Zombies victorious over City of Minneapolis
It's a good week to be a zombie.
Back in 2006, a horde (What's the word for a group of zombies?) of seven Minneapolitans were arrested when they donned not-particularly-convincing zombie garb (I mean, look at those photos.) and staged a protest of brainless consumerism at an outdoor mall in downtown Minneapolis. Given that the protest took place during Aquatennial—an annual celebration of the fact that Minnesotans are rather fond of their various bodies of water—I can almost guarantee that they were not the most ridiculous-looking people hanging around downtown.
Nevertheless, somebody called 911, and the zombies ended up spending two days in jail, told they were being held for carrying equipment (an iPod hooked up to portable speakers) that resembled "weapons of mass destruction". They were eventually released without charge. Then came the lawsuit, a loss in District Court and a resurrection in a Court of Appeals.
This Monday, the zombies emerged from four years of legal limbo victorious, as the City of Minneapolis agreed to pay out $165,000 as a settlement in lieu of going back to court.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Minneapolis will pay $165,000 to zombies
Wall Street Journal law blog: Attack of the plaintiff zombies
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Maggie Koerth-Baker
I do the Twitter, the Google+, and (to a much lesser extent) the Facebook.
Books
• Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us
Upcoming Appearances
• April 2 at Skeptics in the Pub, Boston, Mass.— 7:00 pm at Tommy Doyle's in Harvard Square. Please RSVP.
•April 4 at MIT: "Shedding Light, Online", a discussion about how blogging and a dynamic audience helped shape my book, Before the Lights Go Out—4:00 pm in Maseeh Hall. Please RSVP.
• April 6 at Carnegie Mellon University: More details to come
• April 9-13 at University of Colorado, Boulder: 64th Annual Conference on World Affairs
• April 10 at Colorado State University, Fort Collins: "Putting the Fun Back in Infrastructure"—3:30 pm in the Rocky Mountain Innosphere.
• April 19 at The Bakken Museum in Minneapolis: Book Launch Party! Come enjoy snacks, a presentation by me, and some fun with the Bakken's Leyden jar.
• April 21 at Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul: Earth Day Tweetup event with Will Steger and Sean Otto—events run 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
• May 2 at University of California, Berkeley: "Putting the Fun Back in Infrastructure"—6:00 pm, location TBA.
• May 3 at the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter—Lunchtime lecture, time and location TBA.
• May 3 at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito, Cali.—7:00 pm.
• May 30 in New York City—Panel on local and DIY energy with the New America Foundation
• June 22-25 in Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Environment Forum
• July 5-8 at CONvergence in Minneapolis, Minn.—exact times and dates TBA
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