Weird, wild, and wacky: The international edition
For all the ridicule we Americans take in the worldwide media, it’s refreshing to me (though some would call me sadistic for saying so) to learn that folks in other countries do ridiculous or absurd things, too. And that’s the theme of today’s edition of this ongoing series: Stupid foreigner tricks
Bavarian Motor Jerks
Many hail the rise of cars equipped with talking GPS-based satellite navigation systems as the greatest aid to driver safety since the air-bag. But what about when that friendly “sat-nav” voice orders you to turn where there’s NO ROAD?
According to Reuters, a 46-year-old German man driving through Bremen recently turned left when instructed to by his on-board navigation unit – and rolled over a curb to end up stuck on rail-tram tracks! According to German police, this is not an isolated incident. Several Bavarian motorists in recent months have ended up in roadside ditches or worse because of erroneous (or perhaps just too-literally interpreted) satellite navigation commands
Crackpots Miss Jackpots
As screwy as our judicial system is, this sounds like something you’d hear about in the U.S.: According to the Associated Press, a woman and her husband have sued the government of The Netherlands for emotional damages
Because they didn’t win that nation’s version of the lottery! In the Dutch game, cash prizes of varying value are awarded to entrants in randomly chosen postal codes. In 2006, 7 lucky winners from her small town hit the big jackpot to the tune of over $18 million each. The woman claims that the media disturbance following the wins – and her neighbors’ overly ostentatious displays of newfound wealth – have traumatized her. She claims she’s become “obsessed” with the loss, and can’t write her address anymore without emotional trauma
An Amsterdam court has refused them a jackpot in court, too – especially since they HADN’T EVEN ENTERED THE CONTEST.
And in some wacky goings-on a bit farther east
Chinese Air Farce
Gotta love the entrepreneurial spirit in booming Communo-capitalist China. According to the Associated Press, an enterprising Chinese company has lost its appeal in court to overturn the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce’s rejection of their business-license application
To sell BAGS OF AIR.
Supposedly collected from the various stadiums that hosted the 2006 World Cup Soccer matches in Germany, the plastic bags were supposed to have been sold for the equivalent of around $7 each. But Beijing’s Second Intermediate People’s Court ruled that air is too vague a product to be commercially regulated.
The company had been stripped of an earlier business license – for selling people acreage on the MOON
There’s more of the odd from abroad, of course, but space doesn’t permit me to expand more now. But I’ll get to it in the next Daily Dose.
