A small town police department in Minnesota will put a motorized lounge chair up for auction next week after it was seized in a drunk driving incident.
The black and blue leather lounge chair comes complete with stereo, footrest, cupholders, headlights, a nitrous oxide power boost system, drag racing-style steering wheel and a parachute.
Built on top of a riding lawnmower engine, the chair is decorated with stickers proclaiming “hell yeah it’s fast” and “I smoked your (expletive),” and can get up to speeds of around 24 kmph.
It was seized on Aug. 31, 2008 after Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 62, smashed it into a parked car on his way back from a local bar in Proctor, Minnesota.
Anderson told police the only reason he hit the car was because a girl jumped up on the chair.
“We cannot confirm or deny the story,” police chief Walter Wobig told AFP.
“The bottom line is it doesn’t get him off driving while intoxicated.”
Anderson, who Wobig called “a very nice guy,” had a blood alcohol level of 0.29 — more than three times the legal limit. And it wasn’t his first drunk driving arrest.
State law allows police to seize vehicles in drunk driving cases and either use them for official use or sell them once a conviction is obtained.
Wobig, who had seen Anderson driving the chair around town for a year or two prior to his arrest, decided it was only fair to treat the chair the same way he would treat a Corvette.
So he stuck it in his garage while Anderson’s case made its way through the courts.
Anderson pleaded guilty and the paper- work to transfer ownership to the police department should be completed soon, said Wobig, who plans to list the chair on eBay.
He’s not going to set a reserve price and won’t even hazard a guess at what the chair will bring in for his department. (AFP)
明尼蘇達州某小鎮警局下週將拍賣一張電動休閒椅,這張休閒椅因物主酒駕而遭警方扣押。
這張藍黑相間的休閒皮椅配備了立體音響、置腳踏板、杯架、頭燈、氧化亞氮動力輔助系統、拉桿式賽車方向盤和一副降落傘。
裝設在可坐式除草機上的這張椅子,椅身貼有寫著:「快到見鬼啦」和「我吸你的XX」的貼紙,其時速能高達每小時二十四公里左右。
二OO八年八月三十一日在明尼蘇達州普羅克托,六十二歲的丹尼斯.理洛伊.安德森駕著它從酒吧回家的路上,撞上停在路邊的一輛車,警方隨後扣押了這張椅子。
安德森對警方表示,他之所以撞上那輛車,是因為一位女子突然跳上椅子。
警局局長華特.沃畢格對法新社表示:「對於事發經過,我們不置可否。」
「重點是,這個理由也無法為他酒駕的事實脫罪。」
沃畢格形容安德森是一個「非常好的人」,當時他血液中的酒精濃度達0.29,是法定標準的三倍之多。而且這並非他第一次酒駕被捕。
該州法律賦予警方扣押酒駕車輛之權力,一旦駕駛被定罪,警方得將車輛移作公務車用或變賣。
安德森被捕前,沃畢格就看他駕著這張椅子在市區趴趴走了一兩年;他認為,唯有以處理一台雪佛蘭跑車的標準來處理這張椅子才是公平的。
因此,在法院審理安德森的官司期間,他把這張椅子暫放在他家車庫。
沃畢格說,安德森在法庭上認罪,該物件所有權轉移給警方的書面作業應會在短時間內完成;他計畫將它放上eBay拍賣。
他將不設定底標,也不願猜測這張椅子會替警局帶來多少收益。(法新社╱翻譯:袁星塵)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
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