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Balloon Boy
Historians will identify the end of last week as the moment when a question asked through the ages – has the world gone mad? – was finally and categorically answered in the affirmative by the Heene family of Colorado.
Authorities now say Richard Heene and his wife plotted to hoax the world into thinking their six-year-old son Falcon was stuck inside a runaway balloon contraption in order to increase their chances of getting on a reality TV show.
But instead of getting on TV Heene could be going to jail, possibly depriving the children who were central to the alleged plot a father for a good deal of time. And all because, apparently, he wanted a little bit of money and fame.
For a few years now I’ve noticed a weird phenomena with names where a person ends up in something associated with their name.
The New Scientist has coined the phrase ‘nominative determinism’, and Consuming Experience is a website dedicated to it.
So I’m not the only one who’s noticed.
Continue reading "What’s in a name? Everything when you think about it" »
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Sarah says:
One of my childhood friends was Max Phile. His dad was an upstanding bloke but I’m sure he raised a few eyebrows with the first name of Peter. Read more »
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jc says:
Joe Strummer didnt play bass There is a dentist in Wellington called Dr Payne Read more »
The worst - or maybe just the most memorable - thing about getting in trouble as a kid is that split second when you get sprung by your olds and the game is up.
America’s “Balloon boy” Falcon Heene will surely remember for the rest of his life the moment he first saw his dad after hiding for hours in the attic, fearing he would be yelled at after tampering with the balloon.
Most of us have a story about the worst things we did when we were kids but very few of them will be of Falcon’s order: “I started a national panic and a desperate mid-air chase of a balloon that was covered live on the network television for hours. People worried I was dead but I was just hiding in the attic.”
Continue reading "Sprung tales: the worst things you ever did as a kid" »
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Nic says:
When I was about 4 my mum had decorated a cake for a christening and left it on the dining table before it was to be delivered. Me being very jealous that my mummy hadn’t made us one, took a very nice bight out of the front of the heart… Read more »
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Never again says:
I didn’t receive a scolding for this, but I certainly learned my lesson… Back when I was six or seven years old, I decided to try floating with a parasol, like I’d seen in a cartoon. i only jumped off a kiddy-chair, thank goodness. Mum kept telling me to knock… Read more »
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