I suppose if you wanted to kill yourself there are hundreds of different ways to do it, but did you know that in Japan - who’s suicide rate is high, the most popular method of killing one’s self is to leap to their death.

Sorry, that wouldn’t be my first choice!

I guess this choice of suicide is dangerous for pedestrians as well. In April an 18 year old woman jumped to her death from a nine story Tokyo building. Unfortunately she landed on a 60 year old pedestrian who was walking by at the time. Luckily he only suffered bruises. Same for a 27 year old man who was landed on by a 39 year old jumper in May 2000. This last event also happened in Tokyo so I guess if your visiting the city stay away from high buildings!

A recent ruling by a New York State judge might make sightings of people parachuting off of tall buildings a little more common.

Apparently, the New York Judge believes that parachuting off the Empire State Building is dangerous, but only to the jumper. He’s ruled that it’s not first degree reckless endangerment and dismissed charges against Jebb Corliss who was charged last spring when he tried to hit the silk from the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State building.

When the judge made his ruling he said that lawyers would have to have shown that Corliss was a death risk to someone other than himself in order for the charge of reckless endangerment to hold. Corliss has been successful parachuting from a number of structures including Paris’ Eiffel Tower.

This past October, a Doberman Pinscher in Vancouver, Washington, named Victoria jumped up onto an electric stove and accidentally nudged a switch that started a fire in the apartment that she lived in. Damage to the apartment resulted in about $100,000 damage.

This is the second time this year that Victoria has jumped on the stove and started a fire. The first fire caused less damage.

Alright .. Do they get rid of the dog or should they replace the stove? Yeah, a dog shouldn’t be jumping on the stove, but I also don’t think that the stove should be that easy to switch on.

Would you take a dive for $20?

PALMETTO, Fla.: How far would you go for 20 bucks? Mark Giorgio jumped off a 50-foot bridge to retrieve a wayward 20. Giorgio was counting his money while walking across a bridge over the Manatee River in Florida. A 20-dollar bill blew out of his hand and over the rail. He followed.

Giorgio plunged into the water 50-feet below, then had to swim 100 yards, but he did get his soggy 20. He was fished from the water by a passing Florida fish-and-game officer.

Giorgio tells the Sarasota Herald-Tribune “hell, yeah” it was worth it. He says 20 bucks is a lot of money when you’re broke.

Long distance lottery winner
Norway: Gunvor Pedersen is getting good news from her native Norway, she’s a millionaire. Pedersen won one and a-quarter million dollars in Norway’s national lottery. But Norwegian officials had no idea where to find her. Pederson moved to the U-S in 1964 and lives on New York’s Long Island. But she’s returned to Norway every summer for a visit, buying a single lottery ticket each trip.

After the story of the missing winner was carried by Norwegian media, friends suspected it could be Pedersen. And it was. Despite her recent good luck, Pedersen isn’t interested in playing the New York lotto. She says she’ll stick with her one Norwegian lottery ticket a year.