Human Nature
Used dentures, anyone?
Jul 30th
Churchill’s false teeth sell for $23,000.
Longtime newspaper editor Steve Oden jokes about passing by a yard sale in Alabama and seeing customers picking through a bucket of dentures, by turns taking a set and popping them into their mouth to see how they fit and then either paying for them and going on their way or throwing them back into the bucket and trying another pair. But $23,000 for another man’s teeth is taking it a little far.
Do you photograph wrecks?
Jul 26th
Interesting (via Michael Silence):
So, I’m wandering around Ye Olde Facebooke, and the local news channel is talking about a pair of motorcycle accidents in Chattanooga. They requested, under the link, “This marks the second fatal motorcycle accident this weekend. If you were driving by and took pictures, send them to pix@wrcbtv.com.”
Um. Do people drive by accidents and take pictures?
I guess they wouldn’t ask if people didn’t.
Plus, it kinda deflects the creepiness of the people who do take pictures, and then send them to the news stations unrequested.
I have no idea whether people take pictures at accident scenes. My guess is most don’t. They gawk; they gather as close as the police barricade allows and talk about it (in these rural parts, anyways)…but aside from the news media and the usual two or three freelance photographers, there don’t seem to be many people photographing wrecks around here.
But I do know this: people want to see those pictures. Human nature is a gruesome thing, but it’s true. Ask any community newspaper and they’ll tell you the same thing: circulation figures show that traffic accidents sell newspapers. Any week a photograph of an especially bad accident is prominently placed on our front page, we sell out at many newsstand locations.
That’s unfortunate. Photographing a wreck scene (or a residential fire) is my least favorite part of newspaper work, for a lot of reasons. And, yet, it’s a necessary part of news coverage. If we don’t have those photos and the competition does, we lose out. And our reputation as a newspaper printing all that is newsworthy takes a hit. In a perfect world, those photos wouldn’t be necessary. But human nature is far from perfect.
The same applies for television stations. Although I believe it’s more than a little tacky to publicly request photographs from passersby of an accident, the fact is that most media outlets have relied at some point on photos taken by someone who just happened to have a camera at the scene of the accident. Ironically, many of our wreck/fire photos that are taken by someone other than a staff photographer are taken by actual emergency workers at the scene.
Holy carp, this is funny!
Jul 9th
This is hilarious. It wouldn’t be so funny if it weren’t true. A whole bunch of 30-something and 40-something American males can identify with this.
Another one that never gets old
Jul 9th
I’ve posted this before but it truly never gets old. It’s gone viral on YouTube, with nearly 20 million views. From Pigeon Forge’s Comedy Barn…it’s impossible to watch this one and not laugh.
Couple accused of trying to sell baby for $25
Jun 25th
They always say that you can buy anything at Walmart, but this seems a bit much:
SALINAS, Calif. — A California couple faces child endangerment charges after police say they tried to sell their 6-month-old baby for $25 outside a Walmart store.
Salinas police spokesman, Officer Lalo Villegas, said Thursday that Patrick Fousek, 38, and Samantha Tomasini, 20, were arrested early Wednesday, hours after Fousek allegedly approached two women outside Walmart and asked if they’d like to purchase his child.
You can have my fake testicles when you pry ‘em out of my cold, dead hands
May 13th
LOL:
Senate lawmakers in Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the state
As seen @ Michael Silence, who adds: It appears there is a legislative body out there better than the TN House at wasting time.
Next thing you know they’ll try to ban those naked lady silhouette mud flaps.
(Oops. At second glance it appears the naked lady mud flap ban has already been attempted…in the same state where they attempt to ban illegal aliens. Huh.)
Thirty-one (and counting)
Apr 3rd
The first birthday that I can specifically remember is my 8th birthday. I remember that one because I got a fishing pole for my birthday. (One that I used until I lost it in a near-death experience in the Big South Fork thirteen years ago, but that’s another story for another day.) That was 23 years ago today. It seems like it was four or five years ago. In another 23 years…on second thought, I don’t even want to think about it.
At what age does one stop wishing for the hands of time to move forward and instead wish for them to move backward? Is it 18? 21? It’s sometime before 30, I’m sure of that.
It seems like yesterday we were in some high school class that I’ve since forgotten, bemoaning the fact that time was dragging by. Time doesn’t drag so much anymore.
That’s my “ain’t gettin’ no younger” rant for this year.
AHH breaks ground on No. 3000
Mar 18th
Appalachian Habitat for Humanity broke ground yesterday on the 3,000th home the various Habitat for Humanity affiliates of Tennessee have built in the Volunteer State.
What began in 1978 as an effort to provide low-cost houses on low-interest loans for folks in rural Scott and Morgan counties who do not have the means to obtain home ownership through conventional measures has grown to a charity organization with more than 500 affiliates around the world.
For its part, Appalachian Habitat has built more than 150 of those 3,000 Tennessee homes. Sandy Spurling and her staff do a great job.
The 3,000th home will be built in the Brewstertown community, near Rugby, for Wanda Brewster. Ms. Brewster lost her home to fire a few months ago. “It’ll be great to have my own home again,” she said.
