Think your day is going bad? Well here's a little perspective to make you feel better.
"OK, so these three women drivers walk into a bar..."
You would think being the driver of a car involved in a fatal accident, an accident in which your best friend was killed, would make for a lousy day that really couldn't get any worse, ...but you would be wrong. Wrong, that is, if you also happened to be a resident of Saudi Arabia, ...and female. In Saudi Arabia, where the evolution of civil and cultural rights for women effectively came to an end somewhere back at the beginning of the Middle Ages, women who are involved in fatal car accidents get little sympathy, lots of scorn, and...as an extra bonus, humiliating international headlines. Such as this tongue-in-cheek one by the French news agency, AFP (Agence France-Presse):
"Saudi female driver defies ban, has fatal accident".
Translation: "Ha! Those silly women drivers! Some things are just universal!"
Very subtle, AFP. Your cynical use of irony to exploit a personal tragedy with a headline that sounds like a punchline, was almost imperceptible.
Almost.
"Saudi female driver defies ban, has fatal accident".
Translation: "Ha! Those silly women drivers! Some things are just universal!"
Very subtle, AFP. Your cynical use of irony to exploit a personal tragedy with a headline that sounds like a punchline, was almost imperceptible.
Almost.
Ipso Facto...The Casper Defense!
Okay, so it's not journalism. But, as Bad Days go, it is, at least, amusing.
A Bad Day knucklehead in Wisconsin was arrested for domestically abusing his wife, and then rolled the dice that he could get away with it by claiming with a straight face that ..."A ghost did it".
Good luck, pal. Nobody, not even the paranormal pundits who make their livings testifying in court about "odd occurances" wanted to touch this one.
As defenses go, blaming a ghost for a felony assault is one of the more overworked and notoriously ineffective strategies. Right up there with "Hippies broke in and slaughtered my family", "My dog told me to do it" and, "I tripped and fell into the lifeboat". What's most remarkable though, is that the story has gotten coverage.
A story worth reporting? No.
A story reported? Of course.
Oh well...somebody will benefit. If Huffington Post can squeeze out fifteen paragraphs reporting this , Dateline can probably fill an hour.
And then? Maybe a movie? A series? A satellite media tour for the next season of "Ghost Hunters"?
Thanks job creators!
Boo-ya.
A Bad Day knucklehead in Wisconsin was arrested for domestically abusing his wife, and then rolled the dice that he could get away with it by claiming with a straight face that ..."A ghost did it".
Good luck, pal. Nobody, not even the paranormal pundits who make their livings testifying in court about "odd occurances" wanted to touch this one.
As defenses go, blaming a ghost for a felony assault is one of the more overworked and notoriously ineffective strategies. Right up there with "Hippies broke in and slaughtered my family", "My dog told me to do it" and, "I tripped and fell into the lifeboat". What's most remarkable though, is that the story has gotten coverage.
A story worth reporting? No.
A story reported? Of course.
Oh well...somebody will benefit. If Huffington Post can squeeze out fifteen paragraphs reporting this , Dateline can probably fill an hour.
And then? Maybe a movie? A series? A satellite media tour for the next season of "Ghost Hunters"?
Thanks job creators!
Boo-ya.
"Dude, can I crash with you?"
Alright, animal lovers, this last little Bad Day tale should bring a tear to your eye.
Reported by The Lawrence Eagle Tribune and Associated Press, we have the touching story of one caring pet owner in Lawrence, Massachusetts who was forced to give up his treasured pet hamster, because there just wasn't enough room to take care of it.
...Something he realized once he factored in the room needed to take care of all 93 of his other treasured pet hamsters.
Kinda cramped.
Ultimately, sharing an apartment with 94 hamsters was found to be less than condusive to the quality of life experience that the owner had hoped to achieve, and he turned his collection of critters over to local authorities, which, to his credit, was the humane thing to do.
As for the hamsters, efforts to place them with a compatible family have so far proven unsuccessful. Said one hamster, "There's 94 of us. We're hamsters. It's a tough sell. With the exception of one guy who was wearing a python around his neck, we've haven't seen much interest."
Reported by The Lawrence Eagle Tribune and Associated Press, we have the touching story of one caring pet owner in Lawrence, Massachusetts who was forced to give up his treasured pet hamster, because there just wasn't enough room to take care of it.
...Something he realized once he factored in the room needed to take care of all 93 of his other treasured pet hamsters.
Kinda cramped.
Ultimately, sharing an apartment with 94 hamsters was found to be less than condusive to the quality of life experience that the owner had hoped to achieve, and he turned his collection of critters over to local authorities, which, to his credit, was the humane thing to do.
As for the hamsters, efforts to place them with a compatible family have so far proven unsuccessful. Said one hamster, "There's 94 of us. We're hamsters. It's a tough sell. With the exception of one guy who was wearing a python around his neck, we've haven't seen much interest."
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