What the Heck?! Thread (Closed)

[Franklin]

A Chinese tourist who lost his wallet went to the German police and they put him in a asylum hostel for 2 weeks because they mistakenly thought that he wanted to seek asylum.

A Chinese tourist spent nearly two weeks in a German migrant hostel after mistakenly applying for asylum when he actually wanted to report a theft.

German media say the 31-year-old backpacker, who spoke neither German nor English, underwent a medical check and his fingerprints were taken.

A Red Cross worker later found out that the man's wallet had been stolen in Stuttgart. But instead of going to the police the man registered as a migrant.

A Mandarin speaker solved the puzzle.

The translator was found at a Chinese restaurant near the migrant hostel where the tourist was staying, in Duelmen, near the west German city of Dortmund.

'Very helpless'

In early July the tourist arrived at the hostel on a bus with migrants, from Dortmund.

"He was so different from the others. Very, very helpless," said Red Cross worker Christoph Schluetermann.

A translation app confirmed Mr Schluetermann's suspicions that the tourist had got entangled in the asylum system by mistake.

"It came up with phrases like 'I want to go on a trip abroad'," he said. It emerged that the tourist had plans to visit Italy and France.

The man, from northern China, had calmly allowed the authorities to take away his passport and visa, and take his fingerprints.

He then had a medical check and was given the standard papers that migrants get on arrival in Germany. He had meals at the migrant hostel and received some spending money.

Mr Schluetermann said hostel staff made futile calls to various consulates, hoping to identify the tourist. An error over the man's visa caused further delay.

Finally his asylum application was stopped and he was able to continue his European tour.

According to German broadcaster WDR, the man did not get angry but left Germany saying simply that he had imagined Europe to be quite different.

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[solarz]

Free lodging and spending money for 2 weeks? Sounds like a good deal to me!

 

[Air Force Brat]

Married skydiver Luke Aikins become the first to jump 25,000 feet into a net without a parachute

• Aikins jumped 25,000 into a net Saturday evening in Simi Valley, California
• Found out he had to wear a parachute just hours before - but did not use it
• The skydiver, 42, has done more than 18,000 jumps and stunts in Ironman 3
• His four-year-old son and his wife both watched his record-breaking jump

An American skydiver has become the first of his trade to jump 25,000 feet into a net - without a parachute.

Luke Aikins, 42, completed the record-breaking stunt on Saturday evening in Simi Valley, California.

He hit the 100-by-100-foot net perfectly, quickly climbed out of it and walked over to hug his wife, who had been watching with other family members.

Just before climbing into a plane to make the jump, Aikins said he had been ordered to wear a parachute but indicated he wouldn't open it.

As the plane was climbing to 25,000 feet above the drop zone he said the requirement had been lifted and he took off the chute.

He fell for about two minutes, then flipped onto his back at the last second and landed perfectly to cheers from those gathered to watch.

Aikins had rehearsed the jump earlier in the week, aiming to land in a trawler-like fishing net 20 stories above the ground and about a third the size of a football field.

He has completed more than 18,000 jumps in the past and did stunts for the Ironman 3 movie.

Aikins said he found out about an hour before he was scheduled to jump on Saturday that the Screen Actors Guilt required him to wear a parachute.

He didn't elaborate but the jump was broadcast on Fox television as part of a one-hour TV special.

Aikins said wearing a chute would actually make it harder for him to properly put himself over the 100-foot-by-100-foot net.

He argued wearing a parachute would in fact make the jump more dangerous because he would have its canister on his back when he hit the net at about 120 miles per hour.

Aikins did however need an oxygen tank for the first 10,000 feet of the fall. He jumped with three other skydivers, one of whom was in charge to collect the discarded tank.

His jump was shown on television with a delay and a warning to viewers not to try this themselves.

'If I wasn't nervous, I would be stupid,' Aikins said before his jump.

He spoke with a grin as he sat near his landing spot earlier this week following a day of practice jumps — all made with a parachute.

Aikins planned to jump with three other skydivers: one carrying a camera, another trailing smoke so people on the ground can follow his descent, the third ready to collect the oxygen tank.

The other three were to open their chutes at 5,000 feet, leaving Aikins alone with no one to hand him a chute in midair as has been done before.

When his friend Chris Talley came up with the idea two years ago, Aikins turned it down cold.

'I kind of laugh and I say, "Ok, that's great. I'll help you find somebody to do it. But it's not for me. I've got a wife and son, and it's really not for me.'''

