Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Prosperity Gospel Church's Financial Woes Force them to Sell Private Jet


This is an older story, and one that I wish I'd been aware of in time to include it in Schadenfreude, Baby!

The headline alone should explain it all:

Financial Woes Force Church to Sell Private Jet.

The church preached the "Prosperity Gospel." Prosperity churches are based on the idea that success in business or personal life is evidence of God's love.

No word on whether they were planning on using the private jet to get a camel through the eye of a needle.

Friday, July 25, 2008

The Book of My Enemy

Books,computers and cars all share one trait. Their value plummets quickly after their initial release. (Please buy a copy of Bad Predictions for $5.00!)

While seeing a book you labored over for months or years relegated to the remainder bin is an author's misfortune, Clive James notes it's kind of a kick when it's someone else's book.

In fact, he was inspired enough by his literary schadenfreude to write a poem about it in his new book Opal Sunset. The New York Times printed the entire poem, but here is an excerpt:

The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I am pleased.
In vast quantities it has been remaindered.
Like a van-load of counterfeit that has been seized
And sits in piles in a police warehouse,
My enemy’s much-praised effort sits in piles
In the kind of bookshop where remaindering occurs...

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

This Day in Schadenfreude History

July 2 1982- In case you needed any convincing, here are some reasons not to travel by lawn chair. Once you strap the 42 helium balloons to your lawn chair you might find that you travel to high, too fast. When you get into the upper atmosphere, you might find it hard to breathe, and a bit chilly for a lawn chair. And when you try to shoot some of the balloons down with your pellet gun, you might drop it, and only manage to take out a few of the balloons. You might then find yourself drifting into some power lines and blacking out over a Long Beach Neighborhood before crashing onto someone's driveway. And then the FAA might give you a fine of $1,500. At least that is what happened to Larry Walters when he tried it.

Learn How To Fly - 5th dimension