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VIDEO: First 'Unassisted' Backflip By A Car?

Driving a modified Mini Cooper Countryman, French rally driver Guerlain Chicherit has successfully pulled off what's said to be the first "unassisted" backflip by a car.

The unassisted part, as The Christian Science Monitor says, means Sunday's trick was done using a "static ramp" that didn't move. Others, the Monitor reports, have done backflips in cars — "but with the aid of special ramps with special moving elements to boost the car's rotational movement."

Agence France Presse has the video, as do many others. The Two-Way's legal department suggests we remind everyone: Do not try this at home.

By the way, the video reminds this blogger of the many appearances many years ago at the Cattaraugus (N.Y.) County Fair by Joie Chitwood and his team of stunt drivers. No, they didn't do backflips. But they did drive into a cannon that seemed to blast their cars into the air. And how did they drive all the way around the track on two wheels?

Please tell me someone else out there remembers the Chitwood shows.

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Fictional 'Mothers' Reveal Facts Of A Painful Adoption Process

After years trying to conceive, novelist Jennifer Gilmore and her husband decided to adopt. What they thought would be a relatively simple process was instead a long and painful one. In her latest novel, Gilmore channels these autobiographical experiences into fiction.
NPR

In Raw Milk Case, Activists See Food Freedom On Trial

Activists say the case against Wisconsin dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger is about raw milk — and much more. His supporters have turned the case into a rallying cry for personal food freedom and the rights of farmers and consumers to enter into private contracts without government intervention.
NPR

Lois Lerner's Brief And Awful Day On Capitol Hill

The IRS bureaucrat showed up long enough at a House hearing into the scandal engulfing her agency to declare her innocence and her constitutional right to say no more.
NPR

How That 'Nigerian Email Scam' Got Started

You've probably seen it in your inbox before: Someone who claims to have come into a fortune needs your help. You can share in the profits — if you send along a deposit or your bank account number. Boston Globe correspondent Finn Brunton talks about the history of the "Nigerian prince" or "419" scam, which actually got its start long before email.

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