The Off Topic Topic

[Ed Anger]

On next season's 1,000 ways to die:

NC man drinks gasoline from jar, lights up, dies


HAVELOCK, N.C. (AP) - Police say a North Carolina man is dead after he accidentally drank from a jar of gasoline and then smoked a cigarette.

Havelock police received a 911 call about 9:55 p.m. Monday after 43-year-old Gary Allen Banning set himself on fire. Banning was transported to UNC Burn Center in Chapel Hill, where he died early Tuesday morning.

City spokeswoman Diane Miller said investigators believe Banning was at a friend's apartment when he apparently mistook a jar of gasoline sitting by the kitchen sink for a beverage. After taking a gulp, he spit the gas out and got some on his clothes.

Sometime later, investigators say Banning went outside to smoke a cigarette and burst into flame.

Havelock police and the city fire marshal are continuing their investigation.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be publi

[DGuller]

Any day when you drink gasoline is going to be a bad day.  I can understand the impulse to light up after that experience.

[Syt]

Nah, I've always been pretty susceptible to that sort of thing, since I was a kid.

Oddly, it's only video that'll do it.  Actual movement (i.e., riding a roller coaster, or other amusement park discombulator), short of literally spinning in circles for minutes on end, won't make me ill.  The only time I ever got sick at an amusement park was some curved-screen monstrosity showing bumper-cam footage of a street race (notwithstanding that time I ate German food at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but that's something else entirely).

Could be that your body can't handle a mismatch of visual vs. other sensory perceptions? I.e. eyes tell you you're moving, while sense of balance tells you you're standing still (kinda like the reverse of being inside a ship - visual sense says the room stands still, sense of balance says room is mving)?

[garbon]

Nah, I've always been pretty susceptible to that sort of thing, since I was a kid.

Oddly, it's only video that'll do it.  Actual movement (i.e., riding a roller coaster, or other amusement park discombulator), short of literally spinning in circles for minutes on end, won't make me ill.  The only time I ever got sick at an amusement park was some curved-screen monstrosity showing bumper-cam footage of a street race (notwithstanding that time I ate German food at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but that's something else entirely).

Could be that your body can't handle a mismatch of visual vs. other sensory perceptions? I.e. eyes tell you you're moving, while sense of balance tells you you're standing still (kinda like the reverse of being inside a ship - visual sense says the room stands still, sense of balance says room is mving)?

I think its the diabeetus.

[Jacob]

Looks like that Limbaugh fellow is losing most of his sponsors for his channelling derSpiess moment.

[PDH]

I hope Spicey doesn't lose his sponsors

[crazy canuck]

Looks like that Limbaugh fellow is losing most of his sponsors for his channelling derSpiess moment.

Was that moment so completely out of character for him?

[DGuller]

I just had a very close call.  I was set to cross the street while returning from lunch, but I saw the red "don't walk sign", so I stopped.  As I stopped, I heard this sickening sound.  I look down, and I see a bird shit on my left shoe.  I shudder to think what would've happened if I stopped just a fraction of a second later.

[Jacob]

Was that moment so completely out of character for him?

For derSpiess? Not really. For Limbaugh? Not sure - I don't follow him enough to know.

[Neil]

Looks like that Limbaugh fellow is losing most of his sponsors for his channelling derSpiess moment.

They'll be back.

[Jacob]

Looks like that Limbaugh fellow is losing most of his sponsors for his channelling derSpiess moment.

They'll be back.

Well, the guy has said he doesn't want them back, so maybe not.

[Iormlund]

Cleared my Hard Drive last night.  I like to do that on occasion.  Right now going through the tiresome task of updating windows.

I just buy another hard drive. It's faster than sorting through all kind of random crap.

[MadImmortalMan]

Looks like that Limbaugh fellow is losing most of his sponsors for his channelling derSpiess moment.

Was that moment so completely out of character for him?

You'd have to assume it is. I mean, he's been on the air 30 years or something. If he did that shit constantly there's no way he'd have survived this long.

[Ideologue]

Nah, I've always been pretty susceptible to that sort of thing, since I was a kid.

Oddly, it's only video that'll do it.  Actual movement (i.e., riding a roller coaster, or other amusement park discombulator), short of literally spinning in circles for minutes on end, won't make me ill.  The only time I ever got sick at an amusement park was some curved-screen monstrosity showing bumper-cam footage of a street race (notwithstanding that time I ate German food at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but that's something else entirely).

Could be that your body can't handle a mismatch of visual vs. other sensory perceptions? I.e. eyes tell you you're moving, while sense of balance tells you you're standing still (kinda like the reverse of being inside a ship - visual sense says the room stands still, sense of balance says room is mving)?

Indeed.  Thing is, I can get used to it (I mean, I played something like 2000 hours of Halo 3), I'm just waaay out of practice.

I also need to take my big screen downstairs.  My pal's/crypto-roommate's TV sucks in comparison to mine.

[Neil]

Looks like that Limbaugh fellow is losing most of his sponsors for his channelling derSpiess moment.

They'll be back.

Well, the guy has said he doesn't want them back, so maybe not.

The guy says all sorts of things.  So long as his people keep tuning in, advertisers will show up.