I Have No Idea How Driver Survived This Worst. Crash. Ever.

A still from the dash cam video. And this
is only the first impact in the crash. Yikes!  

A dash cam video has emerged from Belgium which shows a Ford Focus zipping across a bunch of highway lanes to reach an exit the driver wanted to reach.

It ended very, very badly, given all the trucks around.  The car violently hit a semi, and another semi then ran the remnants of the car over.

Amazingly, the driver survived, according to the web site Carscoops. 

Carscoops said the Belgian news station HLN interviewed the driver, who broke two vertebrae, shattered her hand and went into a coma after the crash. She is now reported to be "recovering exceptionally well."

I never say people deserve to suffer such injuries, and the driver of this car didn't. But still, GAWD was she stupid to drive the way she was.

I also feel sorry for the truck driver who had the dash cam video running. I bet he was sure the crash killed the woman in the car.

When she fully recovers and gets another car to drive, I bet she'll be a LOT more careful when entering and exiting highways.  I think we can all learn that lesson from watching the video.

Here's the extremely scary video.

N.H. Man Thinks Candidate Will Lose Because She Is "Ugly As Sin"

Steve Vaillancourt thinks Marlinda Garcia is hot. Sigh.
 

Call me naive, but I think most of us vote for candidates for office based on how closely their views match ours.

But New Hampshire State Rep. Steve Vaillancourt has other ideas. He really believes it's a beauty contest. A literal one.

Two women are vying for a seat in New Hampshire's Second Congressional District: Republican Marlinda Garcia and Democrat Annie Kuster.

In his NH Insider Blog, Vaillancourt chose the creepiest way possible to describe why he thinks Garcia will win and Kuster will lose.

Here's what he says:

"In New Hampshire's second congressional district, if I may be so bold as to speak the truth, Republican Marilinda Garcia is one of the mot (sic) attractive women on the political scene anywhere, not so attractive as to be intimindating, (sic) but truly attractive." 

He goes on to talk about Garcia's Democratic opponent.

"Let's be honest. Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven't offended sin."

Alrighty, then. I guess this election is settled. At least if this were the Miss America pageant and Vaillancourt was the judge.

I don't think Vaillancourt has the hots for Garcia, because he's openly gay. He just seems to be creepy, mysogynist and catty.

As I understand it, here's Vaillancourt's rules for women considering a career in politics:

Be attractive, but not so attractive as to scare away horny men.

If you're not attractive, immediately give up politics and live out the rest of your life in a cave in the remotest areas of New Hampshire's White Mountains. 

To determine whether you are attractive or not, submit your photo to Vaillancourt, since he's apparently the ultimate judge in these matters.

The Huffington Post reports that to her credit, Garcia said she doesn't exactly take kindly to Vaillancourt's analysis, as it's sexist and all. Says Garcia:

"State Rep. Vaillancourt's recent comments about Rep. Ann Kuster are sexist and have absolutely no place in political discourse. Both Rep. Kuster and I have experienced this unfortunate reality of being a woman in politics. I hope that as time moves forward and more female candidates run for political office around the country, people will focus on the content of our ideas rather than what we wear and how we look."

Good luck with that, Marilinda.  With the large numbers of women in politics these days, I'm still stunned by how many people praise or criticize these politicians' looks, rather than praise or criticize their viewpoints.

For instance, there's lots to praise or criticize Hillary Clinton about, but to this day I keep hearing about her supposedly unattractive pantsuits, as if that matters when she's discussing Middle Eastern diplomacy.

And I recall talking to a few guys back in 2008 who said they were voting for McCain/Palin over Obama because Sarah Palin was quote, unquote, "hot."

By contrast, too bad Palin's brain is so cold, due to it's lack of intellectual firepower.

For what it's worth, Manchester, New Hampshire television station WMUR says latest polls give a slight edge to Garcia over Kuster. But the race is close between Garcia, a Tea Party favorite, and incumbent Democrat Kuster.

My guess is New Hampshire voters will decide based on the two candidates' politics, despite the um, helpful, guidance from Vaillancourt.

  

Taking The Morning Train To A Dance Party

The guy in the bow tie knows how to start a party. 

Commuter trains can be fairly grim places and people expressionlessly wait to arrive at their destinations, or bury their noses in their smart phones, just waiting for the trip to end.

A guy named Peter Sharp in Perth, Australia would have none of it. So he dressed up in a tux, and with a powerfully friendly demeanor, managed to start a dance party.

Looks pretty fun. I hope this guy is on my flight to Washington DC later this week.

