Weird News Compilation

[berkeman]

Okay, we may need to have annual award for the weirdest news item submitted in this thread. Here's my front-runner for 2022 so far...

A woman who accidentally dropped her cellphone into the hole of an outhouse in a national forest and fell in while trying to retrieve it had to be rescued by firefighters in Washington state.

Brinnon Fire Department Chief Tim Manly said the woman, who was at the top of Mount Walker in the Olympic National Forest northwest of Seattle, had been using her phone when it fell into the toilet on Tuesday, The Kitsap Sun reported.

Manly said she disassembled the toilet seat and used dog leashes to try and get the phone and eventually used the leashes to tie herself off as she reached for it. That effort failed and she fell into the toilet headfirst.

“They didn’t work very well and in she went,” Manly said.

The woman was alone and tried to get out for 10 to 15 minutes. Reunited with her phone, she called 911, Manly said.

 

[Ibix]

I love that the Fire Chief's name is Manly. With a name like that you can't take a job pushing paper...

 

[DaveC426913]

I love that the Fire Chief's name is Manly. With a name like that you can't take a job pushing paper...

 

[berkeman]

Well, at least his first name is "Les" and not "Mo"...

 

[mfb]

Burr?

You arrive at the fire and see Burr McBurney^'s face.

 

[Borg]

Okay, we may need to have annual award for the weirdest news item submitted in this thread. Here's my front-runner for 2022 so far...

I can't imagine the hazmat cleanup they would have had to do on the ambulance after that.

About the only way to top that is if another person does the same thing while trying to take a selfie.

 

[berkeman]

I can't imagine the hazmat cleanup they would have had to do on the ambulance after that.

In my HAZMAT First Responder training, one of the mantras was "The only way the patient is getting in my ambulance is if they are wet and naked" (implying that they have been de-con'ed by Fire hoses...)

 

[DaveC426913]

I can't imagine the hazmat cleanup they would have had to do on the ambulance after that.

Hmph.

Eight years ago, I had an incident where some** of my inside juices decided to be outside juices. I was in bed in our second floor loft.

The paramedics came - saw the radius of the splash zone - and would not touch me; they just stayed at the top of the stairs. Despite the certainty that I would black out if I stood up (because of aforesaid missing inside juices), they made me crawl to the stairs, then skootch down the stairs on my bum (lest I black out and fall), and into the bathroom shower (where I blacked out) so I could get hosed down before they would touch me. The last words I remember were "Please, I would like to lie down on a gurney now."

My wife did the cleanup without a hazmat suit.

** [EDIT] sorry, it was only one inside juice - the really important one that's not supposed to ever become an outside juice - it's just became an outside juice by way of a plethora of non-sterile exits. And there was a lot of it.

 

[Borg]

In my HAZMAT First Responder training, one of the mantras was "The only way the patient is getting in my ambulance is if they are wet and naked" (implying that they have been de-con'ed by Fire hoses...)

Ah. Pride goeth before the ambulance.

Edit: In her case, it went before the fall and then again before the ambulance. Not a good day for sure.

 

[strangerep]

Hmph.

+1.

The paramedics came - saw the radius of the splash zone - and would not touch me; [...]

I had a similar experience 20+ yrs ago: a stomach bleed which (at that time) I didn't understand, because blood in the stomach turns black by reaction with HCl. By the time I phoned emergency, I could barely crawl, yet the paramedics were highly reluctant to help me down 3 flights of stairs. I didn't think of trying to skootch down the stairs on my bum - my brain was barely working.

They did help me in the end when it became clear I couldn't do it on my own. But sheesh! I'm surprised they don't get more training/emphasis about how they're supposed to help people who are in seriously dire need. If they can't handle it, they should change professions.

If that sort of thing ever happens to me again, maybe I'll just call a taxi instead of an ambulance, and try to crawl/skootch.

 

[DaveC426913]

a stomach bleed

Dieulafoy's Lesion.
Instigated by a (possibly idiopathic) 100% block of Splenic artery.
16 units - all told - to top me up.

