Bank Robbery by Hypnosis.

MOSCOW, Russia — Bank robbers have threatened tellers with knives, shot their way into banks and tunnelled up into vaults. But one woman in southern Russia chose a more peaceful method: Police say Galina Korzhova hypnotised a bank teller into handing over tens of thousands of dollars in what is believed to be just one in a series of daring, if non-violent, bank robberies.

Galina Korzhova was arrested, said Anton Kornoukhov, a spokesman for police in the southern city of Volgograd, on suspicion of hypnotising a bank teller in the nearby town of Volzhky into giving her more than $80,000. She is suspected of having robbed up to 30 additional banks in what Russian media have called a "grand tour" around the country.

Police say that Korzhova is a "tsiganka," or Roma. Police, who are often criticized for racial profiling, say this type of crime is most often perpetrated by Roma who are traditionally involved in fortune telling and are often seen begging in Russia.

The Roma, or Gypsies, are nomadic people who live throughout Europe. Human rights groups say they are severely discriminated against in Russia and that police routinely assume their guilt and harass them.

Source: GlobalPost

RIP Record Savings

Around 1996 was when I first discovered the joy of an indie record store. The relaxed atmosphere, the difference in personality to bigger mainstream shops, and most importantly... the discoveries that could be made.

I spent the majority of my teens visiting as many indies as I could, to try and educate myself on everything that was out there. I personally have over 1800 CD's and I really hate the modern era's inability to understand the beauty of actually saving up and BUYING albums... The pride in the holding the physical item in your hand, that you have earned. The beauty in that medallion of music. Anyway... I digress. It was in indie stores that I learned of my voracious appetite for music of all types. Mainstream stores like HMV etc never gave me the same ability to discuss and learn about new things from an 'expert'... nor did they allow me to select something I simply liked the look of off of the shelf and have it played while I looked around. Record Savings allowed me that freedom, and I basically lived in that shop.

In fact, I spent so much time there and learned so much, they offered me a job. I worked there for about 3 or 4 years. Ordering in stock, buying and selling secondhand CD's, and continuing my education. Also I learned the joy of influencing people to try new things. I'm a very extroverted person and enjoy talking to people about my passions. So I found the job to be really fun... every single day. Not many people can say that about their jobs.

A few years back, the sales of CD's started to decline as people began downloading music or just listening to it online, and this resulted in me being made redundant. Since then I have continued to shop at Record Savings with the vain hope that it would continue forever. It was one of the last true indie record stores in the country and I hoped it could last.

In the last few months I noticed they got less and less new releases in, and then today I found out that it had closed as of earlier this week.

Truly the end of an era, and quite saddening for me.