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Text File | 1991-08-29 | 20KB | 348 lines

ALMANAC 1992, by Jeff Napier & Another Company HAVING A BAD DAY AND RELATED SITUATIONS _____________________________________________________________ On the night of July 5, 1991, while sleeping soundly with his wife, a police officer dreamed that someone was breaking into their house. Half waking up, he grabbed his gun from his nightstand and promptly shot himself in the leg. His wife slept through it. He was reported in satisfactory condition at the local hospital. _____________________________________________________________ As a promotional stunt at a baseball game in 1939 catcher Joe Sprinz tried to catch a baseball dropped from 1,200 feet in the air. He said he could see the ball all the way down, but somehow instead of catching it in his mitt, it hit him in the face, cracking his jaw in 12 places. _____________________________________________________________ Not all of Henry Ford's mechanical engineering worked out as successfully as the Model T Ford. When Henry Ford was about ten years old, he noticed steam rising out of his mother's teapot on the stove. He figured that if the steam were trapped in the teapot, the whole thing would have to rise into the air. To test his theory, he took a clay teapot and corked the spout from inside and tied down the lid. He then put the teapot in the fireplace and settled down to watch closely. Soon something happened, but it wasn't what Henry expected. The teapot exploded, breaking a window and a mirror in the living room and scalding Henry and cutting his cheek with bits of shrapnel. _____________________________________________________________ In 1975, orchestra conductor Jose Serebrier accidentally stabbed himself through the hand with his baton while performing. The audience and musicians were impressed by the fact that he continued leading the orchestra in perfect timing as if nothing had happened. _____________________________________________________________ One day in August, 1892, in Germany, it started to rain. This rainstorm was unusual because somehow there were thousands of snails caught up in the clouds and they all came crashing down with their shells breaking to bits as they hit the ground. _____________________________________________________________ When he heard that Sarah Bernhardt may need to have a leg amputated, PT Barnum sent a telegraph offering $1000 for her leg. _____________________________________________________________ A husband and wife from Switzerland stopped in a restaurant in Hong Kong and asked that their poodle be taken to the kitchen and fed something. Because of a misunderstanding, the waiter did what he thought they wanted, and had the cooks fry the dog for the couple. _____________________________________________________________ In Denmark, where the standard of living is excellent, the suicide rate is the highest in the world, with 286 of every 100,000 people killing themselves. In Jordan, where the standard of living is much more difficult, the rate is less than one in 100,000. Throughout the world, more than 1000 people kill themselves every day. _____________________________________________________________ Due to a temperature inversion and air pollution, the "London Fog" turned into a smog that killed 2,850 people during December 5-13, 1951. _____________________________________________________________ Every year 2,000 people in America suffer brain damage or death from problems related to anesthesia while undergoing surgery. _____________________________________________________________ In a laboratory in Paris where researchers were conducting secret research to determine whether an unnamed industrial product causes cancer, 6 of the workers have come down with various rare cancers and two have died. _____________________________________________________________ Eel-skin wallets have been known to demagnetize credit cards. _____________________________________________________________ Soviet scientists grew an orchid in space then returned it to earth. Before they could study it fully, someone stole it from the laboratory. _____________________________________________________________ In 1987 or 1988, in Tennessee, Indiana and Illinois, someone passed bad checks. I mean really bad. This unidentified person purchased at least $800,000 of merchandise at many stores, but with counterfeit checks. To avoid eventual capture, the thief coated the checks with some sort of chemical that caused them to disintegrate within hours. By the time the checks reached the banks, they were nothing but powder. _____________________________________________________________ A party was held in Moscow to celebrate the coronation of Czar Nicholas II in 1896. Free beer was offered to the public, causing a massive stampede in which 5,000 people were killed in the crush. _____________________________________________________________ There has been much speculation, but so far no proof, about what caused 30 towns to disappear from the USSR in 1958. All we know is that map-makers quit putting the towns on maps in an area of about 460 square miles. Some people have proposed that a natural disaster, such as a meteor strike could have done it, others say a military experiment went haywire. _____________________________________________________________ All the information