Well, it has been an interesting week in the news. We learned that people who drink their coffee black have a higher chance of being psychopaths. A drunk baggage handler took an unexpected flight to Chicago when he passed out in the cargo hold of an American Airlines jet. A half-naked woman fell through the roof of a Tennessee restaurant. And in New Mexico, a dog shot his owner.
All in all, a pretty average week.
According to a study from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, people who drink their coffee black often display psychopathic or sadistic traits.
Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 adults, asking them about taste preferences for the coffee they drink. Participants also took four different personality tests examining personality traits like narcissism, aggression, sadism and psychopathy. The authors report that, “The results of both studies confirmed the hypothesis that bitter taste preferences are positively associated with malevolent personality traits, with the most robust relation to everyday sadism and psychopathy.”
I’d like to tie those researchers up and beat them with a broomstick. I drink my coffee black, and there is nothing wrong with me.
A baggage handler who works for American Airlines subsidiary Piedmont Airlines allegedly got drunk while working and took an unscheduled nap in the cargo hold of a plane he had been loading. It was one heck of a nap. He fell asleep in Kansas City, and woke up in Chicago. He was discovered at O’Hare International, and ended up being interrogated by a phalanx of law enforcement agencies.
They did not charge him with a crime and he flew back to Kansas City. He was not hurt, and he has been suspended pending an investigation. The airline did, however, charge him $75 for checking oversized luggage.
Cooks in a Kingsport, Tennessee barbecue restaurant were surprised when a woman who was naked from the waist down suddenly fell through the ceiling above them. They watched her catch herself, crawl back up into the ceiling and continue to crawl around above them. They did what any self-respecting cooks in a barbecue restaurant in Kingsport, Tennessee would do when a half-naked woman fell through the ceiling above them. They called the police.
Police had trouble locating her but were assisted in their search when she fell through the ceiling a second time and landed on the kitchen floor. She tried to escape through the dining room but was apprehended. It seems she was easy to identify, since she was the only one in the dining room who was not wearing pants.
No one knows why she was in the ceiling or why her trousers were not in attendance. She was lucky that she simply landed on the floor, and not on a grill or in a deep fryer. Those would’ve left a mark.
She was not apparently hurt, but I’m not sure about the cooks. I’ve seen her mugshot, and those guys are going to need some psychological support. Tennessee offers benefits for mental issues only when arising primarily out of a compensable physical injury or an identifiable work-related event resulting in a sudden or unusual stimulus. I’m not sure where the chips would fall, but having this particular woman fall through the ceiling would certainly be a sudden or unusual stimulus.
And finally in our roundup, A New Mexico man was shot in the back while sitting in his pickup truck while preparing to hunt jackrabbits. He quickly realized that he had been shot with his own shotgun, and that the perpetrator was his own dog.
He was traveling with his three hunting dogs, Charlie, Scooter, and Cowboy. Authorities have fingered Charlie as the triggerman. Scooter and Cowboy initially said they had “seen nuthin’.” They have since retained legal counsel and refused to speak with authorities.
Charlie maintains the shooting was an accident. He claims he got his paw caught in the trigger, and when he slipped off the seat the gun discharged.
The man was seriously injured, and very nearly died. He broke some of his ribs and shattered his collarbone. He was able to call 911 and was airlifted to a hospital.
The man, for his part, is standing by Charlie maintaining it was an accident. Others are not so sure. It is possible they were unhappy with their working conditions, or simply did not feel like working that day.
What is also unknown is how the dog Charlie takes his coffee. If we find he drinks it black, we will have a pretty good idea of the circumstances that led to the shooting.