THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM..........

Sunnygal41

While the following information doesn't technically belong under this section, there is a certain macabre sense of humor felt as you read them...........enjoy.......err.........well, you know what I mean............ During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of about $241 million U.S. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on Earth. The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.

In Crown Point, Indiana, police have reopened the case of a man who died from 32 hammer blows to his head. The cause of death had been ruled a suicide, in spite of the County coroner's opinion that a man simply could not remain conscious long enough to hit himself in the head 32 times... 25, 26...wait, how many was that?

Gerard Ropuille of Clermont, France, blew up his house with his washing machine. Ropuille told police that he was trying to remove a grease stain from his shirt when he poured a cup of gasoline in the washer. When the machine changed cycles, a spark ignited the gasoline and blew out the first floor of his home, knocking him unconscious in the process. Said Ropuille, "I feel a bit stupid..."

Police in La Crosse, Wisconsin, arrested a suspect who accosted a woman near an automatic teller machine and menaced her with a knife. The man told police that he wasn't trying to rob her - he only wanted to sell her the knife...

When a British schoolboy was unable to remove a vase that was stuck on his head, he was rushed to the hospital on a city bus. According to reports, in an attempt to make the boy look more normal to the other passengers, his mother placed his school cap on top of the vase...

Francis Karned, a 39-year-old man in Sacramento, California was charged with reckless endangerment after he pulled a gun and shot his lawnmower when it wouldn't start ... and of course, you've heard about those awful chainsaw massacres in Texas...

Mike Stewart, 31, of Dallas was filming a public service movie in 1983 on "The Dangers of Low-Level Bridges" when the truck he was standing on passed under a low-level bridge - killing him.

George Schwartz, owner of a factory in Providence, RI narrowly escaped death when a 1983 blast flattened his factory except for one wall. After treatment for minor injuries, he returned to the scene to search for his files. The remaining wall then collapsed on him, killing him instantly.

Surprised while burgling a house in Antwerp, Belgium, a thief fled out the back door, clambered over a nine-foot wall, dropped down, and found himself in the city prison.

A burglar entered the home of Tom Schimmel in Tawas City, Michigan; collected valuables; fixed himself a bowl of cereal; laid down in Schimmel's bed and fell asleep. When Schimmel returned to his house and discovered the crime, he called police. Officers investigated, completed their reports, and departed. When Schimmel noticed the sleeping burglar several hours later, he summoned the police again. They awakened the man and identified him as the thief.

The eccentric and paranoid American recluse Langley Collier met his untimely end in 1947. While he was bringing food to his equally odd brother Homer, who lived as a total hermit, Langley tripped on a wire to one of his own booby traps and was crushed beneath a suitcase filled with metal, a sewing machine, three bread-boxes, and several bundles of newspapers. Homer starved to death, and their bodies were undiscovered for three weeks.

Ralph Graves entered a doughnut shop with a gun and demanded money from the cashier. A customer recognized him, however, when Graves lifted up a corner of his pillowcase mask to find his way out the door. Graves had forgotten to cut eye-holes.

The company providing the liability insurance for the Republican National Convention in San Diego is the same firm that insured the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words.

talesin

During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of about $241 million U.S. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on Earth. The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.

The ultimate in consumerism in the cause of one-up-man-ism!

Funny, in a scary kind of way ...

t

MerryMagdalene

HMMMM indeed...

Thanks for the, uh, curioddities there...life (and death) can be so bizarre...

~Merry

Sunnygal41

I liked the one about the two reclusive brothers..........these really made me giggle........so, I'm sick..........what can I say? LOL!

hubert

the case of a man who died from 32 hammer blows to his head. The cause of death had been ruled a suicide

I once had a boss who was so thickheaded, that if he ever decided to shoot himself, he would have had to use armor-piercing bullets.

Hubert

funkyderek

Some debunkings (sorry Sunnygal, it's a compulsion of mine) :

During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of about $241 million U.S. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on Earth. The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.

Not true. See http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

The eccentric and paranoid American recluse Langley Collier met his untimely end in 1947. While he was bringing food to his equally odd brother Homer, who lived as a total hermit, Langley tripped on a wire to one of his own booby traps and was crushed beneath a suitcase filled with metal, a sewing machine, three bread-boxes, and several bundles of newspapers. Homer starved to death, and their bodies were undiscovered for three weeks.

This is a true story. See http://www.theplan.com/dmi/collier_story.htm for more detail.

The Lord's Prayer is 66 words, the Gettysburg Address is 286 words, there are 1,322 words in the Declaration of Independence, but government regulations on the sale of cabbage total 26,911 words.

False. See http://www.snopes.com/language/document/govmemo.htm

I don't know about any of the rest of them. In most cases there isn't enough detail to find a source, but I suspect most of them are made up. I did laugh at the boy with a vase and a school cap on his head though, true or not.

Sunnygal41

Some debunkings (sorry Sunnygal, it's a compulsion of mine) :

Hey, FD, how's it hangin'?

Bas

too bad that spacepen storie isn't true, thought it was pretty funny......

purplesofa

When a British schoolboy was unable to remove a vase that was stuck on his head, he was rushed to the hospital on a city bus. According to reports, in an attempt to make the boy look more normal to the other passengers, his mother placed his school cap on top of the vase...

Reminds me of the I Love Lucy episode where she gets a trophy stuck on her head, and her and Ethel take a subway ride. Pretty funny!!!

purps

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM..........

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