I think this FoxNews story speaks for itself:

Woman Shoots Herself While Trying to Kill Mice
Tuesday, July 08, 2008

POTTER VALLEY, Calif. — A Mendocino County woman who was trying to kill mice in her trailer with a gun ended up shooting herself and another person.

The 43-year-old woman pulled out her .44-caliber Magnum revolver after she saw the mice scurrying across the floor of her trailer on Highway 20 in Potter Valley, sheriff's officials said.

But she accidentally dropped the gun, which went off as it struck the floor. The bullet went through the woman's kneecap, bounced off the keys sitting on the belt loop of a 42-year-old man in the trailer and grazed the man's groin before ending up in his coin pocket.

Authorities did not release the shooting victims' names.

The mice escaped the shooting unharmed.

OK, maybe it does deserve some commentary. This could well be a good argument for gun control. Geesh! I thought it was kind of funny that they mentioned more than once that this couple lives in a trailer. Talk about your bad luck, she gets hit in the knee, which will probably be a life-affecting injury and her boyfriend/husband gets it in a place that could well end the physical side of their relationship.

This happened just a few miles from where I live. It is a sad statement on some of the residents of our county. We're not all like that, I promise. When I shoot mice with my .44, I hit them the first time.

7/10 Update:
According to this Press Democrat article the woman's name was Debra Due. The gentleman involved is apparently her tenant and not her boyfriend. The District Attorney's office is considering whether to file charges against Debra.

The Sheriff’s Office has submitted the case to the District Attorney’s Office, suggesting that Due be charged with negligent discharge of a firearm, Smallcomb said.

Smallcomb said there may be a lesson to be learned from the accident.

“I guess you don’t drink and shoot mice at the same time,” he said.

Good lesson Captain.

In case you thought that there wouldn't be any positive impacts from the new cell phone hands-free law, I offer this Los Angeles Times story as evidence of that impact. Apparently, an officer stopped a young man who was talking on his cell phone only to find out that the vehicle he was driving was stolen. Then the fun began.

The incident began shortly before 1 p.m. when an officer stopped a driver in his 20s near Santa Monica Boulevard and Rexford Drive after seeing him talk on his cellphone without a hands-free device, said Lt. Tony Lee, a Beverly Hills police spokesman.

When the officer ran a check on the white Ford Econoline van's license plate, he learned the vehicle had been reported stolen. As the officer got out of his patrol car to approach the van, the suspect drove off, heading west on Santa Monica.

"He was driving recklessly at a very high speed," Lee said.

The man hit at least two cars as he fled. Lee said he did not know if anyone was injured in the collisions but no fatalities were reported.

The man then drove south onto the northbound 405 Freeway at Wilshire, Lee said. California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles Police Department patrol officers and a helicopter joined the pursuit. The chase ended when the man got off the 405 at Olympic Boulevard and was surrounded, Lee said.

"You could tell he was nervous when he got pulled over," Lee said. "But this behavior is just not normal."

I bet that guy won't use his cell phone while driving again! At least not until he gets out of prison.

I thought this Santa Rosa Press Democrat story had the most original explanation for a fire that I've ever heard.

A small fire at the edge of a Windsor-area vineyard Wednesday afternoon was ignited by a hawk that perched on a power pole or related equipment and fell flaming to the ground, fire officials said Thursday.

The 4:54 p.m. fire on rural Pleasant Avenue burned up to two acres at the edge of the vineyard near Chalk Hill Road, Windsor Fire Capt. Dean Crothers said.

Some of the grapes were likely destroyed by excessive heat from the flames, he said.

But calm winds and good weather conditions helped keep the fire small, along with the help of a Cal Fire helicopter that dropped several enormous buckets of water on the fire, Crothers said.

I wonder if this is how my garage caught fire. Perhaps a cat shorted a transformer and fell onto my garage while in flames to start the fire. Works for me.

When we woke up this morning, it was snowing. The kids went out and played in it for a couple hours. They had a fun time. It stopped and transitioned to rain about 11am. Here's a picture I took this morning. Victoria has a snowball in her hand.

A Friend of Dave passed this one on. And here I thought this kind of research only happens in the US.

A Swedish university has received $590,000 in research funds to measure the greenhouse gases released when cows belch. About 20 cows will participate in the project run by the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, about 40 miles north of Stockholm, officials said Monday.

I read with disbelief this San Jose Mercury News story about a 19-year-old from Morgan Hill, who was arrested for driving under the influence three times over the Christmas season. On three separate occasions, he was caught, arrested and released for drunk driving.

To all the Friends of Dave, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! If you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or whatever other holiday you celebrate at this time of year. I'm going to try to spend more time with my family and less time with my laptop over the next week or so. I hope you can do the same.

I was so impressed with this Riverside Press Enterprise story about a mother whose daughter was suspended for a bullying incident. Instead of letting her daughter sit at home watching TV, making excuses for her or complaining to the school that her daughter was treated unfairly, she made her daughter stand in front of local schools holding a sign. The sign said, "I engaged in bullying behavior. I got suspended from school and this street corner. Don't be like me. Stop bullying."

When I saw this story about a study which found that "chocolate provides a buzz lasting up to four times as long as embracing the special person in our lives."

The volunteers, all in their 20s, took part in the experiment in an area designed to look like a place of work to create the impression of an office romance.

I'm not sure why, but this Yahoo News story just cracked me up. I think it is the great quotes from the guy. This story tells the tale of a drunken Australian who grabbed a shark out of the water. He attributed his poor decision making to his heavy vodka consumption. What made the story for me though, were these two quotes:

"He was just thrashing around in the water ... starting to turn around and try to bite me and I thought 'well, it's amazing what vodka does'," Kerkhof said.