It's been quite a week for news. In a strange twist of fate, the Associated Press reported on Monday that Pecos Bill and Slue Foot Sue passed away within a day of each other. Betty Taylor, 91, who played the leading lady in Disneyland's famed Golden Horseshoe Revue stage show, helped to make it one of the longest running shows in history according to Disneyland Resort's president, George Kalogridis. Taylor, who died on Saturday, was preceded the day before by her long running co-star Wally Boag who played Sue's sweetheart on the Golden Horseshoe Revue stage for nearly 30 years. Boag died in California while Taylor passed away a day later in Washington state.

Boag's style and comedic timing was an inspiration to many modern comedians, especially Steve Martin, who recognizes him as a mentor. Before joining the revue, Boag worked with many leading ladies in films during the 1940s. Taylor led a band before the Disneyland gig which eventually led to performances for the USO, special events and even a performance for then-President Richard Nixon and his family at the White House.Fortunately in England, three volunteers during a hypnosis show were grateful their performer hypnotist Danny Days only knocked himself out and didn't die during the event. Days tripped over one of his volunteer's legs as he was beginning to bring the three out of a trance resulting in his being knocked unconscious. The audience at first thought it was part of the show, but they were probably clued in when asked to leave the theater that something was amiss.Days was only unconscious for a few minutes and after recovering he continued to bring his volunteers out of the trances. It should be noted just from an informational point of view that if Days was unconscious for a long period of time, his subjects would have eventually either woken up on their own or fallen asleep waking several minutes later. A hypnotic subject cannot be trapped in a trance as it is simply a concentrated trip in his or her imagination. If the guide, the hypnotist, is prevented from continuing the lack of direction will naturally bring a normal person out of a trance. The only lasting injury Days suffered was to his ego according to his manager.In Farmington, CT it was not an accidental trip that injured a man in need of attention. Instead it was the man himself or probably more the alcohol 21-year-old Daniel Vagnini ingested before speeding through a stop sign narrowly missing another car. The police eventually found the young drunkard in the forest nearby where he claimed he was drinking in Hartford, assaulted and blacked out only to recover right before they found him.During their investigation, the police determined Vagnini's attacker was himself. Apparently to avoid the reckless driving charge, our 21-year-old moron punched himself in the face, tore his shirt and threw his keys and wallet in the river. My favorite part is that last special touch, namely throwing away your wallet with presumably his identification, credit cards and such as well as his keys. I panic when I leave my wallet in a different pair of pants. I cannot imagine actually losing it. It would take a month to straighten the mess that would create out. All to avoid a drunk driving charge.This one should make those of us with mortgages chuckle. How would you like to foreclose on a bank? That's exactly what St. Petersburg, Florida homeowners Warren and Maureen Nyerges did last week. In 2009, the couple purchased a foreclosure from the Bank of America in cash. Later Bank of America, apparently not satisfied with chasing legitimate debtors, foreclosed on the Nyerges property. After a $2,534 court battle, the Nyerges proved the bank was not owed any money so the court required Bank of America to pay the attorney fees. As you would expect, the bank ignored the settlement so Mr. Nyerges wrangled some deputies and served a foreclosure notice ON THE BANK. His plan was to take possession of their furniture to satisfy the debt. Within an hour, the bank paid $5,772, the full amount they owed to Nyerges to get him out of the bank paying the original debt and all of the court fees.This reminds me of a computer my brother bought years ago that malfunctioned from the day we brought it home. Being in the IT business, I knew right away it was the machine that was faulty. We took it back to an unnamed and now out of business computer store and they tried to give us the runaround instead of a refund. They realized the error of trying to outsmart two smart aleck college kids when other customers came in and we voluntarily explained why we were hanging out in a computer store waiting for the CEO to sign a refund check because their computers don't work. The check came within a half hour.It's rare that I'm impressed by a scumbag thief but this guy has some kind of talent. Twenty three year old Steven Long of South Daytona decided to score a television for himself. A 59 inch widescreen television. His getaway vehicle? A bicycle. Yes, a bicycle, and apparently his getaway was proceeding quite well until he panicked after spotting a police officer. His nerves led to him ditching the bike on which he had been riding with the TV wedged between the handlebars and his body. While impressive our television thief faces several charges including felony theft. If only he had a bigger vehicle that went faster and had more room.Til next time…