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April 25th, 2024

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Errant Butt-Dials | Dumb Luck

News of the Weird

By News of the Weird

Published Dec. 20, 2017

Errant Butt-Dials | Dumb Luck

The New York court system's former spokesman David Bookstaver, 59, is under investigation after accidentally admitting to a New York Post reporter in August that he "barely shows up to work." The incident happened after Bookstaver had talked with the reporter on his cell phone. Without realizing it, Bookstaver redialed the reporter's number, and the reporter listened in as Bookstaver talked with two other people about how little he works. The court system's inspector general is working with the district attorney's office on an inquiry, and two county officials are calling for Bookstaver to repay $149,900 of the "ill-gotten" taxpayer money. [New York Post, 9/7/2017]

Forklift driver Arron Hughes, 28, of Ruthin, Wales, England, has claimed the distinction of being the first person to successfully swim across the Hoover Dam reservoir on the border between Nevada and Arizona. The dam, which provides electricity and water to Las Vegas, has sucked in and killed 275 other swimmers. But Hughes, on a 37-hour bender during a bachelor party with 10 friends on Aug. 10, jumped in on a day when nine of the 10 hydroelectric turbines were not operating. "I just thought, let's do it ... so told the lads I was off. Got sucked in, well pushed by, the flow of the dam, so had to swim hard," Hughes noted. "It's a hell of a sight to see the dam from underneath." He credits his fearlessness to his Welsh upbringing. "I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie really," he said. Still, he couldn't escape the police waiting on the other side when he pulled himself out of the water. They fined him and sent him on his way. [Daily Post, 9/11/2017]

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