A California woman ended up in emergency surgery after a regular old barbecue with some friends. What caused the sudden, sharp pain in her throat? A wire grill brush shed one of its wires, which ended up lodged inside the piece of meat, then lodged inside her throat. [More]
accidents
Truck Spills Huge Load Of Instant Mashed Potatoes On Highway, Gravy Truck Sadly Absent
By 6.23.14
It could’ve been worse. It could have been a truck carrying a huge load of your grandmother’s signature, made-from-scratch, super special mashed potatoes. But still, we should pour one out in remembrance of the load of instant mashed potatoes that the world lost during a recent truck accident. [More]
Dolphin Statue Outside Of Art Gallery Falls On, Kills 2-Year-Old Tourist In San Francisco
By 6.10.14
It’s a scene from millions of family vacations: a 2-year-old boy climbs up a decorative object that he shouldn’t while waiting in front of the hotel. That’s what two-year-olds do. During one Utah family’s visit to San Francisco, this toddler mischief turned horrific when a statue fell on the boy. He seemed fine at first, but died of internal injuries at a local hospital. [More]
Family Wants Petco To Pay After Dog Dislocated Hip During Grooming
By 5.20.14
When a California woman picked up her daughter’s dog from his grooming appointment, it was obvious that something was wrong. The Shih Tzu was walking on three legs, not putting his right rear paw down on the ground. While the groomer admitted that she had pulled on that leg to get the animal into position to be groomed, nothing else seemed amiss. Or so the store claims. [More]
When Cell Tower Workers Die, OSHA Now Tracks Which Telecom Sent Them Up
By 4.1.14
Almost two years ago, ProPublica and Frontline investigated the deaths of tower climbers, the brave souls who scale cell towers so that we can make emergency phone calls on the highway and stream Netflix in our dentists’ waiting rooms. Nineteen climbers have died on the job since the beginning of 2013, and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is paying close attention. [More]
Truck Carrying 6,000 Gallons Of Milk Crashes Into House, Homeowner Probably Cries
By 2.28.14
A couple near Pittsburgh were just minding their own business and getting ready for dinner when they heard a sound like an earthquake. There was not an earthquake in Pittsburgh: there was a tanker truck full of milk on a collision course with their house. [More]
Truck Spills Massive Amount Of Beer On Same Ramp That Was Covered In Chicken A Week Ago
By 1.23.14
You may remember last week, when a truck overturned outside of Atlanta and spilled some 40,000 pounds of frozen chicken on the road. This morning, that same highway ramp was doused in beer after a very similar incident. [More]
Surprise: Attendance At Six Flags Over Texas Down After Woman Killed On Roller Coaster
By 10.24.13
In news that will shock absolutely no one, in the months after a visitor to Six Flags Over Texas was killed on one of the park’s rides, attendance and revenue declined. What’s that? You close one of the park’s signature rides after a rider is killed, and people don’t want to come to the park anymore? [More]
Now It’s Royal Caribbean’s Turn To Make The Whole Cruise Industry Look Bad
By 8.22.13
First Carnival had the infamous Poop Cruise and a string of other disasters. Now it’s another cruise line’s turn: this week, Royal Caribbean is in the news for seemingly abandoning an American passenger with a broken hip and his wife in Turkey, and for ending an Alaska cruise early because of a problem with the ship’s motor. [More]
Six Flags Visitor Thrown From Roller Coaster And Killed
By 7.22.13
No one expects a happy family outing to an amusement park to end with a family member dead from one of the rides, but that’s exactly what happened on Friday at Six Flags Over Texas. Authorities from the park and the government are investigating the cause of a tragic accident where a rider was thrown from the Texas Giant Roller coaster and killed. [More]
Truckload Of Flaming Cheese Shuts Down Norwegian Highway
By 1.22.13
For five days, hot toxic gases filled the air near a highway in Norway after the contents of a truckload caught fire in a tunnel. The hot temperatures were too dangerous for highway personnel to approach: one told reporters that the material could be “almost like [gasoline] if it gets hot enough.” What was in the truck? Carmelized goat cheese. [More]
Man Crashes Car Into Pizza Place, Orders Pizza
By 1.11.13 — Updated: 3.25.13
We hear all the time about people accidentally crashing their vehicles into fast food joints, but the driver rarely then proceeds to place an order from the establishment into which he’s just crashed. [More]
I Can’t Believe My Friend Is Dead, And Neither Can T-Mobile
By 10.16.12 — Updated: 10.17.12
Tanya’s sister Tina died in a motorcycle accident this past summer. It’s hard enough to deal with the untimely death of a young person, but Tina’s emergency care after the accident left huge medical bills for her estate to take care of. And there’s one irritating thing left that her family can’t make go away: T-Mobile won’t close her mobile phone account, even after receiving the death certificate. [More]
After 2 Fatal Megabus Accidents In A Week, Illinois Governor Wishes Feds Cared
By 8.10.12
Megabus is not having a very good week. The company settled a wrongful death lawsuit, agreeing to pay $5.1 million to the family of a man hit and killed by a Megabus in a downtown Chicago crosswalk in 2010. The day before the settlement was announced, another Megabus hit and killed another elderly pedestrian in a crosswalk just a few blocks away from where the 2010 accident occurred. Last week, a bus leaving Chicago hit an overpass, killing one passenger and injuring dozens more. Oh, and a Charlotte-bound bus caught fire in Georgia this week, too. The National Transportation Safety Board declined to investigate this week’s incidents, and Governor Pat Quinn isn’t happy about that. [More]
Runway Slide Forces Passengers To Sit In Cabin For More Than 2 Hours
By 1.31.12 — Updated: 9.8.16
Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from Las Vegas to Detroit suffered an awful two-fer after a muffed landing Sunday. After they survived the fright of sitting in the plane as it careened off the runway and into the grass, they were stuck in there for two and a half hours as crews towed the plane back to where it belonged. [More]
Who Should Pay If A Bird Poops In Your Food?
By 12.14.11
This isn’t the most seasonally appropriate question to ask, at least here in the Northeastern U.S. And in the Northern Hemisphere. Perhaps it’s important (yet disgusting) enough that we can argue about it until springtime.
Simply put: if a bird relieves itself in your food while you’re dining outside, should the restaurant comp your meal?
Big Drop In Car Crashes Tracks With Blackberry Outage
By 10.18.11
The big Blackberry outage is having an unexpected positive side-benefit. During the days the Blackberry service was out, there’s been far fewer traffic accidents. [More]
Bananas Foster Inferno Possibly Started By Inappropriate Pouring
By 6.16.11
An update on that flaming banana desert that engulfed a customer in flame story from earlier in the week: according to witnesses the waiter poured the alcohol on using the whole bottle instead of using a ladle. The flames then shot back up into the bottle and caused the “explosion of fire.” The diner who was covered in fire remains sedated in the hospital. [More]