"Eleven hundred doctors went into the room, 316 doctors come out. Sharks took the rest."

 

[berkeman]

Well for the record, I've cleaned my fair share of patients up. We do look for the easiest way to do that obviously. Dave -- sorry you had to pass out as a part of the "rescue".

 

[DaveC426913]

Well for the record, I've cleaned my fair share of patients up. We do look for the easiest way to do that obviously. Dave -- sorry you had to pass out as a part of the "rescue".

I don't fault them for anything and I have a great story to tell.

(In truth, there is no way they could have gotten me down the stairs. They're both steeper and narrower than code and inadequate hand rails (the whole loft was done by an amateur).)

 

[Algr]

...he pressed a button 'no qualified pilot would'​

"Why do they even HAVE that button?"

According to someone on Redit:

He was flying an Embraer 190 regional jet for a British airways off shoot flying mainly from City airport called BA city flyer. He turned off a guarded switch (irreversible switch to a system used in conjunction with the QRH or aircraft ECAM to isolate a system in special circumstances like a failure) which always needs cross confirmation with your colleague. The details haven’t been released but could be any number of switches like a RAM ram air turbine or IDG which isolates a generator, I hope this helps.

---

We did 270°C turn

That is one hot turn.

 

[Klystron]

Correction: @Astronuc wrote the comment containing 'no qualified pilot would', not Klystron. Probably an editing error while multi-quoting.

"Why do they even HAVE that button?"

 

[Astronuc]

That is one hot turn.

Fixed that. Thanks. My finger got ahead of my brain, and autocorrect failed.

 

[mfb]

"Why do they even HAVE that button?"

For emergencies, probably. It's not a switch that can never be used, it's a switch no qualified pilot would use in the situation they had.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/space-budget-crime-1.6432854

Crimes on the moon could soon be added to Canada's Criminal Code

 

[Astronuc]

Michigan car owner sued after Jeep kills mechanic during oil change​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-car-owner-sued-jeep-075228792.html

Attorney David Femminineo, who is representing Hawkins' estate, told FOX 2 that Thompson did not know how to drive the vehicle's manual transmission and did not have a license. The attorney also said the dealership cannot be sued because of a legal standard preventing an employee from suing their boss for negligence, which, in this case, would be the hiring of someone who should not have been driving.

Because the incident happened at work and involved two employees, the boss cannot be sued, FOX 2 notes.

 

[Borg]

Michigan car owner sued after Jeep kills mechanic during oil change​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-car-owner-sued-jeep-075228792.html

Femminineo told McClatchy News that the car owner is responsible for Hawkins' death in the same way that someone who lent another person their vehicle would be liable for any injuries caused by the driver. He said a person who lends their car is liable for negligent acts because they gave the other person permission to use their vehicle.

I think that if the owner has a good lawyer, they will be able to get it thrown out. I doubt that the owner could be seen as 'lending' their car to that specific person or that they could be reasonably expected to personally validate the driving record of everyone at the dealership. Also, the employee who was killed might not have been able to sue had he survived but his relatives weren't employees. I would bet that his employment terms don't apply to his relatives.

It looks like the judge feels the same way about it.

According to a summary filed in court on March 1, the court has ordered the Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership, where the incident occurred, to indemnify Diaz-Navarro if he is found liable of negligence.

 

[nsaspook]

Michigan car owner sued after Jeep kills mechanic during oil change​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-car-owner-sued-jeep-075228792.html

Sorry, this is IMO a sham lawsuit. If by some miracle of injustice the car owner is found liable of negligence, the dealership’s insurance company will walk away with a small settlement (litigation costs) the poor dead guys lawyers will keep, with the dead guys estate getting very little.

15 million dollars is ludicrous.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/google-docs-crashes-on-seeing-and-and-and-and-and/

It's official—Google Docs crashes at the sight of "And. And. And. And. And." when the "Show grammar suggestion" is turned on.

