Thursday, December 1, 2011

Quick Hits

From a random walk around that interweb thingie...

Dog bites man - no big deal. Dog shoots man - now that's another story.
Dogs are man's best friend. Except, you know, when they're shooting a gun at you.

And strangely enough, that's what really happened to a hapless dog owner in Brigham City, Utah. The man in question ... got a behind-full of birdshot courtesy of his loyal canine companion when he was out duck hunting over the weekend.

KSL.com reports the man and his dog were traveling in a canoe-like boat when the man stepped out into a shallow marsh to set up some decoys. His left his 12-gauge shotgun resting across the bow of the boat, according to Box Elder County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Potter.

That's when the dog "did something to make the gun discharge," Potter said. "I don't know if the safety device was on. It's not impossible the dog could have taken it off safety."

Apparently excited to join his owner in the marsh, the dog jumped up on the boat's bow and stepped on the gun. The gun was fired, hitting the man in the buttocks with 27 pellets of birdshot.
I don't know about that. I guess it's possible that the dog could have bumped the safety, but IMO it's stretching things to suggest the dog somehow released the safety and then pulled the trigger. It's more likely that the hunter neglected to ensure the safety was on - or better yet, that the gun was unloaded. If so, he learned a lesson the hard way. He's lucky the only serious injury was to his pride.

If getting shot in the rear end doesn't make you cry, this next one surely will.

Whiskey Spills After Pickup, 18-Wheeler Collide On I-35
A pickup truck towing a travel trailer collided with an 18-wheeler in the southbound lanes of Interstate 35 just south of Loop 340 (outside of Waco, TX.).

The 18-wheeler was carrying a load of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

No one was hurt, but some whiskey spilled as a result of the crash.

Waco firefighters responded to clean up the liquor.
I'll just bet they did - equipped with sponges and highball glasses.

Finally, we have another entry in our ongoing series of Why Professors Drink (here and here). Final exams are approaching, and the requests for special treatment have begun. From today's in-box:
"I'm not going to be in town on the day of the test. Is there anyway I can take the test tomorrow or yesterday?"
If you can figure out a way to take the test yesterday, I'll be happy to let you do so...

2 comments:

Bear said...

Regarding the dog... My trusty turkey and goose gun has the safety placed on the top edge of the trigger guard, directly behind the trigger. I'd think it was entirely possible for a dog to step on the safety and engage the trigger with one of its footpads. That said, I'm always amazed at the number of hunters I encounter that leave the safety off. Which was the cause in this case we'll probably never find out.

Regarding your students... Wow.

If indeed the safety was off already, can we blame Daddy for both of these incidents?

p.s. I was sorry to hear of the passing of the bottles of Mr. Daniel's special elixir. May they rest in peace.

CenTexTim said...

Bear, I'll defer to your shotgun expertise, although I still think he shouldn't have left a shell chambered while he was setting his decoys.