Every once in a while, there is a news story that is both bizarre and tragic. In Spain, for example, a poacher shot a stag deer that was standing on an overhanging rock above him. Unfortunately he didn’t take the time to calculate where the deer might fall. It fell directly on him; he was killed instantly. (1)

Equally as bizarre and tragic was the story of a 22-year-old man who was killed when he tried to use occy straps (the stretchy little ropes with hooks on each end) to bungee jump off a 70-foot railroad trestle. According to police this young man taped a bunch of the small occy straps together, wrapped an end around one foot, anchored the other end to the trestle, jumped and hit the pavement. Why? The length of the cord that he had assembled was greater than the distance between the …