Attempts by the Dumb

SIX DIE TRYING TO SAVE CHICKEN - August 1, 1995 CAIRO, Egypt (AP) 
Six people drowned yesterday while trying to rescue a chicken that had fallen into a well in southern Egypt. An 18-year-old farmer was the first to descend into the 60-foot well. He drowned, apparently after an undercurrent in the water pulled him down, police said. His sister and two brothers, none of whom could swim well, went in one by one to help him, but also drowned. Two elderly farmers then came to help, but they apparently were pulled down by the same undercurrent. The bodies of the six were later pulled out of the well in the village of Nazlat Imara, 240 miles south of Cairo. The chicken was also pulled out. It survived.
MAN KILLED REPAIRING TRUCK - April 1, 1995 Kalamazoo Gazette 
James Burns, 34, of Alamo, Mich., was killed in March as he was trying to repair what police described as a "farm-type dump truck." Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung underneath so that he could find the source of a troubling noise. Burns' clothes caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft."

Bad Corporate Slogans

These are fabricated corporate slogans that would never have made if far if they entered the real world. 

• Microsoft: "How much are you going to pay today?" 
• MTV: "Loud and easy to spell."
• Saks 5th Avenue: "You Could Shop Here if You're Poor, But That Would be Stupid!"
• Iguana: "The other green meat."
• Nike: "Just buy the shoes, you flabby spineless lump!"
• Daisy Air Rifles: "Keeping kids off your lawn for over forty years."
• Canon Photocopiers: "Quit calling them Xeroxes!"
• Apple MacIntosh: "Hey, we thought of it first!"
• Radio Shack: "You've got questions, we've got geek losers!"
• Professional Bowling on NBC: "Oh, why don't you just go ahead and kill yourself instead?"

Sleep Deprivation Research in Sherrill NY

In the sleepy city of Sherrill, N.Y., two unsuspecting adults have found themselves the objects of sleep deprivation research.  James Harden is currently in his tenth month of his study. His subjects, Debbie and Dennis Harden, have tried to foil his research to no avail. "Ferber" has failed and so has "The Family Bed."  
Young James conducts his studies by awakening in the wee hours of the morning, standing up in his crib, and screaming at the top of his lungs. Sometimes, a backrub from Mom will put him back to sleep; but at other times, it takes the formula ritual. Sometimes James is actually hungry but most of the time he just wants to check how his research is going.  Just how far has he gone? Last week, James woke up too early; his parents were still up watching David Letterman. Dennis looked at his lovely wife and said, "I can't take this. I'm going to bed."  Debbie responded, "If you do that, I will kill you in your sleep." Dennis went to get the baby.
Any non-Ferber advice or even sympathetic anecdotes are being requested by these strung-out parents. All other babies James age in this area actually sleep through the night and have done so since they were 2 days old. Or their parents are outright liars!