Category Archives: Stupidity

Too Much Excitement – First an Emergency Alert Test @ 4:48 AM in Florida – then SpaceX Starship Blew Up

Florida Emergency Alert on all the cellphones in Florida

I’ve been up today since, you guessed it… 4:48 AM. Thank you Florida state government Emergency Response Team.

The governor is pissed. So am I and a lot of others throughout Florida because the alarm went out to every cellphone in the state.

But, I’ll bet the coffee companies are happy because of the millions of Floridians that couldn’t go back to sleep and just got up and got coffee. We’ll need some more between 2 and 3 PM this afternoon to stay awake beyond dinner.

Officials apologize after ‘Emergency Alert’ test sent in ‘error.’

Typically, only a few agencies have the ability to request and send out emergency notifications to cell phones, and they’re usually for imminent situations, such as severe weather warnings, an AMBER Alert for a missing child, public safety alerts, or a national emergency.

Hours later, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) apologized for the incident in a tweet, and said the Emergency Alert System (EAS) notification was part of a monthly test, but that it was supposed to air on TV, not cell phones.

Florida Governor DeSantis’ press secretary @BryanDGRiffin says “party responsible” for 4:45 a.m. emergency alert will be fired, “This morning’s 4:45AM SERT test alert was not appropriate and not done at our direction. The party responsible will be held accountable and appropriately.”

Twitter is Lit Up

“ICYMI: Florida‘s got its feathers ruffled today because at 4:45am the EAS decided to send a TEST to our phones. All of our phones. All of them. We are grumpy.”

“To whoever decided to do a test of Florida’s Emergency Alert System at 4:45 a.m.: I hope you step on a Lego. Jerk.”

“On the night my sister’s six-month-old was actually sleeping through the night for the first time. She’s out for blood.”

“The only thing the state of Florida achieved with this 4:43am emergency alert test was helping people find out how to turn alerts off, probably at the expense of all other alerts including AMBER alerts.”

And Then… the Cool Huge Rocket Blew Up

SpaceX Starship launches
SpaceX Starship blows up at about a minute into the launch just as it tried to separate stages.
SpaceX Starship blows up at about a minute into the launch just as it tried to separate stages.

The giant rocket started to spin weirdly and wiggle, then… BOOM!

Geek wording for an explosion of SpaceX Starship today: “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX said in a statement on Twitter.

I just want to go back to sleep at this point.

Rory McIlroy throws fan’s remote-controlled golf ball into water

Rory McIlroy was in no mood for hijinks on Saturday.

During the third round of the BMW Championship, a fan dropped a remote-controlled golf ball on the 15th green where McIlroy and Scott Stallings were putting and tried to get it into the hole.

He was quickly thwarted by the Northern Irishman, who knocked the ball away with his putter twice before losing his patience and lobbing it into a nearby pond.

nypost.com/2022/08/21/rory-mcilroy-throws-fans-remote-controlled-golf-ball-in-pond/

Tour de France crash 2021: fan avoids jail amid court case

The spectator behind one of the biggest pile-ups in Tour de France history appeared in court charged with injuring dozens of riders but seemed set to avoid jail after prosecutors demanded a suspended sentence.

The 31-year-old French woman, whose identity was withheld after she was targeted by a torrent of online abuse, has already told prosecutors of being ashamed at her “stupidity” for causing what some dubbed the “worst crash ever seen”in the famous race.

Wearing a blue sweater, she fled the scrum of journalists waiting at the courthouse in Brest, in western France.

But the presiding judge rejected a request by her lawyer to have the trial held behind closed doors.

While jail time was a real possibility, the prosecution requested that she be given a four-month suspended sentence on the charges of endangering lives and causing unintentional injuries.

Under French law she could have faced a fine of up to 15,000 euros ($AUD23,00) and a year in prison for the charges.

Prosecutor Solenn Briand acknowledged that she had recognised “how dangerous” her conduct had been and had expressed regret.

— Read on www.news.com.au/sport/cycling/twist-in-case-of-fan-who-caused-worst-crash-ever-seen-in-tour-de-france/news-story/3448e9c7c1040ea0e253eb2632f22278

Brownie Bytes doesn’t agree with this outcome. Turning the perpetrator into the victim is ridiculous. She caused real harm by her foolish actions to get attention. A slap on the wrist and suspended sentence is morally wrong and sends a message to her and foolish fans that anything goes at races.

Tour de France fan who caused huge opening day crash goes on trial – France 24

Ouest-France reported the charges include a possible one-year jail sentence.

The hits keep coming for the spectator, with the professional cyclists union also taking legal action against her to pursue compensation for the injured riders.

Four riders were unable to continue in the second stage of the event as a result of injuries they sustained in the crash. 26 riders in total were listed as injured in the Tour’s official record.

