Lookout Below

As of 2005, the life expectancy rate in the U.S. was 80.4 years for women, 75.2 years for men. What’s the cause for this great disparity?  On average, men consume more tobacco, alcohol and drugs than women.  Men are more likely than women to commit suicide, be murdered, and die in wars.  Men also tend to take more risks than women by driving fast cars and motorcycles.

But as these pictures show, men are simply more likely to have the “stupid gene” than women:

Standing on a bucket on TOP of a ladder, brilliant.

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Maybe lightning does strike twice.  BreAnna Helsel survived a lightning strike and won $20 in the lottery the next day.

Helsel, 16, was home in Michigan watching thunderstorms when she noticed rain coming in a kitchen window.  “She went to close the window and the lightning came through and hit her,” said her mother, Linda Johnson.  “We think it must have hit the house or something.”  Helsel saw electricity shoot out her fingers and into the overhead lights, immediately knocking out the power.  She was treated at the hospital for darkened fingertips and a shaking arm from damaged muscles that will require some therapy.  She is expected to recover fully.

Hospital workers suggested that Helsel was on a lucky streak and should immediately play the lottery.  She’s too young, so her mother went out the next day and bought Helsel a Michigan lottery ticket.  “And we won $20,” Johnson said, laughing. “What a way to start the summer.”

The Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle. Computers, gyroscopic sensors and motors in the base of the vehicle keep the Segway balanced upright. Users lean forward to go forward, lean back to go backward, and turn by leaning the handlebar left or right. The Segway electric motor enables it to travel up to 12.5 mph.

Although the Segway is easy to drive once you get the hang of it, the gyroscopes won’t keep the vehicle upright if you crash it into other vehicles, as shown in this funny video:

Bad day at the office? Probably not as bad as this man’s poor co-workers, who faced his destructive rampage. A 3-minute video of the incident is naturally making its rounds on YouTube and the Web. The video is set to Verve’s song “Bittersweet Symphony” and shows the man throwing computer monitors and whiteboards, tearing down cubicle walls, and taking a sledgehammer to the office copier.

Many have speculated the video is a fake, citing co-workers who stick around instead of fleeing the scene. There is also a video from a second angle, which seems a bit convenient. Taken from a cell phone, this video includes sound and shows a security guard using a Taser to subdue the worker. We do not hear “Don’t tase me, bro!” as the language appears to be Russian.

A newspaper photographer covering the Utah state high school track championships got a little too close to the action and was speared through the leg by a javelin.  Ryan McGeeney of the Standard-Examiner was spared serious injury and even managed to snap a photo of his speared leg while others worked to help him.  “If I didn’t, it would probably be my editor’s first question when I got back,” McGeeney said later.

McGeeney, an ex-Marine who spent six months in Afghanistan, was photographing the discus event when he wandered into an off-limits area set aside for the javelin throw.  The javelin struck McGeeney just below his knee, pierced the skin and emerged on the other side of his leg.  “It wasn’t real painful.  I was very lucky in that it didn’t hit any blood vessels, nerves, ligaments or tendons,” McGeeney said.

Medics cut off most of the javelin at the scene, then surgeons removed the rest of the javelin at the hospital and patched McGeeney’s knee with 13 stitches.

More at FoxNews

Sloan Carafello of Schenectady, New York, was on a flight with the Duanesburg Skydiving Club.  His job was to videotape the skydivers in the plane as they prepared to jump.

Robert Rawlins, pilot and owner of the single-engine plane, opened the door at 10,000 feet to allow the divers to jump.  An instructor, student and videographer jumped out of the plane.  As Rawlins had begun to close the door, the 29-year-old Carafello inexplicably jumped out the door with camera in hand but no parachute on his back.

His dead body was found next to a house with a damaged roof west of Albany.  Police said they did not suspect foul play but would not elaborate.

The U.S. military has released a stunning video of a B-2 bomber crashing in Guam in February.  The pilot and co-pilot ejected and survived the crash, but the $1.4 billion jet was a total loss.  That’s billion with a capital “B”!

So what brought down the most technologically advanced bomber in history?  Moisture in the system caused the jet’s computers to calculate the wrong airspeed.  This in turn forced the jet’s nose to turn up suddenly, the B-2 then stalled, the left wing grazed the runway, and the jet fell to the ground, exploding in a fireball.  This is the first jet in the fleet of twenty-one B-2 bombers to crash.

A 10-year-old South Carolina boy died several hours after he swallowed water in a swimming pool.  He later complained of being tired and took a nap.  When family members checked on him, he was having trouble breathing, his lips were blue, and water was dripping out of his nose.  His family called 911, and a few hours later the boy died at a hospital.  The coroner ruled the boy’s death as accidental drowning by asphyxiation and noted the boy’s lungs were filled with water.

Not all drowning deaths occur immediately.  Secondary drowning occurs when water gets into the lungs and causes edema, swelling the tissue and reducing the lungs’ ability to exchange air.  Secondary drowning can occur as much as 3 days later and without any warning signs, medical experts say.

In 2005 there were 3,582 accidental drowning deaths in the United States, about 10 per day.  Never leave young children unsupervised around pools or swimming areas. All children should learn how to swim.  If a child starts acting strangely or has trouble breathing after leaving the water, seek medical attention immediately.

Story at Charleston Post

A drunk driver plowed his car into a bicycle race on a highway near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one cyclist and injuring ten others.  An amazing photograph taken by a city official shows the moment of impact.  The collision launched riders and bikes high into the air.  Witnesses described children crying, women shouting for help, and men trying to beat the driver before police arrived to arrest him.  The 21-mile race was canceled after the crash.

More at FoxNews

No doubt you’ve seen the infamous video of the fiery crash of the Hindenburg airship. Accompanying the disturbing images is the anguished narrative by American radio reporter, Herbert Morrison. A recent study by audio historian Michael Biel of Morehead State University discovered that the original audio recording was slightly slow, giving Morrison a higher pitch than the deeper bass he was known for. Biel has redubbed the video to reflect what is believed to be the true sound of Morrison’s voice.

The giant zeppelin made history with her maiden transatlantic flight in May 1936. The 800-foot long, hydrogen-filled behemoth had a top-speed of 82 miles/hour and range of over 8,000 miles. On the night of May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt for Lakehurst, New Jersey. This was the first transatlantic trip of the 1937 season. The crossing over the Atlantic Ocean was uneventful.

The Hindenburg arrived in Lakehurst around 7pm to begin landing procedure. Shifting winds resulted in a few missed attempts. At 7:25 pm, witnesses saw fabric in the zeppelin’s upper fin flutter as if gas was leaking. At the same time, another witness saw what looked like static electricity moving up the hull from the bottom. Immediately after this, witnesses reported a small flame near the fin. Then the Hindenburg caught fire and quickly became engulfed in flames. (more)

Morrison and engineer Charlie Nielsen had been sent by WLS in Chicago to cover the Hindenburg arrival “as an experiment in recording news for delayed broadcast. His eye witness description of the disaster was the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast and has become a classic piece of audio history.” (source)

The back motors of the ship are just holding it just enough to keep it from— It’s burst into flames! It burst into flames, and it’s falling, it’s crashing! … Four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it—it’s a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It’s smoke, and it’s flames now, and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring-mast. Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. (more)

Thirty-five people aboard the ship (13 passengers and 22 crew) and one member of the ground crew died. The cause of the fire remains a mystery, but suspected causes include sabotage, static spark, engine exhaust spark, or lightning. Regardless, the accident abruptly ended the use of airships for public transportation. Today’s blimps are used primarily for marketing and photographing sports events and are filled with non-volatile helium.