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Guest	Post subject: Screwy commute Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2002 5:39 pm
	LEBANON JUNCTION, Ky. (AP) — Scores of cars and trucks got flat tires Monday along a 15-mile stretch of highway after an estimated 50,000 screws spilled onto the pavement. Police said no accidents or injuries were reported.<p>*** Let's see if we can anticipate all the inevitably bad headline puns that will fill U.S. newspapers tomorrow ...
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Phillip Blanchard	Post subject: Re: Screwy commute Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2002 5:47 pm
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 8342 Location: Bethesda, Md.	The only reason to use a story like that outside Kentucky would be to put a bad headline on it. It's not too late. Please make sure it doesn't happen.
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Phillip Blanchard	Post subject: Re: Screwy commute Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2002 8:36 am
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 8342 Location: Bethesda, Md.	So far:<p>Kentucky: When Screws Get Loose (New York Times)<p>Scores of tires flattened in 'screwy' highway accident (National Post of Canada)
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Bumfketeer	Post subject: Re: Screwy commute Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2002 11:12 am
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 3557 Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both	Only two reasons to use that story:<p>1. Paper has one of those "wacky news" features every day and needs an item to fill it.<p>2. Unusually cavernous news hole on slow news day.<p>Regarding No. 1, I don't think the item is interesting or funny.
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Phillip Blanchard	Post subject: Re: Screwy commute Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2002 12:07 pm
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 8342 Location: Bethesda, Md.	Over 150 pounds of nails on I-65 tie up traffic By BRIAN WALKER There was plenty of pop, but no snap or crackle early Monday morning as about 80 motorists had near simultaneous flat tires on I-65. About 50,000 screws were spilled onto the northbound lanes and shoulders of the roadway, authorities said. (The News Enterprise of Hardin County, Ky.)<p>***Forget the puzzling lead. Where did the headline writer get "nails"?***
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Bumfketeer	Post subject: Re: Screwy commute Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2002 12:18 pm
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 3557 Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both	Puzzling indeed. Oddly, I was just reading a Skeptical Inquirer article debunking chiropractors that had as a graphic a guy with the three Rice Krispies icons dancing on his spine.<p>Also regarding the hed: The fact that there were 50,000 screws seems far more interesting and creates a far more vivid picture than does the concept of "150 pounds" of them.<p>Of course, this is stretching the definition of "far more interesting."
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ADKbrown	Post subject: Re: Screwy commute Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2002 5:39 pm
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2002 12:01 am Posts: 1286 Location: Saranac Lake, N.Y.	<blockquote><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica ,sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp: Over 150 pounds of nails on I-65 tie up traffic ***Forget the puzzling lead. Where did the headline writer get "nails"?***<hr></blockquote><p>It's both wrong and dull. We can make fun of the "creative" heds, but it'd be hard to come up with something more boring than this one.
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