The CPA released a statement to announce it is seeking symbolic compensation of $1.50 (one euro).

Tour de France fan who caused huge opening day crash goes on trial
— Read on http://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211014-tour-de-france-fan-who-caused-huge-opening-day-crash-goes-on-trial

Delete Chrome Now

Your privacy is compromised.

A new tracking admission from Google, one that hasn’t yet made headlines, should be a serious warning to Chrome’s 2.6 billion users. If you’re one of them, this nasty new surprise should be a genuine reason to quit.

www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2021/08/28/stop-using-google-chrome-on-windows-10-android-and-apple-iphones-ipads-and-macs/

Tour de France spectator who caused crash with sign in Stage 1 arrested

The fan still has not been publicly identified.

Officials in the Brittany region of France have reportedly arrested a fan wanted in connection with a massive crash at the Tour de France. 

The fan held up a large cardboard sign while stepping out into the path of oncoming cyclists on Saturday, the first day of the multi-day race. Video of the race shows the woman was looking toward cameras and away from the pack of riders. 

Her sign read “go grandma and grandpa” in French. 

The sign hit one of the riders near the front of the pack. The cyclist fell, leading to more crashes as riders behind him fell.

The crash was significant, taking down or slowing down dozens of riders. The race was held up for several minutes as bicycles and people were detangled.

— Read on www.cbssports.com/general/news/tour-de-france-spectator-who-caused-crash-with-sign-in-stage-1-arrested/

Tour de France 2021: Fan with sign causes major crash; what does ‘allez opi-omi’ mean?

BrownieBytes Take: Typical idiot spectator trying to get a selfie with a sign causes a disaster crash on the first day. Arrest her! The stupid sign had something to do with her grandparents. Dox the idiot. Her actions wrecked a professional cyclist that has trained for years for this race and she stole that time and effort. As a former racer, nothing makes me more angry than a selfish spectator.

Jasha Sütterlin was forced to withdraw from the race due to an injury sustained in the crash, according to @LeTour.

Most riders were able to continue on after the sign incident, but Jasha Sutterlin had to leave the race because of the crash, according to NBC Sports. 

The Tour de France tweeted later that while it is happy to have spectators on hand to take in the race, it wanted fans to “respect the safety of the riders” and not to “risk everything for a photo or to get on television.”

Sporting News

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/athletics/news/tour-de-france-2021-fan-sign-crash-allez-opi-omi/r230uew3fe7n15v3eyfbd353o

What’s the Deal With All Those Shady ‘We Buy Houses’ Signs?

We Buy Houses - Sellers Beware

You’ve probably spotted the signs around your neighborhood: “We buy houses,” “Cash for homes,” or “Sell us your home as/is!” You may have even groaned at how pervasive they’ve become.

If so, you’re not alone. These signs, which come from real estate investment groups that scoop up houses across the country — often paying 10% or more below the market value — are becoming more and more common in today’s hot real estate market.

The goal? Flip each house into a more expensive property, or turn it into a rental unit.

Real estate investors are offering cash for homes in just about any neighborhood in any part of the U.S. these days, no matter the condition of the property, says Nick Bailey, chief customer officer at RE/MAX. In January 2021, median existing home prices jumped to $303,900 — 14.1% higher than last year, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). For investors, who strive to purchase homes below the market value and sell for the highest price possible, “are getting more attention … because it’s easier to buy and flip when prices are going up,” Bailey says.

With home prices rising, homeowners might be tempted to sell their homes quickly, especially if they’ve lost their jobs or are under financial strain from COVID-19. And since most homeowners don’t realize how much their homes are worth, or that a few repairs could up its value for a relatively low cost, an information gap is adding fuel to the fire, according to Eric Sussman, an adjunct real estate professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

Is selling your home to an investment group always a bad idea? Not necessarily, real estate experts say. But you need to proceed with caution.

See More [ Money Magazine ]

Shocking Moment 235ft Superyacht Worth $120M Smashes into Dock after ‘Computer Malfunction’

The superyacht, worth $120 million, was caught on video slowly crashing into the dock, in Simpson Bay, St Maarten on Wednesday.

Superyacht Go, which is fitted with a helipad, a steam room, a swimming pool and its own hospital, ploughed into the wooden pier, broke apart the wooden jetty and a concrete wall.

In one video, an onlooker can be heard saying “oh my God” repeatedly as the vessel crashed into the pier.

Inside the NSA’s Secret Tool for Mapping Your Social Network | WIRED

Edward Snowden revealed the agency’s phone-record tracking program. But thanks to “precomputed contact chaining,” that database was much more powerful than anyone knew.
— Read on www.wired.com/story/inside-the-nsas-secret-tool-for-mapping-your-social-network/