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Algr said:
"Why do they even HAVE that button?"
For emergencies, probably. It's not a switch that can never be used, it's a switch no qualified pilot would use in the situation they had.
 

Michigan car owner sued after Jeep kills mechanic during oil change​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-car-owner-sued-jeep-075228792.html

Attorney David Femminineo, who is representing Hawkins' estate, told FOX 2 that Thompson did not know how to drive the vehicle's manual transmission and did not have a license. The attorney also said the dealership cannot be sued because of a legal standard preventing an employee from suing their boss for negligence, which, in this case, would be the hiring of someone who should not have been driving.

Because the incident happened at work and involved two employees, the boss cannot be sued, FOX 2 notes.
 
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Astronuc said:

Michigan car owner sued after Jeep kills mechanic during oil change​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-car-owner-sued-jeep-075228792.html
Femminineo told McClatchy News that the car owner is responsible for Hawkins' death in the same way that someone who lent another person their vehicle would be liable for any injuries caused by the driver. He said a person who lends their car is liable for negligent acts because they gave the other person permission to use their vehicle.
I think that if the owner has a good lawyer, they will be able to get it thrown out. I doubt that the owner could be seen as 'lending' their car to that specific person or that they could be reasonably expected to personally validate the driving record of everyone at the dealership. Also, the employee who was killed might not have been able to sue had he survived but his relatives weren't employees. I would bet that his employment terms don't apply to his relatives.

It looks like the judge feels the same way about it.
According to a summary filed in court on March 1, the court has ordered the Rochester Hills Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership, where the incident occurred, to indemnify Diaz-Navarro if he is found liable of negligence.
 
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Astronuc said:

Michigan car owner sued after Jeep kills mechanic during oil change​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-car-owner-sued-jeep-075228792.html
Sorry, this is IMO a sham lawsuit. If by some miracle of injustice the car owner is found liable of negligence, the dealership’s insurance company will walk away with a small settlement (litigation costs) the poor dead guys lawyers will keep, with the dead guys estate getting very little.

15 million dollars is ludicrous.
 
And in our Captain Obvious headline category for today...

1652451725016.png

https://www.firehouse.com/
 
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https://news.yahoo.com/indian-couple-longing-grandchild-sues-150409841.html

A retired Indian couple is suing their son and daughter-in-law, demanding that they produce a grandchild within a year or pay them 50 million rupees ($675,000).
...
The court accepted their petition and scheduled it for a hearing on Monday in Haridwar, a city in northern Uttarakhand state, media reports said.
 
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Not so much weird, as one of those :rolleyes: type stories.

Nine months ago, Ralph Patricelli bought a house on a beach in North Carolina. Then the ocean swept it away.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/05/13/climate-change-north-carolina-house/

Patricelli’s home was swept away overnight, but video of his neighbor’s house succumbing to the ocean went viral this week. That neighbor, who lives in Tennessee, declined to comment when reached by phone. A third nearby home met the same fate in February.

https://www.wavy.com/news/north-carolina/obx/another-house-collapses-in-rodanthe-on-outer-banks/
During the storm, NC Highway 12 was closed when the ocean covered it at high tide.

I used to visit Wilmington, NC, often for work. I would often stay at a condo (time share) hotel on the beach in Wrightsville Beach. The last time I stayed there, the ocean was right up to the foundation, and a new inlet on the barrier island was about 50 feet away from the north end. The Corps of Engineers put up dams along the beach side and eventually rebuilt the beach by pumping sand from the ocean onto the beach. That has been done more than once.
 
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Astronuc said:
Nine months ago, Ralph Patricelli bought a house on a beach in North Carolina. Then the ocean swept it away.
Similar things have happened at various points on the east coast of Australia: Collaroy, Avoca/Wamberal (in NSW). The only thing more stupid than building those expensive homes on that ground was trusting the local council who gave permission to build.

Aside: speaking of water problems, there are now places in QLD where residents are doing their 3rd cleanup after severe flooding just this year, (i.e., where many buildings were flooded to the roofline or even completely submerged). Lismore, a major regional town in NSW, copped it very badly, but the town is too big to (realistically) relocate. There are stories that, ages ago when the Lismore area was first being settled, the local aboriginal people warned the Europeans not to settle there. Of course, the Europeans didn't listen... :olduhh:
 
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The top elected official in Texas’ smallest county is charged with cattle theft​

Loving County Judge Skeet Jones, the scion of a powerful ranching family, was arrested after a yearlong investigation that is ongoing, authorities said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/loving-county-texas-cattle-theft-skeet-jones-rcna29719

Word of the arrests spread faster than a prairie fire with a tailwind through this West Texas county, population 57 as of the last U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Spread over 671 square miles of mesquite-studded desert, Loving County has no school, no church, no grocery store and no bank. The few children who live there board the bus in the only town, Mentone (population 22), and travel about 35 miles each morning and afternoon to attend school.

For decades, a handful of prominent families in Loving County have feuded bitterly for control of the local government, with the Joneses finally largely coming out ahead. Skeet Jones has served as the judge for more than 15 years. His sister is the county clerk. His cousin’s husband is the county attorney. His nephew is the constable.

But some recently elected county officials have been butting heads with the Joneses and their allies, making for colorful commissioner’s court meetings and a much-anticipated November election.
 
Astronuc said:
Hey, doesn't everyone have a 50 m pool at their home? Inquiring minds want to know.
You don't need that o0)

Ps.: oooops, no cc for the video... The context is, that this was really an actual online (but not that serious...) swimming lesson during the covid-season. It had some not-so-nice aftermath (the actual piece was uploaded due that aftermath). The creativity and the spirit is definitely commendable.
 
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jack action said:
You can use an endless pool:

​

Surely Shanghai has public pools that could be used for the test.
 
Not weird, but extremely cool! Live long and prosper, Ruth!

103-year-old skydiver Ruth Larsson sets new Guinness World Record​

Updated: 30/05/2022
A judge from the Guinness Book of Records was present when Ruth Larsson became the oldest person in the history of the world to skydive on Sunday 29 May.
When Ruth Larsson was 90 years old, she wanted to learn more about flying and started trying things like paragliding, gliding and hot air ballooning.
In 2019, she made her first parachute jump at the age of 101. But there was no world record because a few months earlier, American Kathryn Hodges jumped, at 103 years and 129 days.

Today, Ruth Larsson has passed that age, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday she was ready to take the world record, at the same spot where she jumped three years ago, just outside Motala.
The first Swede to make a parachute jump was Axel Raoul Thörnblad in 1920, when Ruth Larsson was two years old.

https://www.euronews.com/2022/05/30...r-ruth-larsson-sets-new-guinness-world-record
 
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strangerep said:
Does this qualify as "weird news"?

https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/International/Poutine-malade-rumeur-ou-tumeur-1810897

Putin's bodyguards always collect his poo when he travels abroad -- to prevent other states from gaining information about his health from analysis of his droppings.
He's still potty training? That would explain a lot concerning his mental development - that of a one or two year old.
 
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