One of those AP stories that just brightens one's day

LANTANA, Fla. (AP) - A man who has written two books on stupidity was arrested for allegedly trying to arrange sex with a 15-year-old girl over the Internet. The girl turned out to be an undercover male detective. James F. Welles, the 61-year-old author of The Story of Stupidity and Understanding Stupidity, was taken into custody last week after arranging to meet the girl at a restaurant, investigators said.

They do say you should write about what you know.

Stupid is as Welles does.

I thought it might have been a hoax story, as Lantana, Florida, is where the Weekly World News is headquartered—but I looked up James F. Welles on Amazon, and there he was!

I wonder if anyone ever tries to arrange sex with a detective over the Internet and ends up with a 15 year old girl?

This was on Fark today with the “Ironic” tag.

Quote from the version linked at Fark (from memory, but accurate, I think) Stupid guy to 40 year old detective: “We can’t be all lovey-dovey in public, because the bottom line is, I’m commiting a crime.”

I actually own “Understanding Stupidity” and been meaning to get around to reading it. Now I wonder if I should even bother.