TAIF, 25 September 2007 — In Saudi Arabia, school bus drivers not only shuttle students; they’re also used to transport female teachers to and from work. Subsequently, newspapers occasionally report of tragedies involving accidents by these teacher shuttles. One of the reasons is that teachers in larger cities often commute considerable distances on highways to reach schools in smaller communities. A group of teachers recently repeatedly warned their driver, who was apparently rocketing down the highway, to slow down, the daily Al-Madinah reported yesterday. Ignoring the requests of the safety conscious women, the driver ended up getting busted by the highway patrol. The policeman had been tipped off by one of the women, who subtly dialed the police from the back of the speeding van. In Arabic, the woman reported the infraction by her driver, who apparently didn’t understand the language enough to catch on to what she was doing.
An Object Lesson on the ‘Proper’ Con
Arab News
MAKKAH — It is often said that telling the truth is the easiest form of communication; when you lie consistently you must make a mental category of the lies you have said, and to whom. This is the basis behind police interrogations, for example: Keep asking the same questions and over time inconsistencies will arise if the suspect is making up stories as he goes along. In other words: A proper con requires a good memory. The daily Okaz reported yesterday that a shyster who was telling sob stories around Makkah mosques got confused and lost track of where he had already gone and to whom he was trying to con. The man was hitting area mosques and telling worshippers that he needed a donation to help him get home. One day he accidentally hit the same mosque. People recognized him as the same fellow who had a week earlier been telling a sob story about needing money to get home. They detained the man and informed authorities. Perhaps next time he should keep a list of his targets.