 

[Borg]

First solo landing! Yikes.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/florida-passenger-lands-plane/index.html

 

[nsaspook]

First solo landing! Yikes.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/florida-passenger-lands-plane/index.html

Great job.

Anyone can fly.

"What can happen to an Old Fashioned?"

 

[berkeman]

And in our Captain Obvious headline category for today...

https://www.firehouse.com/

 

[nsaspook]

 

[StevieTNZ]

https://news.yahoo.com/indian-couple-longing-grandchild-sues-150409841.html

A retired Indian couple is suing their son and daughter-in-law, demanding that they produce a grandchild within a year or pay them 50 million rupees ($675,000).
...
The court accepted their petition and scheduled it for a hearing on Monday in Haridwar, a city in northern Uttarakhand state, media reports said.

 

[Borg]

A busy day in the news of the weird.

Saudi man charged after Maserati driven down Rome's Spanish Steps​

 

[Astronuc]

Not so much weird, as one of those type stories.

Nine months ago, Ralph Patricelli bought a house on a beach in North Carolina. Then the ocean swept it away.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/05/13/climate-change-north-carolina-house/

Patricelli’s home was swept away overnight, but video of his neighbor’s house succumbing to the ocean went viral this week. That neighbor, who lives in Tennessee, declined to comment when reached by phone. A third nearby home met the same fate in February.

https://www.wavy.com/news/north-carolina/obx/another-house-collapses-in-rodanthe-on-outer-banks/
During the storm, NC Highway 12 was closed when the ocean covered it at high tide.

I used to visit Wilmington, NC, often for work. I would often stay at a condo (time share) hotel on the beach in Wrightsville Beach. The last time I stayed there, the ocean was right up to the foundation, and a new inlet on the barrier island was about 50 feet away from the north end. The Corps of Engineers put up dams along the beach side and eventually rebuilt the beach by pumping sand from the ocean onto the beach. That has been done more than once.

 

[strangerep]

Nine months ago, Ralph Patricelli bought a house on a beach in North Carolina. Then the ocean swept it away.

Similar things have happened at various points on the east coast of Australia: Collaroy, Avoca/Wamberal (in NSW). The only thing more stupid than building those expensive homes on that ground was trusting the local council who gave permission to build.

Aside: speaking of water problems, there are now places in QLD where residents are doing their 3rd cleanup after severe flooding just this year, (i.e., where many buildings were flooded to the roofline or even completely submerged). Lismore, a major regional town in NSW, copped it very badly, but the town is too big to (realistically) relocate. There are stories that, ages ago when the Lismore area was first being settled, the local aboriginal people warned the Europeans not to settle there. Of course, the Europeans didn't listen...

 

[Astronuc]

The top elected official in Texas’ smallest county is charged with cattle theft​

Loving County Judge Skeet Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family, was arrested after a yearlong investigation that is ongoing, authorities said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/loving-county-texas-cattle-theft-skeet-jones-rcna29719

Word of the arrests spread faster than a prairie fire with a tailwind through this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery store and no bank. The few children who live there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend school.

For decades, a handful of prominent families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the judge for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable.

But some recently elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s court meetings and a much-anticipated November election.

 

[mfb]

A university in Shanghai sparked ridicule after it moved its mandatory swimming test online amid the city's Covid outbreak

Last week, Shanghai University said that students who had yet to complete a 50-meter (164 feet) swimming test before graduating could do so "online" from home.

 

[Astronuc]

Hey, doesn't everyone have a 50 m pool at their home? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Rive]

Hey, doesn't everyone have a 50 m pool at their home? Inquiring minds want to know.

You don't need that

Ps.: oooops, no cc for the video... The context is, that this was really an actual online (but not that serious...) swimming lesson during the covid-season. It had some not-so-nice aftermath (the actual piece was uploaded due that aftermath). The creativity and the spirit is definitely commendable.

 

[jack action]

Hey, doesn't everyone have a 50 m pool at their home? Inquiring minds want to know.

You can use an endless pool:

​