IDIOTIC WAYS TO DIE

[+ Charlie]

4 hours ago, newatthis said:

Thanks to @mike carey and @Luv2play for their responses.  I did google it myself later in the day and found the explanation.  But both @mike carey and wikipedia seemed to think that "Operation Market Garden" was something I would know about.  Am I really so out of things?  Is this something well-known to the most people?

It is something that is known to most people who are interested in World War Two history. E.g., my uncle was killed in battle in Germany in 1945, so of course I know a lot about that period.

[Luv2play]

6 hours ago, newatthis said:

Thanks to @mike carey and @Luv2play for their responses.  I did google it myself later in the day and found the explanation.  But both @mike carey and wikipedia seemed to think that "Operation Market Garden" was something I would know about.  Am I really so out of things?  Is this something well-known to the most people?

During WWII major strategic operations decisions were given these quixotic names, perhaps for security reasons during the planning stages. Names like Operation Overlord ( D-Day), Operation Torch (African invasion), Operation Jupiter (Norway), etc. 

Historians and fans of reading about the war are the only people familiar with these names. 

[Luv2play]

9 hours ago, SouthOfTheBorder said:

if you’ve been to India - you would not make that statement 

I guess you haven’t taken notice of the fact that India is now part of the BRICS group of countries that over the next 20 years are expected to achieve parity with the most developed countries. At least that is the path they are on.
India with its 1.42billion people has a GDP of over $10,000 per capita. Like China if you ignore the billion or so who are mired in poverty, the rest which number in the hundreds of millions, enjoy an educational and wealth status like those in the upper reaches of the developed world. 

They left the third world quite some time ago. 

Edited January 23, 2024 by Luv2play

[mike carey]

7 hours ago, newatthis said:

Thanks to @mike carey and @Luv2play for their responses.  I did google it myself later in the day and found the explanation.  But both @mike carey and wikipedia seemed to think that "Operation Market Garden" was something I would know about.  Am I really so out of things?  Is this something well-known to the most people?

On reflection, guilty as charged, so sorry for that. At first I was only familiar with the name of the operation from the film but have read more about it since. As others have said, knowledge of the battles themselves or the film are a snapshot of a certain time now well in the past. Unconsciously I had been answering the question, 'Is the term a bridge too far really about an actual bridge that was too far away to be captured in WW2', rather than what you wanted to know.

[Luv2play]

I started it all with my remark that “inconceivable “ was “a bridge too far” 

It started with a poster calling something axiomatic. That was followed by another saying “self evident”or “unquestionable”, both synonyms to axiomatic. Then another said “incontrovertible”, another synonym. Then another poster said “inconceivable”.

That was the “bridge too far” as I saw it meaning you don’t expect us to go there, do you? OK a bit obscure. My idea of humour. 

[+ newatthis]

17 hours ago, Luv2play said:

During WWII major strategic operations decisions were given these quixotic names, perhaps for security reasons during the planning stages. Names like Operation Overlord ( D-Day), Operation Torch (African invasion), Operation Jupiter (Norway), etc. 

Historians and fans of reading about the war are the only people familiar with these names. 

I'm not a particular fan of WWII history, but Torch and Overlord are familiar to me.  Market Garden and Jupiter are a bridge too far.

[samhexum]

A Colorado teen died after he jumped into an electrified lake while celebrating on the 4th of July, according to reports.

Jesse Hamric, 18, dove into the water at Smith Mountain Lake outside Roanoke, Virginia, early Thursday, and friends immediately noticed something was wrong.

The friends jumped in after Hamric and felt themselves getting shocked upon entering the water. Despite their own injuries, they were able to pull Hamric out, according to WDBJ.

One of the friends began CPR on Hamric while another called for help.

Rescue crews arrived around 4 a.m. and rushed Hamric to a hospital, where he later died. His two friends suffered minor injuries.

No foul play is suspected in the death.

A native of Steamboat Springs, Hamric had been visiting friends with his family at the time of the freak accident.

An investigation by fire crews detected electrical currents in the water where the teen died, and police determined it was caused by stray voltage spreading from a dock at a nearby private residence.

He had just graduated in May from high school, where he excelled on the football and baseball teams.