Watch (but you might have to click on the underlined "Watch on YouTube" to actually see it:)

"Mean" Magician Rips Up Homeless Veteran's Sign. Watch What Happens Next

Watch what happens after a guy rips
up this homeless veteran's sign.  

The stunt depicted in the video in this post could have gone wrong, and certainly appears to start off on a mean note.  

A young guy named Rob Anderson comes up and takes the sign away from a homeless veteran, a guy by the name of Alan McKracken, on a street corner.

The young guy rips up the sign, which isn't exactly helpful to the veteran trying to collect a bit of coin.

This seems especially cruel because people in the area say McKracken is a nice guy and tries to make people smile, even the ones who don't give him any cash.

But things take a turn as the stunt progresses.

Also, Anderson started a GoFundMe campaign for McKracken. The video went viral, so a lot of people donated, and at last check, more than $35,000 had been raised for McKracken.

Pretty cool!  Here's the video:

I Don't Think Sticky Tape Will Hold Up Concrete Beams

I'm not sure duct tape will solve this problem.  

It's Saturday, and it's time to do those home projects you've been planning to get around to.  

So caulk those windows, rake those leaves, put the garden to bed for winter,  repaint the wall, or build a nice piece of furniture in your wood shop.

But here's a pro tip: Make sure the work you're doing is actually going to work. And don't overestimate yourself.

Like some guy in China did.  I haven't been totally able to verify this story, but if it's true, Aye, yi, yi.

There are these big vertical concrete support beams in front of his building that are crumbling badly, as you can see in the photo on this page.

Building inspectors in Jinan City, China reasonably enough, told Kang Hsiao to fix them because they are a severe hazard to passersby.

So he did.

He could have replaced the concrete beams. Or called in a structural engineer for advice. But that doesn't show initiative. In a spirit of DIY enthusiasm, Hsiao fixed the beams himself.

How? He just wrapped them in sticky tape. That'll keep them intact, right?

Hsiao is quoted as saying, "I've used the tape before for many things and it's always proved to be durable, strong and effective. So when they told me I need to repair the beams it was an obvious choice and a lot cheaper than new beams."

Personally, I've always said that duct tape and WD-40 can solve 90 percent of all problems, but maybe that's an exaggeration.  I don't think duct tape will solve Hsiao's issues with the concrete beams, but you have to admire his optimism

His city and neighbors, though, don't share Hsiao's sunny view of things. The city is about to fine him big time and the neighbors are unimpressed.

Local media quoted one person who said, "I like Kang and I like his attitude, he takes a hands-on approach to problems and has always been keen to do things himself rather than get others to help him. But this is just insane." 

Let's just hope Hsiao doesn't write a DIY home repair book.

Here's What You Look Like In A Haunted House

A rite of October, I guess, is to go to a "haunted house" to celebrate Halloween.

You pay admission, and all kinds of fake ghosts, zombies and assorted monsters pop out of the dark corners to give you a big scream and scare.

One of those haunted houses is the Nightmares Fear Factory in Niagra Falls, New York.

"Fear is fun and we'll scare the crap outta you!" is their catch phrase. Yeah, it's that kind of place.

Nightmares Fear Factory also has cameras helpfully installed in their creepy house to take photos of people getting the crap scared outta them. A few of the photos are here, only because they're hilarious and I thought I'd share.

And it's more calming than wandering through a haunted house.  If you want to see more, go to their Web site.  

Watch This Train Hit A Truck. (Then The Gas Starts Leaking)

Aftermath of that big truck/train crash in Louisiana  

A train got stuck on some railroad tracks in Louisiana Sunday.  

Bad timing, as a train was barreling in from close by and there was no time to stop it.

The result was the dramatic video you see below taken by some people on the road waiting for the train to pass.

According to the Bastrop Daily Enterprise in Louisiana, the truck driver got out of the vehicle before the train hit it. The train derailed, and the engineer and conductor were hospitalized with injuries.

Watch the video below unti the end, because you see something scary: This what cloud of gas coming from the derailed train. The people in the car beat a hasty retreat, which was probably smart.

It was argon gas. Luckily, it's not super, duper toxic, so it wouldn't hurt people unless they breathed a lot of it. Even luckier, the train did not have oil cars.

The mayor of Mer Rouge, where the crash occured, said oil cars go through ten times a day. Had one of those derailed, there would have been an explosion, fire and fatalities, said another local paper, the News Star. in Monroe, Louisiana.

I'm glad we don't have a scary video of an oil train explosion. This one is scary enough: