A Paper Drone
The Federal Aviation Administration recently granted (likely for the first time ever) an application to fly a paper airplane. Prominent drone advocate Peter Sachs had applied to conduct commercial aerial photography with his “aircraft” (a TailorToys model with a tiny propeller and maximum range of 180 feet), and the agency, concerned with air traffic safety, accommodated by treating the request (unironically?) under the rules for manned flights (that, among other restrictions, Sachs must not exceed 100 miles per hour and must engage a licensed airplane pilot to fly it). “With this grant,” said the “victorious” Sachs, “the FAA has abandoned all logic and sensibility.”
Questionable Judgments
DIY dentistry seemed off-limits—until amateur orthodontia got a boost from a 2012 YouTube video in which Shalom DeSota, now 17, praised rubber bands for teeth-straightening. DeSota’s family lacked dental insurance at the time, so the would-be actress experimented by looping rubber bands around two front teeth she wanted to draw together. Many painful days later, she succeeded. The American Association of Orthodontists expressed alarm in August at the video’s recent popularity. So much could go wrong—infection, gum-tearing, detachment between tooth and gums—that DeSota, the organization said, had simply been lucky.
Seems Like the Season of Email Muddles
(1) All Sherri Smith wanted was copies of background emails about her son (who has a disability) in the files of the Goodrich, Mich., school system, but the superintendent informed her in June that the Freedom of Information request would cost her $77,780 (4,500 hours of searching—taking two years to complete). (Michigan’s FOI law was somewhat liberalized on July 1, and Smith said she may re-file.) (2) After a McKinney, Texas, police officer was filmed pointing his gun at unarmed black teenagers at a pool party in June, the online Gawker Media filed a Public Information Act request for the officer’s records and any emails about his conduct. The city estimated that request’s cost at $78,974 (hiring a programmer, for 2,231 hours of searching—plus “computer time”). Gawker said it would appeal and the city sent an apology for the “erroneous” fee.
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Government Inaction
The streets of Jackson, Miss., apparently have potholes that rival the worst in the country, but no adequate budget to fix them, according to Mayor Tony Yarber. His remedy, offered earnestly to constituents in August: prayer. “I believe we can pray potholes away.” (Yarber, elected in 2014, was pastor of the Relevant Empowerment Church.)
Least Competent People
“Selfies” continue to take their devastating toll on Americans. On Aug. 30 in Orient, Maine, driver Jordan Toner, 29, attempting to lean into a seven-person selfie among his passengers, crashed into a tree, causing numerous injuries. On Aug. 24, Alex Gomez, 36, of Lake Elsinore, Calif., tried to take one after draping an angry 4-foot-long rattlesnake around his neck. The predictable bite was damaging but not fatal. On Sept. 1 in Houston, a 19-year-old man taking selfies while clumsily fondling his handgun is no longer with us.
Recurring Themes
More “Super Slow TV”: Norwegian TV viewers have somehow given strong ratings to a series of seemingly interminable programs (a continuous camera on a salmon-fishing vessel, 12 hours of live log-burning with commentary, five hours of knitters spinning their way to a world record, 100 straight hours of chess-playing, a five-day broadcast of a travelling cruise ship) and in August were presented another such gift. The Norwegian caviar company Mills said it would live stream, on a YouTube channel, nearly 11 months of fish eggs aging 24/7 in barrels—7,392 hours of “programming.”
Readers’ Choice
A thief grabbed the purse of an elderly woman shopping with her husband at a Fred Meyer store in Spokane, Wash., on July 23 and fled through a parking lot. They had no chance to catch the man, but he happened to run right by hospital nurse Heidi Muat, 42, who surmised the situation and started after him. The thief quickly saw that Muat could outrun him, and he gave up the purse, which Muat returned to the couple. Muat later revealed her alter ego: On her Spokannibals Roller Derby team, she is known as Ms. “Ida B. ChoAzz.”
© 2015 CHUCK SHEPHERD