in this database is reliably calculated from or based on what others have written. However, you may wish to conduct your own research to make absolutely sure of the facts. _____________________________________________________________ In the early days of television, game shows in which the contestants could win huge prizes were common. One fifty-four-year-old woman won big on the tv show, "Temptation," and promptly died of a heart attack during live broadcasting. _____________________________________________________________ During the 1954 Cotton Bowl, a halfback was close to completing a 95-yard touchdown with no opposition in sight, when Tommy Lewis, a fullback of the opposing team, got so excited he leaped off the bench and tackled the halfback himself! _____________________________________________________________ Response to emergencies by modern fire departments are very well choreographed, but it wasn't always so. In 1963, while the Matlock residence of New Hyde Park, NY was burning to the ground, the two fire departments which responded could not put out the fire, because they were too busy arguing about which department should do it. _____________________________________________________________ When a girl in France was attacked by a molester who tried to kiss her, she bit off his tongue. _____________________________________________________________ James Bartley was one of those guys who used to stand at the very front of a small boat and blast a harpoon into a whale. Things went quite wrong for him when a wounded whale turned around, upset his boat, causing him to fall into the water, then swallowed him. After awhile, his fellow whale-catchers killed the whale and started cutting it up. Inside they found James, still alive but badly shaken up. _____________________________________________________________ In 1955 at the famous road race of Le Mans, a driver lost control of his car, which after careening off a wall, broke up and showered the crowd with parts, killing 77 people. _____________________________________________________________ The IRS came and took away the car from in front of a man's house because he had not paid all his taxes. But the car belonged to his neighbor. The neighbor had to pay the towing company $78 to get his car back. The IRS did not reimburse him. _____________________________________________________________ When the Black Plague hit England, more than half of the students at Oxford University died. _____________________________________________________________ In the Chicago fire of 1871, the one Mrs. O'Leary's cow supposedly started by kicking over a lantern, over 10,000 houses were burned down before it was all over. _____________________________________________________________ The 7,000-ton cargo ship, Fort Stikine sailed into crowded Bombay Harbor, India in 1944. It was loaded with a mixed freight ranging from fish to cotton to explosives. A sailor noticed smoke coming out of a ventilator that serviced one of the ship's cargo holds, but since it was close to lunchtime, he did not mention the problem. The fire in the hold was discovered after lunch, but by then it was raging out of control. Authorities suggested sinking the ship, but since the harbor was crowded and shallow, it would have to sail out to sea to be scuttled. No problem, but first the captain wanted to phone the ship's insurance company to see if they thought it a good idea. While he was on the phone, the ship blew up into a million pieces, sinking 27 nearby ships, raining junk all over downtown Bombay and killing well over 1,000 people. _____________________________________________________________ Recently broadcast from a rural radio station: "There is a tan and white cow wandering around the corner of Brookhurst and E. Central. If it's yours, go get it." _____________________________________________________________ Abraham Lincoln's mother died from drinking milk from a cow which when foraging in the woods, had eaten the poisonous snakeroot. _____________________________________________________________ Perhaps because of the attention given to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the fact that a 45-foot high tidal wave destroyed much of the Hawaiian town of Hilo in 1946, is little known. 173 people died. _____________________________________________________________ Nicholas Alkemade's airplane was totaled in an air raid over Nazi Germany and he had to bail out from more than 3 miles up, without a parachute. As he fell, his speed accelerated to 120 miles per hour. He landed in a snow-covered pine forest and was completely uninjured. _____________________________________________________________ A man convicted of murder was electrocuted at Sing Sing. Just before burial, he revived and jumped out of his coffin. The authorities caught him and executed him again. The second attempt was permanent. _____________________________________________________________ When London inventor James Hetherington first wore his new invention, the top hat, in 1797, it caused quite a stir. He was immediately thrown in jail because he "appeared on the public highway wearing upon his head a tall structure of shining luster and calculated to disturb timid people." _____________________________________________________________ In the spring of 1991 in a small town in Oregon, an 83-year-old lady was driving her car