Common Sense Takes a Dive, Plus Beyond Slumdog Millionaire
News of the Weird Daily
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
They dared him, he dove, he's paralyzed, he wins $76m lawsuit
It's a little more subtle than it looks, actually. The defendant dock company that employed the 20-yr-old might have instigated the dare, but maybe not. (The "facts" are unreliable because the dock company filed for liquidation bankruptcy and did not show up in court to challenge the plaintiff's version of facts. However, it could be that the plaintiff initiated the dare, himself, diving off a 10-ft platform into what he didn't realize was 1-ft of water.) Plus, the guy's really messed up. Orlando Sentinel [link from ObscureStore.com]
Comments 'paralyzed_diver'
It's worse than Slumdog Millionaire suggests: Hundreds of kids a year are forcibly maimed in India
Gangs in big cities find runaways and either use acid or sedation/amputation (legs, arms) to enhance poor kids' status as beggars. A Daily Mail reporter in Mumbai figures child-beggar earnings (equivalent of about $1.50 a day) shoot up over six times that (drained by their pimps, of course) if they're deformed. Daily Mail (London)
Comments 'maimed_beggars'
More Things to Worry About
Can't Possibly Be True: A quick-draw game between two yee-ha's in that fabulous border area of Va.-West Va.-Tenn ends badly, but alcohol was not involved (nor drugs). Bristol (Tenn.) Herald Courier
Bernard Madoff's Palm Beach mansion was toilet-papered Sunday night, and the reporter said it was by neighbor kids whose trust funds Madoff had looted. Palm Beach Post
Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham researchers pointed out that it's 43 percent easier for us drivers to wipe out kids crossing the street if we only aim at kids who talk on the phone while crossing [Ed.: OK, the researchers didn't express it quite that way . . .] Reuters via Yahoo
An 11-yr-old bullfighter in Mexico gets 6 kills in one day, thus simultaneously enraging both child-welfare groups and PETA types. BBC News
An organization called Japan Toilet Labo unveiled a campaign to hang poetry on public restroom stalls, which it says will save toilet paper, in that research shows people use more TP in public stalls because it's free. (Buried Lede: Japan has a toilet-use support organization.) Reuters via Yahoo
Comments on Things to Worry About?
Comments 'worry_090127'
Your Daily Losers
If you're a couple carrying $2.5m worth of cocaine, you might stay on the highway itself rather than driving on the shoulder, and more important, you might anticipate what your cover story's going to be if you get stopped. Like, if you're visiting "cousins," are they the husband's cousins or the wife's? If they're yours, why don't you know their names? When did you last see them (5 yrs ago, or last month)? Thus, Jose and Virginia Melendez and their 21-yr-old daughter are in lockup. Omaha World-Herald
Comments 'melendez_cocaine'
Your Daily Jury Duty
["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
Zulfaqar Javaid, 41, and Robert Ralston, 44, just out for a drive, maybe, in Westwood, Ohio, and possibly unaware of the illegality of what they were hauling. Cincinnati Enquirer
Comments 'javaid_ralston'
Today's Newsrangers: Kurt Knochel, Ray Reigadas, Kathryn Wood
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
They dared him, he dove, he's paralyzed, he wins $76m lawsuit
It's a little more subtle than it looks, actually. The defendant dock company that employed the 20-yr-old might have instigated the dare, but maybe not. (The "facts" are unreliable because the dock company filed for liquidation bankruptcy and did not show up in court to challenge the plaintiff's version of facts. However, it could be that the plaintiff initiated the dare, himself, diving off a 10-ft platform into what he didn't realize was 1-ft of water.) Plus, the guy's really messed up. Orlando Sentinel [link from ObscureStore.com]
Comments 'paralyzed_diver'
It's worse than Slumdog Millionaire suggests: Hundreds of kids a year are forcibly maimed in India
Gangs in big cities find runaways and either use acid or sedation/amputation (legs, arms) to enhance poor kids' status as beggars. A Daily Mail reporter in Mumbai figures child-beggar earnings (equivalent of about $1.50 a day) shoot up over six times that (drained by their pimps, of course) if they're deformed. Daily Mail (London)
Comments 'maimed_beggars'
More Things to Worry About
Can't Possibly Be True: A quick-draw game between two yee-ha's in that fabulous border area of Va.-West Va.-Tenn ends badly, but alcohol was not involved (nor drugs). Bristol (Tenn.) Herald Courier
Bernard Madoff's Palm Beach mansion was toilet-papered Sunday night, and the reporter said it was by neighbor kids whose trust funds Madoff had looted. Palm Beach Post
Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham researchers pointed out that it's 43 percent easier for us drivers to wipe out kids crossing the street if we only aim at kids who talk on the phone while crossing [Ed.: OK, the researchers didn't express it quite that way . . .] Reuters via Yahoo
An 11-yr-old bullfighter in Mexico gets 6 kills in one day, thus simultaneously enraging both child-welfare groups and PETA types. BBC News
An organization called Japan Toilet Labo unveiled a campaign to hang poetry on public restroom stalls, which it says will save toilet paper, in that research shows people use more TP in public stalls because it's free. (Buried Lede: Japan has a toilet-use support organization.) Reuters via Yahoo
Comments on Things to Worry About?
Comments 'worry_090127'
Your Daily Losers
If you're a couple carrying $2.5m worth of cocaine, you might stay on the highway itself rather than driving on the shoulder, and more important, you might anticipate what your cover story's going to be if you get stopped. Like, if you're visiting "cousins," are they the husband's cousins or the wife's? If they're yours, why don't you know their names? When did you last see them (5 yrs ago, or last month)? Thus, Jose and Virginia Melendez and their 21-yr-old daughter are in lockup. Omaha World-Herald
Comments 'melendez_cocaine'
Your Daily Jury Duty
["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
Zulfaqar Javaid, 41, and Robert Ralston, 44, just out for a drive, maybe, in Westwood, Ohio, and possibly unaware of the illegality of what they were hauling. Cincinnati Enquirer
Comments 'javaid_ralston'
Today's Newsrangers: Kurt Knochel, Ray Reigadas, Kathryn Wood
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