Good deed tarnished by dishonesty
"On Thursday around midday, while driving past Sandringham village shops, I came across a man desperately picking up $20 bills from the centre median on the road," writes Harpreet. "Without thinking much I jumped out of my car and helped the man along with two residents who came out ... We handed all the $20 bills to the man, who was in his 50s with a long white beard and long hair. He claimed the money had blown out his truck and he was a tradie. I assumed it was a cash job. As he drove off I scanned the road and found a wallet with a NZ driving licence. There was also address information in the wallet and it was not far away so I dropped it in letter box with my mobile number. Thirty minutes later a guy named Pascal called me to say thanks for the wallet. He explained he was helping an old lady with groceries and forgot to pick up his wallet from his car roof and drove off and he lost $600! Then I realised I'd helped a dishonest tradesman driving a small white truck with signage starting with letter 'B', to steal this money. I was not vigilant enough to get his rego. If he's reading this I have a message: 'Hey man, no matter if you are going to feed your kids or drinking booze from that hard-earned money of someone else, karma will hunt you.'"
Titanic theories go on and on ...
"One of the more bizarre conspiracy theories that remains to this day concerns the switching of the Titanic with her near identical sister ship the Olympic," writes Gary Bridger of Greenlane. "Prior to Titanic's fateful maiden voyage in April 1912. The story goes that the Olympic had been involved in a collision in 1911 and deemed too damaged to remain profitable. The White Star Line decided to switch the then two largest moving objects in the world when they were together in port. Once switched, they would send the Olympic off on a one way voyage and claim the insurance. This switching theory apparently started in a Belfast pub and over the years it grew legs. When the wreck was discovered in 1985, it was without a doubt the Titanic. The two ships had a different bridge design, the Titanic's promenade deck was semi enclosed and the propeller number matched. Also the insurance payout was less than the ship's value! You would have thought that the wreck's discovery would put an end to the great switching theory but no such luck. There are people to this day who have made it their lives' work claiming it is the Olympic at the bottom of the Atlantic and Titanic went on to have a long and successful career before being scrapped in 1935."