“Ever since I first met that kid, I mean, he’s like one of a kind,” friend Alex Schwab told KDVR. “You see him and you just, like, he always has a smile on his face.”

“Still can’t even like process it. I’m so upset by it,” he added.

This is just such an awful story and I can't imagine how anyone involved is processing it.  The kid's parents' lives are shattered, his friends must be dealing with grief and survivor guilt, and the homeowners must be devastated.

[CuriousByNature]

20 hours ago, samhexum said:

A Colorado teen died after he jumped into an electrified lake while celebrating on the 4th of July, according to reports.

Jesse Hamric, 18, dove into the water at Smith Mountain Lake outside Roanoke, Virginia, early Thursday, and friends immediately noticed something was wrong.

The friends jumped in after Hamric and felt themselves getting shocked upon entering the water. Despite their own injuries, they were able to pull Hamric out, according to WDBJ.

One of the friends began CPR on Hamric while another called for help.

Rescue crews arrived around 4 a.m. and rushed Hamric to a hospital, where he later died. His two friends suffered minor injuries.

No foul play is suspected in the death.

A native of Steamboat Springs, Hamric had been visiting friends with his family at the time of the freak accident.

An investigation by fire crews detected electrical currents in the water where the teen died, and police determined it was caused by stray voltage spreading from a dock at a nearby private residence.

He had just graduated in May from high school, where he excelled on the football and baseball teams.

“Ever since I first met that kid, I mean, he’s like one of a kind,” friend Alex Schwab told KDVR. “You see him and you just, like, he always has a smile on his face.”

“Still can’t even like process it. I’m so upset by it,” he added.

This is just such an awful story and I can't imagine how anyone involved is processing it.  The kid's parents' lives are shattered, his friends must be dealing with grief and survivor guilt, and the homeowners must be devastated.

Shockingly sad

 

[samhexum]

Well, they DO say red meat is bad for you…

British officials recently determined the shocking and tragic way that a Welsh man died last year.

The Western Telegraph reported that Barry Griffiths, 57, died after accidentally knifing himself while separating frozen burgers in June 2023. Officials announced the results of the investigation at a coroner’s court hearing on Monday.

Griffiths, a resident of Llandrindod Wells, had been trying to separate the frozen burgers with a knife when he stabbed himself in the stomach. During Monday’s hearing, coroner Patricia Morgan said Griffiths had reduced mobility in one of his arms after a stroke, which likely led to the freak accident.

Tragically, Griffiths’ body remained in his apartment for several days after his death. Morgan noted that Griffiths “[had a] relatively private life with limited contact with others,” which was why it took over a week for police to conduct a wellness check.

[samhexum]

 

Horrifying video captures Hawaii cliff jumper’s final moments as he plummets to his death

Santiago Bourdieu, a 28-year-old rugby player and fitness instructor, got a running start as he catapulted toward the cliff’s edge — but then plummeted straight down the cliff’s rocky, 50-foot face.

[samhexum]

The man charged in the deadly shooting of an 11-year-old Texas boy was “waiting in the shadows” as the child and his cousin played a “ding-dong ditch” prank on his Houston home, police said. The suspect followed the boys as they ran away before he opened fire, according to Houston Police Sgt. Michael Cass, the lead detective on the case.

Cass told CBS News the suspect was “waiting in the shadows in his own side yard behind a fence” after the boy and his cousin knocked on his door Saturday night and ran away.

The boy, identified by police as Julian Guzman, was attending a family gathering about a block away in the east Houston neighborhood, and after getting bored, decided to go with his 10-year-old cousin and play ding-dong ditch, in which pranksters ring the doorbell or knock on the door of a home and then run away. Police said the two cousins had knocked three times on the suspect’s door within a span of about 15 minutes.

On the third knock, the cousins ran as fast as they could, but the homeowner was waiting behind the fence in his yard. Guzman was recording the incident on his phone, police said, showing himself knocking and running. Shots are heard on the video, police said, and there is audio of the boy gasping.

Guzman’s cousin told police he didn’t know what to do, only what he had seen in movies, so he tried to pick him up.

The boys appeared as children, “not threatening in any way,” Cass said.

Guzman was wounded when police arrived at the scene and taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Sunday, police said.

