple. By the way, to increase your concern about the noise issue, I should note that the lower classes are more likely to be affected by loud vehicles since social housing is often closer to major thoroughfares. 
The World Health Organization report is: "New Evidence from WHO on Health Effects of Traffic-Related Noise,"March, 2011.

The French report by Bruitparif is available in English: "Transport Noise in Ile-De-France: Exposure to Transport Noise, Particularly in Dense Areas, It a Real Public Health Issue." 

   The decibel laws related to such things are available and vary from city to city. Here is one Canadian source, "Come On, Feel the Noise: How Canada's Noise Regulations Compare City to City," Coleman Molnar, Driving, Mar. 11, 2021. 

Post Script:

 One never knows when such information might be required. For example, residents in our area recently were blinded by "light pollution" which made our back yards light up like Stalag 17 when the prisoners tried to escape at night. The sudden illumination came about when a commercial property nearby, was renovated. The lights have been dimmed somewhat because our dutiful and civic-minded neighbour contacted our local Councillor and the property owner cooperated, even though the London bylaws about "light pollution" are lacking. 

The Bonus For This Section: 

   I recall in my youth, guys in dungarees under cars removing the mufflers all together, or installing "Glasspacks". Such options these days seem better since "backfires" are often emitted as well.

   This all reminded me of the bonus - Suicide Knobs. I learned they are called, more properly - Brodie Knobs. 

Pickleball and Noise Pollution

  If I had any readers who were hotrodders, they would likely chastise me for not also picking on the pickleballers. In my defence, I can only say that I did not realize what a serious problem pickleball noise is. It must be a serious problem since the CBC is concerned, as you will see in this article which has a headline that the headline writer must have enjoyed writing:

Pickleball is One of Canada's Fastest-Growing Sports: But the Paddle and Ball Can Make a Racket - Some Residents Who Live Near Pickleball Courts Have Grown Sour on the Burgeoning Sport," CBC News, Feb. 21, 2022.

"Pickleball has been a blessing for some during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering up exercise, fresh air, and a chance to socialize outdoors. 

But for some who live near pickleball courts, the cacophony that comes with the burgeoning sport can be a curse.  

Many pickleballers play their sport on reconfigured outdoor tennis courts. The sport has ties to tennis, but uses a paddle instead of a racket, and a hard ball instead of a fuzzy tennis ball. The results can be noisy. 

Connie Ball, who lives near pickleball courts in Blue Mountain Park in Coquitlam, B.C., has been fighting against the sound for 18 months.

"You can't go down for a nap," she said of the noise. "It's just invading. It goes right into our home."

The courts in Blue Mountain Park were repurposed in 2020 for pickleball, but after noise complaints from Ball and other neighbours, the city limited play to the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a one-hour break at noon."

For now, I will remain silent about this subject. 

Castrati 

The Sad Tale of the Castrated Singing Boys

   I realize that this is a rather abrupt shift in subjects, but surely I am far enough down the page to safely bring up this one.  Although some people appear to think that bad things have happened only in modern times and only to members of a certain sex or ethnic group, in fact, awful things have always happened to everyone. You will know about the castrati and these posts are rather longer than expected so I will get to the point. Young boys with good voices were sometimes castrated so they could continue singing as sopranos for the remainder of their much longer careers. The songs were typically sung in Catholic churches where women were supposed to remain silent, but higher voices needed, What is not usually discussed, is the method of making male children into eunuchs. The issue was raised recently and I happened to notice it. At least now you will know how they did it in olden times. I am still not sure how it was done in the more enlightened 18th century. Gents, you might want to wait for my next post and skip this one. 

What method of castration was used for Byzantine eunuchs?

"Although eunuchs were prominent in Byzantium, few sources deal with the technicalities of castration. The matter was considered too sensitive, distasteful and shameful to discuss openly... Thankfully, there is a Byzantine source that offers a detailed description of the operation. It’s the 7th-c. Medical Compendium in Seven Books by a physician named Paul of Aegina, aka Paulus Aegineta. This influential work discusses castration based not only on theory but also the author’s own medical practice — Paul claims to have performed castrations under pressure from certain powerful people. The methods he goes over are two.

That by compression (kata thlasin) is performed thus: children, still of a tender age, are placed in a vessel of hot water, and then when the bodily parts are softened in the bath, the testicles are to be squeezed with the fingers until they disappear, and, being dissolved, can no longer be felt.

The method by excision (kat’ ektomēn) is as follows: let the person to be made a eunuch be placed upon a bench, and the scrotum with the testicles grasped by the fingers of the left hand, and stretched; two straight incisions are then to be made with a scalpel, one in each testicle; and when the testicles start up they are to be dissected around and cut out, having merely left the very thin bond of connection between the vessels in their natural state. This method is preferred to that by compression; for those who have had them squeezed sometimes still desire intercourse, a certain part, as it would appear, of the testicles having escaped the compression."

The above was taken from Quora Digest, Jan. 5 and was provided by, Eleftherios Tserkezis. 

Sources: 

   I am sure there is a good Wikipedia entry relating to this subject. Those of you who are more serious and concerned about the castrati should see:

"Castrati Choir and Opera Singers," Meyer Melicow and Stanford Pulrang, Urology, Vol. III, No. 5, May, 1974.

"Some authors note that as many as 4,000 to 5,000 youngsters were castrated annually, sacrificed through greed on the alter of music."

   "The Age of the Castrato Voice," Fredrich S. Brodnitz, Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders," Vol. 40, No.3, Aug. 1975.

"Castration has been administered for punishment or for cruel revenge of which the great Abelard is the best known example.... The castration of children for the sole purpose of producing a special type of voice is a historic phenomenon of unusual interest."

   "The Keepers of the Bed: Castration and Religion," Vincent J. Derbes, JAMA, Vol.212, No.1, April 6, 1970. 

"Partial or complete excision of man's genitalia, castration, eviration or eunuchism, is the most cruel of all mutilations and not the least practiced. According to ancient tradition, the knowledge of castration was obtained from an animal, the castor or beaver, who practiced it upon himself when being hunted, abandoning his testicles rather than allowing himself to be captured.' 

That is enough for this Sunday and Oddments (1) is done.