Betty Lou Oliver

Betty Lou Oliver was an elevator operator at the Empire State Building and she survived two major unrelated accidents on the same day!

First when a bomber hit the Empire State Building and then when the elevator that she was in, crashed 80 floors!

What happened?

Disoriented by the fog, the pilot started turning right instead of left, and, as a result B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building, carving an 5.5-by-6.1-metre hole in it.

"I had just started down from the 80th floor, and then there was a noise above me and then a great block of machinery came through the top of my car".

After treating her injuries, first aid workers put her in an elevator to send her down to the main floor.

But the cables of that elevator had been weakened by the crash, and they broke!

And as a result, Oliver plummeted 75 stories to the basement!

The free-fall of the elevator was broken by the massive coils of cables that had fallen to the bottom of the shaft. Despite suffering a broken back and legs, the operator survived.

[sources: Stories of survival and heroism]

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The Mighty Poato

Check out this photo of a potato. It may look like a rather ordinary photo, but it’s one of the most expensive photos in the world: it sold last year for a staggering €1,000,000.

The photo, titled “Potato #345 (2010),” is by photographer Kevin Abosch, who charges huge fees to shoot portraits of famous business people in the Silicon Valley tech industry.

“Kevin likes potatoes because they, like people are all different yet immediately identifiable as being essentially of the same species,” his studio tells PetaPixel.

The sale came about when a wealthy buyer who collects Abosch’s work was visiting the photographer’s Paris home in 2015. They saw the photo — a 162x162cm print hanging on the wall and inquired about purchasing it for their collection.

The price was non-negotiable: €1,000,000, but the buyer agreed to the price and purchased the photo, making it Abosch’s largest sale of a single image to date.

The price is a far cry from the $6.5 million that was allegedly paid for Peter Lik’s “Phantom” photo, but the sale price places this photo in the top 20 of most expensive photos of all time.

[source: PetaPixel]

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Sidewalk Egg Frying Competition

Residents of Oatman, where temperatures are set to reach 41 degrees today, will compete to see who can cook the most edible-looking egg.

The eggs are simultaneously cracked at noon and after 15 minutes a winner is declared.

Participants can use any solar means necessary including magnifying glasses or mirrors but no fire or electricity is allowed.

A scorching Arizona town is putting the old saying 'hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk' to the test.

In an unusual Fourth of July celebration, residents of dusty Oatman, where temperatures are predicted to reach 41 degrees today, will compete to see who can cook the most edible-looking egg.

At high noon, crowds line the streets and the eggs are simultaneously cracked. The 30 or so participants get cooking, using any solar means they choose, whether straight on the cement, or in a fry pan on the ground.

After 15 minutes, Fred Eck, the founder the bizarre tradition, declares the person behind the best-looking fried egg the winner.

The event then wraps up by 1 p.m.

'If we don't, everybody would pass out,' Eck, 69, told NBC News.

Entrants are banned from using fire and electricity to help cook their egg. But they can help the cooking process along with magnifying glasses, aluminum foil, and mirrors.

The eggs need to get to 70 degrees to fry and, despite the phrase, sidewalks are poor conductors of heat, rarely topping 62 degrees even in extreme conditions.

The event, which attracts 200-300 to the town with just 35 shops and a couple of bars and restaurants, began in 1991 during a heatwave and made headlines.

'People thought it was bad publicity for the area because it drew attention to the heat,' said Eck.

'No it isn't, it's who we are. We're in a desert!' 

At first competitors were required to cook their eggs straight on the sidewalk, but the eggs just got stuck, Jackie Murphy, vice president of the Oatman Chamber of Commerce, told NBC.

Then they tried to use the highway as a cooking surface but everyone just got their hands and knees stuck in the bitumen.

'There are probably still knee prints down there,' Murphy said.

But now they've cracked it.

One regular contestant uses an oversize magnifying glass laid horizontally on rollers to cook to perfection not just eggs, but bacon and potatoes, thrilling onlookers.