Gonzalo Leon Jr., 42, has been charged with murder and booked into the Harris County jail, according to online records. A judge set Leon’s bond at $1 million Wednesday “due to the ongoing investigation and potential upgrade of the charges.”

Police said Leon is a former Army veteran who was deployed and spent time in the reserves. He was disabled in combat and honorably discharged, his defense attorney said at his court appearance Wednesday.

A handgun, 20 other guns and tactical and smoke grenades were found during a search of his home, police said.

“Looked like he may have been a collector of firearms,” Cass said.

Police said they found Leon at a hotel in La Porte, Texas, with a packed car. The hotel room was booked for three days, Cass said.

Leon, his wife and 2-year-old child went to the hotel because media was surrounding their home, his defense attorney said.

[samhexum]

Two Pennsylvania teens are facing charges after prosecutors said they drove their friends on dangerous TikTok-inspired stunts, killing one and causing what are expected to be lifelong injuries to another.

While the district attorney’s office called out TikTok and Instagram by name, similar videos have appeared on other apps and social media sites as well.

A TikTok spokesperson said videos involving table and car surfing violate the company’s community guidelines and that 99.8% of them are removed proactively, and 92.4% of videos removed for violating the app’s rules are taken down before anyone views them.

The incidents were unrelated to one another and involved different stunts, but both happened in Northampton County, 85 miles west of New York City and 80 miles north of Philadelphia.

In one case, a 17-year-old died on June 1 while riding on top of a folding table tied to the back of his friend’s car, according to Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta.

Prosecutors said the friend recklessly drove too fast and “whipped the rider sitting on the table into another parked vehicle, resulting in [his] death,” Baratta’s office said in a statement.

The victim in that case was identified as David Nagy, 17, FOX 29 Philadelphia reported.

In the other case, a 19-year-old woman allegedly drove through a parking lot with her 20-year-old friend “surfing” on her trunk on March 18.

The woman on the trunk fell off and suffered “catastrophic head injuries that will be permanent in nature,” Baratta’s office said.

Neither teen is accused of “criminogenic thinking,” meaning they are not accused of planning to hurt their friends.

However, Baratta said, they are allegedly criminally culpable because the incidents were “so grossly negligent and reckless.”

“The families did have a closeness and a trust with these close friends — I mean they knew them very well,” Baratta told reporters at a news briefing attended by FOX 29. “That’s what’s so heartbreaking in this case.”

Baratta added that neither driver has a criminal record and neither victim’s family is “calling out for incarceration.”

As a result, he said his office won’t seek jail time for either of them if they agree to plea deals.

He said the families want to use the cases in the hope that other teens will make better decisions.

“These families are seeking accountability and hope that these charges will result in deterrence for other youth who may find themselves attracted to the thrill of mimicking dangerous social media challenges that have the potential to injure others,” his statement said.The dangerous stunts are not just limited to Pennsylvania. A similar car surfing stunt in Utah left a 15-year-old girl with a severe brain injury last year.

[samhexum]

On 8/22/2017 at 10:48 PM, samhexum said:

GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE; IDIOTIC PARENTS AND BOYFRIENDS KILL PEOPLE.

A 22-year-old Auburn graduate allegedly killed by her boyfriend’s father was accidentally shot as he showed off a loaded antique gun, according to a lawsuit filed by her parents.

Whitney Robeson — who had just started her dream job as a consultant — was killed as her boyfriend’s 54-year-old dad, Jeffrey Scott Towers, 54, showed her a .22 caliber revolver in the attic of his home in Titusville, Alabama in March. Robeson, a Virginia native, graduated from Auburn University in May 2025 with a degree in interior design. Just weeks before her death, she began her dream job as a trade consultant with Restoration Hardware.

“Whether known or unknown to Towers, the firearm being handled was loaded, and as he displayed the weapon to Whitney and his son, a single shot was inadvertently discharged,” claims the lawsuit filed Friday by the dead graduate’s parents.
The bullet struck Robeson in the upper left side of her chest, “resulting in devastating injury to her left lung, heart and aorta,” according to the suit. 

She was rushed to a local hospital where she died from the wounds. Her death has been ruled a homicide, and Towers was charged last week with manslaughter months after the shooting.

Robeson’s family sued Towers for negligence and is seeking unspecified damages for her death.

