Creeps on Parade

• Samantha the intelligent sex doll suffered a number of indignities at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, in early September. Sergi Santos of Barcelona, Spain, who developed Samantha, said men at the show acted "like barbarians. Two fingers were broken. She was heavily soiled." Samantha, who talks, is also programmed to react when someone touches her. Santos told Metro News that Samantha would have to undergo repairs and cleaning, but she "can endure a lot. She will pull through." [Metro News, 9/27/2017] Metro News also reports that women in Middlesbrough, Cleveland, England, have contacted police about a mysterious man handing out provocative notes in the streets. The notes begin: "No offence intended. You are simply a female that caught my eye. ... I am looking for a possible private arrangement. If you understand my meaning." The man has handed out several of the notes, one to a 14-year-old girl at Middlesbrough Bus Station. Her sister called the phone number at the bottom of the note and said the voice "sounded foreign." She went on: "It made me feel a bit uncomfortable and it set off my anxiety." [Metro News, 10/2/2017]