[source: MailOnline]

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Forsaken

A Romanian convict doing time for murder tried to sue God for breaking the contract they allegedly concluded at his baptism and not doing enough to protect him from Satan.

The public prosecutor turned down the case -- because God does not have a home address.

Pavel Mircea, who is serving a 20-year sentence for murder, filed a lawsuit in the western Romanian town of Timisoara against God for not protecting him from the Devil. He claimed that he had concluded a contract with God at baptism but God had not kept his side of the bargain. "He was supposed to protect me from all evils and instead he gave me to Satan who encouraged me to kill," he claimed.

The plaintiff cited five paragraphs from the Romanian criminal code describing the crimes which God had allegedly committed, including fraud, breach of trust, abuse of a position of authority and misappropriation of goods. God had not fulfilled his side of the contract, Mircea claimed, because he had accepted prayers and sacrificial offerings without providing any kind of services in exchange.

The public prosecutor's office in Timisoara turned down the case, arguing that God is not a person in the eyes of the law and does not have a legal residence.

[source: spiegel online]

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The British And Their Laws

No armour in Parliament, never handle salmon 'suspiciously' and being drunk in a pub is ILLEGAL: The bizarre Medieval laws that still stand in Britain today

Have you ever been drunk in a pub or shaken a rug out of your window to rid it of dust?

If so, you've broken the law - one of the many obscure decrees first introduced as far back as the 1300s which still stand in Britain today.

Under the Metropolitan Police Act 1839, for example, it is illegal for the 'keeper of a public house to permit drunkenness on premises', yet any pub-goer could swear they see that particular law being broken by millions of people each week.

As of 1313, for example, it has been illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour - which surely hasn't been a likelihood in centuries.

And since 1939, it has been against the law to carry a plank along a pavement.

photo credit Luca Cerabona

As recently as 1986, it has been illegal to 'handle a salmon in suspicious circumstances' - which leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

Steve Blackburn, General Manager of The London Dungeon, said: '800 years ago the Magna Carta enshrined the principles of common law, and since then, thousands of laws have been passed for the greater good.

'But some, which may have been brought in for a really good reason, seem totally bonkers these days. It is understandable that being drunk and disorderly should be an offence, but being penalised for purely being drunk in a pub seems harsh.'

'Some of these laws are truly archaic, but we're using their existence to celebrate the history of our much envied legal system, with a liberal dose of humour and fun.'

As of 1322, it has been illegal for a dead whale found on a British coast to be removed - since it automatically becomes the property of the ruling monarch.

Similarly, it is an offense to let your dog mate with any dog belonging to the royal family - Queen Elizabeth II's corgis thus included.

photo credit Huso

Since 1839, it has been against the law for anyone to fly a kite or slide on ice in the street - perhaps a reasonable safety measure, if a little draconian.

Under the same laws, you are not allowed to erect a washing line across any street either. 

Other forbidden acts which would once have been perfectly rational include riding a bus while (knowingly) suffering from the plague. 

It is also illegal to keep a pigsty in front of your house, unless 'duly hidden', and to be intoxicated in charge of a horse or cow. 

As of 1839, it has also been against the law to beat or shake any carpet or rug in the street. You can shake your doormat, however, but only before 8am in the morning. 

It is also illegal to sing any profane or obscene song or ballad in any street, or to 'willfully and wantonly' disturb people by ringing their doorbells or knocking at their doors - although good luck enforcing that on Halloween!

In Scotland, on the other hand, it is apparently still illegal to turn someone away if they knock on your door and ask to use your loo. 

More recent surprising laws include the official banning of jumping the queue in a Tube ticket hall.

And perhaps our favourite: the Polish potato ban.

As of 2004, 'no person shall import into England potatoes which he knows to be or has reasonable cause to suspect to be Polish potatoes'.

[source: MailOnline]

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