Towers should have inspected the gun to make sure it wasn’t loaded before showing it to Robeson, the suit claims. Towers’ attorneys have said “the facts will show that Mr. Towers has no criminal history, has been a productive and upstanding citizen for his entire life, and is not guilty of these charges.”

But Robeson’s family shot back through their attorney that “efforts to portray Mr. Towers as ‘innocent’ are not supported by the evidence in this case.” 

[samhexum]

A woman fell to her death after staff allegedly forgot to attach a safety cord before she bungee jumped from a bridge in Brazil.

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas was thrown from the Ponte do Esqueleto, known as Skeleton Bridge, in the municipality of Limeira, São Paulo, while participating in a bungee jump on Saturday, June 13, according to the Brazilian outlets G1 and Folha de Pernambuco.

A video posted on social media showed the moment that de Freitas, 21, was carried by staff members toward the edge of the bridge and thrown over while wearing a helmet, per the outlets.

After she fell, a witness filming pointed to the rope left behind on the ground and shouted, "Guys, the rope!"

Witnesses alleged to Brazil's Military Police that de Freitas was thrown without a rope and fell about 40 meters (131 feet), per G1. A police helicopter was called for rescue, but de Freitas died at the scene.

De Freitas, a physical education and sports management graduate, had bought a guided tour with a rope jump from the top of the disused Skeleton Bridge, per G1.

"Who was the crazy person who let me jump off a bridge?" she allegedly joked on her Instagram Stories before the fatal fall, O Globo reported.

Her fiancé became ill when he arrived at the scene of her death and had to be taken to an emergency room, according to the outlet. De Freitas's social media profile was later taken down.

A total of six people have been arrested in connection with de Freitas' fatal fall, according to the outlet, per O Globo.  Three of them were arrested at the scene and charged with homicide with implied malice, which applies when someone intentionally commits an inherently dangerous act with conscious disregard, leading to death or serious bodily harm, G1 reported.

"It was a team there that wasn't regulated; they didn't even have authorization to be there," Delegate Andrea Dantas Levy reportedly told the outlet. "They ended up organizing this event, and," he contended, "this fatality happened today, in my perception, due to a failure to verify and supervise the placement of the rope on the victim's jump."

The defendants' defense attorneys said that they are very experienced on the job and that this was the first fatality in years with the company, per G1. 

The Limeira City Council is filing a complaint against the Brazilian federal government following the incident, according to the outlet.

"It is necessary to determine responsibility for the lack of access control to a federal area that has presented known risks for years and still lacks the necessary protection measures," said the mayor of Limeira, Murilo Félix, per The Mirror U.K.

Brazil's Civil Police is investigating the incident.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Military Police and Civil Police for comment.

[samhexum]

Two friends have been killed after being swept into the ocean in Santa Cruz County as dangerous waves battered the California coastline.

Harshita Nair, 21, and Mahial Sran, 20, both of Fremont, were identified as the victims at Bonny Doon Beach last Wednesday, the local sheriff-coroner's office confirmed.

Nair was a legal studies major at UC Berkely set to graduate in 2027. Sran was set to earn her degree in public health at San José State University in 2027. Both women graduated in 2023 from Washington High School in Fremont.

They were understood to have been napping near a keyhole on the notoriously dangerous beach when the waves swept them out to sea.

Harshita Nair was a legal studies major at UC Berkely set to graduate in 2027. Linkedin

Nair's grieving father told The Post on Monday he did not know what the friends were doing when tragedy struck. "I have no idea what happened," said Ahock Nair of his daughter's death. "I'm still in shock." 

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the treacherous beach to rescue the women after a witness called 911 at about 5 p.m.

Mahial Sran was set to earn her degree in public health at San José State University in 2027. Instagram/@mahial_22s

Santa Cruz County Volunteer Fire Captain Kyle Breton said about eight rescue swimmers entered the dangerous ocean water to extricate the victims.

The beach is known for being dangerous due to an extremely steep surf line with strong currents and rogue waves hitting.

"Both of these patients, we believe, were originally sleeping right at the keyhole, which is an area that we're finding catches people unaware," Breton said.

Once rescued, one of the women was transported by helicopter to Yellow Bank Beach atop the bluffs before being taken to a local hospital, said Breton.

