Friday, October 30, 2009

"Fried Fridays: A tale of two stories..."


I'm in a quandary this AM. No, not from losing yet another day of work today because of ill-timed flu, although that's its own quandary. No, I'm torn between two stories, one more humorous, and one more downright scary.


Afterall, this is "Fried Friday" where I pick a loony news story that wraps up the work week as we all breathe a sigh of relief that the weekend is here. I'll start with a shorter version of the humorous story as I almost wrote about it a week or two ago.

Getting a citation for drunken driving is serious business and, sadly, all too common. Getting pulled for DWI in a motorized LA-Z-BOY recliner is something else altogether. Seems as though racing enthusiast Dennis Anderson of Proctor, Minnesota, decided to have a night out on the town and then weave his way home in comfort.

Powered by a lawn-mower gas engine, the rolling recliner comes equipped with a stereo, cup holders and lights...oh yeah, and mud flaps on the side. In order to pay for the mounting legal fees, said chair is supposed to now be up on eBay for auction, along with a signed photograph of the driving daredevil. The police politely remind everyone that the chair is not street legal.

That radical ride gives a whole new meaning to having "four on the floor and a fifth under the seat"...

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And now I go across the Big Pond for a story that is highly unsettling. Be it from movies, video games, YouTube postings, society in general, or the most likely candidate "all of the above", there seems to be a growing number of idiots that either don't know how to use their brain or make a very willful choice to unplug those synapses.

Doing something stupid where you might harm yourself, well, that's your problem. Doing something stupid that could easily take the life of another innocent person, that's EVERYbody's problem....

DATELINE: SOFIA, BULGARIA

There's a new game in town, and it's not because of the upcoming holiday season to drive sales.

Money does flow, and lots of it. Some say individuals have paid up to 5,000 euros ($7,400) for just one of these. Believe it or not, it has nothing to do with Tickle Me Elmo, either.

It's something more on the line of Tickle Me Death.

The game is one of bets, placed not only by drivers but by bystanders. On a pre-determined night for the 'show', text messages are sent out for the location that is supposed to be relatively free of police. After all, they can't be everywhere at once. Participants count on this.

It's a rather simple game, really. You take one driver with a Death Wish....choose one typically busy intersection at night...myriad people place bets...and the driver sits back from the intersection until the light turns red.

That's when it's Hammer-Time. The Pedal to the Metal. The suicide jockey then blows through the red-lighted intersection at a high rate of speed in a true game of Russian Roulette. Obviously the consequences are high for a 'hit' of any kind, or the idiot and supporting cast get their very twisted adrenaline rush and look forward to the next time.

As you can imagine, some don't get a 'next time', be they the participants or the innocent lambs that just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

'Nuff said. That actually goes far, far beyond 'fried'.

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If I felt better I'd feel the excitement of yet a 4th consecutive Saturday with rain in the forecast. Thankfully I have no other obligations but to lay low and get better. Go easy on the candy, y'all!

2 comments:

Lori said...

Racing recliner story was so funny. The next one-well, that's sad that someone has such little regard for life.

Bob Child said...

Ain't it the truth, per the second story...how in the world can people reach such a point of zero concern???