NEW YORK, 12:45 AM, FRI MAY 16 | 59 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@gizmodo.com | SUBMIT A TIP | RSS
UK | FR | NL | IT | DE | ES | JP | AU
Posts Tagged “

Accident

tasers

Policeman Tases Guy, Sets His Pants on Fire

Ok, we know bad things can happen when the general public use tasers, but cops tasing a guy and setting him on fire? No... really? Apparently the 31-year-old in question was causing a disturbance in an apartment in Hamilton, Ontario, recently, and three police officers attended. Whatever happened after that, the police ended up firing a taser at him. Unfortunately when the high-voltage device went off some sort of flammable object in his pants waistband caught fire. He sustained burns to his hands and thigh, and had to be taken to hospital. Ouch. Someone at some point must've started saying "Liar! Liar! Pants..." [Danger Room]

bad luck or bad design

Priest Takes Off Using Party Balloons, GPS to Find God (Literally)

When he was a boy, Father de Carli had the same dream that most kids have: jump off the ground and reach for the sky. But when he grew up, instead of taking flight lessons, he literally did that. He jumped and flew with the help of a thousand party balloons. His first try was a success, traveling 68 miles for 4 hours and 15 minutes. His second, however, has probably ended in disaster—after he took off with a GPS that he didn't know how to use. More »

rockets

Shepherd Sues Russian Space Agency For Dropped Rocket Debris

Boris Urmatov, a Russian shepherd, is claiming $42,000 (that's one million roubles) from Roskosmos for dropping a 10-foot-long chunk of rocket in his yard. Apparently it just missed his outdoor toilet— we're hoping he wasn't in there at the time. The poor chap's village in the Altai region lies beneath the flight path of rockets launched from the Cosmodrome at Baikonur, so he may actually have a case. The space agency seems relaxed about it all: according to a spokesman "They fly, they fall, they fly, they fall. It's how they work." More »

bombing tulsa

F-16 Pilot Drops Bomb on Tulsa, Accidentally

So, ok, everyone makes a mistake sometimes, but few of us have ever dropped a bomb from our fighter jet by accident, as happened late last week in Tulsa. Luckily, it was a dummy practice bomb, filled with nothing more exciting than a smoke charge, and apparently it wasn't the pilot's fault. But it did still drop right through one guy's apartment. Miraculously no one was hurt, though the unlucky guy himself is still a little amazed by it all: More »

videos

Why Cheap Wiimote Add-ons May Be a Bad Idea

Perhaps Nintendo has a point when it refused Lucas Arts' permission to develop a bat-like lightsaber attachment for the Wiimote. After all, when you place the controller inside stuff like the 10 insane Wii weapons or a sword and a shield or a billiard cue or a boxing glove, it makes it hard to attach the safety strap to your wrist. And when you have no safety strap, you have what we see above.

high impact

Impact Jackets (a.k.a. Wearable Airbags) Finally Make It to the US, and Are Immediately "Tested"

Impact Jackets, originally designed to save Japanese construction workers from long falls by inflating prior to impact, have finally made it to the United States. Only instead of construction workers, it's our motorcyclists that seem to be reaping the benefits. And it didn't take too long to see some results. More »