The old friends were napping on the shore when they were caught by a killer wave. Facebook/CALFIRECZUSanMateoSantaCruz

Meanwhile, the other woman was brought to Panther Beach, where she was carried in a stokes basket to an awaiting ambulance and transported to a local hospital.

Nair died soon after the rescue. Sran remained at a local hospital in critical condition until Saturday, according to the Santa Cruz Sheriff-Coroner. Authorities have yet to officially determine their cause and manner of death.

Authorities said Wednesday's rescue was the fifth water rescue the first-responders performed in the past month along the one-mile stretch of Santa Cruz County coastline between Yellow Bank Beach and Bonny Doon Beach.

Eight rescue swimmers enterred the water to recover the women. Facebook/CALFIRECZUSanMateoSantaCruz

Authorities issued a warning due to inceased beach emergencies in Santa Cruz. Facebook/CALFIRECZUSanMateoSantaCruz

The incident came a day after a San Bernardino 5-year-old Amada Mia Brown was swept into the ocean near Laguna Beach.

Amada died after being caught in the powerful surf that battered California's coast for much of the last week. She was scheduled to begin kindergarten in the San Bernardino City Unified School District in August.

A saddened coworker said Sran worked past-time as a cashier for the Micheal Kors Outlet at Great Mall in Milpitas.

"It's sensitive subject," said the coworker of Sran's passing. Sran was also president of a public health club at her college, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The incident came a day after a San Bernardino 5-year-old Amada Mia Brown was swept into the ocean near Laguna Beach. Tatiana Puerta/gofundme

A powerful south swell created dangerous conditions at beaches across California. Facebook/SantaCruzSheriffsOffice

Nair was an intern at the UC Berkeley student union, according to her LinkedIn profile. A former coworker said she worked at a UPS Store in Fremont until several months ago.

The dangerous water conditions along the California coast last week were being driven by a powerful southern swell that rocked beaches across the Pacific Ocean, according to officials with the National Weather Service.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office issued a warning after responding to an increased number of water rescues over the past few weeks.

Breton said beachgoers in Santa Cruz are frequently caught unawares by the rising ocean,

"What we're also seeing is that people go through the keyhole to get to Yellow Bank Beach, and then they get trapped on Yellow Bank Beach because of the tides," he said.

[+ jeezopete]

19 hours ago, samhexum said:

A woman fell to her death after staff allegedly forgot to attach a safety cord before she bungee jumped from a bridge in Brazil.

Additional information from The Mirror US:

A young woman hurled to her death in a bungee jump freak accident was still alive after hitting the ground, according to a nurse who desperately attempted to save her.

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, plummeted to her death after being launched from an abandoned 130-foot Skeleton Bridge in Sao Paulo without a safety rope on Saturday. Rayza Dias, a nurse who rushed to her aid, told Brazilian television that the woman did not die instantly.

"I scraped my whole hand because there's a steep slope down there and only one rope for us to climb down," Dias told Domingo Espetacular on Sunday, describing the enormous difficulty in reaching Rodrigues de Freitas after the fall. "It was all covered in mud. I kept going down, down, we walked all the way."

Dias revealed that the victim was breathing heavily and had a faint pulse as she desperately worked to provide life-saving treatment. "I even talked to her. I have a habit of joking and saying, 'Nobody dies on my shift.' And I told her, 'Duda, nobody dies on my shift.' Even though I wasn't on my shift there," she said, becoming visibly emotional.

"Duda" is a widely used term of endearment for a Portuguese woman named Eduarda or a man named Eduardo or Duarte. According to local reports and a video that has since gone viral, Rodrigues de Freitas had requested to be launched "airplane style," with two instructors hoisting her above their shoulders as she stretched out her arms.

 

While I understand people seeking the ultimate adrenaline rush, NO WAY IN HELL is anyone throwing me "airplane style" off a bridge. Not even if I had a rope, a bungee cord, or a dozen steel cables with a parachute and actual wings attached would that happen.    ~Jeezopete

[BigDMike]

I saw that story about the Brazil woman on the news last night and I’m just beside myself that three people didn’t bother to check the rope. I mean who in the fuck does that?

How does no one bother to make sure it’s done right and how did on lookers not say hey wait stop!