when the driver of another car going the other way ejected a cigarette butt out of his car and it flew in her open window. At first she thought nothing of it other than a twinge of disgust, but in a few moments she noticed her blouse was on fire. Thinking quickly, she patted out the flame with one hand while driving a steady course with the other. All she suffered was a minor burn the size of a quarter below her neck. _____________________________________________________________ Whether or not you wear a bicycle helmet is a personal choice, but let me tell you about one woman I met. She had had a collision with a car and struck her head on the pavement. I met her about two years after her accident. Approximately age 25, she looked and acted just fine as far as I could tell. But she told me about her bizarre symptoms. After she woke from her coma, she had no residual problems except one, which has not changed for two years, now, and appears permanent. Somehow, her brain is no longer able to discern a single object or event from a group. If she is in a room where many people are talking, she cannot hear just the one who is talking to her. If the television is on in the background, she cannot talk on a phone. She cannot go shopping. A row of laundry soap in the supermarket looks like a complete row of soap, and she can't pick just one. She can't even see just one box of soap, she only sees them all at once. _____________________________________________________________ The ultimate new car owner horror story: A college student was given a new front-wheel drive car by her parents. After 1200 miles, it was due for an oil change at the dealer, but a fellow student offered to change her oil for free. He figured this would be a good way to get her attention. She reluctantly allowed him to change the oil because it seemed so important to him to do so. He crawled under the front of the car and removed the transmission drain plug. She commented that the oil seemed awfully thick. He said that was the way it is supposed to be in new cars. After reinserting the transmission plug, he proceeded to put 4 quarts of oil in the engine. Now there was no oil in the transmission and twice as much as there was room for in the engine. She drove a few miles and the car quit working properly. The dealer towed it away, and after preparing a careful estimate, reported that the damage was not covered by the warranty, being abuse, and repairs would cost $2400. Her friend got her attention alright! _____________________________________________________________ The first person to die from radiation poisoning, and therefore indicate to previously uncautious scientists that radium was dangerous was Marie Curie. _____________________________________________________________ Many surgeons have been accused of sexual assault on their patients. Most of these allegations can be proven false by witnesses, etc. But the cause is just now becoming understood. It seems that the sedatives given to patients before surgery can sometimes cause bizarre sexual fantasies. _____________________________________________________________ Avoid flying in an airplane if you have had dental work done within the previous day. The changes in air pressure can cause pain. _____________________________________________________________ An elderly couple in California, both on medication for high blood pressure, got good and drunk, against the advice of their doctor who prescibed the medicine, then went hot tubbing. They both drowned. _____________________________________________________________ Bees love junk food like hamburgers, soda and milk shakes. In urban areas, where fast-food restaurants abound, bee populations have expanded tremendously. Be careful when eating outdoors because you may accidentally eat a bee who is trying to share your hamburger. This would of course result in a sting - inside your mouth! _____________________________________________________________ Even though thousands of heart transplants have been performed, imagine how scared you would be if you were to undergo the knife for that procedure. Then imagine how much worse you would feel when regaining conciousness, to find out that the doctors accidentally put the wrong heart in you, one that doesn't match your blood type and one which your body is very likely to reject, perhaps before another doner shows up! It was big news on August 16, 1991, when a doctor in Portland Oregon, made himself famous by making this very mistake. But, he wasn't the first. It happens all the time. Well, actually, it has happened to at least 8 other people so far. _____________________________________________________________ Not knowing CPR, when a son saw his father stop breathing due to a heart attack, he attacked his chest with a toilet plunger and saved his life. (This is not the recommended way to save lives.) _____________________________________________________________ There is a disease, typically brought on by a minor stroke, called prosopagnosia, in which the victim can no longer recognize faces. These patients can tell they are seeing someone's face, but they cannot tell whose it is, even if the person is a close friend or relative. ____________________________________________________________ chapter end. ALMANAC 1992 is freeware. Please feel free to copy and distribute as long as all files remain intact & unchanged.