A couple of weeks later he changed his mind.

Talley, who'd worked with Aikins on other projects and was helping Amusement Park Entertainment pitch a show to Fox, said Aikins is the only skydiver he's confident can actually pull this off.

Aikins made his first tandem jump when he was 12, following with his first solo leap four years later. He's been racking them up at several hundred a year ever since.

His father and grandfather were skydivers, and his wife, Monica, has made 2,000 jumps. His family owns Skydive Kapowsin near Tacoma, Washington.

His father, two brothers, his sister, his wife and their four-year-old son all planned to watch him jump Saturday at an old movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley. His mother won't be there.

'My mom supports me. She doesn't support this project,' he said with a sheepish smile.

'To me, I'm proving that we can do stuff that we don't think we can do if we approach it the right way.'

Source:

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"STTTOOOOOPPPPIIIIIDDDD", and yes Stoney is right, he will be depleting his "gene pool"! What did he prove, only that some perfectly healthy happy people have to prove once in a while that "STOOPID" is alive and well.

While some risk taking is fun and enjoyable, I am a firm believer in "risk management", while his jump was successful this time, its only a matter of time before he "steps in a big pile of something" or maybe I should have said "falls in it?".

 

[taxiya]

Free lodging and spending money for 2 weeks? Sounds like a good deal to me!

It may sound sinister, but I think he did it on purpose if he is not a total "idiot". He imagined that Europeans being very different (from Chinese). But still human from the same planet. How could he not figuring out it totally strange how the Germany "police" (he thought he went to the police station) treat a petty theft victim in that way? UNLESS, he knew everything from the beginning but opted to remain ambiguous and get the free meal.

 

[solarz]

It may sound sinister, but I think he did it on purpose if he is not a total "idiot". He imagined that Europeans being very different (from Chinese). But still human from the same planet. How could he not figuring out it totally strange how the Germany "police" (he thought he went to the police station) treat a petty theft victim in that way? UNLESS, he knew everything from the beginning but opted to remain ambiguous and get the free meal.

That's pretty much what I suspect as well. He's a backpacker. Two weeks of free lodging in a German town sounds like a backpacker's dream!

Of course, this is taking the cynical view. It's also entirely possible that it was just a mix-up. I'm guessing it took two weeks to sort things out because he was rather enjoying his stay and didn't make a fuss.

 

[Equation]

"STTTOOOOOPPPPIIIIIDDDD", and yes Stoney is right, he will be depleting his "gene pool"! What did he prove, only that some perfectly healthy happy people have to prove once in a while that "STOOPID" is alive and well.

While some risk taking is fun and enjoyable, I am a firm believer in "risk management", while his jump was successful this time, its only a matter of time before he "steps in a big pile of something" or maybe I should have said "falls in it?".

Not really, it tests the scientific performance of the netting system to give in just enough to stop his fall safely. Plus he has to calculate and plan precisely with his team of engineers to make sure the wind and weather will comply with their model testing and hours of practice on indoor sky diving tunnel. Over all I think it's pretty daring and neat, just like that one guy that successfully skydive near suborbital space with a special made suit.

 

[Blackstone]

Not really, it tests the scientific performance of the netting system to give in just enough to stop his fall safely. Plus he has to calculate and plan precisely with his team of engineers to make sure the wind and weather will comply with their model testing and hours of practice on indoor sky diving tunnel. Over all I think it's pretty daring and neat, just like that one guy that successfully skydive near suborbital space with a special made suit.

You forgot to mention the stunt was co-sponsored by a spatula company and a funeral home.

 

[taxiya]

Not really, it tests the scientific performance of the netting system to give in just enough to stop his fall safely. Plus he has to calculate and plan precisely with his team of engineers to make sure the wind and weather will comply with their model testing and hours of practice on indoor sky diving tunnel. Over all I think it's pretty daring and neat, just like that one guy that successfully skydive near suborbital space with a special made suit.

hehe, I take it that you are partially joking.

 

[Air Force Brat]

You forgot to mention the stunt was co-sponsored by a spatula company and a funeral home.

Hah! Hah! Hah!, I'm sticking with 99.99% pure STOOPID!

 

[Air Force Brat]

hehe, I take it that you are partially joking.

No, actually he and Equation are making a tandem jump next time, Equation hopes it will attract a few attractive babes!