Oddity Central |
- The Angel of the Gap – Australian Man Living Near a Cliff Saved 160 People from Suicide by Striking Up a Conversation
- Chinese Fast-Food Stall Owner Hires Buff Male Model to Flip Burgers, Makes a Killing
- What a Way to Go – Man Wants to Be Buried in Giant Whiskey Bottle
| Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:04 AM PDT For nearly 50 years, Don Ritchie saved the lives of people who were on the verge of suicide. During his lifetime, he managed to stop 160 people from plunging to their deaths at Australia's most famous suicide point – a cliff called 'the Gap' – with just a kind word and a smile. Although he passed away a couple of years ago at age 85, he is still fondly remembered as 'the Angel of the Gap'. Ritchie was an extraordinary gentleman who deliberately chose to live right across the street from The Gap, just so he could continue saving lives. He would wake up every morning and look out of the window for "anyone standing too close to the precipice." If he saw someone and thought they might jump, he would simply walk over with his palms facing up, smile, and say: "Is there something I could do to help you?" That sounds incredibly simple, but the trick worked – Ritchie managed to strike a conversation with these people and ended up inviting them back to his house for tea or breakfast. "And that was all that was often needed to turn people around, and he would say not to underestimate the power of a kind word and a smile," said his daughter Sue Ritchie Bereny.
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| Chinese Fast-Food Stall Owner Hires Buff Male Model to Flip Burgers, Makes a Killing Posted: 06 Aug 2014 02:34 AM PDT While good food might sell itself, there's nothing like some good ol’ 'ripped' charm to boost sales. The owner of a Chinese fast-food stall is using this fact to his advantage. In a brilliant marketing move, he recently employed a muscular male model to flip and sell burgers to his customers. The humble stall has now become a hit with the ladies, sales are through the roof and he's making a killing! Wang Meng, who owns a small food stall at a night market in Shenyang city, said that he decided to employ a man known as 'John' because of his impressive physique. John doesn't speak much Chinese, but Meng seems to have made up for that by having John flip hamburgers topless. After all, there’s no language like body-language. Meng said he specifically chose hamburgers because he didn't really want to challenge his new chef's culinary skills (or lack thereof).
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| What a Way to Go – Man Wants to Be Buried in Giant Whiskey Bottle Posted: 06 Aug 2014 01:09 AM PDT It's not unusual for people to choose their coffins before they die, but 48-year-old Anto Wickham's choice is a rather strange one. He's gone and spent $50,000 on a 10-foot casket shaped like a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey. Well, the shape of the coffin might be bizarre, but Wickham, a former soldier, has a pretty valid reason for choosing it. After witnessing the death of eight Army pals during the Iraq war, he began to plan his own funeral – he decided he wants it to be a celebration, rather than a mourning. "While working in Iraq I had a very close call," said Wickham, who spent 22 years with the Royal Irish Regiment. "Over a 28-day period in February 2007, I was attacked 74 times and there were some days we would get three or four hits in one day. I was attacked by heavy machine gun fire, IEDs and roadside bombs."
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