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Authors: Uncle John’s
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in the hole, and its failure put 1,100 people out of work.
Flooz.com (1998–2001)
Great Idea: Start a new form of Internet currency and hire Whoopi Goldberg as spokesperson. With an A-list celebrity endorser on hand, Flooz founder Robert Levitan was able to wrangle $35 million from investors and line up 30 “e-tailers,” including Barnes & Noble and Tower Records. Shoppers could earn “Flooz credits” (like airline miles) and then use the Flooz to buy real stuff at participating merchants.
Fatal Flaw: There already was a form of Internet currency…called “money.” Traded in the form of “credit,” this money was backed by federal agencies and large private banks. Flooz, as far as customers were concerned, was backed by Whoopi Goldberg. (And much of the investment money Levitan generated was used to pay her.) As online shopping became safer in 2000 thanks to encryption software and firewalls, online shoppers preferred to buy directly from the store rather than through a third party. When the company went bankrupt, all existing Flooz credits were nullified and non-refundable. “I am going to cry,” grumbled one former Flooz holder. “I lost about $350. I have a good mind to write to Whoopi Goldberg!”
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ON THE JOB
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I n May 2008, Charles Habib, a laborer with John Roth Paving Pavemasters in New Castle, Pennsylvania, was awaiting a delivery of asphalt with his coworkers when someone found a bowling ball near the parking lot they were repaving. The men had shot-putting contests with the ball for a while, then someone put up a challenge to see if one of them could break the bowling ball with a sledgehammer. Habib grabbed a sledgehammer and cracked the ball with the first blow. The crew foreman spoke up at this point, telling Habib to knock it off, and that he wouldn’t be taking him to the hospital if he was injured. Habib smashed the ball again anyway, and a piece of the ball broke off—and flew straight into his right eye, cutting the eyeball. He required immediate surgery (no word on whether or not the foreman drove him to the hospital), and, worst of all: Habib eventually lost all sight in the eye. (Habib also lost his bid to get workers’ compensation for the on-the-job bowling ball–smashing injury.)
When real estate agent Peter Collard arrived at the six-bedroom house he was trying to sell in Brisbane, Australia, in 2010, he was horrified to discover that half of the yard was dug up and 10palm trees had been ripped out of the ground. Next to the devastation were two confused-looking workmen and a backhoe. When Collard asked them what they doing, the men quickly loaded the backhoe onto the trailer and, without a word, drove away. According to police, they were digging a swimming pool, but due to an address mix-up, they were at the wrong house. Collard’s insurance company denied his claim for compensation. Cost of the repair: $20,000.
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant was shut down for about a week in 1986. Reason: Some of the plant’s employees were messing around and accidentally threw a rolled-up pair of gloves—a makeshift ball—into a backup safety tank.
On September 18, 1977, the Tennessee Valley Authority had to close its Knoxville nuclear power plant. The plant stayed shut for 17 days, at a cost of $2.8 million. Cause of the shutdown: “human error.” A shoe had fallen into an atomic reactor.
In September 1978, a sailor accidentally dropped a 75-cent paint scraper into the torpedo launcher of the nuclear sub USS Swordfish . The sub was forced to scrap its mission so repairs could be performed in dry dock. Cost to U.S. taxpayers: $171,000.
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THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD
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L ake Conemaugh, contained behind the South Fork Dam outside of Pittsburgh, was the private playground of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, organized in the 1870s by steel tycoon Henry Clay Frick as a retreat for the city’s upper crust. The club made several changes over the next decade that weakened
Flooz.com (1998–2001)
Great Idea: Start a new form of Internet currency and hire Whoopi Goldberg as spokesperson. With an A-list celebrity endorser on hand, Flooz founder Robert Levitan was able to wrangle $35 million from investors and line up 30 “e-tailers,” including Barnes & Noble and Tower Records. Shoppers could earn “Flooz credits” (like airline miles) and then use the Flooz to buy real stuff at participating merchants.
Fatal Flaw: There already was a form of Internet currency…called “money.” Traded in the form of “credit,” this money was backed by federal agencies and large private banks. Flooz, as far as customers were concerned, was backed by Whoopi Goldberg. (And much of the investment money Levitan generated was used to pay her.) As online shopping became safer in 2000 thanks to encryption software and firewalls, online shoppers preferred to buy directly from the store rather than through a third party. When the company went bankrupt, all existing Flooz credits were nullified and non-refundable. “I am going to cry,” grumbled one former Flooz holder. “I lost about $350. I have a good mind to write to Whoopi Goldberg!”
----
ON THE JOB
----
I n May 2008, Charles Habib, a laborer with John Roth Paving Pavemasters in New Castle, Pennsylvania, was awaiting a delivery of asphalt with his coworkers when someone found a bowling ball near the parking lot they were repaving. The men had shot-putting contests with the ball for a while, then someone put up a challenge to see if one of them could break the bowling ball with a sledgehammer. Habib grabbed a sledgehammer and cracked the ball with the first blow. The crew foreman spoke up at this point, telling Habib to knock it off, and that he wouldn’t be taking him to the hospital if he was injured. Habib smashed the ball again anyway, and a piece of the ball broke off—and flew straight into his right eye, cutting the eyeball. He required immediate surgery (no word on whether or not the foreman drove him to the hospital), and, worst of all: Habib eventually lost all sight in the eye. (Habib also lost his bid to get workers’ compensation for the on-the-job bowling ball–smashing injury.)
When real estate agent Peter Collard arrived at the six-bedroom house he was trying to sell in Brisbane, Australia, in 2010, he was horrified to discover that half of the yard was dug up and 10palm trees had been ripped out of the ground. Next to the devastation were two confused-looking workmen and a backhoe. When Collard asked them what they doing, the men quickly loaded the backhoe onto the trailer and, without a word, drove away. According to police, they were digging a swimming pool, but due to an address mix-up, they were at the wrong house. Collard’s insurance company denied his claim for compensation. Cost of the repair: $20,000.
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant was shut down for about a week in 1986. Reason: Some of the plant’s employees were messing around and accidentally threw a rolled-up pair of gloves—a makeshift ball—into a backup safety tank.
On September 18, 1977, the Tennessee Valley Authority had to close its Knoxville nuclear power plant. The plant stayed shut for 17 days, at a cost of $2.8 million. Cause of the shutdown: “human error.” A shoe had fallen into an atomic reactor.
In September 1978, a sailor accidentally dropped a 75-cent paint scraper into the torpedo launcher of the nuclear sub USS Swordfish . The sub was forced to scrap its mission so repairs could be performed in dry dock. Cost to U.S. taxpayers: $171,000.
----
THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD
----
L ake Conemaugh, contained behind the South Fork Dam outside of Pittsburgh, was the private playground of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, organized in the 1870s by steel tycoon Henry Clay Frick as a retreat for the city’s upper crust. The club made several changes over the next decade that weakened
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