accidents

Human Cannonball Dies

Max Read · 04/25/11 07:16PM

A 23-year-old "human cannonball" was killed on Monday, apparently because "a safety net failed to engage." The daredevil has not been formally identified, but he was working for Scott May's Daredevil Stunt Show, a UK-based touring show that features, alongside the human cannonball, "pyrotechnics, motorbike and monster truck stunts." Given that it advertises itself as having a "100% safety record," one imagines that today's death is the show's first; it's unclear exactly what happened but the complicated stunt apparently requires the cannonball to extract himself from the safety net within seconds of landing. [The Guardian; image of Scott May's Daredevil Show via Stef Robb]

Watch Lady Gaga Fall on Her Face Again

Brian Moylan · 04/21/11 12:37PM

Today on The Internet's Funniest Home Videos, here is Lady Gaga slipping and falling while performing "Poker Face" at a recent gig in Atlanta. This is great because we get to see the fall over and over again from every angle.

Man Catches Fire in San Francisco Porn Shop

Brian Moylan · 04/14/11 12:09PM

A poor, unsuspecting guy caught on fire while sitting in a private booth "watching videos" at a porn shop in San Francisco. He ran out of the shop engulfed in flames. It's still unclear how the fire started, but I have been in the back of more than one porn shop in my day, and it has been known to get a little...um...hot back there?

Jumbo Jet Clips Small Plane at JFK

Matt Cherette · 04/12/11 12:13AM

Two planes collided at JFK tonight when an Air France Airbus A380—the world's largest commercial passenger jet—clipped a much smaller plane while taxiing on the runway.

The World's Worst Ambulance Driver

Junior Mendez · 04/01/11 10:05AM

Oh! The irony! En route to help one injured citizen, this senseless ambulance driver ends up adding more names to the roster of people needing medical help.

Supreme Court Justice Causes Four-Car Accident

Max Read · 03/30/11 12:50AM

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia isn't just a danger to the rights of women, minorities, and the working class: He's also a danger to anyone who happens to be driving near him. Scalia "slammed into" a car on the George Washington Parkway on Tuesday, pushing it into two other cars and earning himself a $70 ticket. There's currently no word as to whether or not the justice will contest the ticket in court (and perhaps argue that nowhere in the constitution does it say you can't just rear-end whomever you'd like), but nerds will be pleased to know that Scalia, a strong originalist, was cited for "following too closely." [WaPo; Above the Law; image via AP]

New Jersey Covered in Fine White Powder

Brian Moylan · 03/29/11 03:15PM

The blanket of fine white powder covering Englewood, New Jersey, wasn't anthrax, it was fallout from a flour silo at a wholesale bakery that blew its top. The last time we scored some white powder from New Jersey it was some grade-A shit, so we have high hopes that this is the finest flour in the land.

Alcohol Bottle-Smashing Epidemic Hits U.S.

Max Read · 03/03/11 12:48AM

There are so many reasons to have security cameras in liquor stores—for security, obviously, but, maybe more importantly, to capture those life-affirming moments when dozens of bottles fall to the floor and shatter in an indescribably satisfying way.

Bounce House Carries Girls Away on Gust of Wind

Max Read · 02/20/11 08:38PM

Two girls were hurt in Arizona over the weekend when the inflatable castle in which they were bouncing was carried away by a sudden gust of wind and deposited on the roof of a neighbor's house. One of the girls is still in the emergency room with serious head injuries, apparently in "serious but stable condition"; the other seems to have escaped with only minor injuries. In the future, please, remember to properly secure your enormous air-filled castle; but remember that wind is not the only danger threatening your bounce house-occupying children: Last year, California's attorney general filed a lawsuit over high levels of lead in bounce-house vinyl. [ABC15; KOLD; stock image via Shutterstock]

Local News Anchor Flips Off the Camera

Maureen O'Connor · 02/03/11 03:01PM

Is this the first casualty of high-definition widescreen? Houston news anchor Owen Conflenti flipped off his coworkers mid-broadcast, but failed to anticipate his studio's new widescreen cameras. His off-screen obscenity was broadcast to everyone in Houston with an HD-TV.

Man Narrowly Misses Getting Hit By Car

Lauren Soroken · 01/24/11 08:15PM

Last October a Russian man just barely missed getting hit by an out of control car and manages to walk away unscathed. Let's hope he bought a lottery ticket that day.

Icy Hill Causes Massive Car Pile-Up

Madeleine Davies · 01/22/11 10:30AM

In today's "Winter is the Absolute Worst" news, here's a video of a road so icy that several vehicles lose control and crash into one another.