Stupid people of the week

Hiker who died after being bitten by venomous snake in Tennessee made fatal mistake, officials believe

A hiker who died of a snake bite in a scenic state park in Tennessee made one fatal mistake: he reportedly picked up the venomous reptile.

The man, who has not been identified, was just half a mile down a trailhead at Savage Gulf State Park when first responders arrived at about 12.30 p.m. last Friday, according to the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency.

After life-saving efforts administered by rescue workers, the man was transferred to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

A representative for Grundy County EMA said the hiker was likely bitten by a timber rattlesnake, a highly venomous species found in the eastern U.S.

Witnesses who spoke to first responders said they saw the hiker pick up the snake, which bit him on the hand, Matthew Griffith of the Grundy County EMA told ABC News Channel 9.

The man was believed to have died of an allergic reaction, though the full cause of death has yet to be released. It was not immediately clear why the victim picked up the snake.

“The family of the individual will be in our thoughts and prayers,” Griffith said. “As always, it’s strongly recommended to have some kind of first aid supplies while enjoying outdoor recreational activities and be mindful of wildlife and the dangers that some wildlife may pose.”

Griffith urged those who encounter any snake to remain calm and not attempt to handle it.

The Grundy County EMA website describes timber rattlesnakes as the “largest, and the most dangerous, of the four venomous snakes in Tennessee.”

They can be up to 5ft long with a large, distinctive triangular head, vertical pupils, and a characteristic rattle at the end of their tail.

In most cases, however, rattlesnake bites are not fatal. Less than one in 600 bites results in death, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Bites from timber rattlesnakes are rare, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. The species is considered more docile than other members of its reptilian family.

Timber rattlesnakes typically prey on small rodents and often remain motionless if encountered in the wild.

Source; The Independent

Passenger on F-15 ride-along ejected on runway, video shows

An F-15D Eagle flight that was apparently intended to be a reward for hard work ended up not getting off the ground, when its passenger was ejected while the fighter was still on the flight line.

The video, posted Wednesday on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page, shows the immediate aftermath of the unusual on-the-ground ejection, as an F-15 from the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts slowly rolls down the flight line, away from a plume of smoke that was left behind by the ejection.

The unfortunate airman who seconds before was its passenger, who the video’s caption identifies as a recruiting officer for the wing, can be seen next to the flight line, seemingly struggling to his feet. Smoke left over from the ejection also trails out of the F-15’s rear seat.

According to a report by The War Zone, the 104th said the ground mishap occurred Tuesday afternoon and prompted a 36-hour safety standdown of all flight operations, which has now ended.

There were apparently no injuries caused by the unexpected ejection, although one service member was sent to the hospital for an evaluation, the 104th said.

The incident is now being investigated, the 104th said.

Incentive flights like Tuesday’s are regular occurrences, typically offered as a reward for service members who excelled at their job.

On-the-ground ejections, however, are rare — but not unheard of. In 2019, a civilian going on a fly-along with the French Air Force was ejected from a Rafale B fighter jet during takeoff, injuring his back but not causing more serious harm.

And in December 2022, an F-35B pilot conducting a quality check on a new jet was forced to punch out of the jet at ground level when its engine failed in a dramatic and alarming way. Video of that crash showed the fighter hovering close to the ground and descending, then bouncing, tipping forward and spinning around with its nose and wing touching the ground before the ejection.

That incident led to a months-long delivery halt of new F-35s as engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney looked for a way to fix the engine vibration problem that led to that crash.

Tuesday’s mishap at the 104th, however, seems to have primarily prompted jokes and memes on web pages such as amn/nco/snco. One video, captioned “The Simpsons predicted the future once again” and shared by the Facebook page Thursday shows the character Milhouse sitting in the cockpit of an F-15 at an air show, angrily pretending to conduct strafing runs and stabbing at the jet’s controls — until he hits the wrong button and sends his ejection seat flying through the air.

Source; Military Times

Seattle woman claims Blue Angels terrorized dying cat, lawsuit says

A Seattle woman claimed that noise from a U.S. Navy Blue Angels airshow terrorized her dying cat, according to a lawsuit filed July 21.

The lawsuit stems from a censorship claim. The woman sued top brass with the Blue Angels, alleging the Blue Angels unfairly blocked her on social media after she complained about the show’s noise.

The Blue Angels perform during the Seafair Weekend Festival in Seattle each August, bringing with it noise levels that exceed 130 dB, which is louder than a jackhammer at close range, according to the lawsuit.

The woman’s cat, Layla, was 14 when she died Aug. 11, 2024 after suffering from congestive heart failure. The cat had returned home after spending several nights at the emergency vet when the Blue Angels took to the skies for Seafair.

The cat went into a “primal panic” with “labored breathing escalating to clinically dangerous levels,” according to the lawsuit.

Her condition deteriorated, and she was euthanized a week later.

Each year, the woman said she would post social media comments and send direct messages to the Blue Angels complaining about the show. One message read, “Stop with your F—— b——- you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife. F— off.”

The woman says the Blue Angels blocked her on Instagram on Aug. 5, 2023. Her attorneys argue this violated the women’s First Amendment rights by imposing a “viewpoint-based restriction” on her being able to participate in public discourse or petition the government.

A year after the woman says she was blocked, attorneys argued the woman’s constitutional injury was compounded, because she couldn’t express grief about her cat’s death and renewed criticism on the Blue Angels account.

The Blue Angels has not responded to KING 5’s request for comment.

This year, the Blue Angels are expected to perform at Seafair from Aug. 1-3. They will arrive in Seattle on July 30.

Source; KING 5

NASA intern stole $21M of lunar samples in order to have ‘sex on the moon’

He promised her the moon — and meant it.

More than 23 years ago, NASA intern Thad Roberts hatched a daring plan to steal 17 pounds of moon rocks and a meteorite from Houston’s Johnson Space Center — priceless samples from every Apollo mission, locked in a 600-pound safe and valued at $21 million, according to the FBI.

Only 24 years old with a triple major in physics, geology and geophysics at the University of Utah, with a wife he was supporting back in Utah, and financially struggling, Roberts thought his plan was foolproof.

The first step was finding a buyer. With help from friend Gordon McWhorter, Roberts connected online with a potential Belgian purchaser willing to pay $1,000 to $5,000 per gram.

The buyer, however, grew suspicious and alerted the FBI, which instructed him to keep talking while it investigated.

Around this time, he met Tiffany Fowler, a 22-year-old NASA intern conducting stem cell research.

Their friendship quickly became romantic, and after three weeks, they moved in together. When Roberts revealed his plan, Fowler agreed to help.

They recruited another NASA intern, Shae Saur, and one night the trio used their NASA IDs to slip into the Johnson Space Center, making off with the entire safe.

Back at the hotel, they cracked it open with a power saw.

On July 20, 2002 — the 33rd anniversary of the first moon landing — Roberts and Fowler drove to Orlando to meet family members of the Belgian buyer.

While waiting, Roberts placed moon rocks beneath the bed covers, later claiming the couple had “sex on the moon” as a symbolic gesture.

“I take some of the moon rocks and I put them underneath the blanket on the bed … I never said anything but I’m sure she could feel it,” he told CBS News in 2012.

“It was more about the symbol of what we were doing, basically having sex on the moon. It’s more uncomfortable than not, but it wasn’t about the comfort at that point. It was about the expression. And no one had ever had sex on the moon before. I think we can safely say that.”

When they met with the supposed buyers, they were instead greeted by undercover FBI agents. The moon rocks were recovered from their hotel room, though the FBI reported they were now “virtually useless to the scientific community” and that the heist destroyed three decades of handwritten research notes by a NASA scientist.

After his arrest, Roberts admitted to also stealing dinosaur bones and fossils from the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City.

When asked why he stole the moon rocks, Robert told CBS News he “wasn’t” looking at it like stealing at the time.

“We weren’t going to take this money we were getting from it to go buy a yacht or lots of cars or a big house. We were gonna live just the small kind of lifestyle we were, but fund science that might change the world, you know?” he said.

In the end, Roberts, Fowler and Saur all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Roberts was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, serving six. Fowler and Saur each received 180 days of house arrest and 150 hours of community service.

McWhorter, convicted at trial, was given six years in prison.

Roberts and Fowler never saw each other again.

Source; NY Post

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Darwin Awards, Stupid Criminals